October Madness

I think October is one of the busiest months of the year! 

I LOVE the weather and all the fun fall activities and we make the most of it each year. These past 2 weeks have been so busy with fall activities, festivals and parties that I have barely had time to catch my breath. But now, all but Trick-or-Treat is over (it is rescheduled for Saturday because of the storm) so here are some highlights.

Fall Festival at Church

I helped plan this festival and we worked hard for weeks, planning a bonfire and hayride, but unfortunately we were rained out. We held the festival inside and it still turned out great!

                       

                          Play time!

Family Relay Races

Pumpkin Decorating

And we had many more fun activities too!

 Fall Fun in the Leaves

What is fall without jumping in the leaves?

                     

                 

                             

 Dayton Mama's Halloween Party

It seems my luck was not with me this year, as we ended up with rain for this party too! But of course, the kids knew no difference and they had a great time with their friends!

making picture frames

Look at this cute table of friends!

Do you think she is happy with her ladybug?

Melina decorating her pumpkin

Logan and Carl had a good time hangin' out!

Arrr Matey!

The whole Crew!

 Pumpkin Carving!

Meeka "drew" a face and Michael helped her carve it. Then she drew some more. While everyone else was carving she was "feeding" her hungry pumpkin with all the scraps.

Melina did a great job carving her own Spider. She made a spider last year too and decided it was perfect choice for a pumpkin and she would make it again!

Logan modeled his after a picture on the Internet of a spooky pumpkin. This was his 2nd choice…no one is our family has the talent to carve his first choice! :)

Making some Fun Fall Things!

We did a couple projects too in between all the party fun! 

Did you know if you put a bar of Ivory Soap in the microwave for about 2 minutes it turns into a big cloud? The kids thought this was too cool! 

They played with it for a bit and then we put the soap in Halloween ice cube trays and made little soaps.

They took at bath in the dark with some soaps and a bunch of glow sticks! Talk about FUN!!! 

We made some caramel apples too!

Melina's Kindergarten Halloween Party

I did a pumpkin theme for her party. We read a book about Pumpkins, made a pumpkin craft and played pumpkin games! In the end I had the kids wrap all the Mommies up at Mummies! They got a kick out of that!

Playing games
 

Making her Pumpkin with toilet paper and tissue paper.

Aren't they a cute crew!

Meeka's Preschool Halloween Party!

Meeka and Carson having snack.
We made cuties into jack-o-lanterns for snack and they had a cookie too!

Making her handprint bat.

I have to say, I am happy about the Trick-or-Treat re-schedule! I was one of the people writing the major and the city planner asking for it! Yes, I remember Trick-or-Treating in the snow and cold, but not 50 mile an hour wind gusts. And now that I am a grown up, I have no desire to walk outside for 2 hours in the rain, snow and cold! So this Saturday afternoon from 4-6 we take to the streets to beg for candy!

Pumpkin Playdate

Yesterday the kids had their weekly playdate and we painted a pumpkin, because what kids don't love to paint a pumpkin, and for the big boys I gave them a hammers and golf teas and a large pumpkin. The boys decided the golf teas were bullets and they were murdering the pumpkin. All of the kids had a good time. After the big boys were finished the younger kids took to the holey pumpkin. I gave them the wooden mallet from a toy though instead of a big hammer. It was a good exercise in coordination for the little ones.

Painting the pumpkin

Carson painted for a long time.

The finished product.

"Hmmm…where should we shoot him next?"

checking out the latest wounds

Meeka in action!

The final murdered pumpkin

Fall Festivities and Weekend Fun!

We had a fun filled jam-packed weekend. Here are some of our highlights. 

The Pumpkin Barn

We went to playtime at the Pumpkin Barn on Friday with Dayton Mamas. Lot of friends and fun, but it was COLD!

These two cousin troublemakers were climbing the fence to get a better look at the combine harvester.

Two out of Three 2 & 3 yr olds looking in the same direction and smiling is not bad!

Burying themselves in the corn

Checking out the animals

Headfirst into the hay

Fun at Home

I made a giant spider web in our living room and dining room on Friday. We had fun exploring it and finding different ways to navigate through the web. I had the kids do "trust leads" through the web as well. It was a great experience for Logan and Melina to trust each other to lead them through without getting hurt or tangled. They took it very seriously.

Just because this was cute!

Logan working his way through

Big Step!

Logan leading Melina. She had her eyes closed.

Corn Maze

The Boy Scouts had their annual corn maze day on Saturday at Sweet Apple Farm. We accidentally took the hard maze instead of the easy one…we were defiantly LOST in the maze! I think the boys had a good time…not so sure about the rest of the crew.

Melina had a couple of girl friends to keep her busy.

Carl was our leader through the maze.

Carson just wanted to hide in the corn

Acres and acres of maze

Enjoying and Apple Cider Slushy after the maze

Strikes Against Breast Cancer

Our Babysitters sorority was hosting a fundraiser for Breast Cancer, so Logan, Melina and I went bowling for 2 hours to support them. We bowled 3 games and they could have done more. It was very enjoyable! And the turnout for the event was fantastic! They said they raised more money than ever!

Logan bowled great and many times he never even hit the bumpers!

Melina used the bumpers to her advantage!

I got into the action as well!