October-ing!

October has come and gone and while the stores are already decking their halls, I'm OK with letting fall rule just a little longer.  I mean, we havent even stuffed ourselves on turkey yet!  Even the Obummer of an election won't hinder my love of all things Autumnal! We had quite an eventful October! 

I love doing art projects with the kids so this was one that was super easy and the kids loved it! Jack is not that into long art projects so I have to make them short and sweet! Claire on the other hand loves doing art! She sits and colors or paints all time! We used our pumpkins we had gotten at Oma's pumpkin patch to paint! 

We also went to another (Yes- another) pumpkin patch called Pumpkin Station! It is one of those mall parking lot patches with the tiny carnival style rides. It was kinda cheesy but the kids had fun- despite both of them being very tired! (One of those days!)

The night before Halloween we carved our pumpkins.  Remember those pumpkins the kids painted? Well dual purpose pumpkins...the paint washed right off and they were ready to be carved! It was great! This year we wanted to do a couple fun pumpkins because usually we stick to just happy jack o lantern faces. I decided I'd do a kitty for Claire's and Sean did Spiderman for Jack's. I also did the happy face, although Sean called it Quasimodo. He was a little wonky... 

 Jack was so funny. This was really his first time carving pumpkins and he thought the guts were so gross! That face is priceless!

This little pumpkin was just so happy in her jumpy!!

The finished products! The Kitty was my personal favorite! Spiderman looked really cool in person but it was harder to photograph the fine detail :-)

And then of course it was Halloween! In the morning we had our friends over to decorate pumpkin and ghost cookies! The boys were mostly interested in eating the cookies (and the frosting by the spoonful) and the girls carefully and methodically decorated and decorated and decorated their cookies! So cute! 

We tried to no avail to get Claire to nap after our friends left. For the last 6 months or so she would transfer pretty well from the car to the couch and sleep for at least a little while.  Lately, that has gone out the window and she just determined she's done napping (muach to my dismay). Plus she really is still so tired and needs a nap. Well I knew we were going to have a hard time if we didnt get going Trick or Treating early, so we headed out around 3:30. We first went to visit all the grandparents and see some of the cuzzies before we actually went door to door.

Captain Hook, Pumpkin, and Tinkerbell!

Daddy and Mimi were the only ones that could her to smile! Poor little thing was just so tired!!

sweet boy!

We ended up back with our friends Trevor and Tayley for some pictures of the Peter Pan crew and a little Trick or Treasuring as Jack called it! He literally would said,

 "Trick or Treasure!" instead of Trick or Treat...

It was so much fun! Although there were several houses whose decorations were a little to scary for our crew. I wish people would just keep it fun for the little kids instead of all the evil, creepy stuff! Oh well!

Pumpkins and Apple Pie

Fall is finally in the air and last weekend we welcomed the season with a little jaunt up into the mountains for some pumpkin picking, hay riding, cider making, and apple pie eating!! This is one of my favorite traditions that my husband and I started together.  We "officially" started dating in September 2003, we were juniors in college, and occasionally we would go on what we called, "all-day-dates." We may or may not have ditched class a few times for these all day dates! One of the first all day dates was to Julian! Thinking back now, its almost impossible to remember what it was like just the two of us! And at that time, we were only dreaming about one day having kids to bring up there to enjoy the beauty of the mountains, the antiquity of the little town, and of course, the apple pie!  Flash forward almost 10 years...and here we are; a family of five and still loving our all day dates.  This year we were lucky enough to head up on a nice cold day. {Today, on the other hand, it is 95 degrees- not so conducive to fall activities}. We almost didn't go last weekend because it was raining a little, but I'm so glad we did!

 It ended up being perfect weather for the Pumpkin Patch!

This is our favorite Pumpkin Patch in Julian! So much to do and it was pretty empty the day we were there- thanks to the rain! It was great! We walked around for a little bit and then went up to the Cider House for the apple cider demonstration.

They use an old-fashioned apple press and let the kids (and adults) help put the apples in! Then they let everyone have a little cup full of the fresh-pressed cider!

After the Cider House we went to see the animals! They take the pressed apples and feed them to the goats! Jack and Claire were not super excited about the goats being right in their faces.  I can understand..I'd be nervous too if an animal my size was coming right at me!

After we fed the animals, we went on a the hay ride! Jack got to sit on the tractor, which he thought was awesome!

Then it was time to head down to the pumpkin patch! 

Mama was sad her shoes got muddy :-(

This little girl is a bit camera shy these days! She doesn't like to sit still for very long, so I have to catch her on the move! It was chilly and she was pretty tired too so that didn't  help! But she sure looked cute all bundled up!

This guy on the other hand is finally coming around will stop and smile at me for a picture! I'm pretty sure he's going to conquer the world someday!

 These two are sweet little friends (most of the time). Jack grabbed her hand and said, "C'mon Claire Bear! C'mon"

When we were done at the patch we got a little early dinner at the little local pizza shop called Wynola Pizza! And of course we ended the day with a slice of Julian Apple pie! 

Sweet memories!

Pumpkin Patch-ing!

I love fall, and I love pumpkins and pumpkin patches!  This year we wanted to go to a patch where the pumpkins actually grow on ground :-) so we made our way back up to Julian with my sister and brother-in-law and their four kids! We had such a fun day! 

We picked pumpkins, made apple cider, fed the farm animals, made candles, and went on a hay ride! 

Is it weird that I love this picture? Its cool right? Baaaa.

All that's left to do is carve them! 

Happy Pumpkin Day!