Enchanted October

Ah, October. It's enchanting, isn't it? We have been spending the last few days soaking up every bit of October magic that we can. 

October is the fallen leaf, but it is also a wider horizon more clearly seen. It is the distant hills once more in sight, and the enduring constellations above them once again.  ~Hal Borland

We turned the heater on for the first time a few days ago. My husband commented "There's nothing like the smell of a heater that doesn't want to wake up after a long summer's nap". I love that smell. That smell means hot chocolate, warm socks, scarves and woodsmoke on the horizon.

This past summer was the longest, hottest summer in my memory. We lived through it without air conditioning in our car. It was not pleasant. I am thrilled to be able to wear sweaters and tights and to say that my feet are cold. Thrilled!

 

 We started our weekend festivities off with a trunk-or-treat at church on Friday evening. I decided to be low key with costumes this year. I just pulled my costume trunk out of the attic and let the boys rifle through it and come up with their own get-ups (except the zebra hoodie that I scored at Old Navy for $4.00). As much as I love fun, clever, cute homemade costumes, I love not being stressed more. 

Saturday morning dawned crisp, clear and perfect for our outing to the local pumpkin patch. The boys loved watching the pumpkin trebuchet catapult pumpkins through the air. They loved watching the pumpkins explode on impact even more.  

I loved seeing the field of sunflowers and plump, orange pumpkins laying in the field, ripe for picking. 

 And some a little green still, like the one we picked out for our jack-o-lantern.

After the pumpkin patch we rushed home to make a cake for a Halloween lunch party that our neighbors were hosting. They had asked everyone to bring something "Halloweeny". We were short on time and I had neglected to prepare ahead (this is a recurring theme with me). We brainstormed and came up with the idea for a graveyard cake. 

 

I hurried and made a cake from a mix. My husband helped me put it all together with homemade chocolate frosting, crushed Oreos, gummy slugs (so much grosser than gummy worms) and some "tombstone" cookies. We threw on some Good & Plenty "bones" for good measure. It was a hit.

Sunday night we enjoyed a lovely spaghetti dinner with some friends (delicious food, wonderful company). After we came home, I got the little boys bathed and we carved our pumpkin. My boys are always excited to eviscerate the pumpkin. And to fling pumpkin innards at each other. I handled the carving (amateur though I am). We'll roast the seeds for Halloween.

 

 

Tonight (Monday) we'll wrap up the month with some trick-or-treating around the neighborhood, then it will be full speed ahead until Thanksgiving.

I'll be a little sad to see October go. It has been really pleasant this year. Fare thee well, magical October. Thanks for being so wonderful.