Carving Pumpkins

We had TONS of pumpkins this year: we each picked one out at the pumpkin patch, N2 each got one on a field trip and they each got one from another event (I can't remember what event anymore).  I thought we would only carve the big ones but N2 were insistent that we carve ALL  the pumpkins.  That meant scooping out 8 pumpkins.  Luckily it was a beautiful October day (too bad it didn't stay that way for Halloween) and we were able to do it outside.  I started it when I got home from work, then N2 helped me when they got off the bus.  We had them all scooped out by the time Brian got home (lucky him!)  I did make N2 scoop out the small pumpkins.

 Then they designed their faces using chalk on the driveway and drew the faces on the pumpkins.  They carved the pumpkins pretty much entirely themselves.  I love how independent they are!

I took pictures of them another day with their pumpkins.  It was red ribbon week at school and it was mustache day (not sure what that has to do with red ribbon week but I have stopped trying to figure out their school-it generally doesn't make sense).  They wanted to take pictures with their mustaches on.

Here are our pumpkins lit up at night.

Botanic Gardens HallowFest

Mom had bought tickets for us to attend a Halloween party at the Botanic Gardens but mom wasn't feeling well so Brian and I took N2.  It was a beautiful day!  Sunny and warm (for October).  The kids wore their costumes and everyone seemed to love Noah's Harry Potter costume.  Noah loved his costume and wore the robe and glasses for several weeks before Halloween.  I think he makes a pretty cute and contemplative Harry.

We got to see the outdoor train exhibit and got there right when Mt. St. Helens was erupting.  We also saw Old Faithful a couple times.

Noah liked that there was a bear attack and they both liked Mt. Rushmore since we had been there this past summer.

We then went to see a presentation by the Frog Lady.  She showed lots of frogs and reptiles. Natalie was particularly intrigued by the bearded dragons, probably because the lady put hats on them and they just sit where you put them.  Natalie now wants bearded dragons.  (The snake in the top picture is not real but they could have held a snake and they chose not to).

We then waited to see fortune tellers which turned out to be real mediums.  I don't think N2 got it at all.  Oh well, we know for the future.  We took a ride around on the tram and then headed home as it was getting to be pretty late.  We had a great time.  Sorry you couldn't join us that day, Mom.

Corn Maze

Noah's Cub Scout troop had an outing to the corn maze.  It was Boy Scout day there so there were tons of groups there.  We walked around the maze on our own.  It was packed-I don't think I've seen so many people there!  It was another beautiful and warm weekend in October (we've had pretty warm weather this fall/winter except for around Halloween).  N2 tried to lead us from one checkpoint to another.  They could do OK but we did have to reorient the map for them and correct some of their mistakes so that we didn't get off track.

They have so many things to do at the corn maze now besides just the maze itself.  They have huge slides that N2 love, bouncy pillows, and so much more to play on plus other things you can pay to do (like zip line).  I have more pictures of Natalie because I had to follow her around and Brian and Noah split off to do some other things.

I had to buy Natalie overalls for her Halloween costume and she has fallen in love with them.  She wears them whenever they are clean and calls them her "ogrealls" which is quite cute.  I told her I used to love having young kids in overalls because they were easy to hold on to so they needed us to demonstrate (Noah wanted in on the action even though he doesn't have overalls).

Pumpkin farm

Now that my class is over I have more time in the evenings and can post some old pictures.  Earlier back in October, on a beautiful day, we went to a pumpkin farm to get our pumpkins from the patch and enjoy the other things there.  We went to get our pumpkins first and we found some very large ones!

 Then we enjoyed some apple donuts, playing in the corn crib and the sand box.  We had a fun time!

Our Elf Returns

Peanut returned to our house on Sunday, November 29th.  N2 were very excited to see him and they have a lot of fun tracking him down every day.  They have even taken it upon themselves to hide elves for Brian and I to find (I'm not sure if Noah has figured it out or not but he is definitely questioning things.  Natalie still buys into it all).

The first day Peanut streamered the kids into their rooms.  They kept the streamers up all day and went in and out of their rooms by crawling under the bottom streamer.

 Peanut hung out with the penguins in the freezer with the ice cubes,

played cards with four armed Mr. Potato head, 

 drew minions on the bananas (which N2 loved and ran around the house yelling bananas in minion talk), 

 walked the dogs and panda (it was a pain to get him to stand-he did get surgery to have wires added to his arms and legs but that didn't help),

zipline across the living room to the Christmas tree (he did move throughout the day),

got tied up by lego guys (this is the one Noah couldn't figure out-he questioned how the lego guys got there),

 (poor Santa was even in handcuffs)

 and practiced yoga on the wii board.

Noah's Room

I finally got some pictures of Noah's room back in October.  Here is what it looks like with space decals, space sheets and space decor.

Brian is still going to add some some artwork on the wall you can't see and I found this really cool thing called moon in my room that lights up like the real moon and has a built in lunar clock so that the moon will follow the phases of the moon.  I think we are going to ask for it for his birthday.