Halloween 2014

Another Halloween is in the books! One of the things we most look forward to every year at this time is the pumpkin carving contest at the boys' school. They have had some great entries in the past:

This year's ideas were just as impressive, although this was the first time they didn't get a ribbon. They are still winners in my book! 

Jordan's robot

Nathan's working clock

The gears are already turning for next year's contest and we will have a third participant as Isaiah will be in Kindergarten.

Halloween night was equally exciting, the boys experienced their first year of Trick or Treating. In the past we have always attended the Harvest Festival at our church but the twins were sick this year so I stayed home with them and Jeremy took the oldest guys out. They had an absolute blast and are in their rooms trading candy as I type. Hope you all had a happy Halloween as well!

Halloween '13 - Carving Contests, Dress-Up, and Friday Flair

Another Halloween in the books. This has never been my favorite holiday but it sure is fun to experience it through the eyes of my kids. Let's look at what this day had in store for our family.

In my last post I shared the Halloween Pails I created out of coffee cans. The boys loved them and they got a lot of attention at the Harvest Festival we attended. My husband said people kept asking if he was a painter! Too funny. Aren't my little super hero, ninja, and batman cute sporting their adorable pails?

Speaking of cute, while we didn't take Samuel and Amelia out with us, we still wanted to dress them up for their first Halloween. Tell me...are they not the cutest hot dog and chick you have ever seen? I sure think so!

 In my recent post about our trip to the pumpkin patch, I mentioned that we were again going to be participating in the school's pumpkin carving contest again. Want to see what we came up with? Nathan designed this stegosaurus and Jordan helped create the pirate ship. We managed to place 3rd in the creative category for the third year in a row....can you guess which pumpkin was the award winner? Congratulations Jordan, that pirate ship was awesome (and the stegosaurus was a winner in my books as well)!

And as if I hadn't crammed enough into this post, I wanted to try to fit in a Friday Flair as well since I have missed the last few. We have been hit hard with pink eye, ear infections and tonsillitis for two weeks so needless to say, lunches weren't the top priority. Here's what they boys' got for lunch on Halloween:

pumpkin shaped pb and honey sandwiches, graham crackers, carrots and celery (yes, that's an ear in there!), and a special treat of boogers (thank you Dollar Store for this absolutely disgusting candy that is bound to have my guys in giggles)

October Fun 2013

This time each year we usually make the trek out to Greenbluff to visit the pumpkin patch and have some autumn fun on the farm. This year we decided to stay closer to home and visit Carver Farms which turned out to be just as much fun and quite a bit cheaper (that's always a bonus!). The sun was even shining which was like icing on the cake.

There were caramel apples to be eaten.

And corn "mazes" to be ran through (I say maze loosely because it was actually just a corn path....lame for the older crowd but kept my brood entertained enough).

Pumpkins to be picked. Our rule is they have to be able to carry it themselves. If not, it's too big.

This year they each picked a pumpkin to paint.

We also selected some for the carving contest at the boys school. The last two years have been ribbon worthy, will be make it in the top 3 again this year? (stay tuned for two more awesome ideas we have in the works!)

2011 - A pumpkin piggy bank

2012 - A pumpkin robot

All in all it was another great year participating in some of our favorite fall activities. Can't wait to get the babies involved next year!

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.