Halloween Fun

Our family won't really be celebrating Halloween on the day this year as my husband is working night shift and that is when we would normally go to our church's Harvest Festival. But that doesn't mean we haven't had plenty of Halloween fun already!

Last weekend we made our annual fall trek to Greenbluff for some fun on the farm. This year we picked Walter's Farm where we met up with my brother and his family for some pony rides, tractor rides through the orchard, and of course scouring through the pumpkin patches for just the right gourd.

Jordan riding Daisy

Daddies took the kids through the orchard

Isaiah found one just his size

Shouldn't the ones with all the energy be pulling the cart instead of riding in it?

 

 

Friday Nathan's school was having a Family Pumpkin Carving Contest. So my husband let his creative juices flow and they put together this really adorable Pumpkin Piggy Bank. Nathan proudly came home with a 3rd place ribbon in the Creative category! While he was at school Jordan worked on a tribute to his favorite food by carving his pumpkin into a hotdog:)

He's proud, can you tell?

3rd Place! He actually got a nice silk ribbon to keep as well:)

 

 

Mmmmm....Hot dog!

We rounded out the Halloween fun by heading to the town my brother and his family live in to attend Pumpkin Lane on Saturday. This is a two hour block of time where all the businesses hand out candy as families walk through town from place to place. We have been doing this for several years now and always have a blast. Next year we are thinking about all coming together with a theme for costumes. After all, we now have 9 people between our 2 families so that gives us a lot to work with! This year we had a hodge-podge of costumes. Nathan was in a homemade dinosaur costume, Jordan has been begging for months to wear the chicken costume Nathan wore 2 years ago, and Isaiah was in a monkey costume we have had for years. Easy peasy!

Dinosaur tail from Isaiah's birthday party, crocheted dinosaur hat and Daddy's make-up job:)

Yes, he's a chicken (but doubling as an Angry Bird!)

Our cute little cookie faced monkey

So indicative of their personalities - our happy dinosaur, angry chicken and confused monkey:)

All in all we have had a great October. Looking forward to the coming months and all of the holiday fun still to be had.

Lunch box note - Dinosaur/Crocodile

Yesterday I saw a Hallmark product called Lunchbox Notes. I didn't really look at the cards themselves but the package they came in was part of a decorated brown paper bag. This give me a great idea for creating a cute note out of the bag itself. My sons are really into dinosaurs and crocodiles so I thought a note that looked like one of those would be a hit.

Here's what I did:

First I cut down the bag so just the flap and the back section of the bag were left. I then cut the length of the bag so that about 2 inches were left below the flap:

I then cut a head that was slightly longer then the flap so that it hung over on each side. I used a glue stick to attach it (make sure not to glue the flap shut!):

Time to give this guy a face. First I did the teeth which I glued underneath the face so they would be hanging out of his mouth:

The eyes and nostrils were easy, I just used "circle"ish shapes from black and white:

This guy is really starting to come together! Now for the inside of the bag. I added a green strip that would cover up the brown bag showing when the card was closed. The remainder of the brown bag became the mouth which I made all black:

Last it was time for a tongue. I measured a strip of red that would fit inside the mouth with a flap at the end to glue it on. I wanted the tongue to stick up when he opened it so I only glued the flap. Finally, I wrote a note right on the tongue:

And there you have it!! A cute and easy lunch box card sure to make any boy (or dinosaur loving girl!) excited to eat lunch at school. I am looking forward to my son's reaction when he sees this on his first day of Kindergarten this week:)

I am thinking about doing this once a week and sharing what I make so I would love to hear feedback on whether or not this would be of interest to you as an ongoing post. I would also love to hear theme ideas or specific materials you want to see used. Thanks!