Pumpkin Patch Kids

Yes it is fall, and it sure felt like it today!  So in the nature of bundling up and bonding Jerm and I took the kiddos to a local pumpkin patch!  Now with a family of six it is sometimes pretty expensive to do things as a family.  You have to multiply the amount of tickets, food, and all entertainment by 3...normally baby Boogie is still free since she in under 2 years old.  The pumpkin patch is one of the few places that having a large family is actually a benefit!  The local patch we go to is called Crawford Farms, they have some great attractions for the kiddos and for the adults.  It is free to go to the pumpkin patch itself, but the attractions are $5.00 per kid, $2.00 per adult for the day, 2 and under are free.  So for our family it would cost us $19.00 per day.  It really isn't too bad but they also offer season passes for a family up to 6 members for only $28.00....yeah we got the season pass! The season pass is good from September 24th through October 31st. I know that it is only two weeks till Halloween but we plan on going back on the 27th  (possibly the 28th too) and figured the season pass was a better deal!

You are entering Crawford Farms...reason I started going to this pumpkin patch (before I ever even knew about the attractions) they have a better sign from the road!!! All the other pumpkin patch's signs are tiny, I was able to find this one easily! Put a little bit of money into advertising and it may just pay off!

(My kiddos showing one of those rare affectionate moments that bring tears to my eyes and make me remember that they grow up way too fast! I really really love this photo!)

Are you ready to have fun?!?!?!?

 

First thing you see walking in is the Pumpkin Palace. (this is free) You can pick out pumpkins, gourds, and other things that I have no idea what they are.  The pumpkins range from $1.00 to $25.00 with the Jack O Lantern worthy pumpkins ranging between $4.00 to $8.00 not too bad. They also sell wood pallets with 10-20 pumpkins for $25.00. Last year I bought a pallet used 6 of them and gave the rest to family and friends.

Our Jack O Lanterns from 2011, five of the pallet pumpkins! Also is you look at the bottom right corner of the picture with my kids walking into the patch you can see what a pallet of pumpkins looks like, pretty good deal if I say so myself.

After you look around the Pumpkin Palace you can move on the the attractions, now you do have to pay for these but the prices are pretty reasonable.

This is the Barrel Ride, you can be a cow, horse, piggy, donkey or a sheep. Wow that tractor moves super fast and the kids really seemed to enjoy it! It does cost $2.00 each, but a lot of carnival rides at my kids school cost more than that.  Plus, this is supporting a local farm and I am very pro buying locally!

Bubby feeding the goats.  There is a Petting Zoo that includes goats, chickens, rabbits, sheep, and a donkey...a freaking donkey.  Garrett loved the animals and was really the only one of my kiddos that kept going back to them.  Baby Boogie just called every animal baby...no matter how many times I told her it was a bunny or a donkey.

There are little Photo Props that the kids can play on or in, that make for great photos.  There was this stagecoach, some corn wigwams, hay bales, scarecrows and many more.

Monkey helping Baby Boogie through the baby maze!! Mazes! There are two children friendly (they can do them alone) mazes and two family mazes.  There was the smallest maze (I kept calling it the baby maze) that was just some hay bales laid flat on the ground.  A (school kids) maze that you couldn't see over but was very very simple to get through. (no dead ends)  Then there are the family mazes ( no unaccompanied children) one is one acre long and the other is five acres long.  They both have games that you can play to find your way out.  We didn't do these mazes it was getting late in the evening and the kids were getting hungry so we decided to save these for another day.

The Slide! My kids LOVED the slide, it was all they really wanted to do.  Every once in a while they would wander off to check something out, but they just kept coming back to this main attraction!  It is pretty cool looking!

Monkey running up the hay bales to slide!

Babydoll was having so much fun she actually smiled for a picture!

Bubby enjoyed the outing so much, he actually consented to take a picture!

Baby Boogie wasn't as impressed with the slide, Jerm had just gotten off work so she was more interested in daddy! She did start saying "Moo" on the way home, she has never said "Moo" before and it is a little weird considering there were No cows there, but ohwell that is Boogie for you!

We had a great day and NO meltdowns at all! That is an amazing feat with four (by the end of the day) tired, hungry, cold kiddos! Ironically we didn't buy any pumpkins!  We were tired, cold and hungry so we decided to come back to play and buy our Pallet O Pumpkins.  Honestly I think Jerm and I were just feeling too lazy today to load all those flipping pumpkins in the car then unload them at home!  Wait!!! I lied I did buy six teeny tiny pumpkins that were three for a dollar, just cause they were really cute and I have a plan for them!!

