We Love Halloween: Carving Pumpkins

On the Monday before Halloween, all of my family got together to carve pumpkins. Even Heidi came via FaceTime on the iPhone. :) We were super excited to carve the perfect pumpkins that my mom brought home from my Grandpa's personal pumpkin patch in his garden. The coloring was so pretty on these. Especially compared to the pumpkins we got at the first pumpkin patch. 

The planning stage:

 The kids getting a look at the guts for the first time:

 Emery, as always, was a bit of a grump at first...but did eventually warm up.

Ella needed no warm up. She's too busy satisfying her curiosity and loving getting dirty to not enjoy every single minute. 

 The kids loved playing in the guts. They loved making the biggest mess...

 Ella loved every minute of the entire thing:

The finished products:

We Love Halloween: Trunk or Treating

The Saturday before Halloween our ward, combined with the other ward in our building, hosted Trunk or Treat. There is something to be said of our ward...they definitely know how to throw parties. (I'm already super excited for Santa at the Christmas party!!) Not only is there the traditional trunk or treating, but there is always more. Last year we went too, but this year they combined the carnival with the trunk or treating, and we also combined with the other ward in the building bringing Grandpa Whitworth's candy cannon to the party. So fun! It was definitely my kids' favorite part. 

 (No, Emery didn't trick or treat with the purses...she just had to arrive in style...)

Every time the candy cannon went off the girls scrambled for candy. They loved it, although they didn't usually get too much since the other kids were faster.

 We eventually moved on...but about half of our entire time there was spent in front of Grandpa shooting off his candy cannon.

The girls really took to Trick or Treating. Emery was always so polite and said, "Thank you" to each person. It was quiet, so they may not have heard her, but it was so cute. Ella on the other hand would go up to people and yell, "TREAT!" As soon as she was given the candy, she promptly bit into the candy, through the wrapper and marked it her territory before putting it in her pumpkin bucket. Oh those two and their completely different personalities.

Some of the other activities, in addition to the candy cannon, they had was the bean bag toss, balloon animals, a cake walk and a photography stand. We didn't participate in the last two because it was actually pretty chilly and past every one's bed time. Now, of course, I wish we had gone to the photo booth and gotten a picture of all of the supers together. I just didn't think my girls would appreciate it or work with the photographer...they sure didn't just a couple hours earlier for family pictures. Grrr...

Yay for Halloween! We sure do love it!

We Love Halloween: Painting Pumpkins

Back when Isabelle was a baby and we were celebrating her first Halloween, we came up with the idea to paint a pumpkin instead of carving it. This year we decided to revisit the idea. The girls were so excited! Ella’s expressions of joy make doing any project so much fun! She is so hilarious. Emery was definitely the most hesitant of the bunch. She started with just dipping her  fingers in the paint and gently painting her pumpkin. She enjoyed calm self and had fun decorating her pumpkin. Isabelle went at it as the painting pro she is and started painting her’s like a masterpiece. Ella went full steam ahead and painted her pumpkin with her entire hands covered in paint. Her goal was to completely cover her pumpkin in paint. She got pretty close near the end, only leaving the parts she couldn't reach, i.e. the backside. Isabelle saw Ella having so much fun that she joined in and decided to make her orange pumpkin purple. (Yes, she knows that red and blue make purple and every time she paints, she combines the two.) She got even closer to covering her entire pumpkin than Ella did. Those pumpkins ended up looking way disgusting! Yay for fun though!

We Love Fall: The Pumpkin Patch, Part 2

Up in Flower Mound where we go to the pumpkin patch at, there are actually two separate patches right next to each other. Usually we hit up one patch, on one day and go back for the other on another day. Now that we live so much farther away, I definitely did not want to do that. Plus Curt is so busy with work and school and the house, we really have a hard time fitting everything in, so he elected to not make it out to these specific patches this year, so it was perfect to go when Patrice was in town. I would much rather go on a week day when they are not busy than on a weekend cause they are packed. Anyways, after we did the pumpkin patch in the previous post, I hopped the fence (that totally has an electric wire running along it to keep people from doing this) with my kids and we walked over to the next one. I know, I know. I broke the rules. But people, I have three little kids. I did not want to walk them all out to the car, strap them all in their car seats (Ella screams at this), drive out and around, park and get all my kids out. Seriously. Pain. I was honest though. My mom and Heather drove the two cars around and paid for the newly charged parking. (Grrr...) 

