We headed out to the Pumpkin Patch at Maple Lane Farms on Saturday. It has become tradition that we get the kids picture in front of the "How Tall This Fall?" sign so we can compare each year to the last - It is so incredible how fast they kids grow! It was a great day for it - the weather was perfect and the patch wasn't too crowded (even for a Saturday!). The kids were excited to pick their pumpkins, but we decided to let them play at the mini carnival there and go through the haunted house before we had to carry the pumpkins back to the car. They were all exited to ride the little train, ferris wheel and slide down the big slide - especially Kate. She really got into the whole experience this year and it was very cute. After a bland start, the haunted house got better and scared the bigger kids enough to make them hurry through to the end while Kate kept whispering to me that it was very dark in there and a 'lil bit scary, Mommy, just a lil bit scary." After all the rides were done we headed for the hay ride to take us out to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins for each of us. The kids are always anxious to draw their own faces on and they can't wait to carve them out. It was cute to watch them this year as they both had gotten a little more picky about the pumpkin they picked - rather than grabbing the first one they found like previous years. Kate wanted a 'lil bitty pumpkin, mommy' and didn't find her pick until we returned from the patch to pay for the pumpkins. I was glad she finally found one she approved of and was little bitty enough for her. Ha! Rachel and Noah tested many and finally picked out the ones they wanted also. I always love this experience - fall, the colors, the smells, the big smiles on the kids faces, all of it - It was a great day!
We had an awesome day today! We picked up the kids from school and headed home to carve our pumpkins into jackolanterns. So. Much. Fun. :) The kids had already drawn out their faces a few days before, so all they had to do was scoop out the goop from the insides of their pumpkins. They both did a great job this year getting the seeds out and emptying out the yucky stuff. After the pumpkins were clean I set to work to carve out the designs they had drawn. They were both so proud of the faces they had designed and couldn't wait to see them finished. After we got them finished we decided to go to McAlister's for dinner since it was Kid's Night there - kids eat free on Wednesdays and the night's activity was face painting. The lady doing it was a pro and the kids faces were amazing! They were both so happy! We fed the family that night for $2.88! The kids all ate free and Doug and I both used a Dinner Club card (buy 9 meals - get the 10th free) that we had been saving. It was great! Kate wanted her face painted when we got home (she didn't ask while we were there) and then we snapped a few pics of all of them (of course!). They didn't want to wash the face paint off! It was definitely a great day!
