Halloween- Just a few

Last year, Halloween turned out to be rather confusing because of Hurricane Sandy having just come through our area. This year, we got a better taste of what Halloween is like in our neighborhood. Almost everyone participates! It was great! Jack had a swimming lesson at 5:30, but Justin had been working from home, so I left the other kids with him to get ready. Jack and I rushed home after lessons and found that Noah, dressed adorably as a Ninja Turtle, had fallen asleep in his chair. I guess he has to wait until next year to say "trick or treat!" Thanks to "Sew-Nya" for Alexander and Jack's penguin costumes. I didn't get many pictures, but here they are:

Pumpkin Carving

This year Alexander did most of his carving on his own. He did get some help from Dad with scooping out the guts. Jack was also able to handle some knife wielding, and got some help from me for the gut scooping and with finishing up the carving when his arm got tired. Kai was happy to direct me verbally in the design and execution of his pumpkin. Noah adorably got in everyone's way. Our pumpkins weren't fancy, but the kids were proud to have done them with relative independence. 

Pumpkin Picking

For years, our family picked pumpkins and apples in October at Larriland Farms. Two years ago, we ran short on time and visited a closer farm in Frederick. It worked, but we missed our tradition. Last year, we visited the silliest pumpkin patch I'd ever seen. This year. we hopes to find a farm that could come closer to what we had liked about Larriland. At the recommendation of a friend, we tried Frecon Farm. It was great. It wasn't overly commercial. They had both apples and pumpkins to pick, and the pumpkins were actually growing from vines, not artificially placed in a field of grass. The kids had an excellent time choosing their pumpkins and apples and I think this is a place that we can feel good about returning to next year.