Painting Pumpkins

I was really excited when I found this painting pumpkins post at Young House Love. Finley had fun painting her little pumpkins from Flower World and I loved the idea of using painter's tape to make them look a little more Halloween-y.

Let me just say that my children were not blessed with the Young House Love decorating genes (they've got the programmer genes, poor things). If you're looking for pumpkins that could be sold at an art gallery, go here. (Honestly, check out their pumpkins. They're gorgeous!) Otherwise, keep on reading...

Tools Required:

• Pumpkins
• Painters
• Painter's Tape
• Paint
• Paint Brushes
• Exacto Knife (I couldn't think of a "p" word for that. Darn, I was on a roll there.)

The idea is to put tape on the pumpkin and use the exacto knife to cut out the face shapes. Then you peel away the extras and you're left with a cute little pumpkin face. 

Apparently, that was above my crafting skill level or my knife was a little dull. It didn't work for me at all so I just cut the shapes with scissors and taped them on.

And since that took longer than the 30 seconds of patience the kids had, I quickly did some stripes on one pumpkin and some squares on another.

All ready to paint!

This was Grady's first time painting. The boy thinks everything is food so of course the paint brush went straight to the mouth. I guess I'll be brushing his teeth tonight. ;)

Finley had a lot of fun painting her rainbow pumpkin. She's very serious about her art.

It was at this point I was feeling pretty good about getting through a painting project without a huge mess or a meltdown (from me or the kids). I patted myself on the back, put the completed pumpkins on the kitchen counter to dry, and took the 3-year-old doing a strange little dance to the bathroom. Then I realized... it's quiet. Too quiet. That can't be good. And it wasn't.

I walked into the kitchen and found this mess. Using my CSI skills, my prime suspect was a small child, about counter-height, missing a binky and covered in paint.

It didn't take long to find him. Book 'em!

But who can stay mad at that cute face?

Back to the pumpkins... After the paint has dried, start peeling away at the tape and you're left with this...

They're kinda cute aren't they? If you have little ones this is a great way to do the Halloween pumpkin thing without a trip to urgent care.

Happy Halloweenie!

Play: Family Fun at The Farm at Swan's Trail

We took a day off last week to celebrate Finley's 3rd birthday at The Farm at Swan's Trail. It's a great farm to visit in the Fall. They have it all - pumpkins, pigs, kittens, fishing, slides, hay barn and hay maze for the kiddos, a huge corn maze in the shape of Washington state, baby bunnies, a pig show, a play corn bin, goats, a cow train, chickens, wagon rides, ducks... In other words, enough to keep your kids busy for a few hours or more!

The pumpkin patch was a lot of fun and kept us busy for quite a while. Grady tried to sit on every single pumpkin he passed.

Me and the birthday girl.

The pumpkins are priced by size. The smallest ones are $1 and they go up from there. We got 4 pumpkins for $11. The pumpkin above is priceless, of course.

Don't forget to stop by the pig show, too. Little bitty piggies and a big fat piggy running around. What could be cuter? Grady was mesmerized. (Mmmmmm....bacon.)

Play, Stay Away, or Just Okay
I give this outing a super duper Play. I love this farm. It has so much to see and do. The best part (for this frugal lady) is admission and parking are free! Yippee! You just pay for the different activities you're interested in. And they're open on weekdays which is an added bonus. A lot of the other pumpkin patches and farms are only open on the weekends so this is great for those of you who need a weekday outing or want to meet up with your mom's group.


Details ---
Where: The Farm at Swan's Trail (7301 Rivershore Rd. Snohomish, WA)
When: Daily 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. through October 31st
Cost: Admission and parking are free, prices vary for the different activities
More Info: The Farm at Swan's Trail website


Happy Pumpkin Picking!

Play: Flower World

Flower World is not just a garden store. In fact, I know nothing about the garden store because we didn't even look at it!

Instead, we spent an hour or two wandering around their grounds looking at the ponds, fountains, animals, stepping in a bit of animal poop and shopping for pumpkins. There was definitely enough there to keep the kids busy and entertained.

Grady has been walking for months now but I'm still a little hesitant to let both kids run wild when I'm out by myself. I usually keep Grady strapped down safely contained in the stroller and let Finley walk. I did bring the stroller, but there was really no need. This place is contained and safe enough to let the kids out on their own.

Grady looks like he's never seen a goose before. Oh, wait. Maybe he hasn't.

Please be my friend!

Again with the blank stare.

There's a smile. Well, kinda.

Who wouldn't smile at that handsome face?

After chasing the animals for a while, we walked across the street to Produce Market to pick out our pumpkins. Finley and Grady each picked out a pumpkin to take home. I vetoed this one that Grady tried to pick up. I'm sure it was half his size.

When we got home Finley decided she wanted to paint the pumpkins. 20 more minutes of happy and entertained toddler? Well, ok.

Play, Stay Way, or Just Okay
Flower World gets a definite Play rating. Total spent was $1.63 for the two pumpkins. Melt down count was an awesome zero! For the kids at least. Not for my car. The lovely burnt rubber/oil smell has returned so I think we'll be putting our kid outings on hold until we get that figured out. Bummer!