Trunk-or-Treat and Pumpkin Time

Evelyn chose the Dwyer Halloween theme this year and picked a great one!  She wanted to be a purple starfish and decided an underwater theme would be fun.  We showed Violet some pictures and she was cracking up at the octopus, so that was her choice; Oliver made a pretty scary shark (except when the kids started singing "Baby shark, doo-doooo-doo-doo-da-doo. . ."); and while Calvin thinks he's too told to trick-or-treat, he still wants the candy that goes with it.  So when I asked him what underwater creature he wanted to be, he asked, "Can I just be the fisherman?" Yes, son, you sure can.  Our walking aquarium had its Halloween debut on Sunday when the church had their annual Trunk-or-Treat.  The weather couldn't have been better!

We met up with friends, Jen, Julia, and Jocelyn as they were handing out candy; and Violet met up with some of her school friends who just had their faces painted extra cool!

The kids enjoyed cotton candy, caramel apples, and hot apple cider.

The girls each got a fun balloon bracelet from the balloon guy before it was time for us to go.  Their bracelets even matched their costumes!

We still had some pumpkins to attend to before Halloween night arrived.  Evelyn was the only kid who really cared this year, and she thought we should paint pumpkins, so we got some paints and our little artist went to work.  She sure loves painting! (Rainbows and butterflies are her favorites.)

She also painted a beautiful pumpkin at a friend's birthday party this week.

The painted pumpkins were fun, but Evie still thought Daddy needed to carve one.  She picked a pattern and supervised well while he did the manual labor.

They are pretty proud of the finished product!

I think we're ready!

October Apples

We traditionally visit our apple orchard, Pome on the Range, in September.  This September got away from us, though, and so I thought we'd be out of luck until next year.  But then a good friend told me they just went and there were still LOTS of apples!  We are in a great time right now between sports seasons, so the kids are all free after school.  We took advantage of this and headed to the orchard to stock our fridge with apples!

While Daddy got our bags for picking, the kids took a few turns down the spaceship slide (that looks like it got a fresh coat of paint since we were here last).

They also tried out this new/old teeter-totter near the other play equipment.

We armed the kids with pickers, and headed out to begin our harvest!  We were literally the only people in the orchard on this beautiful Wednesday afternoon at the end of October.

Violet wasn't so interested in picking, but she was quite good at sampling.

Evelyn is the only Dwyer kiddo who had been apple picking this year (remember she went with KJ, Wes, and Harry for their birthdays), so she was the expert in the group.

Violet ended up being a good helper as the bag-carrier.  She held it out for the others to fill.

We had a great day and came home with two pecks of yummy apples!

Here are some pretty sweet apples!  (Maybe next year, the paint projects at Pome on the Range could include this sign??)

No trip to the orchard would be complete without some cider slushes. . .

. . . and chasing the ducks to the pond.  Violet just laughs and laughs at these crazy ducks!

As we left, I once again marveled at the beautiful fall colors.  Seriously, this might be the prettiest fall ever!

We've already made an apple pie and we are loving our apples -- so glad we were able to make it in October!

Fantastic Fall Foliage

One of my favorite places to visit in the fall is just down the gravel road from our house: Black Jack Park!  If you've followed this blog through the years, you've seen several posts of times spent at Black Jack.  It's my favorite place to visit in the fall, though, because of the beautiful foliage, and this year might be the best year yet. 

We took a bag of apples and some warm caramel to have a fall treat while we explored on this gorgeous afternoon.

I mean, seriously, look at these colors!  And these phone pictures don't even do them justice (since I forgot my camera).

I love this man, and I love that we get to go through every season of life together.

And I love these awesome kids!  And I love impromptu afternoons of family fun.

They wanted to climb up on the old chimney at the park.  I love how they love each other.

What a gift God gives us each fall when he paints so many beautiful colors in the trees!  I'm so thankful for this time of year and the family I get to share it with!