Halloween Craftin' and Pumpkin Patchin'

We've had a Fall filled with Halloween crafts.  That's right.  Us.  Crafty.  Believe it.

Daddy proved his skills with an x-acto knife and some empty water jugs to make Maksim's Halloween skeleton.  His favorite part?  Riding in the car with his new, spooky friend.

Word on the street was that Maksim was very concerned about the lack of a 5-point harness for his friend.  Skeletons gotta buckle up for safety, too!

We attended our small town's Cider Festival, but I'm out of photos from the event.  Live music, pumpkin decorating, face painting, hay rides and pressing our own cider.  The pumpkins made their way home, but the cider disappeared before the day was over.

Guess who received flowers?  That'd be me.  Rare occurrence.

Our neighboring small town hosts a Pumpkin Festival every year.  We were sure to check it out, as locals raved about it.  All in all, it was pretty fair-like.  Mostly deep fried foods (seriously, everything), vendor booths and kids' rides/games.  Maks chose to save his Halloween money for his costume and buying a pumpkin, so we skipped out on the rides.  However, Daddy was quick to offer up his own "fun money" and teach the boys to aim and shoot.  No surprise there.

Maksim

Deklan

Our little library is quaint, in the middle of "the village," and keeps us occupied with fun events.  No-carve pumpkin decorating was a hit.  We walked away with a blood thirsty bat, a bejeweled beauty, a melted Crayola mess and a spooky spider webbed gourd.

No mess pumpkin decorating FTW!

BUT...What's Fall without a trip to the Pumpkin Patch?  Before Bryon boarded a plane for Louisiana for a week, we loaded up the car and drove down to Massachusetts to visit Parlee Farms.

Another rare occurrence.  Family photo.  NEED. TO. BOOK. FAMILY. PHOTOS. STAT!

Each boy got to pick his perfect pumpkin.  For Maksim, that meant the BIGGEST pumpkin we'd allow.  On the other hand, we needed to direct Deklan away from the tiny, cream colored pumpkins towards something we could actually carve.  The selected pumpkins will stay safely hidden at home until Bryon returns next weekend for carving.  If not for hiding them, I'm sure the poor gourds wouldn't last a week in my children's' not-so-gentle care.  In the meantime, wish me luck flying solo for a week with my own 2 pumpkins - 3 if you count Kira.