Trick or Treat!!

Halloween started off with Jackson heading to preschool.  He had his Halloween party today and he was VERY excited to wear his costume.  Thanks to Logan and his mommy for lending us some costumes this year.  Tristan and I picked him up and we headed home for lunch and "quiet" time.  Jackson had a very good time at his Halloween party, talked about it the entire way home. 

After a little quiet time and multiple requests from Jackson to go trick or treating, we headed out to Grandma and Papa's house.  The boys got a pretty good start to their candy collection there.  Then we headed to Uncle Mike's house to visit and trick or treat.

The boys had to do a little wrestling before we left.

When we got home we met up with our Trick or Treating buddies (aka The Corlett's) and headed out around town.  The kids had SO. MUCH. FUN.  Even Tristan, he was behind everyone else most of the time but he knew that if he went up to a house and showed his pumpkin they would give him candy.  He even tried to say "trick or treat" but of course sounded nothing like it.  By the time we were done his pumpkin was so heavy he basically dragged it on the ground, but he wouldn't let anyone else carry it.  If we offered we were told "No" "Mine"

 Group pic before we started out, this was the only time Jackson wore his mask.

Iron Man (Jackson), race car driver (Wesley), Elmo (Tristan), Disco Girl (Ella)

 Best Buddies!

Tristan lagging behind...

After we were done around town we stopped at the community center for hot dogs and chips.  The Farmersburg Firemen do this every year at Halloween and I think it is so awesome!

This picture was just after Jackson had spilled his lemonade, he ended up eating his food anyway.

We then headed home much to both boys dislike, took baths and then of course checked out all the candy they got.  I let them eat as much as they desired tonight, then we will ration it out until they forget about it.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Halloween Treats!

I had most of this week off since I work the weekend so Jackson and I decided to make some Halloween treats.  I found a couple easy recipes that he could help me with on allrecipes.com and we got to work.

First we made spooky chocolate spiders....(chow mein noodles covered in melted chocolate)  Jackson had a blast putting on the eyes (red decorating candies).  He is planning on taking some of these spiders to his preschool Halloween party Monday to share with his classmates and teachers.

Then we made spooky fingers!  These are basically a sugar cookie rolled into a finger shape.  Jackson helped by putting the finger nail (almond) on them and placing the warts (chocolate/butterscotch chips).  These also have red decorating gel for the "blood".  These were really fun and turned out great! 

Jackson just loves to help out in the kitchen and it's so much fun to share this with him!  We have so much fun making these memories!

Carving Pumpkins...

We carved our pumpkins tonight! 

 This is the first year Jackson has actually put his hand into the pumpkin to help remove the guts.  He was pretty proud of himself!

 Tristan on the other hand, was not too interested in putting his hand into the pumpkin.

Tristan did try to help sort out the seeds from the guts.  Dad wanted some seeds to plant for next year and I wanted to try roasting some this year.

The final product from the seeds.  This is only some of the seeds, this was the first time I'd ever roasted any so I just did a few cups in case I ruined it.  They taste pretty darn good!

 Jackson and Tristan by their pumpkins!

Pumpkins lit up (although you can't tell from this picture)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Combine

My boys love to ride in any type of farm machinery.  Jackson has always been fascinated with tractors, we joke that "tractor" was one of his very first words.  So today we met up with Papa so they could ride in the combine.  It surprises me that Tristan has absolutely no fear of the combine.  He is just anxious to get up in there!  I have a few pictures but unfortunately they didn't turn out the greatest...

All the boys in the combine ready to pick!

They took about a 45 minute ride picking corn.  Surprisingly, no one fell asleep!

Movie

Tonight I took Jackson to his very first movie at a movie theater!  He was very excited when he learned we'd be going.  We went to Lion King in 3D.  He did very well!  We shared a huge bucket of popcorn and he even got to share my pop, which is a very rare treat.  He really like the 3D glasses and even asked if he could keep them, which he did!

Leaves!

Playing in the leaves at the Garnavillo park...

Heritage Days

We headed over to Osborne today for their annual Heritage Days.  I'm ashamed to say that I have never gone.  Grandma Shirley wanted to go to so we invited her along.  We had a great time!

 Jackson got to make rope!  This took me back.  I remember helping my grandpa when I was a kid.  We would make rope for hours at different celebrations.  It was really neat for me to see my kids experience this. 

Jackson also made a candle.  He lost interest pretty quick on this one, so I tried my best to finish the candle.  We also got to try some home made root beer, it was delicious!  Jackson had 2 cups full!

We, of course, had to get some ice cream!

We also walked thru the animal exhibits.  Almost all the animals were up and about.  Then we checked out the building for the rest of the displays.  Jackson bought some rock candy with change he'd gotten earlier in the day.  While we were walking to the building we ran into this guy...

Jackson just loves caterpillars!  He carried it around for a while and had to show Grandma Shirley.  I asked him what his name was to which he replied "George".

We played with George for a bit then left him happily chewing on a leaf.

We had a fun time at Heritage Days!  We will definitely be back next year!

Playing in the park

It was so nice today and I was home with the boys.  We decided to go to the park, but not our park.  Every once in a while I like to take the boys to different parks, it's much more fun to explore new play things.  We decided to go to Garnavillo today!

 Tristan on his new favorite 4-wheeler ride.  He kept going back to it!

 I asked Jackson for his best racecar pose...

 Not sure what Jackson's doing...

Tristan caged up!

We ended our fun afternoon by heading to the Burger Barn in Elkader for some ice cream!  Yum!

Apple Orchard

We went to the apple orchard today!  Shihata's Orchard outside of Prairie was having their Orchardfest today so we decided to check it out.  We've gone to this the past few years since it's always the weekend of Jackson's birthday.  They had some new things this year!

Like this box full of corn the kids could play in!  Jackson loved it!  I remember doing this in the corn bin growing up.  They had scoops and dump trucks the kids could play with.  Tristan had NO interest at all in getting in here, he preferred to watch.

There was also a big slide with a sand area at the end.  Jackson also loved the slide.  He didn't have too graceful of exits from it though, as you can see.  Tristan, again, didn't care much for this.  The slide was dark and quite big.  He preferred the animal area.  There was a horse, donkey, llama, goat, bunnies and a sheep.  He wasn't too excited to touch them but he sure did like to watch them.

 The boys played in the rope maze...

....and did a little teeter tottering...

All in all we had a good time!  We went for a tractor/wagon ride thru the orchard, which the boys thoroughly enjoyed.  Jackson really liked the caramel apple with sprinkles and everybody had some delicious apple slushie.  We also bought some apple syrup and apple cider, two family favorites!

Jackson's 4th Birthday!

Jackson turned 4 today!!

So celebrated with a party!  Guest list included: Great Grandpa, Grandma Shirley, Grandma and Papa Sass, Uncle Mike, Great Aunt Joy, Mommy and Daddy and Tristan.  On the menu was homemade pizza and of course birthday cake!

 The "Gordon" cake!  It looked awesome!

Jackson digging into his cake.  He was, as usual, the first one to finish eating.  I think he figured he'd get to open presents sooner.  But we made him wait until everyone was done eating.

In front of his presents!

 Gravity box for his tractors!

 Train track with his name engraved!

 New semi!  Gotta love that "cheese" smile!

 Engine wash for his trains!

Glow Station!

He had to set up his new track in the living room and start playing right away.

Jackson had a great party for his 4th birthday!