Fall Fun!

We've had a whirlwind of fun fall activities here this week...

CARVING PUMPKINS
David had the idea to make a 'menu' for the children to pick what type of pumpkin they would like. They were able to customize their pumpkins and it made carving time go very smoothly.
Caroline helped to get the pumpkin guts out so we could roast the seeds. We like to add various seasonings to them. This year, we did garlic salt, parmesan cheese and seasoned salt.

David has learned that using gloves helps to make the carving/gutting process much nicer.

I'd gotten caramel apples for the kiddos to enjoy while we carved. Jonathan was really enjoying his!

Caroline liked the caramel more so than the apple. They were very sour apples!

Elizabeth was smitten!

Matthew just hung out in the high chair while we carved.

The end result! They all loved them and thought their own was the best.

LEAVES

We had a beautiful day and I took advantage of it with the kiddos! Elizabeth thought it was great fun to help rake the leaves!

She and Jonathan made quick work of our leaf pile by jumping, throwing and being buried by the leaves.

Matthew was not so fond of the leaves....

'Look at this, Mama!'

Jonathan took this picture of Matthew and I. Yes, I finally am in a picture :) I think he did a good job. He'd had practice since he'd gotten ahold of his cousin's new camera earlier in the week and took several pictures!

We'd also raked a big pile of leaves at the bottom of the slide. That was fun too!

Caroline missed out on the afternoon blue skies, but it was still nice after she'd gotten home from school for a little bit of time to play. I love her expression in this picture!

SCHOOL PARTY

I am one of three room moms for Caroline's class this year. That means that we get to plan the parties. We also had some other moms who came to help out. We had several stations with different activities for the kids. There was Candy Corn Bingo, Pumpkin Bowling, a Halloween story with snack, musical chairs and making a craft.

We are big fans of the foam crafts, except they are like rabbits in my eyes (they multiply like crazy!) We made picture frames, decorated them and then took a class picture to put in them.

This was the class making their best scary faces!

HARVEST BASH

Our church puts on a big outreach event where there are games, bounce houses, food and even a magician! Our boys had a Star Wars theme going on with David as 'Luke Skywalker' carrying Matthew as 'Master Yoda' and Jonathan was 'Anakin Skywalker'. Jonathan character is David's character's father.

Elizabeth just loves Matthew to pieces. The look on his face here is priceless!!

Caroline was a bunny and Elizabeth was a butterfly. I caught a lot of flack for not dressing up, but I'm hardly ever in pictures, so would it really matter?!?! Here, they were enjoying cookies they had decorated.

The Magician with a Mission.

We didn't play too many games, but Elizabeth really liked this one...seriously, who doesn't love Plinko!! She could barely reach the top, but she was determined to do it all by herself. Her lastest favorite phrase is "I do it, I do it, I do it!!"

Whew! What a week! Sure was lots of fun!