Fall fun...Apples, pumpkins, fairies, and giant slides

We are big fans of fall around here.  It's such a welcomed change of pace from the scorching heat of the summer.  We take full advantage of the fun that fall brings.  We make an annual trip to the local apple orchard with friends from church and pick bags of apples.  These get turned into applesauce, apple cobblers, pie, muffins, etc.  This year I froze most of them to use for quick desserts throughout the year. 

 We also make a trip every year to a pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins to carve.  It's always a lot of fun choosing the perfect pumpkins, jumping in the bounce house, and going on the hayride. 

 This is the first year that Bailey was able to do a significant part in the pumpkin carving process.  She picked out her design, taped it onto the pumpkin, scooped out most of the seeds, scored the design with a pin, and then pulled out the carved pieces after I cut them.  It was a lot of fun.  I had big plans for Eli to paint a mini pumpkin while we carved ours.  It was a big fat fail.  Instead he sat in his highchair confined watching a short movie while we did our thing.  He can't be trusted running around with knives, pins, and pumpkin guts laying on the table.  That little booger is a quick one and would grab that stuff lickety split.  Ah the joys of toddlers...toddler boys to be exact. 

The last weekend of October, our church had our annual Fall festival.  It's a great way to reach our surrounding community.  We usually have between 400-700 people that attend every year.  Bounce house, inflatable obstacle course, giant slides, carnival games, pictures, the pumpkin Gospel presentation and popcorn and lemonade.  Our kids had the best time, and I lost track of the amount of times they went down the inflatable slide.  I don't know about them, but I was exhausted.  

 The fairy princess and her football player friend.  I tried to talk her into being Little Red Riding Hood and Eli being the big bad wolf.  It was a no go, so Eli got a lame last second makeshift costume...football hoodie with black under his eyes.  ::sigh::  

 I love the expression on their faces.  Such joy!

Oh the difference in my children.  Bailey (4 years old) had to go down with someone first before she felt confident enough to go by herself.  Eli (18 months) wiggled out of our arms itching to go down by himself....over and over and over and over again.  He looks so little on that big slide doesn't he?!