Painted Pumpkins 2017

We visited the pumpkin patch this past Saturday.  And every day, multiple times a day since then my daughter has been asking when we were going to paint our pumpkins.  You see, she just loves to have fun!  And, a week or so ago, I found the best idea on Pinterest for her.  She loves unicorns right now and I saw the cutest little unicorn pumpkin.  When I saw it she had already gone to bed, but I peeked in and saw she was awake and just had to show her.  That unicorn has been on her mind for over a week now and she finally got to make it!

We all had fun.  I went with a simple cartoonish character, my husband found an idea for a kooky vampire on Pinterest and I think my son was inspired by Larry from Veggie Tales because that pumpkin looks awfully familiar!  And lest we forget Teddy, the infamous bear in our house, he too participated in the festivities, painting a honey pot (apropos, right?) on his pumpkin.  LOL!  If you've been around us long enough, you'll know Teddy is a permanent fixture around here.  I'm not sure my son will ever grow tired of him.  I'm not sure I will either!

So now with our pumpkins all decorated we have to figure out costumes for this coming Tuesday.  My daughter's is squared away and I'm guessing you can figure out what she'll be.  Let me know if you can figure it out in the comment section below!  My son's costume is decided but he hasn't started working on it yet.  He wants to be another Minecraft character.  It's going to be Steve this time.  Check out his costume from last year.  If you have kids into Minecraft I know they'll love it.  I think I'll coax him into starting a little sooner this year.





One complication for Halloween around here is that we're trying to avoid or greatly reduce food dyes.  That can be tricky with candy pouring from the sky.  So I'm not going to be too neurotic.  I told the kids they can have whatever they like on Halloween, then I have a plan.  I bought some organic candy without food dye to switch out after the big day.  I bought good stuff too.  It's not healthy by any means, but I think some of us around here don't do so well with food dyes and we're trying again at an experiment we failed at in the past.

I hope you found some inspiration here and Happy Halloween!


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Fun Painted Pumpkins
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The Family Vacation

Wacky family picture

Sometimes I wonder if it's worth the disruption to go on a family vacation.  I'm content to sit here in my house and let the kids swim in our small pool.  They are happy to do that.  I'm happy to go on day trips and spend the day nearby.  The kids probably wouldn't mind.  I wonder if all the money and time and effort are worth it.  I think about the years past and all the trouble with public bathrooms and how one child won't go unless it's a private, single stall.  I remember whining car rides to our destination.  I think about the grumpiness caused by lack of sleep and the complaints about food because things just aren't as convenient in a hotel.  I think about the begging and crying and fighting.  It all makes me want to stay home!

Then I stop for a second and reflect.  I call to mind the fun and excitement, and the look in my kids' eyes when they arrive at these new places full of wonder.  I remember my son finally glancing up from his tablet to see the mountains in front of us and saying, "wow".

Go ahead and tell me that egg isn't creepy.  I dare you.

I think about seeing my daughter reel with joy over all the rides at the park especially the roller coaster, even though she assured me one time on that was certainly enough.  I fix in my mind the moments of her learning to swim in the hotel pool only to beam with excitement at how she learned a new skill.

I remember getting to laugh with my husband over the sheer ridiculousness of my children's behavior.  (Sometimes, I will tell you, this is the best option.  Even though the laughing might make the child mad, it throws them off a bit and laughing it certainly feels better than screaming.)

After that I consider my experiences as a kid going to new places and discovering new things.  I remember New Hampshire and how we stayed in the Seven Dwarfs Motel.  My parents may recall it as the craziest vacation ever, but I look back at it with great fondness.  I remember Story Land and even if it was raining, we still got to ride the train.  We rode the Yule Log at Santa's Village and saw the crazy old wolf man from Clark's Trading Post.

I remember how good the tap water in New Hampshire tasted because it came right from the mountains.  I think back at seeing the mountains and the flowing streams and being in awe the same way my kids were now in awe.

I remember our trip to Disney when there were cockroaches in our room and our hotel got rented out to another family while we visited family for a couple days.  As a kid, it didn't matter to me because everything else that happened far exceeded stupid bugs and dumb hotels.  I got to see Epcot in it's infancy.

I remember camping and how we had a three room tent, which was super awesome.  I remember burning my hand on a hot rock that looked cool to me.  I think about sitting around the campfire and sleeping on the ground.

So why do we do family vacations?  We do them because the good far outweighs the bad.  We do them because they are fun and mostly happy (even though the other hotel patrons just heard me yell at my kids for the ninetieth to stop fighting).  When the kids are young, these trips are not really "vacations" but memory makers.  They are full of stress and whining and cold showers and grumpy days.  But they are also full of magic and memory and fun and excitement.  Is it worth the effort?  Definitely.