Happy Halloween!

We had a blast this weekend.  Since Halloween actually fell on Sunday, the local municipalities got to decide whether they wanted trick-or-treaters hitting the streets on Saturday or Sunday.  What is a Morris to do?  Go both nights!  Woo-Hoo!! ('cause, you know, we need THAT MUCH candy in this house...)

Our neighborhood does not get a whole lot of foot traffic.  Perhaps it's because we live on a cul-de-sac and not the main thoroughfare; perhaps the neighborhood is populated by other "Morrises" who leave and go trick-or-treat other places.  Nevertheless, our house was dark all weekend.  Helena observed on Saturday night, and we went to Aunt Kristy and Uncle Jason's house.  Aunt Kristy was so excited about the company.  Mee-Maw and Granddaddy came over, as did Nona.  We had a big ol' pot of taco soup and I brought the dessert:

Most people refer to this as "dirt cake" and serve it in terra cotta pots with fake flowers and/or gummy worms sticking out.  In the spirit of the spooky night, ours was a graveyard!  Super easy.  Oh, and zoom in on that headstone at the bottom left...hahaha Roll Tide Roll!

Josh went as one member of the Blue Man Group.  That was fun watching his transformation!

Rob was Toy Story's Woody and Caroline was an angel.  Well, isn't she always, but she actually looked the part!

Jason and Kristy's neighborhood is flat -- a great place for street-roaming!  There is a police officer in residence and each year leads a parade.  Anyone who wishes can walk from the front to the back waving at neighbors who are sitting in their driveways watching the revelry.  I think Rob started out a little overwhelmed.  Anyway, he quickly got into the spirit and was loading up on sugary rewards!

Rob was just getting the hang of it when we crossed by Jason and Kristy's house.  There was a large crowd trick-or-treating at their house, but they all seemed intrigued by something.  See if you spot what caught their attention:

Look closely.  Need a hint?  Okay.  That's Bobby passing out candy and there is Uncle Jason standing off to the side of the porch.  How about a closeup of Jason:

Not a prop, peeps.  That's a living, breathing, devil's pet.  It's a 12' python and Jason greets trick-or-treaters with it every year.  Don't worry; he sleeps in a pad-locked cage or I would never visit!  Apparently he's a hit with the neighborhood.  People would walk up to their house and you could hear them saying "Where's the snake?"  "Will the snake be out this year?"

Smart Rob wishes Uncle Jason would turn that thing into a nice handbag, STAT!  Yet Caroline is content.  Mee-Maw won't let anything happen to me.

After the snake-sighting, the kids were winding down.  So onto the next night! 

Rob was still Woody.  But a girl can not be photographed in the same outfit twice!  Guffaw!  So tonight, Caroline was a beautiful butterfly.  We went to McCalla to trick or treat with Miles and Stephanie. 
I didn't take nearly as many pictures.  In part because it was dark by the time we set out and also because my loyal subjects would not sit still enough.  But here are the highlights:

Happy Halloween, everybody!

Meet Jack (O-Lantern) Morris

Not much to say here, folks.  Just wanted to share our carving of the annual pumpkin.  Enjoy the pictures and Happy Halloween from our family to yours!

Being at the pumpkin patch took the best out of Rob...

But he did want to color the pumpkin's facial features in for me...

Bobby's "bird" finds its way into so many pictures!

Our finished product!  Check out those menacing eyebrows!

Cheese!

Hey, what is this all about?

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Pickin'

Today the Morris family went to the Old Baker Farm in Harpersville, AL to pick out our fall pumpkins.  Now, you should know that for the last 4 years we have gone to the Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch in Clanton, AL with the Hagoods.  We have always had a blast.  Sadly, right now we have had the most difficult time coordinating schedules, so we did not get to go together.  In the spirit of broken traditions, we also decided to try this new patch and see what we've been missing...

Upon arrival, Rob saw these trees.  "Mommy what kind of trees are those?"  Me: "Those are real Christmas trees growing in the ground.  Not every tree comes in a cardboard box ready to plug in to the wall socket."  Hahaha.  My poor, sheltered, child!

First stop: The hay-bale maze.  It was fun.  Rob really enjoyed the loose hay.  Thank God for nose spray!  He inherited my allergies!

