Happy Halloween: Part 3 of 3 - The Renaissance Festival

We went to the Renaissance Festival. I have never been. I thought it was going to be a lot of booths and tents and a few buildings. I had no clue just how big it was! And it was SO much FUN! The kids loved it! I had a blast! And they had some special Halloween things for the kids! Next year I would love to go with just Levi so we can enjoy more shows and look through the booths. It was fun to go with the kids and enjoy it with them!

Here we are at the entrance!
The kids staring amazed at the stilt walker.

The king and spider queen!

Granny and Grandpa came too! Granny said she would dress up, so I thought, "I will be a good sport and dress up too!" I had a medieval dress in my costume box, so I threw that on. Granny backed out... haha! So I was the only adult in our group dressed up and once I saw the amazing outfits of all the performers I felt a little silly in my cheap crushed velvet costume in a bag outfit. But, I have now decided I must get me a better outfit for the festival. I will be checking out Ebay ;)!

Mother Goose! She had a duck and 2 geese. The white goose she holds naturally leans it's head over and gives you a hug. It is the sweetest thing.

Jovie was in love! She has been all about "ducklings" lately!

I thought this spiders web looked so pretty with the dew on it! The man and lady at the booth it hung from named it and everything!

For Halloween the kids could go to every booth and "trick or treat"! They loved it!

A glass artist.

I thought this sign was cute, I had to take a pic.

The first street performer we stopped to see. He is the ambassador to the fairies. Not a very good magician, but a really good character actor.

Waiting for the first show to start. When they say a show is "LC" (loose cannon), that means do not bring the kids! They assured us it would be more "kid friendly", but, it was pretty bad. The problem is we were on the front row with 11 people, getting up and leaving would have made us the center of the jokes and/or made a scene. It wasn't THAT bad, but it was not good either.

The Queen and princesses at the joust. I forgot to take more pictures, but it was a lot of fun to watch!

The cow at the petting zoo! Callie was obsessed with it and stood at the fence and stared at it for the longest time.

Callie and her grandpa!

Callie and Jovie ran right through a street performers show just to get to this horse!

Geoff the Gypsy. He juggles and balanced torches. He was hilarious too! So much fun!

He picked Silas as his little helper. And yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. That is Silas holding a sickle, a knife, and a fire torch.

He told Silas it was his job to catch him. The funny thing is, Silas put out his arms and was very willing to catch him.

Juggling the torch, sickle, and knife while spinning plates on his hat.

Then he gave Silas the job to pass around the hat. Which again, he did willingly without questioning or looking insecure.

Geoff the Gypsy and his little helper Silas!

But then the kids were getting tired! Look at Callie's tired eyes!

Yep, they were tired, but they had a great time!

We will be back next year!

Happy Halloween: Part 2 of 3 - The Pumpkins

When my dad brought us our annual supply of cow, he also brought us our own personal pumpkin patch! 15 of the prettiest pumpkins I have ever seen, straight from the farm!

Thanks Mom & Dad!

We put them around our yard and when Halloween came all the kids went out and picked out their pumpkins from our own personal front yard patch! I helped them gut them before I had to go to work. Then throughout the day Levi would sit down with them one on one and help them cut out the own personal designs. No matter how weird the request, he helped them cut out just what they wanted!

Here they are gutting the pumpkins:

Ruby questioning me... haha!

At the end of the gutting, our table and floor was a mess, but they had a good time!

The finished product (Left to Right):

Lettie- It has an "L" in the eyes and she insisted on a square nose. She is the teeniest, yet picked the biggest pumpkin and of course she had poor Yonas bring it in for her. Then he helped with Callie's and Jovie's. He is the most helpful kid in the world!

Yonas- A vampire pumpkin, Lettie said it "creeped her out"

Silas- Since Lettie had an "L", Silas wanted an "S" and Levi pulled it off. Go daddy!

Ruby- Looks like a clown, I think it looks so cute
Nolan- Scary and with eyebrows (the eyebrow idea fascinated some of the kids)

Happy Halloween: Part 1 of 3 - The Costumes

This year I asked all the kids what they wanted to be for Halloween a month ago and told them if they wanted to be anything specific they needed to tell me so I could get it together. But, alas, no one had anything in particular they wanted to be. I collected a tub of costumes 90% off the last few years. So, I pulled out the costume tubs, sorted out the costumes, and let them pick! The results were fun, diverse, and the kids were all happy with their choices! It made for a stress-free, easy, and fun Halloween!

Yonas enjoyed scaring people as a monster!
Ruby was Hannah Montana for the Renaissance Festival (more on that in a later post). The costume got itchy so at night she went as a hat-less witch. You can see her Hannah Montana in the later post about the festival!

Nolan made a really good ninja!

Silas was Spiderman last year, but that is all he wanted to be was Spiderman this year! People gave him a lot of compliments on his muscles!
Lettie was a spider 2 years ago... it still fit her this year, it just did not droop down as low. She wished the costume had yellow on it so she would look like a Halloween Spider. We have 3 different Halloween spiders that live in our bushes. She "takes care" of them!
Jovie was a really cute pterodactyl! She loved flapping her wings!
And last, but not least, It's a bird... It's a plane... NO! It's a curly SUPERGIRL!
We braved the rain and went trick-or-treating! We did our area of the hood walking and with a stroller. Then we took to the car and hit some more houses. The babies would lag behind, but all the older kids were great about helping them along and waiting for them. At the end the babies were pooped and stayed in the car. The older kids were really cute about sharing their candy with them after they went to the houses. And I made the mistake of telling them how much I loved Almond Joys and raving about them as I ate them. So, they insisted on giving me every Almond Joy they had and they wanted to see me eating them. Too much sugar, too much fun... the rain is falling and making a wonderful soothing white-noise... time for bed!

He told me!

To set this up, I have to let you know that Ruby will question EVERYTHING I do or ask her to do!

So, I am cutting the tops off and gutting 7 pumpkins... large pumpkins! I have to get ready for work soon. I had 4 hours of sleep (long story for another blog). Levi is sick so I am trying to get the hard part out of the way for him. I am busy and multi-tasking, and Ruby starts in on some "Why?"s! I have no clue what particular "Why" question led to this exchange, but it went like this:

Ruby: (Insert "Why" question here)

Me: Ruby, why do you have to always keep questioning me?

Nolan: (starts giggling) But mom, you just questioned her about questioning you!

He told me... that Nolan! Nothing gets past him! Levi and I just looked at each other and laughed!

Forget the Playground...

Grandpa's farm has all the play equipment a kid needs!

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A Barn + A Bunch of Round Bales = A Hay Bale Jungle Gym!

Forget a Rock Climbing Wall when you have a Round Bale Wall!

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Who needs monkey bars when you have ladders?

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The hay loft of an old milking barn makes a great Fort!

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You can't beat a water fountain that provides you with spring water directly from the source! Ice Cold too!

And pretty flowers on the way there as well!

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And who needs a slide?

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And of course, the tractor rides are always a hit!

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You get to check out the source of most your meals over the next year!

(And yes, I am serious! One of these beauties is not in my freezers!)
And although the view was at times a little unsavory...

...the company and conversation was GREAT!

And as if that was not enough ... there is a water slide!

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And if you do not feel like racing your siblings through the tubes...

... you can always see which of the babies' shoes makes it through its tube first!

(Just have your net ready, because it is no fun chasing them down stream... which we learned from experience)

There are multiple climbing structures!

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And even a place to draw!

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And instead of a balance beam, there are "balance posts"!
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How we love the mountains!

Every minute is like being in a huge playground!

I can not wait to go back!