Because nothing says "Autumn in Wisconsin" like bare feet, a sleeveless party dress, and a lei around your neck!

It has been a freakishly warm weekend here. Saturday was 8o degrees, and today was 85 degrees! It is so strange (but nice!) to have one last taste of summer this late in the year.

This afternoon, we were a strange sight: raking leaves in shorts and bare feet -- and sleeveless party dress with a lei, in Anya Rashi's case! Usually we wear jeans and sweatshirts for raking and making leaf piles to jump in.

The party dress was for a special occasion with our friends Tina and Todd, and their baby Liam. We were Liam's sponsors at his dedication today. Liam is the mellowest, smiliest little guy, and did very well with all the attention. The lei was courtesy of Aaron and Nathan, who attended their friend Logan's birthday party this afternoon while the rest of us were at Liam's house. Whew -- with all the excitement, followed by leaf-jumping, we are one tired crew.

I just had to post the funny Play-Doh pictures of Anya Rashi. She was having fun demolishing big pieces of Play-Doh into lots of tiny ones, when she was inspired to feed one of her dollies. It was so funny watching her stuff bits of Play-Doh into the doll's mouth, until a big lump was on the doll's face! Never a dull moment.

She's wearing a birthday crown not because it's her birthday (that's in December), but because a saleswoman at Toys R Us thought she was so cute. We couldn't agree more!