The Vance's: November 2016

Halloween gets more and more fun each year with these little ones. I love the build up and anticipation as they decide which costumes they want and get excited for all the parties, candy and trick-or-treating. This year was extra busy with a preschool party, school party and evening party with friends all back to back but we did it - and are still recovering!

Lucy chose to be a spooky spiker this year and it was so cute.

Carter chose Harry Potter, continuing with his obsession over the books. It was perfect - such a fun costume!

Simon was supposed to be a robot - the hand-me-down costume from Carter's first Halloween. But, he's also in that stage where he refuses to keep anything on his head and rips anything off his body so that costume was out. We decided a simple "normal clothes" costume would be best this year so we came up with a very DIY Where's Waldo. The drawn on glasses were just hilarious. I couldn't look at him seriously all day!

After school and preschool drop off my little Waldo took a deep sleep on me to prep for the busy day ahead. A little calm before the sugar storm!

Lucy and I headed over to Carter's classroom party in the afternoon. It was fun to see all the kids dressed up and parade through the school to see the other classes' costumes. I love that his school still lets kids dress up!

Lucy and her friend Kaylee (in Carter's class but a friend from soccer) both as spooky spiders. They had so much fun together!

The costume parade!

We headed home after school and I whipped up some homemade chicken noodle soup. The perfect healthy dinner before trick or treating.

My best friend Katy and her family came over for our 3rd annual trick or treating party. Ava and Lucy love spending time together and Carter loves being the leader of the pack as they wander through the neighborhood.

Simon was super confused about the whole thing and tried to just walk into peoples houses, especially after seeing a cute dog at our neighbors house!

Sorting, taking inventory and trading candy.

It was a fun Halloween!!

One of my favorite fall activities is going to the pumpkin patch. Our favorite farm we've visited every year for almost a decade closed last year which meant we had more opportunities to visit local ones in our area. The kids love Swans Trail since there are so many activities for kids besides just hunting for pumpkins. I took Lucy and Simon one afternoon while Carter was still at school. It wasn't crowded at all which meant we had full run of the entire play area!

This giant hay slide is so much fun (for kids and adults alike!) Lucy probably went over a dozen times squealing and giggling each time she'd fly down it.

Simon liked playing in the hay too.

Then we headed over to the corn room. This giant shed full of corn kernels is so much fun!

The jumping pillow is another favorite. It's like a big trampoline the kids can run and jump on. On a busy day this thing is nuts. And kinda scary with so many kids flopping all over the place. But with just us it was perfect!

More slides, tractors to climb on, animals to pet and treats to enjoy!

We went on the hay ride but opted out of the corn maze. My sense of direction is terrible and I wasn't about to get lost in that thing with 2 small kids!

Then it was finally time to head over to the pumpkin patch. We took home a few small ones after wandering around exploring in the dirt.

On a particularly stormy day we decided to carve one of the small pumpkins from Grandpa Tom's garden. I was so impressed how all 3 kids took turns scooping out the seeds and working together.

We had planned to go as a family to the pumpkin patch on a Saturday morning but with the wettest October on record it just didn't work out. So I took the kids after school one day so Carter could enjoy all the fun too. Same farm, same play area but even more fun/craziness with 3 kids!