PUMPKIN FUN!

{a DITL Video & Blog Post}

No matter how you choose to spend your last day in October, carving pumpkins is a lot of fun. We enjoyed a fun morning at our semi-local pumpkin patch recently and came home with a few pumpkins — all of whom were just waiting to get a face.

I've been asked to film more DITL videos for my YouTube channel, so I figured that pumpkin carving was as good of a time as any to turn the cameras on.

What You Didn't See of the Video

We do a lot of fun things during the fall–September through November. We all love all things pumpkin in our house.

Eating Pumpkins:

Our harvest celebration has been including pumpkin bread pudding (wish I had a recipe to share on that one, but my favorite recipe is in a box at Trader Joe's). I do have a really good pumpkin bread recipe, I just haven't gotten it onto the blog yet. I'll try to type it up and share it soon. I'll admit that I did make some pumpkin bread, but again it was from a Trader Joe's box. I haven't been making a ton of things from scratch these days. When life gets crazy, there's no reason to just stop celebrating because things can't be from scratch. So, box mixes have been my thing lately. Along with my boxed pumpkin bread this year, I've been making boxed pumpkin scones and enjoying pumpkin spice coffee, too. Yum! Oh, and I did make some fun pumpkin pasta sauce with pumpkin shaped pasta. I added ground meat, onions, zucchini (pumpkin's cousin), and a drop of basil, oregano, and rosemary essential oil to the sauce. It was so good. Our whole family got seconds. (Again, found it at Trader Joe's…I promise this post is not sponsored by them.) I will point out that I really want to try Ree Drummond's (a.k.a. Pioneer Woman) Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls. They sound amazing.

Decorating with Pumpkins:

We decorated the house for fall…finally. It's been so warm here in San Diego that I just couldn't bring myself to decorate. I have three bins full of all our fall decorations. However, every year I buy little gourds to place around the house with all our decorations. I learned my first year of decorating with them that they do rot and shouldn't be store…that was fun to find a year later. (Yes, I really did that. Silly, 20 year old.) If you possibly saw my princess party video, then you'd know I also use books to decorate — which brings me to my next pumpkin topic…

Reading about Pumpkins:

We have a few pumpkin books that I bring out every year to enjoy as the weather gets a bit cooler. Here are a few of them:

Our Very Favorite: The Pumpkin Patch Parable!!

What You Did See in the Video

Well, first you need to probably watch the video. So, here it is…then I'll share below about the things I mentioned.

• Heidi's YouTube video…about her baby #4 name reveal. My wonderful friend, Heidi, has an adorable YouTube channel {While They Were Napping}. It's so much fun. She's the one who got me on YouTube. I'm still trying to get her to start a blog…but she is having a baby. 🙂 Be sure to check out her channel (and subscribe so you don't miss hearing about her new baby!!)
• Our DITL video…where we introduce you to our frogs. We watched them transform from tadpoles. Pretty cool! (No sign of Kermit yet. So, we are pretending he found his way outside. Only Blob and Black Ninja left.)
• Our Oct. 31st Tradition…we'll it changes form time to time. This year I think we are going to let our three youngest trick-or-treat for the first time at just a few houses, then we'll hole up and watch our movie in the back of the house.

• My Favorite Essential Oils…I am still just loving all my oils. While I'm dieting I'm using Wild Orange, Lemon, Grapefruit, Bergamot, and Slim & Sassy. More on all this in the next video. You can get my free eBook on Best Everyday Uses for Essential Oils!

Yes, you really can get my Sanity Savers for Moms book for FREE!

If you are new to Raising Clovers, then you need to know that my passion is to encourage and inspire families to find “simple solutions for a more joy-filled life.” So, much so that I offer my book, Sanity Savers for Moms, to you for FREE when you join my sweet Raising Clovers community. You'll also find all kinds of great freebies on there as well. Hope they bless you.

Happy Harvest, Fall, or Halloween…whichever you celebrate!

Blessings and joy,

P.S. Leave a comment below with your favorite pumpkin tradition!! 

* This post contains a few affiliate links, both Amazon & others. Please see my disclosure page if you have any questions. None of these statements have been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. The products discussed here are not intended to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent disease.