Pumpkin Fun

I can hardly believe that I am only just posting my pumpkin pics and tomorrow it will be December, time is really flying by!

Since we didn't go trick or treating on Halloween night, we decided it would be fun to enjoy a family activity and carve our pumpkins.

Amelia didn't waste a minute and was very excited to help with her own pumpkin, although after experiencing the feeling of the slimy guts of the pumpkin, she decided that mummy could take care of the inside.

Daddy had the biggest pumpkin, and had to work hard to carve his.

If you look closely at Amelia's pumpkin below, you will see tiny holes on the side (double click on the photo to enlarge). This was her design idea, her pumpkin has freckles.

After all the hard work was done, it was time to show off each of our fun designs.

Great job daddy, your pumpkin is almost as big as Amelia.

I carved an owl sitting on a branch, I love owls.

Next, it was time to put them on the porch and wait until it got dark.

Here's Amelia, candy in hand, ready for our spooky visitors.

Once the sun went down, we lit the pumpkins, we thought they looked really great.

When she wasn't answering the door and handing out candy, Amelia helped me to make an apple pie, yum!

The three of us enjoyed a very fun day, I love the traditions we take part in each year. I especially love the memories we make together!

Trunk or Treat

This year, for Halloween, our church organized a trunk or treat, which was nice, since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year. The trunk or treat took place on Saturday night.

Amelia dressed up as the cutest kitten I've ever seen, she helped to pick her costume this year, and funnily enough, this was the one outfit she didn't want to try on, but when she did, she decided it was her favourite of the four she tried.

Now I'm not sure what to label the photo below, Beauty and the Beast perhaps? Daddy dressed up as a "red-neck", oh my, did he enjoy being in character? Yep, it almost came too naturally!

There were fun games for the children to play, like fishing...

...and trying to eat a doughnut hanging on a sting, without using your hands.

Now how about this for this year's Christmas card. (unfortunately, we ran out of time and I was unable to dress up - such a shame!!!)

Amelia saw her friends, who all looked so cute, here she is with Addison.

For my English family and friends out there, a trunk or treat is where everybody decorates the boot (or trunk) of their car and the children go to each car to collect candy, instead of going to houses, hence the name 'trunk' or treat. Here's Matthew giving out candy from our car.

After collecting all of her candy (which was a lot), Amelia helped to give out the candy, in fact she pretty much took over.

A friend joined her for a few minutes.

It was nice to see that she enjoyed giving as much as receiving.

Here she is checking out her 'loot'.

It was truly a fun event, spent with friends from church.

Although we didn't go out on the actual Halloween night, Amelia had a great time seeing other children who came to our door dressed up. Just like at the trunk or treat, she enjoyed sharing our candy with others.

Happy belated Halloween everyone!

My Busy Bee

My original thought for Amelia's halloween costume this year was for her to be a cute li'l bumble bee. However, after buying the cutest costume, we realized that it ran super small, didn't fit her very well at all and to make matters worse, didn't come in a bigger size. I ended up exchanging it for something else, but not before taking some photo's of her. She was adorable and fluttered around as though she was dancing amongst flowers.





Check back soon to see what costume she did end up having for halloween, it was super cute!

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

One of our family traditions, is to go to the pumpkin patch on or around Amelia's birthday. This year, we were excited that Nana and Papa were here to share in the fun. We decided to go to Heiser Farms Pumpkin Patch, a locally owned farm, the day before Amelia's birthday. There was so much to do and see, but the nice thing was, the variety of fun activities for all ages, especially toddlers. It didn't harm that the weather was fabulous either.

We enjoyed a ride on a miniature train, Amelia loved it!

Matthew's favourite were the pumpkin cannon's, it was amazing just how far the pumpkin's would fly through the air.

As you can see below, Amelia wasn't too keen on the cannon's and didn't particularly enjoy the noise they made.

Whilst Matthew, Nana and Papa watched the cannon, Amelia and I had fun on the hay-bale and slide.

She was so brave and didn't hesitate to climb up to the top of the hay-bales. It was nice to see the other, older children, step back and allow her to take her turn.

A colourful clown made her a balloon dog.

Then, it was time to pump water down a chute, and push the rubber ducks into the barrel at the end.

Ah, the pony ride, one of Amelia's favourite's. She loves animals. There was also a petting zoo, she was so excited that she got to pet a pig!

"Giddy up cowgirl!"

Papa always makes friends with the strangest of characters, on this day, he was particularly drawn to a real bone-head. Now I've heard of pulling someone's leg, but papa pulled this guy's forearm right off, luckily we were able to fix it and no damage was done.

Wow! Look at the huge pumpkin - how much do you think it weighs? If you guessed correctly you would have won a big jar of candy.

Nana, Amelia and I went for a ride on the top of a local fire engine...the siren was loud, but it was so much fun to drive around the farm.

Finally, it was time to get on the tractor/hayride and head over to the pumpkin patch.

The pumpkin patch was great. All of the pumpkins were still attached to the vine, the freshest you can get!

Amelia wasted no time trying to find the perfect one.

So many to choose from...

...perhaps this is the best one...

"Phew!" this is hard work, time for a quick rest amongst the corn stalks.

What about a white pumpkin?

Daddy came over to help her choose the perfect one.

Everybody chose their favourite, here's Matthew, Amelia and I in front of ours.

Next year I'll bring my gloves, the stalks were quite prickly.

Nana and papa had a lovely time, their first real pumpkin patch experience.

As with all good things, our visit to Heiser's Farms came to an end, and as you can see below, Amelia was not happy about that at all. In fact, another parent saw her melt down by the car and told her child "see, it must be fun, that little girl doesn't want to leave!"

Ah well, it truly was the perfect family day out!