Really, between the two patches, I feel like they are the perfect single pumpkin patch. It bothers my life that it isn't just all one, but whatever. The second one (the non-profit one that is now more expensive than the other one) has a pet-from-the-outside petting farm and the all important pony rides. This alone is why we have to go. Isabelle loves horses and has instilled that love in her sisters. 

Here is the little girls checking out the petting zoo. Ella loves to touch the animals and isn't sheepish (haha) about it at all. Emery definitely is a lot more hesitant. I don't think she actually touched a single animal. 

They have three horses/ponies to ride. We have four kids. You do the math... While I could have made one of my kids wait and go after the others, tantrums would ensue for the first not-so-patient kid and then tantrums would follow with the other two while the previously not-so-patient kid got their turn. It wouldn't have been pretty. Plus...it costs $3 a child/per ride. It was an expensive can of worms I wasn't willing to let play out. Plus...well...I wasn't really sure Emery would want to anyways. I'm still not sure if she would have. She actually was totally fine to not ride. After Ella, Isa and Levi were done, she did try to go in the gate as if it were her turn, but I scooped her up and we moved on and she didn't complain. Honestly, it really hurts my heart that she had to miss out. I'm sure one day, I'll probably hear about it when she reads this...

Isabelle and Ella LOVED it. This was Ella's first time being on a horse. It was so so cute. This little girl is not afraid of anything. Well, except falling off the counter at the church while getting her diaper changed. Her and Isabelle are definitely my little cowgirls. They LOVE horses!!

Here we are post-horse rides, post-two pumpkin patches, trying to burn a little time before taking Patrice to the airport and totally exhausted. While the weather was awesome, it was getting a little warm. We were way past nap times at this post, thirsty, hungry and hot. BUT...that doesn't mean Ella can't find some energy....

She climbed into the non-running barrel train, ready for a ride that was not going to happen. She was very happy she pulled it off and got in though. Then she decided to use all her strength and pull Levi around in a wagon. There was some grunting and groaning involved, but she totally did pull him. She's my rock star. :)

Overall, it was exhausting to do both patches at once, but I'm glad we did, cause how do you leave one out? The girls LOVED it all. They totally thrive in this outdoorsy/going on adventures/beautiful weather atmosphere. Boy, do we LOVE fall around here!! I never want it to come to an end. It is definitely the best season at our house. It's a good thing fall is followed by Christmas so I don't get too depressed about it ending! :)

We Love Fall: The Pumpkin Patch, Part 1

A week ago, today, we went to the Pumpkin Patch. I had one of my awesome aunts in town, Patrice, for work and she had a whole afternoon to spend with us. She's been out here a lot in the past 28+ years that we have lived here, so she's done most of the touristy stuff a couple of times over. Now when she comes, we just go on adventures with our kids and this one was perfect. Heather and Levi came with us too, and it was awesome to have four adults to four kids, instead of the two to four ratio we usually have when my mom and I take the kids to the museum or zoo. I have to admit, for the past couple of weeks now I have been having the hardest time looking at my kiddos as they are getting so big! I just can't believe that we went to the pumpkin patch without the stroller. It was awesome! 

The kids all love the cutouts that they have there. Some favorites included Blue's Clues, the Backyardigans, Sesame Street, Strawberry Shortcake, Dora and Ariel. It's so fun to watch all three of the girls get so very excited to see so many of their friends there. They also really really liked the wooden tractors and trains. I actually thought we would never get further than the entrance and into the actual patch cause we played in this area for so long. 

Eventually we did however....and the first thing we came to was a big bounce house slide. I don't know why I'm still surprised by Isabelle growing up and doing the big kid things...but I am. I didn't know that she would climb all the way to the top and slide down all by herself. She did so without any hesitation whatsoever. She loved it so much that we watched her go up and down several times. 

Levi loved it too and loved to go down with Isabelle by his side. These two are totally best friends. :)

Then there is Ella. Seriously, the girl is fearless. It really seems silly to me that I even thought twice about Isabelle being able to do this. Ella did it with no problem whatsoever too. Several times. She LOVED it!

Eventually, after being there for at least an hour, we finally made it over to the pumpkins. I don't know if I've ever seen Ella so happy. Ella and Emery, both, love pumpkins. Seeing a whole field full sent Ella into a running, screaming maniac. Seriously, some of the pictures I have are hilarious...but embarrassing. :) She wouldn't stop running around. It was so hilarious to watch. 

All of the girls really liked to sit on the pumpkins...once they settled down. 

They also loved the pumpkin house. This was probably Emery's favorite. She loved playing peek a boo and she definitely loves the smaller pumpkins cause she can hold them. 

These girls definitely have a total passion for adventures and pumpkins.