Halloween Festivities

The Thursday before Halloween the girls and I went to Thompson Library's storybook walk.  It was really nice.  They had a bunch of high school kids and other volunteers dressed up as storybook characters passing out candy and little toys.  The girls got to practice trick or treating in a small area without too much walking and indoors where we didn't have to worry about the cold.  I loved that there were so many non-candy treats.  We don't let them have candy yet really.  All they got from their haul was one dum dum and a couple jelly beans (magic beans from Jack of course).  But they had spider rings, foam stickers and other little toys that kept them happy instead.  It was also nice bumping into familiar faces from our weekly story time and seeing the kids all dressed up. 

The girls were all dressed up too, as was I (sort of).  I had finished the girls costumes enough that people could tell what they were even though pieces were not finished and some details (that no one except me noticed) were messed up.  D is Linus, T is Charlie Brown, I am a pumpkin patch and baby sister in my belly is the Great Pumpkin.  I'll go into the costumes in detail in the next post when I have better pictures.

The night before Halloween we went to the Family Fun Fest at Immanuel Baptist Church.  It was amazingly crowded.  There were so many kids and parents everywhere, but it was a lot of fun.  They had games that you had to play to win treats.  The girls had fun playing them and won every single game (there weren't any real rules and plenty of help, so I'm sure none of the kids who came lost any games).  The cake walk had a huge line so we avoided that but my friend's husband won a cake.  They must have had a ton of cakes there, considering how many people we saw walking around with cake.  It was a lot of fun and a great alternative to trick or treating since the girls are so young. 

We also got all dressed up for Halloween Mommy and Me Yoga today at Barefoot Studio West.  It was fun trying to do yoga with all the cute kiddos around.   The girls spent most of the time watching the other kids and moms and also playing with balls.  But I did get a cat stretch and a brief downward facing dog out of D. 

 

 

The rest of the plan for Halloween afternoon is to carve pumpkins and pass out candy to trick or treaters (if we get any; we had 2 last year).  Happy Halloween everybody!

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch



 

We headed out to the pumpkin patch this weekend.  We went to BoBrook Farms which is the same place we pick blueberries in May and where we went last year for our pumpkins.  Because of the cooler weather, we waited until after nap time so it would be warmer.

We hopped on a waiting hayride first thing after arriving.  The girls had been looking forward to it because of some of the books we read and pictures they saw of last years pumpkin patch trip.  They liked being pulled by the tractor and the smell of the hay.

I took the photo of them by the growth chart, just like last year.  They have grown so much!  Almost 3 feet tall now.

The best part about the pumpkin patch this year was the corn pit, hands down.  They had so much fun playing, jumping, dancing and rolling around it.   They did not want to leave. 

 

We did get them out eventually though.  After a quick trip through the hay maze, we headed on over to the pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins.

 

Unfortunately, we had trouble finding good pumpkins.  We were specifically looking for pumpkins that were small enough for the girls to pick up and had no luck.  I think waiting until late afternoon/ evening on a busy Saturday probably had something to do with that.  We saw some families with wagon loads of pumpkins, so had we kept looking we might have found something.  But we gave up after searching through fours rows and headed over to see the animals. 

 

We took a couple photos with some larger pumpkins but between the bad lighting and the girls not cooperating, I didn't get any good pumpkin pictures this year.  There is a small pumpkin patch on a corner near our neighborhood that we've already gotten a few pumpkins at.  I may take the girls back there for a few more and a chance for some better pictures with lots of pumpkins.

 

There were a pair of adorable piglets at the farm, along with goats, a pony, chickens and the piggy momma.  Makes me want to keep chickens for eggs and raise piglets but I don't think I'd have the heart to kill them after.  By the time we finished with the animals, it was getting close to dinner time so we headed back home.  It was a nice trip to the patch this year even though we came back without pumpkins. 

October is Here!

I have pulled out my small box of fall decorations and put them up: leaf garlands for the wreath out front and the mail box, a pumpkin I knitted a few years back that the girls liked playing with, and Halloween cookie cutters that I don't have energy to use this year.  Not much, but enough along with a white pumpkin sitting out on the front porch to make things festive. 

 

The girls and I also baked pumpkin granola (using our own pumpkin puree).  It made the house smell so good.  It has pumpkin, apple sauce, maple syrup and pumpkin pie spice in it and really just smells like fall.  I loved the scent while it lasted. 

 

The girls were big helps mixing everything up for me.  It was less stressful than last time I tried to make cookies with them.  They still made a mess but tried eating less of it.  Also having everything ready to put in helped--preparation is key when it comes to toddlers.  We have been eating it on cereal and with yogurt.  It is yummy but I think I'll put a little less maple syrup in it next time. 

 

This morning I made some pancakes using my usual recipe but substituted the rest of the pumpkin puree in for the egg.  They were delicious, moist and fluffy. I want to have them that way all year long now.  I put the extra in the freezer as usual.  So we'll see how well they hold up to that and heating in the toaster.