Pumpkin carving and Halloween Party

Happy Halloween! Our little tiger cannot wait to go out trick-or-treating tonight.

Oliver had some practice before carving our pumpkin at Grandpa Chuck's and Grandma Shirley's house where they carved 4 pumpkins- unfortunately only 1 survived until Halloween day since they were carved early.  

Last weekend we carved our pumpkin and when asking him if he wanted a happy, sad, scary or a boo pumpkin he said boo. We cut the bottom off of the pumpkin this year to try something new and it worked out okay. 

He liked digging out the guts and seeds

Our boo pumpkin. We used Oliver's hands and traced around them with a pen before cutting them out. Oliver told me he wanted a diamond nose and a circle mouth. I think it turned out rather boo-ish!

 We went over to daycare today to have a Halloween party full of singing and dancing, reading a Halloween book, coloring (he actually made  face on his drawing of a pumpkin rather than just scribbles as always) decorating Halloween shaped cookies and of course posing for pictures in their costumes. 

Happy Halloween!

Trip to "the farm"

We were invited to my cousin's daughter's first birthday party today so we took advantage of being close by and stopped at my Aunt Dar and Uncle Gary's farm to see the cows and kittens. I haven't been down to see the farm buildings or animals for a few years and things have changed dramatically. 

I figured that Oliver would have been scared of the cows but he wasn't. I think the cows were scared of him at first because he was jumping up and down with excitement. 

It took Grandpa Dave to first touch the cows but there was no stopping Oliver after that and he wanted to pet any of them that would come close enough. 

We stayed in the heifer barn and calf barn mostly to see the cows.

I cannot believe all the technology there is in milking and feeding cows these days. Much different than what I remember as a child going to different farms with my Dad and from my Grandpa and Grandma Doerscher's farm. My Aunt and Uncle are building a new building here so Oliver had to pose on the bulldozer but it wasn't a CAT. Oliver supported CAT with his hat though.  

He was amazed by the big wagon and the skid loaders driving around. 

Then on to the birthday party. Oliver did a good job sharing his excavator with the birthday girl who followed him around all day. Oliver didn't know what to do or think about someone following him around other than to keep running away and make a game out of it. 

It was a fun morning and afternoon but a chilly and windy day. Good thing there was some yummy warm soup and of course crab salad- (my favorite) and Oliver's favorite- cake. 

Playing in the leaves

This morning, Oliver and I went outside to rake the leaves up that have fallen off of our 11 trees we have at our house. It was still a bit brisk but not as cold as it looks to be next week when they are forecasting a chance of flurries/mixed precip. 

Last year Oliver was so scared of the leaves and didn't even like running through them. This year he took off running through them after only making a small pile. 

I started picking them up and putting them in the wheelbarrow but Oliver didn't like that idea and kept taking them out to put back in the pile. 

Snow angels aren't just for snow but also can be for leaves too! 

It is also fun apparently to cover yourself in leaves. Actually it did take me back to my childhood and the giant piles we used to make with the neighborhood. Back then we'd even put them all in a big wire cage, for lack of a better word, that seemed to be full of leaves taller than us. Oliver and I had enough fun with just the little piles and our leaf throwing fight. 

Gays Mills, WI

This morning, Oliver, my Mom and I went to Gays Mills, WI to get some apples and my favorite thing- apple cider donuts!! I wish I could recreate these donuts on my own but they probably wouldn't be the same. We arrived a little after 9am which was a great time, not very many people at all. I guess we've always gone on the weekend but this was the time to go.

We stopped at West Side Orchard first to get my beloved cider donuts and some good old Mac's. Next stop was Sunrise Orchard where we took our annual picture to see how Oliver has grown. Not very accurate though since he couldn't stand up against it due to it being wet from it just finishing raining a few hours earlier.

 

We sampled apple cider which we bought and also many apples. Oliver kept taking me back to the sampling area to get more apples to eat. My favorite were the JonaMac's - a delish combo of Jonathon's and Macintosh's. While there we stopped for a potty break for Oliver. Now as some of you know since we started potty training with Oliver, he's been afraid of public bathrooms because they are too noisy he states. Well, he's getting over that slowly so after he went, he came out and told one of the workers there, a man with a long pony-tail, (to help you visualize him) that he went potty on the big toilet and it was quiet in there and he didn't have to hold his ears. The man said "oh that's great." Very nice people there.

Next we stopped at Kickapoo Orchard and had an apple scone and coffee for a snack. Oliver liked the frosting on the top of it more than anything. We sampled some more apples and cider here too. It was getting busier now so we decided to head for home after stopping again at West Side for my mom to get some fresh cranberries.

Now I have all  these apples to make applesauce tomorrow with, and maybe some apple crisp. I love this time of year!