Pumpkin Patching

The Red Barn is an October tradition.

 

(orienting Otis for his first hay ride )

We didn't make it to Pumpkinland this year which felt a little blasphemous, but three times at Jaker's Jack-o-Lanterns seemed to make up for that lack.  

(navigating his way through the maze)

By far our favorite pumpkin of the season:

Bewitched

Lucy had a little late night Halloween party with a few friends from her primary class.  She had a good time, but I had the most fun brainstorming the evening with her, and watching her together with her friends. 

She and I are both total wimps about scary stuff.

We go for smiley Jack-o-lanterns.  

No fake blood, please.  

Old Bewitched reruns are pretty much as scary as it gets at our house.

Prep work included sewing some matching pj pants for our guests.

Besides that effort (which provided a lot of wonderful time together), there was no bending over backwards on my part to prepare any kind of picture perfect party.  I pretty much just set out supplies and let the girls do the work.  Fun for them, easy for me :)  They whipped up their own "witches stew" (minestrone soup),

And decorated their own table (I loved their hats hanging in the tree!)  

Dinner involved a good measure of giggling over "so-and-so thinks so-and-so's brother is cute!"  And my laughter mingled heartily with their own.  Oh fifth grade!

After dinner the girls did a little more decorating:

"Recipe cards" to go with the remaining batches of soup:

Double double toil and trouble

Let this soup in your crock pot bubble 

4-6 hours on low heat

Add noodles 30 minutes before you eat!

They were cute, e l a b o r a t e recipe cards ;)

After making deliveries (which one of Lu's friends called "bewitching doorbell ditching!"  Such cute, clever girls :) we came back home.  

A few minutes before the party had started, Lucy spontaneously hid each pair of pjs around the house and scribbled out corresponding clues.  So we had a little scavenger hunt to find all the purple pants, and then we settled in for showtime.  

The girls got a kick out of Samantha and Darrin and especially Endora.  

And I mostly got a kick out of them.  

Such wonderful little witches ;)

Halloween 2015

Such a great time with these characters.

Spaceman Spiff  

"Interplanetary explorer extraordinaire"

And...

Pippi Longstocking

"No, I don’t suffer from freckles,’ said Pippi.

‘But, my dear child, your whole face is covered with freckles!’

‘I know that,’ said Pippi, ‘but I don’t suffer from them.  I love them. Good morning.’

Pippi is written by Scandinavian author Astrid Lindgren...

And Spaceman Spiff?

Spaceman Spiff is Calvin with a death ray.

So we feel pretty confident that our dad gave this Halloween two thumbs up ;)

And so did I. 

Because the whole day was so perfect.  

It started at IHOP with dear friends,

Continued with costume prep, 

pumpkin carving,

seed roasting,

fort building,

and cemetery visiting.

 All at our leisure. 

No rush.  No time frame.  

Trick or treating in Grandpa's beautiful Bountiful neighborhood was a delight.

And Pippi and SM S were completely in character long after trick-or-treating was through ;)

Those cozy moments on Halloween evening are always my favorite.  

Saying goodnight to the jack-o-lanterns...

and candy negotiations by the fire.

Knowing we'd have an extra hour of sleep before church the next morning took the happiness level up another five notches.  It doesn't get better than Halloween on day-light-savings Saturday ;)