October is the month of plenty.
Vegetables by the bucket. Dahlias by the vase.
Pumpkins for the picking. And Halloween candy by the pound.
Jack was a familiar face early in the month. With my parents in Europe for a longer-than-usual vacation, the siblings (and sibling-in-laws) all chipped in to help keep an eye on Jack.
We love spending time with him!
We tried something new and visited a in-town pumpkin patch this year. Owned and operated by a fellow dahlia grower - Debi at On the Vine Farm. She invited us out personally, as she wanted to meet the Fort Collins Floret scholarship winner. Debi applied for the same scholarship, but wasn't selected for the honor. (In fact, there was a handful of Northern Colorado applicants.... Which makes winning that scholarship all the more amazing. Competition was fierce!)
But since Sage is a creature of habit and tradition, a new unfamiliar pumpkin patch wasn't acceptable. And so off we went to patch #2. The one we have frequented for years. Our "old staple" of a pumpkin patch.
(All of this was in the same afternoon, mind you! Sage can be very convincing.)
Sage likes his amenities. And that's what Bartels Farm has. All the bells and whistles of a "proper" pumpkin patch.
This next installment piece I like to call,
"Family Photo Shoot: An Honorable Try"
Or better yet,
"Taking Pictures of Moving Things."
Little "Rowina."
That face can pull off a barrette quite nicely!
My kids get extra points for their enthusiastic, unconditional, and ceaseless commitment to the greatest holiday, second only to Christmas, HALLOWEEN!
They wore Halloween costumes to the store to purchase Halloween costumes.
Now that's a tradition I can get behind. I love it!!
How I got them to agree on this Mario and Luigi theme, I will never know.
It was a Halloween miracle!
That night, we set up couch cushions, pillows, and tables creating a makeshift video game scene. I played the Mario Brothers theme song on loop. And we had some fun with it!
I experimented with some new table decor this year.
(Old supplies, just newly arranged.)
And Matt experimented with a new pumpkin carving technique. (I personally think it was a wild success! And Sage we certainly impressed with his father's skills.)
And before we knew it, October 31st had arrived.
The holy day of candy.
If I had been more organized, Rowan would have made a perfect Toad (that cute little guy in Mario Brothers who wears the mushroom hat.)
But monkey is what we had, so monkey is what we did.
Monkey own, monkey wear. Am I right?!
And now, a quick flower roll call. My favorites from this month.
These were our last blooms before frost hit.
And flower season was officially over.
And since it was harvest season after all....
We ate delicious food all month long.
Most of it grown and plucked right from the backyard.
