A Delightful Day at the Hayworths

Pumpkins and Trick or Treating

We crammed too much into October this year and carved our pumpkins the day before Halloween.
So we spread out newspapers all over the kitchen and got started.

Bradley was pretty determined to carve a pumpkin by himself this year, but he could not quite get the top off.

And forgot he really did not like how slimy all the stuff inside was...

but he was determined to carve the face part.

The final products!

Then it was on to trick or treating the next day. We were having some intense storms move through the area so the boys had two nights of trick or treating.

This year we had a horse and Jake the Pirate.

John Deere Trip

We were in need of a family getaway, so we took a weekend and went to Moline, Illinois to the John Deere Pavilion. I thought it was supposed to be museum with areas to feed kids interests. It had a few things for kids to do, but mostly it was just place for them to climb all over John Deere machines indoors. They thought it was great and it was free! They also thought the official John Deere Store was fantastic.

Boys with BIG Dreams...

Since it was close to Halloween, they had a station set-up where kids could decorate pumpkins.

I think this is one of my favorite pictures of both boys together. Their teamwork skills crack me up. I can totally see them doing this on a real vehicle in the future... yikes!

Passionate About Gardening

It is so amazing to me how certain passions carry from generation to generation. My grandpa was and still is a very dedicated gardener, so am I and now Bradley has picked up this passion as well.

This summer Bradley collected helicopter seeds and all my little leftover plastic pots that you buy flowers in. Then all on his own drive he used potting soil and planted those helicopter seeds in those plastic pots and the placed them throughout the woods, hoping new trees would grow. He also bought some cantaloupe (his favorite fruit) and pumpkin seeds at the store and planted those in pots too. He watered them a few times a week until they grew too large for their pots.

Then we had to set-up a small garden area so we could transplant the cantaloupe and pumpkin plants so they would have more room to grow. He would set-up the sprinklers when his garden was dry and checked his garden regularly. And then they grew....

A pumpkin on the vine.

He was able to harvest a few cantaloupes from his garden. They did not taste that great though, but he was pretty proud of them.

He finally picked his very first homegrown pumpkin.

He has big plans to expand his 2014 garden.

A Few Pounds Gained

We spent a nice September afternoon at County Line Orchard. We went in 2011 and then 2012 was a bad year for apples so we didn't go, but Bradley had been asking to go since 2011 so he was ecstatic.

This year was so much fun because both boys are at the perfect age to enjoy these types of family outings.

County Line has a fantastic petting zoo where the kids can pet some of the animals and feed others.

Jaxson loved the Holstein calves, must be in his blood...

Jaxson at the wheel, kind of a scary sight.

Not sure are going to get very far.

We boarded the wagon pulled by the tractor and we were finally on our way to pick apples!

Bradley was a pro at apple picking.

Jaxson ate more apples than he picked, hence the title, A Few Pounds Gained.

They also had a gigantic collection of pumpkins and some of them were huge.

We ended up bringing home four pumpkins that were all around 70 pounds each. Crazy, right?

Back to Preschool

Bradley and I both went back to preschool. A couple days before we had the "Meet the Teacher Night" and we joked with Bradley about how he needed to go and meet his teacher.

Dan ended up taking him to Meet the Teacher night since I was obviously busy, but I would see him there.

A few days later it was time for our first day of Preschool. I was way more nervous than Bradley.

"When I grow up, I want to be a farmer."

The Big Big Fair

We went to the State Fair again this year. The boys loved it because it was so big and you can ride the shuttles around that are pulled by tractors and there are midway rides. Dan loves it because of all the fantastic food. I love it because I have some fantastic childhood memories of the state fair and usually we have friends with livestock there.