Has your family visited a pumpkin patch this year? Was it a good experience or a child meltdown moment that left you wondering if all the lessons in good behavior really only happened in you imagination?

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Oklahoma...O K L A H O M A....Oklahoma yowl!

I sometimes participate in a writing prompt organized by Momma Kat a little while ago one of the prompts was to talk about your childhood house with diagram. I missed it thanks to the spat going on inside my computer, and was upset because the prompt made me think of home.  On top of that my car radio thinks that I should only listen to country music, I am not a big fan of country but I tolerate it.  A song came on the radio called Blown Away by Carrie Underwood, these things caused me to spend the past week reminiscing of my roots.

 I was born and raised in Lawton/ Ft Sill Oklahoma. I often joke that most people probably forget that Oklahoma is even a state, but to be honest with myself there isn't much to recommend the land of my roots....

 

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Landlocked, prairies, a few mountain ranges, lots of man made lakes, Buffalo, and Tornado Ally, that is what I remember.  I lived in Oklahoma for the first 19 years of my life, before marriage and moving to Alabama, then I  eventually moved to Kentucky.  I have spent 10 years living away from Oklahoma (yeah I know you guys are doing the age math over there), and I haven't visited since Bubby was 2.  I told Jerm the other day that I need to go, I need to touch the red earth of Oklahoma soon.

I know that Oklahoma doesn't seem like much to some people, I mean come on there isn't really anything fancy about the place but Roger and Hammerstein  did make a musical about Oklahoma (well sort of)  and Hugh Jackman thought it is something to sing about.....

There may not be much to recomed the state but there are some interesting facts about Oklahoma:

 
Originally Indian Territory, the state of Oklahoma was opened to settlers in a "Land Rush" in 1889. On a given date, prospective settlers would be allowed into the territory to claim plots of land by grabbing the stakes marking each plot. A few of these settlers entered to claim land before the official start of the land run; these cheaters were called "Sooners". ( Boomer Sooner *football reference LOL*)

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 The bread twist tie was invented in Maysville, OK.

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The shopping cart was invented in Ardmore in 1936.

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The first Girl Scout Cookie was sold in Muskogee in 1917.

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So basically you can thank Oklahoma for bread staying in it's bag then giving you the ability to hold cords together with the twist ties, for not having to lug all those kiddos and shopping items around in your bare hands, and who isn't thankful for Girl Scout cookies!!

Plus there really are some very beautiful places in Oklahoma.....

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge (in my hometown of Lawton)

   

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The 77-foot waterfall at Natural Falls State Park

  

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So the moral of this blog.....nothing....I was just reminiscing, and missing home.  I love Kentucky it is a gorgeous state, but every once in a while I still need to feel the Oklahoma wind blowing, and stand on a high spot and be able to see for miles around.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider....

My Kiddos love crafts...they know that on Friday nights I normally have some kind of craft project or game for us to do together.  Sometimes we don't get to them or sometimes the behavior the kids exhibit prevents us from having rewards.  With Halloween right around the corner, I started looking for crafts that we could do together, and found these fun little spiders at Micheal's.

 ( From left to right Monkey's, Babydoll's, and Bubby's spiders )

The little kit makes 12 little spiders and includes everything that you need to make them other than the glue.  I let the kids glue them together with regular Elmer's glue, but they weren't holding together really well.  After the kiddos went to sleep I just added a little hot glue to hold them better.

 

Monkey working hard!

(Pic Monkey has Halloween edits and yeah I was playing with my pictures)

Crafting requires focus, just look at Babydoll's face!

Bubby refused to let me take his picture.  My kiddos are a little camera shy sometimes!

Baby Boogie didn't get to participate with the craft due to small beads and other items that could have ended up in her ears, nose, mouth and any other body part.  She did have fun watching and was happy to take a picture!

Taco Soup

This Family Favorite Recipe is most likely our #1 favorite, not just among our little part of the family but many of my friends and other family members love this dinner.  I learned it from my ex-mother in law.  We still get a long great and always did, so here is a little shout out to that extended family in Mobile, Alabama.  Thanks for this recipe...although I did tweak it just a little :) They like their food spicy so they use the spicy versions, while we like our food a little more mild.

