Hello October!

I love October. 

This is a month that has got it all:

-cool evenings and mornings

-warm sunshine in the afternoon

-gorgeous and brilliantly colored foliage
-apple harvest
-pumpkins
-Halloween
-costumes

-parties

-candy and trick-or-treating

-hearty soups and breads

-sweatshirts and long-sleeved shirts
-football and soccer games

Each year the girls get a day off of school for Columbus Day and we usually go to an apple orchard or pumpkin farm.  This year because of an early warm season, the apples came early and there are no more u-pick available in the orchards, plus I already made applesauce.  And as for the pumpkins, no need to go anywhere because we have our own little pumpkin patch in our backyard.  Many months ago Paige helped me plant the seeds and now we have 7 pumpkins!  We won't be carving them just yet, so for now they are serving as porch decorations. 

Since we decided to stay home today, we invited friends over for some October fun.  First up, we made cut-out sugar cookies.  Ashley and her friend Kirstyn rolled out lots of cookie dough and cut-out pumpkin shapes. 

After the cookies, Paige's friend Zach dropped by and we all went outside to set-up Halloween yard decorations.  We have never really done outdoor decorations before but these were pretty easy.  The big girls did all the spider webs and the little kids helped me make the ghosts using old tomato cages from the garden.

 

Just as we finished the yard, our lawn service came to aerate and seed the lawn, so I had to pull-up the ghosts!  Fortunately, they are very mobile and easy to set-up again.  We all came inside for snack of cookies, punch, carrot sticks, and string cheese.  Then Ashley and Kirstyn air-popped popcorn so we could make some yummy carmel corn.

 It was a fun day, the kids worked hard and were very busy.  Friends, decorations, carmel corn, pumpkins, cookies...how can you not love October?