fall fun

We've been having lots of fun over the last few weeks with various activities from birthday celebrations to field trips and Halloween preparation. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to.

Out for lunch to celebrate Steve's birthday
Steve's birthday cake...Boston Cream Pie, made by yours truly (the non-baker). It turned out really GOOD!

Hanging out with Mr. Scarecrow

The kids went on a field trip to a local apple orchard for school. I got to chaperon, which was lots of fun. The best part may have been the ride on the school bus...it was a first for both Jackson and Olivia! The next couple pictures are also from the field trip.

Steve and I celebrating our friend Mike's 40th birthday at a great bash hosted by his wife. We had a fantastic time!

Jackson was the best at cleaning the seeds out of the pumpkins...we called him "The Seed Guy" for the rest of the day and he was so proud!

Olivia got into it, too, but she wasn't as enthusiastic about getting in up to her elbows!

Jackson was telling her that he would take care of cleaning the guts and seeds out because he was the best seed guy...he was right. He did not leave a single seed in either of the two pumpkins we carved!

fall fun

The McFamily had a full weekend...here's just a sampling of the things we did.

Saturday was our Fabulous Fun Fall Cleanup Day- well, maybe it wasn't fabulous, and it really wasn't all that fun, but it is fall and we did clean up, so I guess that's half right. We set out early to clean the garage and get all of the summer gear stored before the snow flies (which incidentally was Sunday...good timing!). We managed to accumulate a lot of stuff since last spring, so it took Steve and I some creative rearranging to get things put away, all with the little mess makers underfoot. Projects seem to take twice as long when you've got that kind of help!

Sunday morning we brought the very cold pumpkins in off the front step and turned them into Jack-o-Lanterns. As you can probably tell from the pictures, O wasn't all that interested in digging the "guts" out, but J was more than happy to get in up to his armpits. The Pair-o-Jacks are currently sitting in the kitchen window so that they can stay warm, even though both kids seem to be a bit frightened of them!

We also made some Halloween cupcakes on Sunday...nothing like a little orange frosting to put a smile on your face!