Pumpkin Carving

This past Saturday we carved our pumpkins for Halloween. The boys were really excited about it.

First, I opened each pumpkin.


Then the boys used spoons to scoop out the pumpkin seeds. Neither of them were too excited about the "gooey" stuff.


Since they were only getting an average of one pumpkin seed out per scoop, Justin and I had to step in to help the process along.


After a little guidance, the boys were very focused on their work.


After the pumpkins were cleaned out, it was time to carve them. Of course, since that includes using sharp knives, the boys aren't able to be hands on during this part. However, I did have Garytt describe what kind of face he wanted on the pumpkin. So, he told me he wanted square eyes, a triangle nose and a mad mouth. You can see I'm drawing my idea of a mad mouth onto a napkin to see if that's what he wanted.
 

After I had it all carved out, Garytt wanted to use the pumpkin face as a puzzle.
 

Next, Garytt and Justin worked on drawing a face on the second pumpkin. Then, I was in charge of carving it out. Garytt monitored my progress.


All done!


The boys seemed to enjoy the pumpkin carving. However, once we threw away the pieces to the "puzzle," Garytt had a complete meltdown. Apparently, that was the coolest puzzle ever. He eventually got over it and now they check on their pumpkins every chance they get.

LODO Pumpkin Patch

Little One's Day out hosted a pumpkin patch day on Tuesday, October 8. Although it wasn't a school day for either of the boys, any LODO student is allowed to participate with a parent in attendance. So, I decided that the boys and I should participate in the fun (especially since Justin was still out of town and I was pretty sure this would tired the boys out and provide a quiet afternoon for me.)

  When we arrived, Ms. Val took a picture of us carrying Garytt's pumpkin up the hill to decorate it.


Garytt was excited to decorate his pumpkin with a green marker. I helped his with the face and he colored in the hair. Westyn colored on the back side of the pumpkin in peach...ha!


The next station was like a cake walk, except rather than getting a cake, they had to do an activity like clap your hands, or dance a jig. It was cute.


The next station was the favorite station of both of the boys...the snack station! Garytt sat with his class and coincidently, Westyn's class was about to sit down at the next table. So, he was able to eat with the one year old class too.


After snack, it was time to take a hay ride. First, Garytt's class took a photo in front of the LODO Pumpkin Patch sign.


Once the ride was over, they took one more photo in front of the sign, this time with Ms. Soncha in the picture.


Next, the kids learned how to make apple butter. They put all the ingredients in a crock pot and then they got to take some home later in the week when it was done cooking.
 
  The next station was a painting station. Ms. Val put red and yellow paint on each paper and they got to see it turn to orange as they painted. It was a fun station, but very messy for Westyn.

Unfortunately, there were two other stations that we had to miss because we had to head to gym class. But I'm so glad we made it over for the LODO pumpkin patch day. Both of the boys had such a great time!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

As I mentioned, the boys and I drove to Topeka right after school on Friday. Justin was heading out for another conference on Saturday morning and the boys and I were going to Hannah's 3rd birthday party on Saturday morning. So, it just seemed easier to be closer to the party site. Sadly, I left my camera, so I have no pictures of the birthday girl or the fun party. But we did have a good time, although our visit felt too short, as always.

Anyhow, we decided it would be fun to take the boys to a pumpkin patch over the weekend, too. Grandma suggested one just outside of Lawrence. The boys were excited to wear their skeleton shirts but it was a little chilly outside, so you can't see them.  Although Westyn and Garytt were interested in looking at the scarecrow at the entrance, they had no interest in posing for a picture with the scarecrow.


They were really interested in all the birds. They had ducks, chickens, and some other birds that the kids could look at.


After that, we headed into the hay maze.


There was a lookout point near the end of the maze that was also a slide. So, of course, the boys were all about doing that. I did try to get Garytt to look around and tell us where the exit was. He is pointing in this picture...but, yeah, it's totally the wrong direction.


At the end of the hay maze, Garytt proudly announced that he found all of the dead ends...he might be missing the point of the hay maze. The boys definitely enjoyed the maze!

After that, we headed out to the actual pumpkin patch. Westyn tried to pick up some pumpkins with his big muscles.


Garytt found a nice small green one that he could easily carry around. (By the way green is his favorite color and he will tell you that at every opportunity he finds!)


There were three huge pumpkins stacked up in the middle of the pumpkin patch...a perfect photo op. After a few tries, I did manage to get one usable picture of the two of them...I just wish Westyn was also looking up.


Then the boys went to check out the Headless Horseman.


And then a little bit of wandering.


On the way back towards the snack station, Garytt saw these ghost cutouts and was really excited to be a ghost!


After we enjoyed a snack, we let the boys each pick out a small pumpkin and my mom looked around in the gift shop area. (Well, we all started out in there but let's be honest, chasing little people around a shop with breakables really isn't that fun.) So, the boys found some comfy chairs to relax in while Grandma finished her shopping.


The biggest breakdown happened as we were about to leave...suddenly Westyn started yelling (and I do mean yelling!), "RIDE!" At first, Grandma and I couldn't figure out what he thought was a ride. Then it hit us, the pumpkin patch uses wheel barrows to transport the bigger pumpkins to the cars. And, if you recall, Grandpa has given the boys rides in wheel barrows. So, when we got back to my parents' house, Grandpa was a good sport and took the boys for a "ride."


I even caught one of the rides on video.


The boys definitely enjoyed their time at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We came home Monday and Garytt had a complete meltdown when we walked into our house because he wanted to sleep at Grandma and Grandpa's!