Carving Pumpkins

We carved our pumpkins a few days before Halloween.

Benjamin had the biggest pumpkin, and he carved it all by himself.

He did have some help from Dad cleaning all the seeds out, though.

Our new little orphaned 5 week old kitten that we adopted was fascinated by everything that was going on. 

 

We didn't let Robert carve his pumpkin, because it was so small, so Elisabeth helped him draw a face and decorate it with markers.

The girls had very elaborate ideas for their pumpkin carvings.  Elisabeth wanted Sophia the First, Emily decided to do Olaf on her white pumpkin, and Leilani free handed a carving of Cinderella in her pumpkin coach.

The kitten decided to check out Benjamin's pumpkin while Leilani carved her pumpkin.

Leilani put in a lot of time - she worked on it two different days - and her final picture was awesome!

Emily ended up carving Elisabeth's pumpkin for her, as well as doing her own pumpkin.

Leilani also ended up carving my pumpkin for me, since I was sewing her Halloween costume for her.  I wanted a handcart, since we went on trek this year.  I think she did a great job with it!

Pumpkin Patch 2014 - Part 2 - The Corn Maze

When we got back from the pumpkin patch, we unloaded and paid for our pumpkins.

 

 Then we headed over to the corn maze.

Emily and Robert were the only kids that stuck with me, so we had to find and catch up to the others to get any pictures of them.

 The kids like to leave the path inside the maze and hide in the corn.

 Then they jump out at each other and scare each other.  Kim's whole family hid in the corn and jumped out at us while we were in the maze.

 

When we were done playing in the maze, we went around the rest of the farm and took some pictures.

The three girls posed in the flower beds.

 We met up with the rest of the family for a group picture on the wagon.

 Then we found some pumpkin elves...

and the older girls found a Halloween date.

As we headed back to the cars, we stopped for some pictures at the covered bridge.

 

We had a good time, and it was great weather this year!  I am so glad that we were able to continue our family traditions at the pumpkin patch.

Pumpkin Patch 2014 - Part 1 - The Patch

We went on our annual family pumpkin patch outing last week
.  We always go to Thistledown farm, and we try to go with as many family members as possible.  This year we were able to go with my mom and dad, Kim's family and Jeff's family.

We started out at the hay maze while we waited for our wagon to go out to the pumpkin patch.

The kids always have a lot of fun playing in the hay maze!

They love to be with their cousins, and it is always a fun family time for us.  Our kids love going with their cousins so much, that they actually pooled their money and paid for our family to go this year.   We told the kids that we were going to have to wait until their dad got paid, and skip going with their cousins this year, but they didn't want to do that. 

 

 We pretty much took up the whole wagon with our family members.

 The kids LOVE to ride the wagon out to the pumpkin patch.

 

 

Then the hunt for the perfect pumpkin begins.

 

 

Alan ends up carrying the big ones for our family.

 

We traditionally get a family picture in the patch every year.  It is fun to look back and see how our kids have grown up each year.

 

 

Robert loved the pumpkin patch!  He keeps asking if we can go again.