Halloween 2011!

We take our pumpkins very seriously in the Brogli household. We start eating them and wearing them the minute the calendar changes to October. Here are exhibits A and B:

Jack-o-lantern pizza for lunch courtesy of Daddy on his way home from class:
Pumpkin bib handmade by Mommy:

(That's his Blue Steele face, by the way.)

But when it comes to eating, I think we all know that celebrating Halloween all comes down to the candy, not the pumpkins... especially with an almost 3 year old in the house! I have to say that the most fun part for me is not the candy but the costumes, even more so now that I have 2 kiddos to inflict my dress-up on (quick before they grow up and dictate their costume wishes to me!). This year, thanks to a friend's yardsale, Goodwill, and the Dollar Tree, we had one very happy Tinkerbell and her very own Captain Hook.
I can't believe how big-little-kid my baby girl looks in that one. It's such a "back to school" pose.
Love how no one has to teach a little girl what to do with a wand! Kenna thought wearing a princess/fairy costume was just about the coolest thing ever.

Finn was the manliest little baby pirate you've ever seen. He even made this fantastic little "arrrrr" face that was cracking us up:
So we got all dolled up in our costumes and headed to Bayleaf's Fall Festival, one of the things we look forward to all year! Matt brought the front pack even though I was pretty sure we wouldn't need it with the grandparents there. He ended up wearing it empty like this for most of the night and so we jokingly called it his "missing baby" costume.
Kenna and her best bud Sydney:
We met up with all the cousins, of course. We take this picture on the hay bales every year, and each time there seems to be more children!
Nachos, hot dogs, and more candy and games waited for us inside... I lost count of how many pink and purple cotton candies Kenna ate, and we caught a certain someone feeding Finn sips of soda! I wasn't sure if the kiddos would be crashed out from exhaustion when we got home or jacked up on sugar highs all night!
Kenna had a great time going through all the bible games with Beckley. They had these cute little looks of amazement on their faces at all the candy everyone was handing them. (Notice the purple cotton candy slime surrounding Kenna's mouth in that photo!)

On actual Halloween night the next day, Matt had to work so I had planned a nice laidback evening of trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and then letting Kenna stay up a little late to hand out candy at our house. Instead, it was cold and poured rain all night so no one went out trick or treating at all! We ended up putting our costumes back on and going just down the street to Bayleaf's sister church, Wakefield Baptist, to their indoor trunk or treat. I was glad we did because Kenna had a blast! Instead of trunks (since it was indoors) they had set up little stations that each had an activity or theme to earn the candy.

We had to "winterize" our Tinkerbell to keep her warm in all that rain, and we gave up on Finn's pirate entirely. Instead, we went with cozy sweats (for Momma too!) and a football.
I also love that no one has to teach a little boy how to hold a football.
Here we are back home, checking out our loot. All this candy might last until Christmas!
Hopefully, next year the weather will be better and Daddy can go trick or treating with us! Happy Halloween!

Orange Pumpkins 2011!

We went again on our yearly tradition to Hillridge Farms in Youngsville to get our orange pumpkins! It was one of the first almost-chilly days of fall, and it was just the perfect weather to wander around through all the fun things the farm has to offer. It's so fun to be building little traditions like this each year as our family grows. Just for fun, here are some links to our 2009 trip and our 2010 trip!
We started in the "general store" getting a special snack and feed for the animals! Finn did a great job riding around taking in the sights in the frontpack.
Kenna's special snack was this big box of Sweettarts... we joked that we could have just bought the $1 box of candy and called it a day, she was so thrilled by it. She munched on them all day until we thought she might make herself sick!
We enjoyed our old favorites like the big tube slide, the corn pit, and feeding the farm animals (always a bit hit with Kenna!)
And for the first time this year, Kenna rode the ponies! They were so sweet and gentle and she absolutely loved it! She loved it so much we would have let her do it several times except for the fact that it was $6 a pop! I love this age where she thinks every animal is a big puppy ready to be her pet.

After the hayride out to the 'pumpkin patch' Kenna picked out the best pumpkins with Daddy while Mommy nursed Finn. Kenna was so cute running back over to show me her favorites.
Finn was more fascinated by sitting in the grass than with the pumpkins.
After much wiggling, repositioning, and even bribing, we got one picture of our pumpkins sitting in the pumpkin patch where they were both looking at the camera and smiling!
Daddy lugging our little pumpkins home!
Such a fun trip... I love this time of year!

Fall-ish Things.

We have had such a mild fall, I think when the weather finally changes it's going to feel like we went straight from summer to winter. But the warmer weather has meant lots of evenings playing and eating dinner on the back porch:

(This is the classic "say cheese" face.)

And we have had some days that were cool enough for our hoodies:
We've been at the park several times, including a trip with our awesome Sunday school class where Kenna discovered s'mores (not a fan) and Finn discovered graham crackers (ginormous fan)!

Here she is feeding me the s'more because she wasn't crazy about it. Shocking!We just happened to stop by one afternoon while Granddaddy was about to drive his tractor through his garden... Kenna took one look at it and asked "I ride it?" Granddaddy had the same thought!

And just a little bit of chillier mornings are letting us know winter is coming. I love bundling our wee ones up!