Jenn and Jonathan: Fall Fun

Fall is my absolute favorite season. The temperatures drop, the leaves change color, and the stores are filled with pumpkins and carmel apples.

Unless you live in Vegas. We're still sweating in our shorts and t-shirts here, cacti stay the same shade of green, and the pumpkins and carmel apples will literally melt in the heat if you're not careful.

*Sigh*

I miss the Midwest.

But I was NOT going to let living in Las Vegas take away from MJ's fall experience. So we've spent the last few weeks doing "fall" things, even while we sweated. First things first was a trip to 'The Farm.' (Growing up the country, I'd say it was a pretty sorry excuse for a farm, but it was better than nothing.) There were pumpkins to pick, tractors to ride, and a hay maze to explore. But, as usual, I couldn't get MJ away from anything that had wheels on it.

Wasn't too sure about the scratchy hay . . .

RUN, CHICKEN, RUN!!!

And so began my son's obsession with pumpkins. He would NOT let go of it, even while he sat, completely exhausted, in the car.

I'm all about fostering independence, but I thought that it might be a BIT too early to introduce MJ to knives . . . so we settled for painting the pumpkin instead.

"Please, no pictures. The artist is working."

Uggggggggggh. Messiness is one of the hardest parts of being a mom.

"Yep, I think that just about does it."

MJ's finished pumpkin. If you ask him what it's supposed to be, he says "Mom." I'm not quite sure what to make of that.

A few days later, we visited ANOTHER pumpkin patch. This one had carnival games and such, but I'm a little leery of carnies. So we stuck to picking out pumpkins for Mommy and Daddy.

Straining to pick up Daddy's pumpkin.

These were a little bit more his size . . .

. . . so I told him we could take one home for Oskar.

We took the pumpkins home and painted them. Here are the finished products!

And, of course, you can't JUST have pumpkins at my house. I decorated the house for fall in 90 degree heat. Not kidding. But, at least it LOOKS like fall-ish!

Fall also means football. And, according to Daddy, it's never too early to teach the fundamentals.

"Brown-54-Razor! Hike! Hike!"

Fumble recovery!

We don't really let MJ have candy, but we didn't want him to miss out on his first trick-or-treating experience. Our community has a sort of "trunk-or-treat" even at the park, where local businesses come out and pass out candy. There are also games and a DJ. We thought it would be a perfect time for MJ to get dressed up and experience Halloween without all the door-to-door fuss.

The Incredible Hulk, ready to trick-or-treat!