Fall leaves me happy!

I love Fall. I really think it's my most favorite time of year. It's the end of the too hot summer and getting you set for the holiday! I love the weather and the changing of colors! Ahhhh, I just love it!

J came home from underway with just enough time for us to be a family. Then he left again.

We were able to do all of the great fall things while he was home since he will be gone for a while this time. The highlights were apple picking, pumpkin picking, hayrides & corn mazes, carving pumpkins and the Jack-o-lantern spectacular!

I made a few collages since we took SO MANY PICTURES! Enjoy!

I love going to this orchard. It's been my favorite for a few years now and I love that not a ton of people go to it(it's popular, but not as much as some...I think no one really knows about it and it's greatness yet....so shhhhhh). We always go and pick apples, then jump on the horse drawn "hay" ride to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins, then we ride back up and walk to the corn maze.

Landon LOVES this corn maze! Even on a weekend it wasn't packed and we had a great time running in the maze trying to find all of the stamps. This was J's first year being home to go with us and he really enjoyed it also.

That night we got home and got to carving! All I cared about was the seeds! YUM! Landon carved Frankenstein, J's was a vampire and mine was just a "lady pumpkin" in Landon's words. Haha.

The Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular at the Roger Williams Zoo in RI is one of the most amazing this we've been to. We were told that the wait time on the weekends was bad, so we went on a Tuesday night and had NO wait time to get in! It just took us over a hour to see everything, but it was so worth it! They had a trail with 5,000 carved pumpkins! They were amazing! If you live in New England I recommend you go!

We had the best time walking around. It was the night before J left so we just soaked up every minute we could together. There is something about holding hands in the dark that just gets me.

Does anyone have any fun traditions that they only do during the fall?

Taco Pumpkin Seeds!

I love the fall! I love anything pumpkin flavored also! BUT most of all, I love me some pumpkin seeds! Last year I made 4 different kinds of seeds. They were so yummy, but one was the best....so that's all I made this year! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
Ingredients

1 cup seeds from freshly cut pumpkin, washed and dried
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon taco seasoning mix
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

Directions

In a skillet, saute pumpkin seeds in oil for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer seeds to an ungreased baking sheet (if you have extra oil try to get as little of it as you can). Sprinkle with taco seasoning and garlic salt; stir/toss to coat. Spread into a single layer. Bake at 325 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until crisp. Remove to paper towels to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Fall fun!

Since Landon had Monday off D, Casey, Landon and I all went to an orchard to pick apples and such. Landon and I picked 2 bags full of all different kinds of apples and he had such a fun time doing it all by himself. After we picked apples we went on a hayride. It was pulled by two huge Clydesdale horses and Landon loved them (I think mostly because they were named Batman and Robin). The hayride took us down to the pumpkin patch and corn maze. We got a pumpkin for everyone in our little family (even hummee hotdog), then we went in the corn maze. It wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be but it was a lot of fun, you had to search the maze for mailboxes that had stamps in them. Landon loved it and had to be the leader at all times (except for that one time that I ran ahead of him and he ran after me crying....)

Landon and I going to pick apples.

Batman.
He's never pet a horse before, he's always been to afraid to.

Landon and I on the wagon ride.

D, Landon and I getting ready to go in the corn maze.

Fabulous Fall Foilage

Last night Landon and I had movie and craft night. It's a Friday night thing around here while Justin is gone. It helps us pass the time until he comes home. Anyway. We took a break from the Halloween crafts and made fall ones. It was a really fun night filled with paint, popcorn and a good movie!

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What you need:

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Paint (3-4 colors. We used yellow, orange, red and brown)

Kitchen sponge cut into smaller pieces (you can choose the size)

Card stock

Brown marker

tape (optional)

First draw a cloud shape on the top half of a piece of card stock. Then cut it out. Like shown below.
Next draw your tree trunk and branches.
Tape the first piece of card stock on top of another piece of card stock.


Then dip the sponges in the paint and go at it!

Remove top piece and you have a tree! (I know it's different colors then shown above but I didn't get a good picture of the other one.)

Landon painting his trees. We did sooo many!

This is about half that we did. It was such a fun project to do together. Now I just need to figure out where I want to put them!

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Idea from family fun magazine!

Orchard field trip

Landon went on his first field trip today and I was lucky enough to get to go with. We went to an Orchard here and picked apples & pumpkins. I was in charge of Landon and another little boy (who was sooo cute but didn't talk. At all. To anyone not even the teacher. I guess they have never heard him talk). The bus ride wasn't even 10 minutes. We got out and walked around picked some apples that were the most amazing things I have ever eaten! Then all of the kids got to pick out a small pumpkin. Landon took forever picking what one he wanted and walked all around the patch.

The big pumpkin patch.
Landon picking his first apple. Him and I shared it. There is nothing better then a fresh picked apple.

It was so pretty. It made me miss home.

Starting the hunt for his pumpkin.

Trying not to fall as he carried it to me.

On the way home.

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When we got back to the school I went to Landon's classroom to hang out and see what he does during the day. He loved me being in there and I think I might start going every other week to help out. He's such a big boy now. I got to walk around and see his art work (pictures will come tomorrow) and see all of the things he tells me about everyday. I had such a fun day with him.

Halloween Crafts Part 2

Landon and I did movie & craft night the other night. We watched Monsters vs Aliens and made a monster mask and haunted house. We've been having so much fun with Halloween this year. The house is all decorated and we make crafts every weekend. Next weekend we are making cupcakes and a few other little things so it should be lots of fun.

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If you haven't seen Monsters vs Aliens go pick it up. It's so cute. We watched it in the movie theater and had to buy it as soon as it hit DVD.

Our mask and paint all set out.
Painting.
Our projects drying.

Landon this morning with his mask. He thought it was the coolest thing ever.

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Mask and haunted house bought at Michaels craft store.

October School Project

For October Landon (and parents) has to decorate a pumpkin. They always say that you can use any material and that you should be as creative as possible. I don't think what we did was really creative but it sure was fun!

Blank pumpkin.
I painted the base coat down because I knew what we were going to do and I knew that if I didn't paint it then the ugly off white color would show.
Outline of the face.

I crumpled up tissue paper, slathered it with glue then had Landon dip the tissue in the glue and stick it on. I did the purple and the green pom-pom with a hot-glue gun so that Landon could have at it with the orange.

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I really love how it turned out.

Halloween Crafts Part 1

Landon and I have started making crafts for Halloween. We made a bunch of stuff last night while watching a cute Halloween movie. I have a few more things up that I will try to get pictures of later this week.

Most of the stuff all laid out.
Our ghosts in the tree.
Most of our pumpkins.

We put spider webs everywhere.

I love doing crafts like this with him. He gets so excited and I know we will always cherish these memories.