Pumpkin patch 2010

Let me just say how much I LOVE the month of October- it's my favorite month of the year. I love the cool weather (lately not so much), brisk air, and clear blue skies. I LOVE October because that means fall has officially arrived and everywhere you go, there is a reminder of something pumpkin. I love all the different pumpkins- the gourds, the ones with the "warts", and all the different shapes you can get. Every year I burn Yankee Pumpkin Pie candles, try to get in as many pumpkin spice latte's as one can (not daily people, but maybe one a week), I just finished off ate a batch of homemade pumpkin muffins over the last week, and we always try to stick to the tradition of taking the kids to the pumpkin patch. 

We normally go every year to the Old Christmas Tree farm which has its pumpkin patch on the weekends in Oct., and as much as I'd like to think it will be a cool, breezy day for good pictures, it's ALWAYS warm. This year we tried a place called TGR exotics and it was good but not grand. (The main reason I wanted to go was for the exotic African animals they have. Apparently that's an extra $35/person, so we defintiely didn't do that.) But it was fun, the kids had a great time running around and we came home with some great pumpkins...

 

 Riley got to paint her own mini pumpkin and covered it in glitter, which she was thrilled about.

 And Cole was happy doing some extra work helping out. He pulled it all the way back to the truck, and even gave his sister a ride. We brought home two large ones for us and two baby pumpkins for each of the kids.

 We spent the rest of the afternoon carving them out, which was no easy feat. At least for me because I chose spiders and bit off more than I should have. Let's just say that Brian carved three in the time it took me to carve one. The kids had been so excited to carve them out all morning so once we got to work, they wanted nothing to do with them, except watch!  This is Cole's puppy that he chose...

  Brian did all of these, except my pumpkin with the spiders. My mom and I both worked on it to make it go by faster. I had no idea how complicated it would be. Riley chose hers as a cat on the moon.

 We saved all the seeds and then seasoned them and roasted them. They came out pretty good and made for a good snack. I can't wait to do it all over again next year, when we will have three "pumpkins" of our own!