Community Pumpkin Carving

Each year a group of students at the local College that Dave works at hosts a Community Pumpkin Carving day.  You can come and get a pumpkin and carve it there.  So not only do you get a free pumpkin, you don't have a mess to clean up at your own house after carving pumpkins!  Win-win!

This was actually the first year that we have gone to it.  I wasn't aware of it until last year and I assumed it would be super crowded and crazy, but it wasn't too bad!  There were plenty of pumpkins and while we did have to share tools, we didn't have to wait too long for them.

Its fun now that the older kids are able to carve their own.  They really enjoy planning out their design and cutting it themselves.  

Evy had fun crawling around with the pumpkins.  I couldn't resist taking more pictures of her with them.  I will spare you and only post this one!  She sure is a cute little pumpkin!

We carved a little pumpkin for her and she had fun holding the lid.  

Like most things she picks up, she had to put it in her mouth.  She actually thought it tasted pretty good and kept sucking on it.

Yumm!  A pumpkin Lollipop!

See how the Jack O' Lanterns turned out after the jump!

Turkey Lunch

It's the first day of November!  Time to start packing Thanksgiving lunches for the kids!  

Today Ady wanted to eat the school lunch, but Tayden decided to take his lunch.  He thought Ady's Batty lunch from yesterday was pretty awesome and wanted something fun like that.  I suggested a Turkey and he thought that would be fun.

I made a turkey and cheese quesadilla and then cut it out with a turkey cookie cutter.  I actually was able to cut out two turkeys so they are stacked together.  I used food markers to color it in a little.  The turkey is on a bed of spinach that Tayden will probably not eat, but a little of it might get stuck to the turkey ;)  {I actually was surprised this week when I made Super Green Smoothies (frozen banana and spinach) and he liked them!  Maybe he is developing a taste for spinach after all!}

I also cut out some apples to be fall leaves.  They ended up looking a little like bats, so I used food markers on those as well to make them look more distinct.

Tayden wanted to take a piece of his Halloween Candy and then I also gave him some Rainbow Goldfish crackers, which have nice fall colors.

Here is a close up of the Turkey

I included a Thanksgiving Lunchbox Note that I found on Crafts and Sutch last year.  I am working on some more lunchbox jokes of my own that I will share soon, so stay tuned!  And if you are looking for other love notes to include in your little one's lunch, check out my Pinterest board full of printable lunch box love here!

Linked up to:

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What's For Lunch Wednesday                         The Idea Room                  Show me What Ya Got

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Pinterest Tuesday                 For the Kids Friday    Today at Play Link Party

Mommy's Little Pumpkin

All Bundled Up

I couldn't resist posting a few pics of Evy all bundled up.  She looks so cute in her fluffy hat and the poncho that I made for Ady years ago when she was a baby.  I am excited for the cooler weather and all the cute fall clothes!  I love babies all bundled up in hats and mittens!

Halloween Muffin Tin Meals

I made this meal one evening for Ady. This is our first Muffin Tin Meal! (MTM)  

Starting on the top left she had some orange Jelly Bellys, tiny ham and cheese sandwiches cut into pumpkins.  I used a food marker on the top one to make a Jack O'Lantern.  Next she has some Cheez-Its.  On the bottom row she has some peach yogurt with fall leaves sprinkles, some fruit leather cut into pumpkins and some strawberry applesauce with fall leaves sprinkles.  

It is a fun way to serve up lots of small foods!

The kids are on Fall Break from school so I had to feed them lunch at home.  I only have one small muffin tin, so I decided to make a big MTM for the 3 older kids to share.  They liked having lots of finger foods to munch on!

On the top row are carrots, ranch dressing to dip, graham crackers, and some chocolate chips and Halloween shapes marshmallows.  They enjoyed making some mini s'mores.

On the next row I made some String Cheese Mummies. I cut the string cheese in half and then used another string cheese stick that I pulled apart to wrap around to look like bandages.  I used a food marker for some eyes.  Next up is Halloween shapes pretzels and then some red grapes with a ghost pick.

