Squashes and Pumpkins and Candy, Oh My!

In my eyes, October is nature's gift to children. The weather is mild, the colors warm and embracing, and the leaves fall from the trees like star dust. Kids can gnaw on apples, drink cider, carve pumpkins, and even eat the seeds that they pull from the wonderful, squishy guts.

And just in case that isn't enough to make every kid jump out of bed in the morning, we have fall festivals and pumpkin patch visits. Finally, we add the grand-daddy holiday of them all, the candy-giving, prank-inducing, scream-through-the-streets-at-night, give-me-candy holiday of Halloween.

Our October has been one of the best ever. Temperatures hover around 60 degrees, the leaves fall from the trees in fits and starts, and the mood at our house has been one of pleasant anticipation. Matt asks, "How many days until Halloween?" and both of them draw pictures of bats and ghosts and vampires.

Friends celebrated fall with a community gathering of parents and kids where we ate chili and spaghetti, carved pumpkins and traded stories. The kids played basketball and flashlight tag into the evening. To me, such a gathering represents the essence of small-town living.


















Yesterday, Matt's class took a fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch. Wilson's Banner Ranch gives tours to grade school children from all over the area. During the tour, the kids get an apple and cider, then they head out to the patch to pick out the perfect pumpkin, and wrap it up with a turn at playing in the straw fort. The first graders were back in class by 1 p.m., but the teacher said she lost three of them to la-la land during story time. A day like that can wear a kid down...but I bet those kids will be dreaming of pumpkin patches and straw forts when October is just a memory.





















Girl Scout troop 373 had a Halloween party on Sunday. The girls came in costume, enjoyed a slimy green punch and chocolate cookies, and then headed out to bob for apples. We did the same gig last year, and this year they were feeling pretty confident. In fact, they took turns bobbing until every one of the 30 or so apples were gone from the tub. We might need a new activity next year...