Just Fall Stuff

Well it's fall, or supposed to be but you'd never know it in the Sunshine state. Since the fall weather doesn't come to us, we decided to do everything in our power to make it seam like autumn at our place. Things like making Halloween crafts and Halloween sugar cookies with friends:

And doing more Halloween crafts:

A little Halloween garland to spruce up the place. I planned to do this one afternoon when it was pouring outside and we had nothing else going on. I thought it would take us all afternoon to finish it but no, Owen knocked the whole thing out in about twenty minutes. Leaves a lot of indoor time for Mom to figure out something else to do to keep Owen from the TV.

We also visited a pumpkin patch, or in Floridas case, a pumpkin parking lot.
I actually loved this place. I didn't expect much because they don't have real  patches here but this place was awesome. The kids picked out their own pumpkins:

Then, once you paid for your pumpkin, there was free pumpkin painting:

 Owen's best little girl friend Ella. Isn't she darling? We love her.

This is one of Owen's friends. He was super concerned with the fact that Owen wasn't painting an actual face on his pumpkin.
They also had a butterfly reserve (not fall-ish but still super fun for the kids):

And a giant chair for the kids to play in.

Who cares if all of the pumpkins are in a parking lot rather than an actual patch when they have so many other things to keep the kids entertained?

We also spent a night carving pumpkins with some friends. Our friends Kathy and Wade are awesome and love Halloween. They decorate their whole front yard for the holiday. This guy was there to greet us when we got there:

Actually, Kathy was so worried that this would horrify the children that she covered him up for us. We wanted to check him out though and Owen and his friends are still a little young to know to be scared so we took the cover off. Kylee, one of Owen's little friends loved "the bird eating the worm", see... still too young to know that the crow is actually eating the man's eyeball.

She also had a whole set up for pumpkin painting and carving.

And what would a Halloween party be without candy and treats and more candy and more treats for the kids?

Once everyone was all sugared up, the carving and painting ensued:

The finished product:

Not too shabby. Funny thing about trying to do punmpkin carving with two year olds... after about three minutes, the kids were ready to move on so the dad's end up finishing the project.

Meanwhile, Collette pretty much just sits around looking cuter than anything. BTW... she doesn't always go around shirtless, she is typically a very modest little lady but she had drooled all over herself and we figured it was better to just go shirtless than keep her soaking wet all night.

Since we don't have the cold weather, changing leaves or any other autumn things going on, I thought I could at least get some fall smells in my house. I took myself down to Bath and Body Works to buy the most fall-ish candle I could find. I feel like there is some research out there stating that I may be poisoning my family by using a candle, I really hope that's not the case since I've been burning it non stop for the past two weeks. How else am I supposed to get my fall on?