One last post for October

I almost forgot to post about this one because I was supposed to get more pictures but it never happened. Anyway, our farmer neighbor told Ben he could ride the harvester when it was time to take in the corn in the field behind our house. Ben was so excited. One morning (10/13) we heard the harvester going. Ben was all done with his school work, so I let him go outside to see if he could get a ride. He finally got the farmer's attention and was invited to go out. I got a few pictures before it started to rain on me. Unfortunately, due to the rain, the ride didn't last very long because it's not a good idea to harvest the corn when it's wet. Oh well. He was happy with what he got and that's important.

Roasting and carving

Last Monday we finally carved some pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. First, Kevin cut the tops off and cleaned them out. I took the seeds inside to clean them more and roast them. I put them in a butter/olive oil/salt mixture and then spread them out on two cookie sheets. Then I sprinkled them with sugar before putting them in the oven. This is what they looked like.


We ate them for refreshments after Family Home Evening. The kids liked them - they all gave thumbs up - but not enough to ask for them all the time because I still have some left. (They are harder to eat than I remember them - I end up spitting out the remaining stuff that doesn't want to go down.)

Then it was time to carve. Our friends came over to help out and I'm so glad they did or it would have taken a really long time to carve them all. I think they turned out great for our first time ever carving.

The pumpkin in the middle does change in the two dark pictures because Marissa wanted two faces on hers. It was a fun evening and maybe in a few years the kids can cut their own - when they can be trusted with sharp knives.

Marshmallow Friday

My visiting teacher came over last week and invited us to Marshmallow Friday. They have it at her house every other Friday - that's when she has three of her grandkids. My kids were so excited, almost as excited for this as they were for Trunk-or-Treating. I packed some warm clothes just in case and we headed to the north end of Saginaw yesterday. It was fun to be outdoors with the fire and woods and kids and Smores!

After the fun outside, we went inside to watch "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." My kids have never heard of that nor seen anything about that so they weren't even sure what it was about. For me, it brought back memories. Lucy really was mean, and it made me glad that we don't have TV. The kids enjoyed playing with the other kids and new toys and two cats. It was a fun evening and we may join them for more of these!

Trunk-or-Treating

We went to the parking lot at Church to enjoy some Trick-or-Treating. People from the ward gathered, with decorated car trunks, and handed out sweets to the kids. It was still light out and my friend came to help me with the kids. She took them around and I sat at my trunk with the baby. (It's the first time I have ever handed out candy.) My friend even took my camera to get pictures of the kids. It was a bit windy but nothing like it has been so we'll be thankful it was a breeze and leave it at that. I really think Halloween should be changed to the last Saturday of the month rather than the 31st - but maybe that's just me. Happy Spooking to all!

Here's my gang: Ben is a vampire, Marissa is Mulan (but she wore her coat on so you couldn't see her dress), Emily is Cinderella, Xiomara is "The Incredible Shrinking Woman", Kemiah is an elephant, and Domonique is a pea (see the next pic).






Some of the cars had games for the kids to play. This one was a stuffed animal tossing gaming. Notice Emily and Xiomara's hair is blowing.


This one was a riding game and they tried to knock over rolls of paper towels.

Xiomara just finished her turn. I saw her from my trunk... she knocked over most of the paper towels but there was one still standing so she hit it with her hand.

Two of my girls with Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat.


Why do kids really like the fake fangs?

She ate candy the whole time she was collecting it. The only reason she came home with any in her bag is because it takes time to eat each piece.

Ben was very excited to get his own set of teeth to complete his costume.

Me and the baby just hangin' out in the car.


I brought our jack-o-lanterns to decorate the trunk. I hope to get our carving pictures posted, too.

They look great!

Johnson's Pumpkin Patch

One of our friends mentioned going to the pumpkin patch so we went. It was nice to get out and see something new. I REALLY need to do more of these kinds of things. The kids were great with the group pictures that I wanted to take (except for one but I won't talk about that) and we really enjoyed seeing all the different animals. They had bunnies, goats, sheep, and fancy chickens. There was a blacksmith, a chainsaw wood carver, lots of pumpkins, and other booths selling stuff. There was a corn maze, a tractor train ride, face painting, and other things that cost money to do. They even had a giant catapult that they shot pumpkins out of to see if they could hit an ambulance parked about 750 feet away. (The pumpkin we saw went way past it.) It was a fun little trip and we left when it started to rain on us. Xiomara asked me why I didn't bring the umbrellas. I reminded her that when we lived on a tropical island I had a really hard time remembering the umbrellas, and it rained almost every day there. Besides, I think we left all our umbrellas on the island. Here are lots of pictures... enjoy!