Carving Pumpkins

We waited until late in the afternoon on Halloween to carve pumpkins; Alyssa and I were shopping in the morning, and I wanted to wait until the boys were done napping to begin. Despite out late start, and rushed job, the jacks all turned out good, and the kids enjoyed themselves.

I take my carving seriously. I really enjoy carving a pumpkin, and I'm pretty good with the knife. However, I usually take hours and hours the night before Halloween to carve, so this rushed situation was frustrating for me. Just the same, I cranked out two good quickies. :)

Alyssa and Theo pulled the goo out of the pumpkins.

Dad helped the kids carve this white pumpkin:

Hunter is such a ham.

The boys' pumpkin:

Alyssa's pumpkin:

My cat in a cemetary pumpkin:

My witch pumpkin:

There were some amazing pumpkin designs on our trick-or-treating journey I wanted to share. One house in town always does these giant pumpkin creations. I have never been able to go to this house on Halloween, as we've never actually taken the kids trick-or-treating beyond our immediate neighborhood. I have to say, these jacks were darn cool. They do this one every year:

This guy might be making his second appearance:

This is definately a newer one:

Too cool, or two cool:

This was their newest pumpkin idea... a tree was taken down this year at the front of their lot, and they put this guy in it's place. Hilarious.

Hope you nejoyed our small town jack-o-lantern display... more to come with the kids' costumes and our trick-or treating journey.

More pumpkins...

Back at the beginning of October Ben's class took a field trip to a local farm to learn about pumpkins and farm animals. Hunter and I tagged along, and I took a few pictures to share with you. Enjoy!
The kids are looking at a baby cow in his house.

Exploring pumpkins.

Goats.

A big ol' mama sheep let the kids pet her.

Autumn just starting back then...

The class, Ben's wearing a big gray hat.

Class with teacher:

Hunter horses around.

The class again.

The farm owner's home was picture perfect.

Ben's on the left side of the bench in the right of the photo.

Much more to come, as usual. I'm way behind.

Tanner's Apple Orchard, near Peoria, IL

We try to get down to Peoria a few times a year to see Theo's family and spend some quality time with Me-maw. This year we thought we'd try and see some of the Peoria area fall activities. We joined Me-Maw for a trip to the same orchard Theo visited when we was a little kid. Tanner's Apple Orchard was a great place to spend an afternoon; the boys hopped from pumpkin to pony, from train to slide, and were exhausted by the time we left. Oh, and we came home with some of the best caramel apples I've ever had, and a nice pie, too.

Here are some of the many pumpkins/squash they offered.

Ben reluctantly stops eating kettle corn to take a picture.

Hunter just refuses to take a picture.


Tons of petting and animal feeding, Llamas, goats, and more.


And Pony rides! The boys loved it.




Tanner's has a huge play area filled with buses, fire trucks, tractors, swings, mazes, slides, and more.



They also had this cute train for the boys to ride. They seemed to really like it, and we were impressed that Hunter didn't climb out of the seat during the ride.


Me and the love of my life.

More playground fun:




Inside the gift shop, which was beautiful, but very crowded and overwhelming.

It was so hot outside that day... Hunter drank whatever he could get his hands on.

Before we left we took some pictures out front.

Happy Fall from the Rex's!