October by the Numbers

I hope you all had the happiest, spookiest, most magical Halloween!

I'm a little bit in denial that October is over and there are only two months left in the year. October is one of my favorite months, and just like I say every year, this was my favorite Halloween season yet. I hope I say that every year for the next decade or two. I'd be sad that it's over except that we have so many exciting things to look forward to over the next two months. It really is the most magical time of year. But before I move full steam ahead into holiday season, here's a little recap of our October, which was filled to the brim with pumpkins, corn mazes, and excited little boys covered in dirt and hay by the end of each weekend. 

We kicked off trick or treating over a week before Halloween at a local kid's place called Fairy Tale Town. They had a Star Wars themed Halloween night and we were able to meet up with some friends and let the kids go wild collecting candy and climbing all over the numerous playgrounds scattered throughout the park. It was a good introduction to trick-or-treating and I'm happy to report that Ez is now a certified pro and Declan is quickly catching on (although he could care less about candy). 

Over Halloween weekend we finally turned our pumpkins into jack o'lanterns. Ez has been waiting about as patiently as a four year old can for this moment, and he carefully chose our designs and helped with the carving, although both he and Declan conveniently left the de-gutting to mom and dad. After we had carved our two pumpkins Ez diligently stabbed another small pumpkin for awhile and though carefully supervised he refused any help or direction and the result was a holey masterpiece that he was pretty proud of. I hope this doesn't mean we're raising a little serial killer...

On the big day Ez got a head start on trick or treating during his school's party. They went up and down the hallway trick or treating at each of the doors. Seeing all the four year olds in their costumes was the cutest thing ever and I'm quickly finding out that having a school-aged child adds to the holiday fun ten fold.

On Halloween night we trick or treated around the neighborhood and Ez was literally sprinting from door to door, bursting with excitement. About half the time he'd get jumbled up and shout "thank you!" as soon as the door opened, instead of trick or treat, which was pretty adorable. Decky decided to bring his Mickey Mouse plush along to every, single house. Perhaps a subtle hint that he would've preferred to go as Mickey over baby Moana? Sorry kid, maybe next year... Trick or treating was going great until Ez faceplanted. Hard. He was pretty much over it after that. We did a few more houses and headed home with nearly full buckets. Ez immediately perked up when he saw that he got cheetos AND kit kats. Day made. 

Until next year, Halloween!

Living That Halloween Life

We got a little update from Ez's teacher yesterday letting us know that he was pretend driving their little playground jeep, and when some of the other kids hopped in with him and asked where he's going, he said "the pumpkin patch!" And also Toys R' Us & Target 😂  That made me so happy because it means he's opening up at school, but also because he LOVES holidays with a passion. My mom always made holidays so special for us (and still does!) and I was so excited to pass those traditions down once Ez and Declan came along. We've made the pumpkin patch our weekend home this month (read more here & here) but I've been trying to add a bit of festivities to our weekdays too. That means lots of crafts, books, games, spooky dance parties, and a few rounds of zombie tag (the most popular game amongst the 4 year olds at Ez's school). 

Here's what we've been up to the past few weeks: 

Color-mixing & scratch-off pumpkins:

 Pumpkin painting (an annual favorite):

Halloween bingo + Roll & Cover (printables here)

Sorting & counting Halloween-colored pom poms:

Orange Pumpkin, Orange Pumpkin book (printable here):

Painting jack o'lantern rocks to hide at the playground:

5 Little Pumpkins crafting:

I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve for this weekend and I am over the moon excited for Ez's very first school holiday party. Wishing you all the spookiest Halloween!!

Pumpkin Patching

Halloween in the Central Valley is a whole different affair from when we lived in Southern California or the Bay Area. There are so. many. farms. There's a whole place nearby called apple hill that is FILLED with apple orchards and pumpkin patches. No matter which direction we drive, there are pumpkin patches and corn mazes and we are in heaven. Keeping that in mind, we've been to about two pumpkin patches each weekend this entire month. It may seem a tad bit excessive, but in just one short week it'll all be gone so we're soaking it up while we can. Ez LOVES the corn mazes (see here) and picking out the perfect pumpkin. Decky rules the hay pyramids and the rickety wagons. 

In addition to our weekend pumpkin patching, we also took a fun little mid-week field trip with Ez's preschool. My mom and Decky were able to come along too, which made it extra special. Highlights included a hay ride, seeing a hawk (aka - Maui) on said hay ride, the hay maze (which the kids weren't supposed to climb on, so of course Decky perched right on top of a bale and just sat there looking completely innocent), and the hay pyramid. The kids ran wild and were dirty, sweaty, completely giddy messes when it was all over. If only we could do a field trip every week.

