Happy Halloween!

This holiday always makes me think of my mom
and then I miss being home
in the Fraser field neighborhood
for trick or treating, homemade rootbeer, skeleton decorations,
and hearing the cackling witch who takes her place of honor in our entryway.

We had our fair share of Halloween fun though.
We dressed up for the church carnival on Friday night.
Mickey and Minnie Mouse,
Peter Pan, and Ronaldinho (the professional soccer player from Brazil)

We made our own homemade rootbeer
and joined some friends for trick-or-treating Saturday night.
We had a list of families from the ward
we could drive around to
who would be home to pass out candy.

We had a spooky Halloween dinner of eyeballs, bugs, etc.
at our cool friends house (we just love the Stocks)
and made haunted houses.

The boys are currently getting all ready for bed now.
We promised them that we would turn on the fireplace tonight
and tell spooky stories.
They're really excited to hear
the Bloody Bones and Dirty Diapers story again . . .
Happy Halloween!

Sneak Peek Hallowen

Everything Pumpkin

Kacin had a school trip to the pumpkin patch.
He loved having the time to play with his best friend from school.
These two boys are so cute together.
Kacin thinks his friend is just the coolest
and he tells me that he loves having a best friend.
Cute side story: Kacin has been wearing tape on his glasses over one eye to help make his other eye stronger. One day, this little friend of Kacin's came to his mom, trying to be cool like Kacin I suppose. He was wearing sunglasses that he had taped on one lens! He wanted to wear them to school, too. I think that is the sweetest thing!

Some friends invited us last weekend to a pumpkin patch
and then back to their house for carving.
We went to the pumpkin patch
and began the search for the perfect pumpkin.
We were pretty excited,
But after rows of green or rotten or too big=too much money pumpkins,
we left with nothing and decided it would be better to stop at the grocery store
and get a pumpkin there.
We're cheap and lame, I know.
We ended up carving the pumpkin
Kacin had picked out on his pumpkin patch field trip.
Kacin's design . . .

Yesterday, I went to two different grocery stores looking for our pumpkins.
No pumpkins at the first store.
Kind of green, but cheap at the second.
We picked out the best two we could find
and tonight we carved some spooky creations.

Visitors

Danielle was here!

One of my good friends since Jr. High

and her husband, too

came to Washington for a night.

The boys and I showed them downtown Seattle,

then we met Eric for eats at Ivar's and a ferry ride to the island.
There were doughnuts, hot chocolate, and games at night
and the next day,
while the kids were at school,
we did some antique shopping.
So glad she came to visit!
And that the boys became street performers . . .

And while I'm on the topic of visitors,
it was great having my cousin
and his beautiful family
stop by last month.

Don't forget, we are happily accepting all announced visitors (well, as long as we know you somehow and you don't mind two boys jumping on you and playing games until late into the night and staying in a guest/crafts/school storage room), You are especially welcome if you choose to come see us during the Christmas holiday!

I Want the Fish to Live!

When we went to the Pumpkin Festival on Saturday,
they had a fishing pond.
When I heard fishing pond, I just pictured
the typical throw the string over the wall and pull back a candy or small prize.
But no.
It was a fishing pond
with fish.
Limit two.

The boys were so excited to give it a try.

Kacin caught the first fish

with Eric's help.

When they asked him what he wanted to do with it,

he said throw it back.
Then he wanted to try it again by himself.
A few minutes later,
Kyler caught his first fish.

When he was asked,
he chose to keep it.
The worker lady proceeded to whack the fish on the head
to ensure its death.
Kyler was quite fascinated at the whacking
and really wanted to touch the fish's eyeballs.
I was a little disturbed.

While Eric and Kyler were taking care of that fish,

Kacin caught a second one all by himself.

He was so proud and excited

and caught up in the moment

and the lady thought he wanted to keep it, too.
She gave it a whack.
And Kacin yelled NO!
Too late.
The fish received its whackings.
We carried it to the table to bag.
Kacin was very upset.
He started saying
"I didn't want the fish to be whacked,
but dad just said we're keeping it and I didn't even want to."
As we walked back around the pond to leave the area,
he proceeded to yell
"I want the fish to live!
I want the fish to live!"
We decided to give Kacin's fish a proper burial
in the backyard.

And then Kyler and Eric ate Ky's fish.

Corn Maze and More

We wandered through a corn maze yesterday,

with Kyler happily leading the way

choosing left or right.

Oftentimes to him,
left was right and right was left
and we were definitely walking in a loop,
but what difference did it make?

Until Kacin was starving
which led to whining which led to
Eric sneaking peeks at the map he was given

and guiding us through.

As I held Kacin's hand

and pulled him along

I tried to explain to him that a corn maze was really a metaphor for life,

wandering along, not always seeing our way, making a few wrong turns, but there are places along the way a little higher up that give us a greater perspective and we can stay together and use the map and with patience and effort we would make it out.

He explained to me

that he had to go to the bathroom

RIGHT NOW.
And so we all learned
that you should never eat the corn that lines the paths of a corn maze.

We made it out
and enjoyed a few more fall festivities at the farm.

Hamster run . . .

 Face painting . . .

 Fishing . . .

 Hay ride and pumpkin blaster . . .