Pumpkin Carving and Halloween Carnivals

I love making traditions and memories for Eli.  And this is definitely one of my favorites!  He has been wanting to carve Jack-O-Lanterns for days now!

 We went to the Halloween carnival at church on Sunday.  Eli had a great time!  He wore his costume for the first time.  He has been so excited about dressing as a fireman this year!  He picked it out all on his own!

Batman Tyler, Fireman Eli and Sock monkey Parker waiting on the hayride.

I think all the boys had a great time on the hayride.

 We had to play each game of course

 Best buds!

Now we're ready for trick-or-treating tonight!!!!

Pumpkin Patch

 I have been wanting to take Eli to a real pumpkin patch ever since he was born.  This year we finally did it!  We went to McGarrah's Farm a couple of weekends ago.  The pumpkins were kinda picked over so we definitely will go earlier in the season next year.  We were still able to get some cool pumpkins and of course I got some pretty cute pictures too!

Eli was like a kid in a candy store in the pumpkin patch.  Every pumpkin he saw he would say "oh wow!  I love THIS one. We need to get THIS one!"  Chad and I just laughed and laughed.  We had the best time watching him.

This is one of my favorite pictures :)

And this one too!

Eli loved the little train ride!

And the cut outs for pictures

Eli was nervous to go through the hay tunnel.  Chad went through it for him so he could see it wasn't scary.  Such a fun dad!

 Eli immediately went through after he saw Chad do it!

I love all the pumpkins we got at the pumpkin patch.  Eli and I painted some baby pumpkins the other day.  We started doing this last year and he loves it.  I saw a pin on pinterest (imagine that!) on how to paint leopard print.  I had to try it out on my pumpkins!  I love how it turned out!  Definitely doing this next year on some bigger ones.

I cleaned out Eli's closet the other day.  Remember how he was a pirate for Halloween last year?

 Well, never mind.  You probably don't remember since I didn't ever post pictures of his Halloween costume last year!!!!  I just went back to pull a picture from last year's Halloween post but there wasn't one.  I'm such a terrible blogger...

Anyway... I found this eye patch, earring and pirate sword that I forgot about last year on Halloween.

Argh, Matey!

SDC in the Fall

I love our Saturday mornings when we are just laying around, drinking coffee, reading the paper and watching football/hunting shows/cartoons.  This was our day a couple of weekends ago.  Mid-morning we got ready and headed to Branson to Silver Dollar City.

We haven't been much this year so we are trying to go before they close for the end of the year.  We picked a perfect day!  Perfect weather.  Everyone else picked this day too!  It was terribly crowded.  But we still had a GREAT time!

They had tons of fall decorations up.  Perfect for picture-taking!

Eli got to ride his first real rollercoaster, Fire in the Hole!  It's a rollercoaster in the dark and little creepy.  We were worried he would be scared but he LOVED it!  I asked him what he thought afterwards... he replied "I screamed"!  He was smiling and giggling after :)

The teacups are always a hit!

It's hard to pass up these delicious cinnamon rolls as we are leaving.  We love to get a box to go for breakfast the next few days!

I'm ready to go back!  We love SDC!

Fall Craftiness

 I'm a little addicted to Pinterest.  Okay, MAJORLY addicted!  I love it!  Pinterest makes a person feel like they can do anything.  I get great decorating ideas, recipes, kid crafts, etc from there.  I've been wanting to make a wreath for my front door for a few years now.  I pinned lots of wreath ideas from Pinterest and set out to Hobby Lobby to buy my supplies.

And this is how it turned out!  I love it!  It was so easy to do!  Now I have to make one for each holiday!

I was a little late decorating for fall this year but at least I got some decorations up (unlike last year).  I love mums.  I always think of fall when I see them, one of my favorite times of the year!  Eli loves our little scarecrow :)

We needed some pumpkins to add to our front door.  I let Eli pick out a few at Walmart.  They have great carving pumpkins!  And they are much cheaper than most places!

 He was so proud of his pumpkin!  I have many more pumpkins at the front door now and just realized I never got a picture of Eli with them.  Putting that on the "To Do" list for today!

More pumpkin/fall/halloween posts to come!