As this is a working farm, they have acres and acres of cotton plants.  They gathered a lot of it and filled a trailer for the kiddos to play in real cotton.  Again allergies!  It's a wonder either of us can breathe at all tonight!

I want to tell you how much fun we had here, but this is pretty much it for activities other than a petting area, and Rob just went on a field trip 3 days ago, so he's all good on his chicken/rooster/goose/baby calf observations for a while!  Let's go get those pumpkins.  You have to board a hayride to go out to the pumpkin fields.  Oh look!  A photo op while in line:

Here we go!

"Daddy, will you hold me?  My feet are so tired!"

"I like this one!"

"Hey, this one is just my size.  I'll carry it."

 After searching the fields, we settled on two small pumpkins, and one nice one for carving.  Do not adjust your resolution, the large one is green.  Again, perhaps it's because we are only one week out from Halloween and there were only slim pickin's left, or perhaps it's because we should have gone on to our favorite patch, but this was pretty much as good as it got.

 The prices were a little high.  It cost $30 for our family to enjoy this day: $10 per person ages 2 and up and that included one pumpkin each.  If CC wanted one, we would have to shell out an additional $9.  And if you look closely at this sign, that's a $3 increase from sometime ago.  There's a 6 underneath that 9...

We were also told you had to pay $25 additional if you wanted a giant pumpkin.  Someone better go fetch this lady's wallet:

 Here comes the return-trip tractor, so I gotta go catch my ride.

All in all the day was not a waste.  Rob had fun.  I am glad we went so that we can say "Been there; done that."  However, in my personal opinion, Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch in Clanton is so much better!  Free admission.  You pay as you go for activities, so you could easily surpass the $10/person mark.  But it is up to your own discretion.  And you simply cannot beat their gorgeous giant sunflowers field photo op.  See ya in Clanton next October. 

PS: we carved the green/orange pumpkin when we got home, but I'm saving that for another post.  I have dirty kids in need of a bath.

Fun On The Farm

This week in Rob's Pre-K classroom, they are studying the letter "F".  So it's appropriate that they would go to a Farm on their 1st Field trip!  Aren't you Filled with Fantastic anticipation? 

 

Josie's Place in Warrior, AL was the setting for this event and let me tell you, the kiddos were just so darn cute!  All the kids were transported by their own families -- no school buses in private school!  However, for that reason, families (i.e. siblings and grandparents were invited as well). 

First stop was the "instructions" phase. Guess something was funny about this:

 Look at all the kids!  There are three (3) 4's classes at POP:

 We learned that Josie's Place was named in honor of the family's beloved horse Josie who is now only a memory.  This is their oldest living horse and I can't remember his name.  But the kids all got to give this ol' guy a little treat!

I don't know why, but this picture below just screamed "Put me in black and white!"

   

 Rob says R.B. is his favorite buddy in class and watching them play together made it obvious.  He's also a sweet kid!  After "horse school" it was time to see the chickens, roosters, turkeys, etc.  The kids each got to hold one chicken named Mr. Silky:

 The farmer's wife and our sweet hostess for the day was Ms. Brenda.  She explained that if the kids wanted to go inside the barn to visit the goats, sheep, pig, and baby calf, they all had to wear plastic gloves whether they planned to feed these animals or not.  So, glove-up 4's!

There was an old log cabin on the premises and the kids got a quick lesson on how people lived before all of our modern conveniences.  They discussed old wash-boards and water-well pumps.  It was very informative!  Rob even got to pump some water from the well!  They also shucked their own corn using a corn grinder-thingy built in 1901.  (Clearly I stopped paying attention when the actual machine's name was called.)

At long last, it was time for the Fun!  After "horse school", "barn feeding", and "farm chores" the kids loaded up for a hayride!

I couldn't help myself.  While Rob was riding around, I found a pumpkin and hay display which was calling Caroline's name.  So we did this:

 No, Caroline did not get to ride a horse.  But she did sit in a saddle perched upon a low log.  Clearly she's a cowgirl at heart.  She loved it!

After a picnic lunch, we took our exhausted 4's home.  They had a blast.  I think Fall is turning into our Favorite Festive time Frame!  Gosh, I love the letter F!!!