On the bottom row are some Trader Joe's Cats Cookies ( I was hoping they would count as Black Cats to go with the Halloween theme!).  Next is some ham rolled up to eat with the pretzels and the cheese.  Then we have some Halloween gummies and lastly, some green grapes with some Halloween picks.

It worked out pretty good having the kids share a bigger muffin tin.  It was a bit challenging to try to think of things to fill in each cup with though.  I think I will look for some inexpensive muffin tins so they can each have their own next time we do this.  The muffin tins would be a fun way to eat snacks during a family movie night as well.

Some products I used to make these lunches:

 

Linking Up to these Parties:
Muffin Tin Mondays
For the Kids Fridays
Bento of the Week

Trick or Treat

Kyler was a Sith Lord

Ady was a Fairy Princess

Tayden was an Old Man

We started out Trunk or Treating at the Church. Kyler incountered another Sith Lord there and a battle ensued. The Mother of the Sith posted some pictures of it on her blog here. http://krisallen.blogspot.com/2008/11/halloween.html

Ady also encountered some other fairies. Tayden was the only little old man, though. And he was a dang cute one.

We did some more trick or treating after that and Ady had not been feeling well, so Dave stayed with her in the van. When the boys and I got back to the van it reeked of vomit. She had puked all over her tutu. Any suggestions on how to wash toull? (sp?) Its been rinsed and is now a funny shape. All crinkled up and knocked. I may have to just make a new one.

Overall it did end up being a fun night. After Ady puked she felt much better and perked up once we got home and started sorting our haul of candy.

Pumpkin Patch

On Monday we made our Annual visit to the Priebe Pumpkin Patch.  We always have so much fun checking out all the cool gourds and pumpkins, going through the corn maze, taking fun fall pictures and picking out our pumpkins. We use it as an opportunity to take a family picture each year because its such a fun setting.  Our friends, the Allens, went with us again this year.

Here are some of my favorite pictures.

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Fall Festival

A few weeks ago we went to a Fall Festival for the kids at church.  They had a great time eating pancakes, playing games and just being with their friends.  Here are some pictures of the event.

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That night Dave Dj'ed a church dance.  I went with him to help him out.  We had a fun time.  It was a costume dance, so we went ahead and dressed up.  We were having trouble coming up with ideas with stuff we had around the house, but we finally ended up with this:

Dave was an Army Man

I was a gypsy.

Dave is getting pretty good at DJ'ing.  Maybe we should do more of this.  In the past few years they have asked him to DJ these dances about 2 or 3 times a year.  This one went the smoothest.

Busy Thanksgiving Weekend

For Thanksgiving this year my side of the family all went to Ohio to my Aunt Debbie's House. We had a lot of fun. We all stayed in a Hotel and got to go swimming and the kids got to play with all the cousins. The moms had fun too, going shopping at 4 am on Friday. I got some really great doorbusters: a 7 qt Crock pot with a carrying case for $9.99 (this way I can make a roast and have enough room for lots of yummy vegetables.), I also got some other fun things for Dave for Christmas, so I won't mention them here since he might read it.

We played lots of games, did lots of shopping, ate lots of food, and had a really great time!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is orange and yellow,

Brown and red.

Thanksgiving sounds like families gathering,

laughing and talking.

Thanksgiving smells like savory herbs,

and hot fresh rolls.

It tastes like tender turkey,

Sweet pumpkin pie and tart cranberries.

Thanksgiving looks like families feasting on food and togetherness.

Thanksgiving feels like warm hugs,

Grandma's kisses and tender hearts.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our family and friends, near and far.

We miss you and love you and we are so grateful to know you.

Pumpkin Patch

    Last night we went with our friends the Allens to the Pumpkin Patch. We had so much fun taking pictures and walking through the corn maze. The kids each picked out a pumpkin too, then we came home and decorated them. It was a lot of fun and really made it feel like Fall. The weather was so nice. It was a lovely evening.

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Fall Pictures

Last night we went up to the Campus where Dave works and took some pictures. Some of them turned out really cute. Enjoy :)