Pumpkin Pie

Someone, somewhere talked to Eli about baking a pumpkin pie.  I'm not sure who it was.  Maybe school?  Anyway, he was OBSESSED with making one!  It was all he talked about for 3 days.  Although Chad likes it, I have never cared for pumpkin pie.  However, being the good mom I am (Ha!) I decided we would make one.  I found a recipe online from Paula Deen.  I read the reviews and it sounded really good!

We finally made it on Sunday night!  Eli was soooooo excited to finally bake this pie after talking about it for so long!

 

I also found this recipe on Pinterest.  It wasn't really a recipe but instead just a picture of two pumpkin cookies sandwiched with cream cheese icing.  Since I don't care for pumpkin pie I wanted something else pumpkin flavored that I could enjoy while everyone else ate their pumpkin pie.  So I made these...

And let me tell you.  They were absolutely as delicious as they look and sound!

 I didn't realize how late it was when we started making the pie.  It wasn't completely cooled by Eli's bedtime so I promised him he could have a slice for breakfast the next morning.  He was excited but not too sure about the pie.

Later that day I let him have another slice (he would only take one bite at breakfast).  This time I topped it with whipped cream.  He loved it!  I think he liked the whipped cream the most.

I have to say... I like pumpkin pie now!  This pie was delicious!  It tasted a lot like a pumpkin cheesecake.  Maybe that's why I liked it?

Here's the recipe if you want to try it... Paula Deen's Pumpkin Pie

Playdate With Caroline

My college friend, Caroline, messaged me today and asked if she could "observe" Eli playing as an assignment for a psychology class she is taking.  We were happy to have her along to play at the park!  She's great with kids and Eli immediately warmed up to her.


I kinda thought she was joking when she said she would roll down the hill with Eli.  She was not joking.  Better her than me rolling down that hill!  I probably wouldn't be able to get up if I rolled down it!

I can't believe I didn't get a video of Eli doing the monkey bars when we first got there.  Last time we were at this park he could only do 2-3 bars.  This time he crossed the entire thing first try!  He was so proud!  Here Caroline is helping him with the big monkey bars.

Eli has had an obsession with tennis.  I have no clue where it has come from.  Chad and I neither one play the sport.  Well, Caroline just happened to have a tennis racket and tennis balls in her car.  She was nice enough to let Eli play with them and help him learn how to swing the racket and hit the ball.  I think he's hooked.  I know what Santa will be bringing Eli for Christmas!

Eli had such a good time with Caroline!  I think he made a new best friend!

Good Friends

Eli and his best friend, Tyler, haven't seen much of each other since school started the beginning of September.  They go on opposite days so they are not at the babysitter's house together much anymore.  I know Eli misses Tyler like crazy!  We got together two days last week and let the boys play.  They had a good time catching up.

What a good friend!  Eli fell off his bike and scraped his knee pretty bad.  Normally Eli won't let anyone touch a boo boo.  And he hates bandaids.  Tyler talked him into letting him clean it with a wash cloth and then put a bandaid on it!  I couldn't believe it!

 These boys are too sweet! 

Eli's Second Dentist Visit

What a difference a year makes!  Last year I took Eli to the dentist for the first time.  It was a complete disaster!  All they were able to do last year was look at his teeth and it took 2 of us to hold him down for that!

This year was completely different and MUCH better!

First of all, the office is simply awesome!  Very kid friendly.  Eli wanted to stay in the waiting room and play.  What kid wouldn't with all these fun things?  And what happened to my baby?  Who is this little boy?  He looks so old here!

 

Eli jumped in the xray chair and gladly let them take "pictures" of his teeth.

Then he laid down on the chair, put his sunglasses and earphones on and started watching Alvin and the Chipmunks movie!

I was so proud of him while getting his teeth cleaned.  He did great!  And don't worry... that's not blood on the gauze.  It's the polish.  Chocolate flavored.

All done with the cleaning and checking out the other kids.

I hope each dentist visit goes this smoothly!  And I'm proud to say Eli is cavity free!

Little Boy's Paradise

Rogers just opened a Cabela's store a month or so ago.  I can't believe it took us this long to go.  Eli found many toys he wanted to buy!  I know that's hard to believe ;)

Amazingly enough we managed to walk out of the store without buying anything for him.  I think we will add a toy gun to his Santa wishlist.  Don't judge us.  We're a hunting family!