Friday, November 02, 2012

Pumpkins and Halloween

I love October.  I love Halloween, the beginning of fall, and pumpkin patches.  Jess and I went to a local farm and got lost in their corn maze.  Sauchuk Farm has the BEST apple cider and cider donuts.  We spent a few hours there between the corn maze, the jumping pillow, buying pumpkins, and taking a wagon ride.  When it came to trick or treating this year, we went to Haunted Hallways at Jess's school, the mall, and the neighborhood.  I always laugh when people say their kids can't make up their minds what they want to be right up until Halloween.  Jess decides in February what to be the following October because for the past few years, my friend has bought her costumes for me when she did her annual trip to Disney World.  Her parents worked there and she got a great deal on them.  Her parents have left WDW so not sure what we'll be doing next year. Although.....Jess is talking about being Merida next year so I'll need to keep an eye out for a sale.  Haunted Hallways was fun.  We used to go to this event with Jason when he was little.  People decorate the school and the kids trick or treat as they walk through the halls.  On Halloween, we started off at the mall where Jess saw a friend from her kindergarten class last year.  We spent about an hour going from store to store getting candy, stickers, and advertisements.  Jess's bag got a hole in it which we didn't realize until I saw the trail of candy we were leaving.  A stop at Target, a princess gift bag, and we were good to go again.  We headed home and hit the neighborhood.  An hour and a half later, Jess was one tuckered out princess.

Heading into the corn maze at Sauchuk Farm

Jumping pillow at Sauchuk Farm


Heading with Mike through the entrance at Haunted Hallways

Jess and her friends at Haunted Hallways.  Her friend, Sadie, was also Rapunzel but wore the wig.  I didn't bother with the wig because I knew Jess wouldn't want to wear it.  In our house, the rule is if you ask me to buy it, you have to wear it so Jess decided she didn't want me to buy it.  

Jess with the pumpkin she picked out.


Scooping out the insides
She wanted a scary pumpkin.  Here's she's poking out the pieces I cut.
Last year, a squirrel stole her little pumpkin out of her big pumpkin's mouth.  She's hoping they'll do it again.  Last year, she wasn't so happy that the squirrel did that.

I made chicken pot pie the night before Halloween and instead of a regular top crust, I cut out pumpkin shapes with a cookie cutter and used a knife to cut jackolantern faces.  All we had  to do when I got home from work on Halloween was put it in the oven to warm up and we were ready for a night of trick or treating.

We use a woodstove a lot when the weather gets cold.  You can often find a cat hanging out on top of the wood and enjoying the warmth from the stove.



My little princess.  She didn't want to wear a long sleeve shirt under her dress so went with a sweater instead.  

Trick or treating at the mall.

Trick or treating at a family from church.

The princess's loot


One tuckered out princess