Two Canuck Kittens in Kansas: November 2009

Hallowe'en 2009

Our day started off busy. We had to finish up T's big girl room as we had started having her sleep in her new big girl room and bed Friday night. This meant more trips to Lowe's to get child proof outlets etc. T decided she wanted a butterfly and flower theme. So far, so good on sleeping in her toddler bed.

Then it was off to T's friend S's birthday party. It was a Haunted Mickey theme. The lady of the hour was a Minnie Witch and her younger sister L (who is recovering from major heart surgery which is why she has a feeding tube) was a family tradition, a devil. The devil costume has been worn by L's mom, aunt, cousin and older sister.

S's birthday was at the beginning of October but she wanted a Haunted Mickey party so it was postponed until Hallowe'en.

All the kids wore their costumes to the party. I took off T's before the cupcakes and ice cream as I just knew it was going to get dirty. For pictures of the other kids costumes, please visit here.

The kids enjoyed cupcakes, ice cream, haunted oreos and a pumpkin craft. I was exhausted just looking at how much work it was. T's parties are way less elaborate as I just don't have the time. Oh well, maybe for her 3rd birthday.

Then it was on the main event of the day, trick or treating. After the party, we grabbed some take out as we had left the birthday party late. By 6:30pm, we started having knocks at the door.
T went out with S and their respective fathers, while L, her mom and I manned our door. Apparently it was a successful night for both girls, as they came home with quite a haul. There was a lot more throngs of kids this year so the dads had to do a little crowd control or S and T would have been squished.

All ended well until we awoke Sunday morning to find that the local deliquents had smashed every single pumpkin on the block by 'composting' them in the middle of the street. We've never had any issues before leaving out the pumpkin at night but from now on we will have to bring it in. They kindly missed T's little pumpkin.

See I've got my tail and pitchfork all ready!

A smile just for you.

My little fleur du jour

Ta da! S, T and L

Enough with the camera already, let's get the party started!

Pensive for mere seconds before she's off on another adventure

The birthday girl!

The Great Pumpkin Carving Adventure...

Here are some shots of the great carving adventure of 2009!

Scooping out the pumpkin

Daddy designing the face

Critiquing the design

More scooping

Ready to proceed with the 'operation'

Step 1 - Design the Pumpkin

Step 2 - Dig out the guts

Papa's Pumpkin Patch

So that last couple of years, we have gone to a 'pumpkin patch' that really isn't a patch. Its more so a field with pumpkin headed scarecrows posed in vignettes and you pick a pumpkin from a cardboard box. Not so much what we've been looking for.

This year, based on a friend's FaceBook recommendation, we drove north to Papa's Pumpkin Patch . We were cautiously optimistic as we turned down the dirt road. We had used our navigation system in the truck to find the place so we were hopeful we had found the right place.

We have had early hard frosts this year and a lot of rain, two things that aren't so good for pumpkins. Upon arrival, we noticed a large slide (T's eyes got really big at the sight of the slide) and were greeted by one of the staff. They gave us a brief description of the patch and its many activities. T just wanted to go back to the slide but we carried on to the patches.

The first patch was rather picked over and had suffered quite a bit of damage from the frost and rain. So off we made our way to the second large field. Success! We also got T a T sized pumpkin. Next time we will take the wagon as the ground was quite mucky and the pumpkins were quite heavy.

After we paid for our bounty, off we went to the slide. It was a very bright and windy day so it made for difficult pictures. I only wish my video had turned out better. T squealed gleefully every time she went down the slide. We tried to get a shot with her and S in front of a display but she was not having any of it. She threw a fit and cried the whole time because she wanted to go back to the slide.

Stay tuned for the Great Pumpkin Carving adventure!