pumpkin fun

We've celebrated the season and had fun with pumpkins the last few days! 

My little "pumpkin" and I had lots of fun at our neighborhood party on Saturday. Unfortunately  Daddy was sick and didn't get to join us, but we loved getting a chance to get to know our new neighbors, share a meal with them, enjoy a campfire with Carson's first roasted marshmallow, and listen to live music! 

Carson had fun painting pumpkins! 

Proud of his masterpieces:) 

When it came time to carve the big "Daddy" pumpkin, he was not a fan of touching the pumpkin goo! Like father like son! I say, dig in, the messier, the better;) 

For the first time, I decided to roast the seeds this year! It was fun, easy, and quite tasty. Carson thought they tasted like peanuts, and they reminded me of popcorn. Definitely a new tradition around here!

Posing with our Jack-O-Lantern. Carson decided he had a twinkle in his eye like the one in his very favorite Halloween book, The Runaway Pumpkin. I'm just thankful he wasn't quite as big as the one in the book;)

Fall is such a fun time of year, and I'm thankful to be able to spend my days enjoying life and making memories with the sweetest boy I know! 

the best pumpkin bread recipe in the whole wide world

1 cup vegetable oil

3 cups sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

3 cups flour, sifted

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. allspice

½ tsp. cloves

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

¾ tsp. baking soda

2 cups (15 ounce can) pumpkin

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Beat together oil, sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Combine and add dry ingredients. Add pumpkins and nuts. Grease and flour two loaf pans. Bake one hour.

Enjoy!

PS: It freezes really well.

PPS: It's also really good as banana bread. Just substitute 2 cups mashed banana for the pumpkin.

pumpkins

I read somewhere the other day that pumpkins are canvases from God. Decorating pumpkins is a fall favorite for me. I carved pumpkins as a child and continued the tradition with college roommates and with my students when I taught first grade. When I found out my friend Kaye had never carved a pumpkin, I got even more excited to dig in with her, though she wasn't a huge fan of pumpkin inards:), and to my disappointment, neither was Carson. He wanted nothing to do with the slimy pulp and seeds. Silly boy wouldn't even give it a try. Maybe next year:)

This year, pinterest inspired me to try out a couple new techniques.

Instead of carving a face, I used a drill and made a polkadot-o-lantern.

I painted thumb tacks black to embellished this pumpkin.

I was able to do this in early October and it wasn't shrivled by Halloween.

I also LOVE baking, smelling, and eating anything with pumpkin, but I normally let Libby do the hard part for me. Maybe this year I'll attempt making pumpkin bread with an actual pumpkin. We'll see...

pumpkin patch

We had the very best time at the pumpkin patch!

family pic with the pumpkins

Carson's favorite part was playing in the big tub of corn!

He also got to decorate his very own pumpkin with stickers,

climb all over lots and lots of pumpkins,

take the mini pumpkins in and out of the basket,

and have a costume dress rehearsal!

He was the very cutest pumpkin in the patch!

He got to play in the corn one more time before we headed home.

We saw so many gorgeous trees along the way. Fall in middle Tennessee is so beautiful it takes your breath away. I love love love seeing so many rich and vivid colors.

What a fun fall family day!

october

I always have such a hard time choosing my favorite season, because I really do love the special things that each of them offers, but I am LOVING my first fall in Tennessee!! In addition to my usual favorites: scarecrows, pumpkins, candy corn, boots, sweaters, and yummy-smelling candles, the weather has been cool and crisp, and everything is absolutely beautiful! The many shades of red, yellow, and orange almost seem pretend they're so pretty!! In addition to the amazing weather and gorgeous foliage, October brought my mom, dad, and sister to Hohenwald for such a FUN visit, Oktoberfest festivities in Hohenwald, a quick trip to Texas for Ashley's wedding, fall fun with our church family, and trick-or-treaters galore!!!! It has been a fabulous fall so far!!!

This picture does not do them justice, but here's an example of our BEAUTIFUL trees!

They are so pretty, I made wreathes for the people at the nursing home with the kids at church. They did a great job and the wreathes turned out beautifully! Tonight, we went and gave them to the sweet people at the nursing home and my third-graders were PRECIOUS! It was an honor to watch them imitate Jesus!

I was out of school for a few days in early October for fall break!!! I know, I know, soooo FUN! They used to not have a fall break here, but Oktoberfest has become such a HUGE event that all the teachers were asking off and the buses couldn't get through because of all of the traffic!!! Lewis County quadruples in size during that weekend every year!! It is CRAZY! People are EVERYWHERE! There are massive traffic jams in our little town! Needless to say, it was FUN and a little Stars Hollowish;) Because I was going to be out of school, my parents and sister decided to take a vacation and come see us!! We had such a great time together. We played, shopped, talked, relaxed, and thoroughly enjoyed our time together!!

Misty and I at the Grand Ole Opry on her birthday! Sooo FUN!

I drove back to Texas with Mama, Daddy, and Misty to be there for my sweet friend, Ashley's wedding. We had lots of fun visiting in the car and playing childhood car games. I was honored to be part of Ashley and Argimiro's special day as her matron of honor!! It was so much fun! Ashley and I became best friends right after I moved to Roby in eighth grade when she was thoughtful enough to invite the new girl to her slumber party! Thanks Ash:) We've been BFF ever since!! Her friendship is so special to me, and we have so many wonderful memories together. We used to talk and dream about our future lives...and though we're not next door neighbors in Buffalo Gap like we once dreamed;), we have both been blessed with precious husbands who love and honor us, and we got to stand beside with each other when we said "I Do."

What a precious friendship!

After the wedding, I flew back to Tennessee and it was COLD!! Several of us from church went to a haunted hay ride and corn maze! Once again, it felt a bit like Stars Hollow! Corn mazes are all the rage around here in the fall, and I was so excited to participate! Those of you who know me well and are familiar with my direction disability, don't worry, I did not go in alone! In fact, Kaye and I had Anna, our fearless second-grade leader!!

While my sweet mama was here, she helped me decide on a FUN costume idea for Trunk-or-Treat at church! Then, she and Misty helped me make our costumes! I thought they turned out really well! Everyone was surprised that Keith was going to dress up as a crayon, but I didn't even have to twist his arm, he was a great sport! Then, with the help of my cricut, I made our trunk decor:) We had fun passing out crayons and candy! Thankfully, some friends warned us that our neighborhood was the happening place on Halloween, so that we could stock up on candy, because they were not kidding!! We had about 250 trick-or-treaters....sooo fun!!

Hope you are all having a happy fall!