Happy Halloween 2013

This year marks my first real Halloween since childhood. And I mean REAL Halloween. Since I've left home some 10+ years ago, I think I've only been to a pumpkin patch maybe twice? I carved pumpkins a few times with friends but we usually just grabbed some from a grocery store. Last year I went to the patch with one of my friends, but we painted our pumpkins instead of carving them (and they were cute, don't get me wrong), and since we lived in an apartment complex, there were very few trick or treaters. It was a bummed. I think I ate most of the candy myself. Typical.



So this year. We have a house. We live in a neighborhood that has a bunch of young families. It's time. So last weekend I dragged my husband out to a nearby farm ("Isn't this just for little kids??) and we went searching for our pumpkins. This farm, unlike the one I went to last year, was chock full of nice, bright orange pumpkins, ripe for the pickin'. I picked up a big monster of a pumpkin (hereby known as Daddy Pumpkin), the hubs grabbed a medium sized pumpkin (Momma Pumpkin) and then we searched out some smaller baby pumpkins to round out the pumpkin family. Aren't they cute? We then hauled them off to the apple orchard where we picked WAY too many apples (read: expect to see a lot of apple-based recipes in the future), then hauled them around the check out area where I nomnommed on a giant caramel apple and my husband was off buying a couple of jars of apple and pumpkin butter. It was a pretty glorious fall day. I can't wait to do the same thing with little kids in tow.




A few days later, after much research on my part, it was time to crack these babies open. The hubs was in charge of Daddy Pumpkin and opted for a very tradition triple-triangle toothy grin face. I debated between doing a frankenstein stitch-mouth face or the super angry, toothy mouth you see to the left. I'm pretty proud of how he turned out, but those teeth took A LOT of work. Perhaps it's time to invest in some better pumpkin carving tools?



Our bowl of candy is now well stocked, our pumpkins are glowing from our front steps and a chilly winds is blowing the leaves out of the trees. It's Trick or Treat time! Happy Halloween!
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