Happo Howaween

Meet Jake and Peter Pan. 

 Pretty cute, no?

The boys were terribly excited for Halloween this year. Mainly due to their having planned their costumes for the past couple of months.

We went to several parties this year in preparation of the big day -- including one at Peter's elementary school where he hung out nonstop with his best friend Noah.

Then, at our church trunk-or-treat Travis and I went as a chimney sweep and a gypsy. Awww.

 Finally, the big night came. Seeing as we've actually never done the door to door thing with the kids, we were all pretty pumped for the evening.

 Despite their inexperience, the boys caught on pretty quick and loved every minute of their sugar-induced euphoria. Peter especially could barely stop himself from sprinting from one door to the next. And probably because they were so dang cute, the boys cleaned up candy-wise.

As Benji says "Happo Howaween!" Until next year...

Pumpee Patch

I recently realized I've yet to document our gardening adventures this year. Probably because it was a bit...daunting...

After the success of last year's garden, Travis had the bright idea of planting a 3,000 square foot garden. It was slightly ridiculous. 

Sadly, it didn't really get tended very well (surprise, surprise) so it turned into a bit of a jungle. That said, we did get lots (and lots) of fruits and veggies out of it: potatoes, onions, beets, jalapenos, tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, lettuce, cucumbers, sunflowers, strawberries, carrots, all kinds of squash, sugar snap peas, green beans, cauliflower... 

Since the weather has started to get cooler around these parts, we decided to dig up all the lingering produce this weekend -- which turned into quite the production. It literally took all day to pick the food, clean it, and then either freeze or store it for later use. Think a freezer chock-full of frozen veggies and over 100 lbs of various squashes, onions and potatoes in storage.

 This is a very, very small glimpse of what we picked in one day.

I can't begin to tell you how satisfying it was to simply walk out to the backyard and pick fresh produce for dinner each night instead of having to buy everything from the store. That said, I'm already begging Travis to not be quite so ambitious next year.

We did get a few great pumpkins (which Benji calls 'pumpees') growing this year and decided to carve up the largest (30 lbs!) for family night.

Peter specifically requested a 'scary face.' 

Halloween, here we come!

I'm waiting for your call SNL

A few days ago we discovered Benji's newest talent: telling jokes.

That's right, our 2 year old can rock a punch line.

In case you can't understand him, here's the comedy: 

"Why chick cross road?"

"HaHa! Get uder side! HaHa!"