Slowly but surely our house is filling up with pumpkins of every color and I get so happy when I see them all lining our walkways and scattered through our house. Joe says we've got plenty, but I think just a few more wouldn't hurt 😏 Ez can't wait to turn them into Jack O'lanterns and I've got my fingers crossed this is the year de-gutting and carving occupies their attention for more than two seconds. Hey, a mom can dream.

This is shaping up to be my favorite Halloween season yet. For the first time ever Ez is really into his costume, he's gotten down the concept of saying "trick or treat" in exchange for candy, he actually requests to go do Halloween stuff each day, and his little face LIGHTS up at the sight of a pumpkin patch. He brings me Halloween books to read every day and then proceeds to recite the whole book from memory. Decky is pretty much a kid in the candy store when it comes to the pumpkin patch. Anytime there's a pumpkin in sight, you can bet Declan will be right there to carry it off to his secret stash. Nevermind that several of our pumpkins now have tiny teeth marks on them...

I hope your October is magical, friends!

10 Free Halloween Preschool Printables

Nothing draws me to Pinterest like the holiday season. Suddenly I want all the muffin recipes, decor inspiration, and craft ideas. Now that Ez is in preschool I've been trying to gear our crafts and activities to go along with whatever he's currently doing in school. Most of these don't take more than 10-15 minutes, which is perfect for a four year old attention span, and we've been squeezing in one or two before lunch or bathtime each day. Here are a few free printables I've collected along the way in case you're looking to occupy the kiddos for a few minutes:

• Pumpkin Pre-Writing Tracing Cards
• Halloween Shapes Tracing Sheets
• Spooky Bingo
• Color Mixing Pumpkin Activity
• Roll and Cover the Pumpkin
• 5 Senses Pumpkin Worksheet
• Orange Pumpkin, Orange Pumpkin Coloring Book
• Monster Playdough Math Mats
• Halloween Counting Worksheet
• Eye Spy Counting Sheet

Our favorite way to end the evening before we wind down and get ready for bed is with a little family dance party. Of course I put together a spooky playlist for the season 👻 If You're a Monster and You Know It is our fave:

I hope you're all enjoying the season!

Halloween Activities: Lost in a Maze

"Your heart knows the way. Run in that direction." ~ Rumi

In our case, it was less a matter of the heart and more a certain opinionated four year old who believed he knew the way. But hey, with a few shortcuts and just a tiny bit of cheating, we managed to find our way out of all three corn mazes we've gotten lost in this month. Yup. We've been busy. 

I know pumpkin patches get all kinds of love this month, and trust me, I've got plenty of pumpkin pictures coming at ya in the near future, but one of my absolute FAVORITE Halloween activities is getting lost in a giant corn maze. This is a tradition from my childhood that I was so excited to pass down to Ez and Declan and they love it just as much as I do. I can't tell you how happy that makes my holiday-loving heart. 

Ez is currently in a "I can do it myself" take the lead kind of phase, and he was so in his element directing us through the mazes. "I think we gotta go this way!" "Nope, back this way!" "Ok guys, which way?...This way!" He even snatched the map right out of my hands while we were in a huge maze, one that takes two hours to complete if you do it right, and he took on full navigation duties. In case you've never let a four year old navigate, it involves lots of winding, looping, backtracking, and, yes, some blazing your own trails. Some may call that cheating, but it was lunchtime and I was hungry, so we'll just call it survival. 

Decky didn't get the coveted leader role this time, but he was still in his element given free reign to run wild through the dirty, messy paths. If you ever want a sure-fire guarantee that your kids will sleep 10+ hours straight, take 'em to the corn maze. 

For anyone local, here are the three we've hit up (so far - there are still two weeks left!):

• Delfino Farms was our first corn maze, and though they have a bigger maze down the street we stuck with the small one for $5. It really is tiny and took maybe fifteen minutes of our time. We'll call it a good warm up maze to get the season started. The real highlight of Delfino Farms is their walking apple pie. Get the caramel sauce and ice cream on top, trust me:

• Next up was Cool Patch Pumpkins, near Dixon. This corn maze is no joke. We're talking complex maps with a grid system, three or four platform viewing spots, an average of two hours to complete the maze (if you don't cheat or get extremely lost), and probably hundreds of dead ends. I love this kind of maze, and I highly recommend going here, the only problem is that after a few very windy days (40 mph in some areas), a lot of the corn was flattened. That didn't diminish the difficulty at all though. Cost: $15
• Goblin Gardens Pumpkin Patch at Bastiao Farms was our most recent adventure. This one wins points for being nice and close (just north of Sacramento) and having lots of fun kid activities included in their admission fee ($8). Their corn maze is well-maintained and average-sized. We went through twice in about half an hour.

What's your favorite fall farm activity??