Trick or Treat

This year we went with homemade costumes. Lydia wanted to be a ghost, but Ty couldn't think of what to be. We kept throwing out lots of options. Then one day he mentioned a book he read a couple years ago, where a character dressed up as the floor of a movie theater. I said, "that is great!" I knew it would be a doable costume. So we took a black trash bag and glued all sorts of objects onto it--candy boxes and wrappers, popcorn, drinks, gum, etc. It was a real hit!

Happy Halloween!

I thought it would be fun to grow a pumpkin this year. I planted some seeds in the spring, they sprouted, then Shane mowed over them on accident. :(

A friend mentioned that she thought you plant pumpkins in July for an October harvest. So after the 4th I planted some more seeds.

They did well. I fiercely guarded those little seedlings from the mower! I fertilized and watered and watered and watered. This thing grew into a huge 25 foot monster. (It's the vine sprawling on the lawn.)

I read that pumpkin plants have male and female flowers and you could help them along by pollinating them with a paint brush. So I was out there every day that I saw blooms.

One day, I was happy to see fruit!

There are two pumpkins in the above picture. The little one on the left did not survive. It was rotten. Because we received a lot of rain this fall and I watered it so much before that, it developed some pesky mildew. But the pumpkin on the right kept growing and growing and seemed healthy.

We waited and waited for it to turn orange. Then I looked at the calendar and realized, based on the date I planted, it wouldn't be ready until November 4th. That is a fine date, we haven't had a frost yet (some have had a tiny frost) here, but we wanted this pumpkin ready for Halloween. So we finally just picked it and decided to carve it green a week and a half ago.

Well, lo and behold, it was bright orange on the bottom!

And it was the perfect shape and size to carve. We weighed it and it was 36 pounds!

Pretty cool!

More Pumpkin Patch

The hay maze is the favorite. It's pitch dark inside, but they love it.

Time to ride the ponies.

Ty rode the camel for the first time this year.

Everyone loves to climb on the pumpkins.

Everyone!

Cookie Time!

Time for our annual Halloween Cookie decorating.

These are Lydia's-

Mine-
More of mine-
Shane's-
Ty's-
Ty's- (the bat is saying, "Boo!" with a wide open mouth.)
They were delicious!

What Happens When You Live in OK

You end up with Okie children.

Yesterday I was working with Lydia on her spelling and reading. I made little cards with letters on them and I ask her to spell words with them.

I asked her to spell SIT. She gathered her letters and spelled it correctly.

Then I asked her if she could change it to BIT. So she exchanged the S for a B.

Then I asked her if she could change it to LIT. She correctly replaced the B with an L.

Then I was done and was putting the cards away. She was upset and said we weren't done. She said, "I want to spell GIT!" I said GIT is not a word, it's actually GET. She was adamant, "NO, it's GIT!" I told her this is just how it's said in Oklahoma, but it's really not correct.

:)

Poetry

This has been Lydia's favorite poem for a while -

from The Wind and the Moon

Said the Wind to the Moon, "I will blow you out;

You stare

In the air

Like a ghost in a chair,

Always looking what I am about--

I hate to be watched; I'll blow you out."

-George MacDonald

And a favorite of mine, for the season -

Fall, Leaves, Fall

Fall, leaves, fall: die, flowers, away;

Lengthen night and shorten day,

Every leaf speaks bliss to me

Fluttering from the autumn tree.

I shall smile when wreaths of snow

Blossom where the rose should grow;

I shall sing when night's decay

Ushers in a drearier day.

-Emily Bronte

And an acrostic written by Ty -

Pumpkin Patch!

We look forward to the pumpkin patch all year long! We like to go to Carmichael's at 171st & Memorial. They have ponies, animals to feed, a spooky hay maze, and new this year--a corn field maze. They said that should be ready by next weekend. The pumpkin patch opens without fail, every year, on October 1st. Some years we are there on opening day, but if not, we are definitely there by the first Sunday. It was cloudy this morning, but we chanced it. It didn't start drizzling until we were ready to leave. We will be back every Sunday of the month. We just can't get enough!

Here Lydia is emerging from the spooky hay tunnel--it's very dark inside, but they love it!
The animals were eager for some feed.

This little guy was hungry, too, but not for corn!