Fall 2017

This year for the Halloween and fall season we found plenty of fun activities to do and places to go. The kids always enjoy dressing up so we took advantage of some of our stock pile of dress up costumes. We carved pumpkins and even visited a couple of the apple orchards.

The kids and I went downtown to Transyvania University for Pumpkinmania where all the students and faculty passed out candy to all the kids. It was a good idea, but there were just too many people and the kids didn't seem too interested in waiting for it to get dark and for the lighting of the pumpkins. So, we left after they visited all the candy stations.

We had gone to Evans Orchard for Brinley's school field trip so we decided to take a family trip to Bi-Water Farms. We enjoyed going through a corn maze together.

The kids enjoyed playing on all the different things around Bi-Water. I didn't get a picture of it, but the kids had the most fun going on the zip line over and over! This place is huge and has tons of stuff to play with. The only downfall from other orchards in the area is that all the adults have to pay to enter even if you don't play on any of the equipment. Definitely worth checking out though!

This year I tried to let the kids cut their pumpkins as much as possible. I also let them decide what shapes to make their eyes nose and mouth. I think they turned out pretty good. 

After the kids went to bed, Jennifer and I cut out our pumpkins. Jennifer went with the evil pumpkin and of course I made the UK pumpkin. I did mine completely free hand, so I was really surprised that it turned out that good!

Since Jennifer didn't get to go with us to the Pumpkinmania we decided to go see all the pumpkins lit up one night after a UK basketball game. We spent about 20 minutes looking at all the pumpkins and picking out our favorite ones. It is pretty cool to see.

Portrait Innovations sent out an email telling about a special day that they were going to be having for kids dressed up in their Halloween outfits. Jennifer had to work so the kids and I packed up and headed to get some pictures. I am so glad that I did because these turned out awesome! Everyone loved the Buzz and Jessie costumes. I am just a little sad that we didn't have the whole crew together for the pictures. Also, they took and printed off pictures for us for free, yes FREE! How awesome is that!

The past couple of years we have made a little trip over to Georgetown for their Spooktacular downtown trick or treating. It is always a lot of fun and the kids love it. This year with Brinley being in school it got to be a special little day with mommy and daddy for Landon. He had a lot of fun, but acted so shy to everyone and didn't even want to pick out candy at times or say trick or treat. I guess he still heavily relies on his big sister to do most of the big talking. This was also a trial run for our actual Halloween costumes.

Grandma and Grandpa came to celebrate Halloween with us. They had told us in advance that they were going to be coming up since my little brother's birthday is the day after Halloween. So, Jennifer made them a Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head costume so that they could fit in with the kids. On the right hand side is a picture of the kids with our next door neighbor's dragon lawn decoration. They love it and I think have gotten their picture made by it the last few years.

The whole Toy Story crew. Jennifer started asking the kids a few months before Halloween what they wanted to be. We couldn't ever think of anything that worked out very well. Jennifer was ready to just tell the kids that they could dress up as whatever they wanted, but I still like when they dress up as something that goes together. We tossed around a couple of ideas and went to the Disney store for some inspiration. Landon loved the Buzz outfit and then Jennifer decided that she could make the Jessie costume for Brinley. Then she made my outfit by dying one of my shirts yellow and drawing red lines over the whole thing. She made a cow print vest and a homemade belt buckle along with a few other accessories to complete my Woody costume. Jennifer downplays sometimes how good she is with all of her Pinterest projects, but she is very talented and everything always turns out awesome! I just wish that she had gone for a bigger character for herself, maybe like Little Bo Peep. We got so many complements in the neighborhood and a few people who said "oh look, an astronaut and a cowgirl!" I almost failed to mention that Jennifer also sewed the stick horse Bullseye for Brinley too!

Halloween is such a fun time for kids to dress up and pretend to be one of their heroes or favorite characters. I have enjoyed the past few years of dressing up as a family. Jennifer swears that this was her last year of making our costumes, but I might just have to persuade her again next year. They are truly one of a kind and we are so thankful for her creative and artistic abilities. Send us an idea or two of what you think we should be next year. Thanks for reading and God bless!