Fall!

Fall is hand downs my favorite season. I love the weather, the colors, pumpkin patches, planting mums, football, and Halloween. This year we have had beautiful fall weather. It has been sunny, dry, and warm. It is not very often that you can take your kids to the park for a picnic the end of October in Iowa, or play outside after the sun has gone down. We have totally been soaking up the outdoors before the snow flies.

My mom and I took the kiddos to the local tree farm. We had a great time picking out pumpkins, going on a hay rack ride, racing pedal go-karts, and pony rides. Gabe and Avery were the ones who originally wanted a pony ride, and how can a mom resist sweet ponies. So I shelled out a ridiculous amount of money for my dear children to ride on a pony tethered to a merry-go-round for about 25 seconds. Avery loved it! Gabe broke down in tears the second we set him on the horse, so I made Cael ride it in his place. Cael thought he was too old for the pony ride, but deep down inside his grown up self I think He LOVED it! Cael's horse was named Ruby which was also a sore subject because apparently in his little 1st grade world if a boy touches something girly it could actually turn him into a girl.

The Autumn festivities continued on to pumpkin carving and baking the seeds. It was fun and yummy. This year Cael and Corbin cheated a bit while carving as they used the drill to make holes in the pumpkins...I guess the manliness from using power tools made up for having to ride a girly pony.

Luke watching pumpkin carving...Go Cyclones!

Lastly...Beggars Night! Cael was Billy the Exterminator (see previous post if you don't know who Billy is), Avery was Tigger, Gabe was a Dragon, and Luke was a puppy. We had a blast trick-or-treating with our neighborhood friends. The night was warm and we got a TON of candy. Gabe only made it to a few houses and then had a great time handing out candy at our own house.

Gabe showing off his loot.

Now we move on to Christmas and birthday extravaganzas! Let the holidays begin!