Countdown to Halloween

This time of year is so much fun!  Halloween festivities are everywhere, so we're taking advantage with a week-long celebration.  We kicked off our fun plans with a trip to the pumpkin patch on Saturday morning.  It was kind of chilly and windy, but this is Idaho and we're used to a cold end to October.  In fact, I'm pretty sure it's going to snow by Halloween.  Psh.

Pumpkin patches are so much more fun than just picking up a gourd at the grocery store.  The boys loved tromping through the rows of pumpkins, while Neil had a great time being pulled in the wagon.  Everyone had a stipulation for the type of pumpkin he wanted:  Chris likes a huge one for his annual large-mouthed jack-o-lantern (see below) and he likes to have a handle; I like short, fat, round ones; Thomas wanted the first pumpkin he saw; Gordon required a pumpkin that was "all orange, no green"; and Neil wanted a "baby".  Lucky for us, we hit the jack-o- jackpot!

You can see how windy it was by my Trump-inspired comb over!

 

 A pumpkin is no good for Halloween until it's carved, so our next festivity meant a lot of work for Chris, and a lot of fun for everyone else.  Chris loves carving pumpkins and readily volunteers to do all of the dirty work-- including carving the boys' hand-drawn faces.  Gordon drew three faces, while Thomas drew one face, then a bunch of other stuff.  My pumpkin isn't pictured, but Chris punched out a bunch of little holes in the pumpkin and I put white Christmas lights in them to make something that looks a bit like Cinderella's coach.  So fun!

 

 We started the week off just right today by making caramel apples-- yum, yum, yum.  I'm a purist when it comes to caramel, so I made my own (no Kraft here!).  The boys dipped their apples in assorted sprinkles and toffee bits and they turned out so tasty.  I think a new Halloween tradition was born.