Taco Soup:

Ingredients:

• Hamburger Meat:  1 LB (you can use ground chuck or lean whatever is your preference)
• Powdered Ranch Dressing: 1 Package
• Taco Seasoning: 2 Packages (Mild, Strong, whatever your family preference)
• Black Beans: 2 Cans
  
• Red Kidney Beans: 2 Cans
  
• Great Northern Beans: 2 Cans (you can also use navy beans)
  
• Shoepeg Corn: 1 Can
  
• Diced Tomatoes: 2 Cans (you can also use Rotel tomatoes, to add a bit of a kick)
• Shredded Cheddar Cheese: 1 Package
• Sour Cream: 16 OZ (we really like sour cream)
• Tortilla Chips: 1-2 Bags

Directions:

1. Brown Hamburger meat adding the Taco Seasoning ass directed on package, and drain excess fat.
2. Combine all Can goods (with Juices) and package of Ranch Dressing in large cooking pot or Crock Pot. 
3. Add Hamburger meat to the other combined ingredients.
4. If you use a cooking pot heat to a boil then allow to simmer for 30 minutes to an hour stirring occasionally.
5. If you use a  Crock Pot either heat it on high for 1-2 hours or on low for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally.

Eat It:

Every one in this house loves this soup/dip we all get our own bowl of soup topped with the cheese and the sour cream, and our own bowl of tortilla chips.  We like to use the Tostitos Scoops, and dip the soup out, then we finish the bowl with a spoon.  I sometimes double the amount I make and take it to friends or my dad, when I double I only increase all the canned goods by one can, but double everything else. ( My crock Pot is only so big lol ) I like to use this recipe any time that I go to a pot luck or anytime we are having people over to the house.  It really does make a lot and is very filling!  I hope that your family enjoys it as much as ours does!

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Halloween Costumes...better get to cracking...

Halloween is right around the corner.  I remember watching movies as a kid, and wondering why the parents in the movies always made the costumes VS buying them.  My mom always bought my costumes, not because she couldn't make them I am pretty sure she could.  I just think she never thought about making them.  She grew up as one of seven children and I was an only spoiled child.  I like the idea of homemade costumes!  Not because I don't want to buy them (with four kiddos it can get expensive) but because I like doing special things for my children.  So some years we buy them, some years we make them, and some years it is a mixture.  It always comes down to what my kids want to be, and can I make that!  This year I have gotten the requests for Wolverine (Bubby) pretty sure I can't make that one, a Black Cat (Babydoll) I am pretty sure I can make that!  Monkey is still thinking, and every time I ask the two year old Boogie I am told no! (while she shakes her finger at me LOL)

Some past Homemade costumes:

Bubby as a Hershey Kiss!  I used a hula hoop(base), silver fabric, pipe cleaners(neckline), a upside down plastic bowl(hat), more pipe cleaners(hat) and a fruit by the foot wrapper(paper from the hat)

He wore a black turtle neck and black sweat pants under.  He loved wearing it every time he tried it on, but Halloween night it wasn't worn for long, he was in a bad mood that night and wasn't even up for too much trick or treating, oh well I was proud!

Monkey as "the Walking Dead"  We used a too short old pair of jeans, and old too small holey shirt and old shoes.  I used a mixture of red, orange, brown, and black paint to look like blood.  We ripped up everything and (while the paint was still wet) I took the clothes outside stomped them in some dirt, and dragged them through the grass.  We used Halloween face paint and a little of my own make up to do his face and arms, whole thing cost me the $2.00 for the makeup everything else was on hand!  I loved how it turned out!

Some of my Favorite Store Bought Costumes:

In the kids movie "Shrek"  The Donkey and Dragon have babies, they are called Dronkies, we like to refer to them as Dragasses :)  We found Bubby the "Dronky"  costume online for a little under $15.00.  It was too cute to pass up!  It is still one of my favorite costumes ever!

This costume of the baby Skunk was borrowed from my niece.  She wore the costume the year before, I just loved how cute baby Boogie looked as a Skunk and the tail was adorable too.  It also didn't hurt that it cost me a big fat nothing! :)

I colud have made that:

Until last year Babydoll had gone Trick or Treating with her mom ( so I don't have any Halloween pictures other than this one)  Halloween always fell on one of her three days.  Last year Halloween fell on one of our four days.  Jerm and his ex wife celebrate the holidays on "whoever has that day"  Christmas, Birthday Party, and Thanksgiving are shared.  It's really hard to explain, but his ex and I get a long fantastic she has become one of my best friends.  The Holidays are becoming more of a shared event, his ex and her boyfriend are always invited to our house to celebrate and we all get a long fine.  This is the costume Babydoll wore last year, I so should have made this I bet I could have saved Babydoll's grandma $20.00 it is just a tutu dress and some wings LOL

Ideas for this year:

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Idea for Babydoll!

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Idea for baby Boogie!

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Idea for Bubby, might be able to make this somehow!

I have no ideas for Monkey at the moment, and neither does he, oh well we will figure it out!