The ultimate, long and detailed Halloween post.

We had a great time this year looking for the "best" pumpkins. We went to two different orchards/cider mills and a grocery store. Here's our Story..

The first was Erwin's which I already posted about. Next was Jenny's. This was a fun one, they had hundreds of Pumpkins to choose from and any one of them was $5. It was a great Family night to go together.


Anna's perfect definition of a pumpkin: the fact that it IS a pumpkin and if it is "sittable"
I would say Dave's definition of a good pumpkin is: Big, good stem, perfect round shape (at least in the front), cheap, and fun to carve.
My definition would be, any one that looks fun, I do like a good stem, but I also like character.

Dave is very detailed in his carving and like to have stencils to help make the "coolest"(that is my word for it) carving. I and am a free-hander, do what sounds good and what fits the pumpkin.
They also had Goats and Horses (we didn't get any photos of the horses). The baby goats were so cute with their little sweaters.

Anna loved petting them, I worried they would bite off her fingers.

Here are our two pumpkins. Dave's was huge as you can tell!

Here was Dave's prize from Jenny's Orchard... although this is right before he put it in the dumpster! It rotted within days of bringing it home. ): It was one rather LARGE pumpkin so we were sad he didn't get to carve it! Hence the reason I went to Kroger to get him a better pumpkin to carve. They had a sale, buy one get one free so we ended up with 4 pumpkins and a pie pumpkin we got for Anna. Friday, I had the day off and so did Dave! So we went trick or treating with the Abernethys to Main Street in Ann Arbor. It was a lot of fun to see Anna and Hunter experience Trick or Treating for the first time. They quickly learned how much fun it is to get candy and see all the other kids dressed up. We had a great time.... When Papa and JoJo came out they brought this cute costume! Thanks so much. It was the perfect costume for Anna since she is obsessed with pumpkins. Every time she sees one she yells out "punkin." It's very cute and so is this little pumpkin.

This is the bum which is also fitting since Anna learned this word last week and points out any "bum" she sees, on her doll, bears, in books, and animals.

Anna had just gotten some candy and couldn't take her eyes off of it!

Cute little Lion and his parents! I especially loved his Frankenstein basket! We are grateful for their friendship, we all have a great time together!

What candy to choose???? Anna seriously thought over each bowl and looked for the BEST candy, though I don't know what that means to a 1, almost 2 year old who doesn't know a lot about candy.

SUCKERS! The ultimate candy! This bag was almost as big as Anna.

Stomp, Stomp, Stomp...

Such a big girl. HUNTER MAN... The "cowardly/shy" (according to his parents) LION! So super cute! Don't you just want to hug him?

FRIDAY NIGHT.... we had our ward Halloween party.

We first saw these cute little witches. These twins are just one day older (or younger?) than Anna. Their names are Aubrey and Alaina.

Afterwards I tried to snap a "great" Halloween shot. Anna would not smile or look at me.

This is for you Kjersti! She was calling you, "hello."

HALLOWEEN DAY

I went shopping for a couple of hours and Dave played with Anna. She made him buckle her in her carseat.

Such a goof ball!

I love those eyes and even her shaggy hair, it reminds me of photos of me when I was little. Poor girl has no hope for curl in her hair.

Later we made lots of cookies! Anna loved to help me cut them with the cookie cutters. Yes, she is sitting on the counter in a diaper and bare feet, but I promise I kept the cookies clean. Darn it, I just erased the next photo which was a close up of Anna's way of putting the cookies on the cookie sheet, if you look close you can see how she just plopped them on.

PUMPKIN CARVING

Here are the results of our pumpkin carving. Mine is not so impressive, but Anna has been into bats the last couple of days (from the cookie cutters) so I free handed it, while baking cookies, getting ready, handing out treats to trick or treaters, etc. Dave worked hard on his pumpkin, during the not- so- fun- to- watch -Michigan game. It turned out fabulous! Great job as usual babe!

HALLOWEEN NIGHT- Chili, bread sticks, and too many yummy treats at the Owens. Along with a Utah game. It was a fun night! Here are the pics.

THE CLASSIC HALLOWEEN COSTUMES: Scarecrow, Witch and Pumpkin

Where's Waldo? (Russ and Carrie)

Dragon and the Prince William and Kate Middleton (Mike, Kara, and little Stew)

TOMATO ... and Utah fan (Cara -the hostest of the mostest! )

The veggies looking at the poor kittys who also had jester costumes that they hated, which was hilarious.

Cara made her own hat, it was awesome!

Swine Flu/H1N1 (Jordan and Pam) aka the "smart costume"

Coach Whit (Jackson, the host of the most)

Nerdy Anna, this was so funny!

Anna and Audrie, the bumble bee, have become good buddies, they get excited to see each other. Here we dressed them up in parts of other's costumes. We were laughing so hard! I am mad I didn't get a photo of the rest of the Nelson clan, especially the Ninja (4 month old Drew!)

It was a great Halloween! And if you are still reading you get many many bonus points! I know it is long, but it is my journalling for the time being!

Ann Arbor in the Fall

Ann Arbor in the Fall is probably one of the most beautiful places to be. There are millions of huge trees everywhere and color, color, color! I am in awe each day and wish that I could take photos while driving. I want to have my camera with me all the time! Here's a taste...

Favorite Scenic Photos From Our Trip up North

I am trying to get caught up on my posts. This is a post dedicated to the beautiful scenery we saw in the upper parts of Michigan. It looks even better now that I am missing warm weather!

So what fun things are you going to do today?

Before Dave left for the Michigan football game he asked me the previous question. My response was, "NOTHING." I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed by all the things that stack up with working 40+ hours, being a mom of a toddler, cooking, cleaning and shopping and figured I would be cleaning and working on the house all day.

WELL, My poor attitude changed as I blogged for a moment and decided to enjoy the day with my baby! How could I NOT have fun with a 21 month old?

Here is what we have done:

Read books, colored, made Mac n' Cheese together (Anna loved helping me stir and pour the ingredients in), sat as "big girls" at the table, took "cheese" photos, sang songs, danced, played outside, danced outside, threw Mia her toys, watched Elmo- did the hokey pokey for Anna's first time,

and let Anna get in Mia's crate....

Now we'll go hang out with Lincoln and Sloane then come home to meet the Owens and watch the Utah game (which you can see was recording as Anna did "tricks"! GO UTES!

I LOVE THESE BROWN EYES!

And I DID get the house cleaned too! I guess pity parties are not welcome today.