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October in one word was exhausting. But a good kind of exhausting. Not only was it filled with the fun planning and executing of the Fall Festival but it was also filled with our traditions as well. My favorite? Bates Nut Farm. And the only reason why I love it? The photos.

I know if I go 1/2 an hour earlier than they open, we can get our photos taken, pumpkins picked out, and we can check out as soon as they open. Then we let the kids have fun on 1-2 rides (hay ride, corn maze, or the inflatables), grab some treats from the store, and head back home. This time we let the kids check out the animals too.

I have to admit that I almost didn’t want to go this year. But my husband said we had to. Because it’s Norah’s first Halloween and she needed her pumpkin pictures. Yeah, I was definitely glad he made a point to schedule it into our busy October weekends as I edited the photos. I already want enlargements of a few, including the one of all three of them in the field. What do you think?

What I love most about our trips to the pumpkin patch is the sheer excitement our kids exude as they run from one end of the patch to the other. They love exploring the grounds, finding all of the smashed big pumpkins, and seeing the guts everywhere. Then Ethan rushes to find his perfect pumpkin while Molly takes her time picking the perfect one. And Norah. Norah just loved being able to get on the ground and climb on and around them, patting them as she went. She loved the hollow thud they gave as she pounded on them and stood up on them.

Every year Ethan asks us if we can get a huge pumpkin. And we’ve been able to appease him with a few smaller ones instead. But I’m thinking one year we may need to give in and get a huge pumpkin for him. Just one year, right? As long as he guts and carves it. This year he opened up, gutted, and carved his own pumpkin from start to finish so I think he may be ready next year. We’ll see!

I’m sure I’d get a lot of use out of it. The chickens sure do love the guts and seeds we pulled out of the two we carved. Now we went home with plans to carve three. For each kid. But because it was so late when we ended up carving, we only got through two before we were done. We had plans to carve Norah’s on Halloween but it just didn’t happen. She’s none the wiser and I’m sure had more fun trying to “help” her siblings by pulling the guts down every time she could get her hands on them.

Costumes this year were easy. I found a Batman shirt at Target after we went to Bates and was able to order a mask right there in the store off Amazon. I also figured out the easy way to add things to the kids Christmas lists while we were in the toy aisles. Talk about convinient!

When I first asked Ethan what he wanted to be he told me a Minecraft spider. So I saved two square boxes with plans to paint and glue up a storm until I had a Minecraft spider costume. And Molly decided she wanted to be a fairy and use what she had in her dress up box already. Then both changed their minds. During the same Target run, I picked up a creeper sweatshirt for Ethan and some green pants (he always needs pants) and a Minecraft shirt as a back up costume because, well, I know him. And I’m glad I did because after I put some hours into crafting his costume he ultimately decided it was too hot and wanted to wear his sweatshirt and pants.

Molly went through three different costume changes the Friday before Halloween getting ready for her school party. She wanted to be a fairy, then she wanted to be a butterfly (I already had the costume) then she wanted to be a ballerina (again). Then 5 minutes before we needed to leave for school she decided she wanted to be Sheriff Callie. Um… I’m good but I’m not that good! She ended up wearing the fairy wings she already had with a dress we grabbed at… you guess it, Target. Later that day she weaseled a full fairy outfit out of her Aunt Louise. I’m assuming they got the pieces from Dollar Tree and she couldn’t be happier with them come Halloween night.

“Say Cheese”

Someone wasn’t interested in photos. She wanted to go trick or treating already!

We walked down the street by our house and hit about 6 houses before both kids wanted to turn back and go home. But Aunt Helen wanted to check out the decorated house she saw while driving over to our house so we went to one more. Molly was NOT pleased with the decor. I think Ethan liked it.

I was able to get them to go to 1-2 more homes on the other side of the street as we headed home but once we reached our house, Ethan was done. Molly helped pass out treats to the kids coming up to out house and then decided she wanted to go out one more time. Sans wings. So my husband grabbed the wagon, I grabbed Norah, and we left Grandma Ann to pass out candy again while Ethan was inside playing Minecraft.

We got another street covered and came back home. Passed out candy some more. Molly ate more candy. Then she decided to go out one last time with me. I left Norah and the wagon with Daddy and we headed out in another direction. This time it was a bit later and there weren’t as many people around so she scored big at just about every house we went to.

The next morning Ethan had no candy left and Molly had plenty. I’m sure he’ll be able to convince her to share more with him come tomorrow. Oh, and just to prove I did make him his Minecraft spider, here’s a photo of him after school on Friday with everything assembled.

I’m sure November will be just as crazy but for now I’m enjoying a little peace and quiet. Happy Halloween!

How was your October?