Fall Fun

To start out our Halloween festivities we went to a friends pumpkin patch to get pumpkins to carve. Bryce had been before, but Emily hadn't (since she wasn't born yet the last time we went). The kids loved seeing all the pumpkins and picking their pumpkin out. I told Emily to pick out a pumpkin and she said she wanted a "baby pumpkin". So she found a little pumpkin that was just her size and decided that was the one she wanted. Even though it was a really small one, it still was half as big as her. :) Bryce on the other hand wanted a "BIG pumpkin". Daddy had to get Bryce's pumpkin since it was so heavy. Just as we were loading the pumpkins in the car, it started getting really windy and a big storm was rolling in, so we are glad we got there when we did!

Then of course when you get pumpkins that means that you are going to carve them. This year instead of doing one for each of us, we just carved one for each kid. Actually, daddy gets all the credit since he was the one that carved both pumpkins. He does a lot better job than mommy and enjoys it more than mommy too. :) We have pumpkin carving patterns with all the cool designs that we do every year. Bryce wanted the skeleton with the bat and I found some Disney character patterns online that Emily picked from. She decided that she wanted a "Minnie Mouse Clubhouse" (which to her is Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse - not the clubhouse :)). We told the kids that if they wanted their pumpkins carved, they had to clean them out (or at least help clean them out). Neither one wanted to stick their hand in the pumpkins and clean it out; however, after we gave them the scoopers, they were fine with it and had a lot of fun scooping the stuff out. Bryce even got brave after a little while and used his hands. And thanks again to daddy, he finished cleaning them out. (Mommy is a party pooper! :))

The kids were so excited to see their pumpkins lit up and put out on the porch on Halloween.

Bryce went with his preschool to a pumpkin patch for a field trip and I was able to go with them to help out. This place had a mini corn maze, a playground, and a little spook alley (that wasn't scary at all). It was the perfect place for these little kids to participate in these Halloween activities without it being scary. They had a blast!

(This consists of a couple of classes that combined to go on this field trip.)

This little boy is one of Bryce's friends at church who also happens to be in his preschool class.

This is all that Bryce talked about for a couple of days. One of his most favorite parts were seeing the HUGE, and by huge, I mean REALLY HUGE, pumpkins. He also liked the corn maze. Blair and I haven't done a corn maze or anything since before we were married (and definitely not since we had kids), so maybe this will be a great new family tradition for us since the kids can do all these things that are geared towards their age and have a lot of fun doing them (and not be scared! :)).

Last but not least is Halloween itself. Personally, it's not one of my favorite holidays, but it is fun to get the kids all dressed up and take them Trick or Treating. Bryce wanted to be Darth Vader again for the third year in a row :), but to kind of talk him out of it I took the kids to Walmart and let them pick out their costumes. Bryce decided he wanted to be a Clone Trooper this year instead and Emily decided she wanted to be a princess (Cinderella. But don't call her Cinderella because she will correct you by saying, "No, I'm princess!").

Last year we had bought a witch's hat and broom on clearance thinking that Emily could be a witch this year; however, she had something else in mind and was pretty set on being a princess. Halloween morning, I thought I better try her costume on her to see how "big" it was and she told me she didn't want to be a princess...she wanted to be a witch. Well, she was still a princess and decided she liked being a princess. Thank Heavens! It could have made for a very long day! ;D

To start out the day, we had pumpkin pancakes (shape, not flavor) and blueberry muffins. The kids loved having pancakes that looked like pumpkins instead of their usual Mickey Mouse pancakes. As they were watching me make them, they couldn't figure out why the batter was orange and green. But then when they figured it out, they thought it was pretty cool.

Since Halloween was on Saturday this year, we decided to go to the grandparents' houses before Trick or Treating. Of course the kids got spoiled (yes, even on Halloween) by the grandma's and grandpa's. Then we went to our ward Trunk or Treat.

Bryce invited his little friend that lives across the street to come with us. It was so fun to have him and his family there. Bryce and Brennen took off (with Brennen's mom) and made the rounds pretty quick. I took Emily around and not only because she can't walk as fast as the boys, but her princess dress was a little bit too big, so she had to hold her bucket and hold her dress up so she could walk, it took us FOREVER to go around to all of the cars. But they all had fun just the same. And they made a haul! I guess that's one advantage of being in a huge ward! :) After the Trunk or Treat, we headed to Uncle Sam's house (one of Blair's uncle's) to Trick or Treat and to see all of his Halloween stuff (he collects old Halloween toys, costumes, etc.). Since his son just left on a mission, he hadn't set out any of his stuff, but it was good to see and talk to them. We got home around 7:00 p.m. and were able to relax and enjoy the rest of the night. When it is Bryce's turn to say a prayer he now includes "Please bless that it will be Saturday again tomorrow so that we can go Trick or Treating again". :) Love these little ones!