Pumpkin carving

Pumpkin carving is so messy and fun!  I discovered a few years ago that our melon baller gets all the slimy inside stuff off super easy and clean, love it!  Two out of the three pumpkins I picked out couldn't really stand on their own...guess who picked the perfect "stand on it's own and round" pumpkin ;)

Hakan didn't really love cleaning them out, but really loved carving them, with help from us.  He picked out the one eye face, because it reminds him of Mike from Monster's Inc.  Adeline sort of helped daddy carve.  She liked pulling the pieces out after he carved them.

So we also all of sudden have a squirrel infestation around here and have never had a problem with them eating our pumpkins, but the first night after buying them, they had chunks taken out all over them, squirrels 1, pumpkins 0  After carving them, Hakan and I completely slathered them with vaseline, pumpkins win!  They're super shiny and slippery, but those squirrels don't mess with them.

Oh my goodness, this kid just cracks me up all the time, love him!

Of course we roasted our yummy seeds, some sweet, some savory, and they're already almost gone:(  Until next year!

Pumpkin Festival

Derek and I love to find things for us to do as a family.  We're not great planners, and do a lot of things last minute, but we're ok with that, lots of adventures:)  My mom and stepdad were in town for parents weekend at my sister's school and were going to their football game for the afternoon.  Knowing our kids would only last minutes at a football game, we decided not to go.  A friend posted that her church was having a pumpkin festival, so we got our costumes on and went to check it out.  It was a little chilly out, but our kids forget about that when there are fun things to do like bouncy toys, games, balloon animals, face painting, and cotton candy.

Oh Hakan, no idea what he was doing, but typical:)

Slinging potatoes.

"Mama, what's in this hair?!"  Hakan asking after tasting cotton candy for the first time:)

She's clutching that bag of candy like her life depended on it.

P.S. Adeline's headband is listed here in my shop if you're interested:)

Apples, Pumpkins and Corn

Derek's family was in town for a full fun weekend.  We were able to go to Sweetland to pick some of the last apples off the trees, visit with friends, and play with the dogs in some beautiful weather:)

I was also babysitting a friend's sweet baby girl who was napping while I was snacking:)

It's always such a funny thing when all the leaves fall off the trees, but the apples are still holding strong.

Hakan was convinced this dead ladybug was actually alive.

Chasing chickens in the woods.

Pahl's Market, right down the road from us, has this pretty awesome corn pit, hay maze and pumpkins. 

Hakan jumping in, ha!

Hay maze.

  

Making little acorn people with grandma.

Halloween

Did everyone have a good Halloween?!  I'm not sure there is anything cuter than kids in costumes!  I could do without the whole candy part, but what can you do.

Hakan went as Spiderman and Adeline wore a chicken costume from last year, so a little small, but still oh so cute!

Hakan's preschool class got all dressed up and sang songs for all the parents, absolutely the cutest thing!  Even though he's wearing his mask, I could hear him singing and picture his little face.

This is The Itsy Bitsy Spider, but with the super busy mama spider :)  So true.

The MN Zoo always has Hallzooween for members, but every year I miss the registration.  This year I put a reminder in my phone and registered right when you could.  It is free and so much fun!  Lots of non candy things were handed out, plus you could look at all the animals too, what could be better?!

Snakes freak me out, but they are such an amazing animal, especially if you get to touch one!

Skink!

Spiderman, Tinkerbell and a chicken (tucked in the back) . Sweet friends.

We had a puuuuuuuuurfect halloween!