Happy Halloween

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

We spent the afternoon at Grandma's house where we carved our pumpkins. This year Garrett got to carve his own pumpkin. Anna did hers with a little help and Sam really had no interest in carving pumpkins.

For about the last 4 years I have really disliked Halloween. It was exhausting. It was a battle to get everyone dressed, the kids were excited and I was yelling. Once everyone was finally dressed I would attempt the picture--I could never get a good picture and would eventually give up. I was mad before we left the house. We usually only made about 5 stops and then at least 1 kid was crying and Mom was exhausted and we had plenty of candy. I think we have finally turned the corner--Halloween was actually kind of enjoyable for me this year. I don't have to carry any kids or worry about dirty diapers. So here are some pictures of my darling little Trick-or-Treaters!

Anna the Mermaid.
My Mom is the costume artist.
Sam the baseball player.
Sam loves to play baseball so I chose his costume this year.
Garrett wanted to be something SCARY so he chose Frankinstein. It was simple so I agreed.
Here is the group picture I managed to get. I guess I had a little advantage this year since Garrett had a mask. That was one less kid I had to worry about having an open mouth or closed eyes.

Stilts and Pumpkins

Mimma & Papa came to visit over the weekend. Several weeks ago Anna decided she needed stilts. When you are 4 and really want something, what do you do? Call Papa. So, Papa made a pair of stilts for each of the kids. They had a great time.

Garrett got the hang of it right away.



Anna is one determined little girl. It did not take her long and she was walking around the yard without any assistance.

My kids love to go to the pumpkin patch. We may live in a very small town (pop. 197) in Central Kansas where there is not a lot going on but when October arrives there is a very cool pumpkin patch 1 mile south of town. In years when the weather in nice we might visit the pumpkin patch 2 or 3 times. So, this weekend while my parents were visiting we make our first trip of the season to Granny Mae's Pumpkin Patch. Interests have changed a little now that they are older. We used to only do the barrel train, play on the big round hay bales and get a few pumpkins. Now that they are older they have discovered the corn maze and some old fashion carnival games. Our one steady tradition through the years that the kids look forward to is having a bottled Root Beer and making S'mores over the fire.


Enjoy the next few photos from Granny Mae's. Sam was home taking a nap so I didn't take the time to get a picture of all the kids. I will attempt that on our next trip to Granny Mae's.



Anna picked her perfect pumpkin. It was just her size.

Anna gave Garrett a ride in the pumpkin wagon while we were picking our own pumpkin.
Then they traded and big brother did the work.