Annual Hepworth FHE Pumpkin Carving

Every year on the Monday before Halloween we carve our pumpkins for family home evening. Tonight we carved pumpkins and ate caramel apples. The kids have been waiting all month for this!
Daniel with his pumpkin before the carving started.

Emma with her pumpkin.

And Noah with his pumpkin. He didn't get to use the pumpkin he picked out at the pumpkin patch, because I made dinner in it the other night. So he got to use one of our pumpkins we grew in the garden.

Daniel scooping out the seeds and goo. He wasn't to into it and Kendall and I had to finish cleaning it out.

Emma, of course, wanted nothing to do with cleaning out her pumpkin, but we insisted that she do a little.

I have to give her a hard time every year and squish her hands in the goo. I had so much fun! I'm so mean!

Noah cleaning his pumpkin. He was just making a face for the camera, and really doesn't mind cleaning out the seeds.

I went for simple with Daniel's pumpkin, cause he doesn't really care. He had fun poking his fingers in the eyes and mouth of the pumpkin.

Emma with her scary faced pumpkin.

Kendall had to help Noah with his a little. Mana making the carmel sauce for the apples.

All three pumpkins with the lights out. Daniel didn't like the other two pumpkins, a little to scary for him.

Noah's pumpkins are never really done, until we throw them away. We had finished carving and put Emma and Daniel to bed when Noah called me into the kitchen. He added a hole between the eyes, and spikes in the top (as a crown). Oh, and he was hungry so Noah fed him some garlic. It was a fun filled evening, with very few tears (which is always a good thing).

What we've been up to lately, and other random thoughts

Watching shows with Mana, or just hanging out in her room. The kids think Mana's room is special and love going in there.

I don't have many sippy cups for Daniel, and the other day I couldn't find any of them, until it was time to start making dinner. This is what I found in the pots and pans. I guess roasted sippy cups and boiled Legos were on the menu that night!

I tried something new the other night for dinner and it turned out so yummy! I made beef stew in a pumpkin. The kids loved it, even Emma who NEVER eats any kind of soup or stew ate it! Notice Emma in the back ground making funny faces for the camera. :)

The kids wanted to do some painting last week, so we went to the craft store and found these bird houses really really cheap. The kids had so much fun painting them and can't wait to get them hung up outside.

Emma working on her house, brown and purple. Those seem to be her favorite colors these days.

Other things going on, my mom found a good job that is really close by. She started last week and I think she enjoys being able to work again. The kids miss having her around all day though. We have been doing a lot with our new home schooling group. We went to play with legos at the library for 3 hours today. Noah made some new friends, which is really good! When we were leaving he said to me "Mom, that was the funnest thing I've ever done in my life!" So I think that he had fun and we will do it again next month. He's so cute. This week we've got 4 Halloween parties to go to so I will update again soon, hopefully with some cute pictures!

Preschool Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Last week Emma's preschool group went to the pumpkin patch. The kids had a lot of fun! We pretty much had the place to ourselves the first hour, which was really nice! We went to the same place last year. This year we were lucky and it didn't rain on us.
Emma playing on the tractor.

Daniel playing on the tractor.

Noah on the tractor.

Emma and Tanner playing.

They had a little train pulled by a tractor. The kids loved this! Daniel kept wandering back to the train throughout the morning.

Daniel and Emma on the train ride.

Daniel and Emma in the bouncy house.

Emma and Jack in the bouncy house.

Noah, Emma and Daniel posing by the giant pumpkin.

All the preschool kids by the giant pumpkin.

The kids getting ready for the hay ride.

They had sheep and geese, which were a big hit!

They even took one of the sheep out so the kids could pet it.

Midnight Mice

A couple weeks ago my mom brought home a magazine with Halloween ideas. I decided to try these little mice. I think they were very cute and they were fun to make. Emma took some to share with the other preschool kids too. These pictures aren't very good but you get the idea.

Life has been oh so busy lately. I spend 4-5 hours of the day teaching Noah school. His reading and writing skills are really coming along. His favorite subjects are math and science. I just joined a homeschooling group and I am so excited for all the things that go along with it. It will give my kids a chance for some much needed socializing with other kids their own age, chances to get up in front of a group and give reports and presentation and I get to learn new ideas from other homeschooling families. I went to my first parent meeting last night and came away with so much information and new ideas I could hardly sleep last night.

The Blanket

Daniel has this blanket that my Grandma Alma made for him last Christmas. He LOVES this blanket and carries it around with him everywhere lately! Usually he just sleeps with it. I thought he was so cute the other day so started taking pictures.

So cute!

Fall Harvest

Friday we decided to harvest some of our pumpkins, potatoes and squash. The kids were so funny and really had a great time! Here is Daniel hugging one of our pumpkins.

He loved this pumpkin!

Emma holding onto our little "volunteer" pumpkin. It just showed up one day in between our zucchini and crookneck squash plants.

Noah wanted to prove that he could carry this pumpkin which weighed in at 21 pounds.

Our squash only produced 2 squash this year (last year we got 7 squash).

Mmmmm, yummy potatoes!

Noah wanted to take pictures of us digging up the potatoes. We got about 55 pounds this year.

This picture is so funny, she looks so sad! She really was very excited about the whole thing!

Noah and Emma with about 1/2 our harvest of potatoes. We have been very blessed this year with the garden.