Of course we had to carve our pumpkins again this year, something we all have fun doing. The kids aren't so into gutting the pumpkins so Tom was pretty busy doing 4 of the pumpkins by himself (we had 5 pumpkins this year!)
This was the first year both of the kids would reach into the pumpkin to help scoop it out. Thank goodness! Hopefully next year they will be even more help!
Elizabeth's "princess" pumpkin (I think we need some pumpkin carving lessons).
Here's our finished products! 
We had so much fun this Halloween weekend. We had our annual Halloween party on Saturday that I will post next - but here are Tom and I at our party. Can you tell we're Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee? Elizabeth took this picture of us before all the guests came.
And here are Elizabeth and Ben - or should I say Alice in Wonderland and Buzz Lightyear?!
Halloween morning we got up and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned from the party. We then headed to my parent's house for lunch and trick or treating.
Here's Elizabeth with her treats from Grandma and Grandpa.
Cooper and Jackson came with us to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Once Ben found out that Cooper was going to be Buzz - he had to be Buzz. These boys are twins I tell you!
My mom always manages to find these sucker mouths. It's a favorite with the kids.
After lunch we went to feed the ducks. My mom bought corn to feed them - they loved it!
Here are the kids at their first trick or treating house - our neighbors. 
We met up with our friends down the street - Nick and Emma. 
Here they are so excited, running away from their first house.
Ben only made it a block before he went home with Tom. Elizabeth and I went with our friends for over an hour so she got a ton of candy!
There were quite a few very spooky houses in our neighborhood. Elizabeth didn't really mind and went up to each one. 
Here she is with all her loot. It doesn't look like so much but her entire basket was full to the top. She was very excited to get so much candy (of course).
Last weekend our old neighborhood had it's fall festival. They had some fun bounce houses,
and a petting zoo! 
My kids loved seeing all the animals.
Our cousins Drew and Josh were there - they live in the neighborhood and invited us to come with them.
It took them a while but they finally got brave enough to finally touch the animals.
The following day we had our playgroup at yet another pumpkin patch.
Elizabeth was in school so she couldn't come - but Ben had a great time.
Our friend made all the shirts! 
These pictures aren't terribly interesting but I wanted to document my day of 5 kids ages 3 and under :) On Thursdays I babysit my SIL Victoria's kids, Amelia and Zach who are 1 and 2. Jessica and Ryan were closing on their house that day and needed someone to watch their kiddos, so I told them we could. Jackson is 1 and Cooper is 3. And of course I had Ben who is also 3. So needless to say it was crazy at my house until about 1. Then Ryan and Jessica were finished, we had nap time, and it all calmed down! :) 
We played outside at 8 am when the grass was still wet with dew. 
By the time the kids were ready to come in they were all kind of fussing that they were dirty (sand and grass all over) and Amelia is going through a clingy stage so if I even touched Jackson she would scream and hang onto me. 
In the midst of cleaning all the legs so we could go inside Ben was running around playing soccer in the yard when I saw him fall down. He runs over to me and says he stepped in Jake's poop! So I took off his shoes but I didn't notice anything on them. 
(a little sunny I guess!)
Needless to say we all finally make it inside and I glanced at the clock to realize it's only 8:45!!! I was thinking it was at least 10! The rest of the morning we stayed inside and had a much calmer day. :)
It ended up being a very fun, but exhausting day!
Yesterday Ben and I were at Home Depot and we were sitting in the parking lot when Ben got all excited because he saw the tractors!! I couldn't figure out what he was so excited about - we see them a lot and he never really cared too much. He kept saying something about them being real. I kept telling him, yes, they're real. You can use them to cut your grass. He then said why is the black one not real? I told him that was real, too. He said, No it's not, it doesn't have a face!
So by real he meant alive! I thought that was so funny! No wonder he wanted to buy one so badly! I think maybe we've seen Cars a few too many times :)
Each of us parents were given a group of kids to keep track of. I don't know if it's the teacher or the parent in me but I'm really very nervous during field trips! There was way too much space and the kids would start to wander, and I would start to worry. I was watching the other groups and the moms were all letting the kids wander wherever....it was stressing me out! But they all made it back to school so I guess it all worked out in the end. 
We started the day on the hay ride. It was a little dusty, but fun.
Here's the one picture of me and Elizabeth on the field trip. I took it when we were on the hay ride.
Then the kids got to go to a variety of cages to pet the animals. Here they are with the chickens. They were told they could pick them up! I felt very sorry for those chickens!
Eating lunch,
taking pictures,
picking out pumpkins,
and playing on the playground were the last things we did. 
It was a very fun field trip that I was so happy I was able to go on. I loved it and the kids had a blast!
