Pumpkin Patch

Another day centered around pumpkins!!!  We visited a real pumpkin patch and I love seeing how much the kids have grown since we went last year!

Carter, Holden, Graham, Lucy and Ellie in the bus!

Found one mom!

Sweet Lucy has a great eye for unique pumpkins!

Carter was so sweet to share his little pumpkin with Ellie.

Graham does the absolute sweetest thing when he is waiting his turn, focused on watching something or just bored and he puts his hands behind his back.  I know it sounds so silly and simple, but it literally melts my heart and puts a smile on my face every time.  He stood like this for 5 minutes just watching the tractor:)

Tractor Ride back!

Graham loves his buddy Holden!

There are tons of slides of all shapes and sizes when you get off the tractor ride.  Graham had NO fear with the big slides!  He was going so fast I couldn't get a clear picture.

We all stopped at the popcorn stand before heading home.  They had tons of flavors including a chocolate bacon one!

Ellie has become a daddy's girl big time lately.  She says "dada" all day long and just lights up when she sees him.

The twinkies Halloween costumes are almost done and then we will be ready for the big day!

Pumpkin carving with two little helpers!

This year we had two little guys helping us carve the pumpkin....well daddy carved and they took out all the insides!  Sometimes I come up with these activities and they last all of 5 min.  Not this time, they played with this pumpkin for almost an hour!

They are at the stage where they love to "help".  Sometimes when they are bored and fussy I give them something silly to do, like a piece of trash to put in the trashcan or an item out of the fridge to take to Ryan and they light up feeling like they are helping and part of the process.

Graham kept handing me seeds and laughing cause they were slimy and slippery!

They even "helped" us make pumpkin seeds.  We used this recipe!  We cooked them a little longer than it says to make sure they were crunchy!

Ryan put all the seeds and seasonings in a container to shake around.....these two could barely wait their turn!!

"Shake, Shake, Shake!"

After naps Ryan made a HUGE batch of chilly!  I love this time of year when you can make a big pot of soup or chill and freeze it so when you come in late from the playground you still have a nice hot supper just minutes away!  The twinkies love white chicken chili and we are hoping Ryan's chili is another hit!

Pumpkins for everyone!

We got our pumpkins Saturday!  The local market has tons of pumpkins of all shapes, sizes and colors.  We let the twinkies run around and play and help us pick out the perfect pumpkin!

 Ellie was way too excited to sit still for a pic!

 She laughed at this little pumpkin cause I said it had crazy hair:)

 We have plans to visit a pumpkin patch later, but wanted to go ahead and buy some pumpkins so we could carve them!!  We got four pumpkins...one for everyone!

 That night we had a neighborhood progressive dinner!  I never knew I would love our neighborhood as much as I do.  There are so many wonderful people who live right down the street. They are the sweetest, most generous and genuine people.  We are so blessed! There are also lots of great cooks!!  We had apps at the first house, heavy hors d'oeuvres at the second and dessert at the third.  We didn't get home until 1AM, but was nice to just walk (or for some ride a bike) home!

 Here are all the ladies!

 Someone supplied glow sticks so cars could see us walking down the street from house to house....safety first!

 Love these girls!!

Can't wait for our next dinner!