too late for pumpkins?

The weekend before Halloween, I realized we hadn't gone to the pumpkin patch.  It's always been a fun tradition, but no one had asked this year.  No one even wondered if we would carve pumpkins. (We didn't.)   I'm not sure what that means.  But it was Carmen's first Halloween, and how could we not go? So we headed off to the pumpkin patch late on Sunday afternoon.

Carmen hung out in her carrier.



"Saca ese chupi!" You might hear us tell her that.  In other words, "Get that paci out of your mouth!"



Love that expression.



By the time we got out to the pumpkin field, Carmen was ready for a nap...but mama wanted some pictures in the patch.



Isn't that pumpkin so cool, Carmen?



Not sure, ma'...let me taste it to find out!



Our rule this time...pick the smallest pumpkin you can find...you're carrying it all the way back to the car.



Anyway you can.



Here's Isabela's perfect little pumpkin.  It's still sitting on the front porch with a label on it that says 'Isabela', just in case anyone forgets.



This was our entry for Juan Pablo's annual pumpkin painting contest at work.  I found these beautiful pumpkin owls by Alisa Burke on pinterest and simply copied it as best I could.



And it won!



If you still have pumpkins around your house, here's what we did at our monthly garden club meeting at the kids' school...bird feeders.  I had absolutely nothing to do with how beautiful it turned out.  But it's really quite simple...just cut in half, scoop, tie up with twine, and fill with seeds.  I believe they notched the pumpkin a little to get the twine to stay in place.



Here's a closer look.



Or if you don't have any pumpkins...you can do the same thing with oranges.  This is what the kids got to take home.  Now we just need to hang ours and see who comes to visit!