Carving Pumpkins

(I'm gonna first say FINALLY!!....I've been trying to upload pictures for 3 days and it FINALLY worked....so, it's not my slacker-ness, it's blogger's fault!)

Anyway, our week before Halloween was hectic, to say the least. So, we didn't get around to carving pumpkins until Sunday afternoon, but it proved to be the perfect time. We came home from church (ended at 2pm), had some quick lunch, and got Allie down for a nap. With Allie being asleep, we didn't have to worry about her "help" with the mess! In the (almost) 14 years we've been married, we've come down with a good system! :) I help clean out the pumpkins & while Matt does the carving....works perfectly!

Connor & Matt, working on C-man's pumpkin first....

Next came Parker's....he drew a picture of the face he wanted on his pumpkin, so Matt would know what to carve....

Annie as she is counting pumpkin seeds....we each estimated how many were in one of the pumpkins (Matt won & my guess was WAY off...LOL)....

Abbie counting seeds too (she's looking so grown up to me here!)....

Can't resist including a quick picture of me & Matt (I sure love this guy!!)...

And, here is the finished product!! I think they turned out awesome, if I say so myself!!

Fall Fun (Part 2) aka Our Trips to the Pumpkin Patch

This October, we took were able to visit the pumpkin patch 2 different times....I took the boys one morning with all of Parker's preschool friends and then we went again with some of our good friends, the Knox's, for FHE....we had a fabulous time at both of the visits!

The morning that we went with all our preschool friends, it was SO, SO cold...but we had loads of fun as well!

Here's a picture of most of the kids after making their way through the straw bale maze...I think they liked running through it because it helped them stay warmer! :)

I loved this picture of all the kids on top of the wagon after going for a hay ride...it was picture perfect! Aren't they a cute bunch of kids?

And, of course, one of Parks with his prized pumpkin! He spent a lot of time searching for just the right one!

When we went with Knox's, we had the chance to see all the animals in the petting zoo. Boy, was that a hit! All the kids (9 between both families) loved seeing the horses, donkey, dogs, camel, and sheep! All our kids got a kick out of being able to feed all the animals, and Parker didn't even cry very hard when one of the sheep got a little bit of his finger!

As always, the hayride is a big hit! I love how happy all these girls look! :) Could they be any cuter?


And, the final ride before heading how was a trip around the pumpkin patch in the "cow train"...Parker & Connor had been waiting the whole night for this! Annie was a great big sister to sit with Connor & keep him safe!

Thanks to the Knox's for being such great friends & sharing your FHE with us!

Pumpkin Carving Time

We have a family tradition of carving pumpkins the Monday night before Halloween!! We have a pretty good system down now...Matt gets grossed out by the pumpkin guts, so I help the kids clean them all out, then Matt goes to work carving the faces! Abbie & Annie were especially funny this year because they kept saying "slimey pumpkin smithereens" while they were working on cleaning their's out. If you've ever read "Too Many Pumpkins" (one of our favorite Halloween stories), then you'll know where that comes from. Anyway, without much more to say, here's some pictures of our evening!

Parker had a lot of fun watching as the girls were diggin' out the guts! I think the girls washed their hands 100 times too....

Here's Matt at work...carving out Parker's pumpkin!

The finished Jack-O-Lanterns!! Abbie's is on the left, then Park's, then Annie's....they all told Matt how they wanted them carved & Matt went to town! We're pretty proud of how they turned out!!

Picking the Perfect Pumpkins!

For FHE on Monday night...we decided to take our annual trip to the pumpkin patch! They have several in the area, but last year we found the perfect one, called Linder Farms (http://www.linderfarms.com/)! They have it all...the pumpkin patch (16 acres), hay rides, a corn maze, a "cow train" ride, astro jumps & straw maze for the little kids, and of course, yummy food to enjoy! Here's some pictures of our fun-filled FHE!

Stop #1: THE STRAW MAZE

Here's Abbie, Annie, Parker, and Matt w/Connor right after we arrived. The kids could hardly wait to start running through the straw maze!

Can ya tell Annie's excited?...I think she liked the maze. Actually, from what she says, all of it was "freakin' fun!"



Abbie stoppin' to pose for the camera...I don't think this maze was too hard for her, since she made it through in about 15 seconds...LOL! She did keep asking to go into the big corn maze, though...I guess she wanted something a little more challenging!! :)

Isn't Parks handsome? He was a little unsure about the whole maze bit, but once I went through with him, he got the hang of it & had fun running between the bales of straw!!!

Stop #2: THE ASTRO JUMPS & SLIDE

Parks LOVED going down the slide!!

Annie had fun too...she went down just every possible way!! She also made Matt & I nervous w/that sucker in her mouth... :)

Here's Abbie taking her turn & having loads of fun too!

Stop #3: THE COW TRAIN

Here are the 3 (Abbie at the back, Parker & Annie closer to the front) ready to go on the cow barrel ride!

Stop #4: THE HAYRIDE

If ya can't already tell from the smile on their faces (especially Annie & Abbie), they were pretty flippin' excited to go. In fact, Parker was probably the most thrilled with it. After one of the stops (to drop people off in the fields to search for pumpkins) he turned to me and said, "I so excited, Mom!"...it was TOO cute!

Stop #5: THE PUMPKIN PATCH

Parker could hardly wait to start playing in the dirt!! The pumpkin didn't impress him nearly as much!

Annie was the one hunting for the best pumpkin! She has a really good eye for a good pumpkin...she loved looking for them! Not that they were hard to find (believe me, there was a plethora of pumpkins!) ...but she searched for just the perfect one!

Abbie enjoyed the hunt too...she wanted to find the biggest pumpkin to take home!

Here's the kids w/the pumpkins they picked out to take home!!

Stop #6: GETTIN' SOME GRUB!

Of course, we had to finish off the fabulous evening with a little bit of yummy food...nachos, fries, hotdogs & some soda! :)