Trick or Treating!
We usually go to El Paso for Halloween, but a friend told me that my very own neighborhood was apparrently the place to be, so we decided to do our Halloween get-together at our house, and sure enough, by 9am on Halloween morning, neighbors were outside decorating and setting up their front yards and porches, just as my friend had promised. We were so amazed and excited by it all that we rushed to the store to get some of our own festive decor and 10 more bags of candy (plus we didn't want to seem like the Halloween scrooges of the neighborhood - not a good reputation to have!). Sam set up and decorated the driveway, complete with spooky music playing in the background. And while Nana and the Papa's stayed at the house handing out candy, Woody, Buzz, and Jessie excitedly set out for an evening of trick-or-treating! It turned out to be such a fun time for the kids and us! Jaden, Elijah, and Cousin Aubrey are all at a wonderful age where the sights and sounds of Halloween are not toooo scary for them - Jaden was terrified last year, but was great about it all this year and Elijah and Aubrey were unphased by all of the "spookiness." And these three characters were quite the little show stoppers everywhere that we went (and didn't mind all the attention one bit!).
Pumpkin Carving!
Carving pumpkins and roasting pumpkin seeds is always one of my favorite fall activities to do with the kids. Neither of the boys were too willing to dig in and scoop out the pulp and seeds (and actually, it took me becoming a preschool teacher to even be willing to do that myself); but they were very good supervisors and observers. 
The Pumpkin Patch!
We are very fortunate to have a wonderful corn maze/pumpkin patch right down the road from us and it seems to have more and more activiteis for the kids every year (that or the kids are finally getting big enough to do the activities that they've had there every year...hmm). Either way it's always a wonderful time had by all, and one of our true indicators that the boys are in fact getting taller every year (see pictures) 
And of all the big, orange, perfectly round pumpkins in the pumpkin patch, these are the two that Jaden chose because, in his words, they were "beautiful" and "perfect."
Sam jokingly said that Jaden definitely will not be picking out the family dog that we adopt, if ever we adopt a dog. Haha. But isn't it wonderful how innocent and non-judgmental kids can be. I love it.
Hope you all had a Happy Fall!
