Our Jack O' Lantern and a Yummy Pumpkin Seed Recipe

We had fun carving our Jack O' Lantern this year!

 

The kids decided on what eyes, nose and mouth our pumpkin should have and then Daddy drew it on our pumpkin. While Daddy carved, Gabe and Selah separated the seeds out of the gook - messy fun! 

Finally our Jack O' Lantern was done. We activated a glow-stick and put it inside the pumpkin which gave it an eerie green glow!  

We rinsed our seeds and let them dry overnight and then I roasted them. They were SO GOOD! I have cooked pumpkin seeds a number of times and decided to try a sweet and salty version this year. Here is the recipe:

Halloweenie Pumpkin Seeds

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds

5 Tbsp white sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 Tbsp oil

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. In a large bowl stir together 2 Tbsp of the sugar, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set the mixture aside. Heat the oil in a skillet. Add seeds and sprinkle the remaining 3 Tbsp of sugar over them. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar melts. Pour the seeds into the bowl with the spiced sugar mixture and stir to cover the seeds. Toast in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes stirring every 10 minutes. Enjoy!!

Happy Halloween!!

The Serna kids would like to wish you all a Happy and Safe Halloween 2012!!

We made our annual visit to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch last weekend and had a blast!!

They have some super fun cut-outs:

and face painting:

And lots and lots of pumpkins!

They also had a fun hay bale maze that led to a big slide:

And a hay-ride:

We got to put Daddy in the stocks (a little pre-punishment for the trick-or-treat candy we know he will steal): 

We rode a "train" pulled by a tractor:

And had a BLAST!! 

Happy Halloween!!

Cowboy Party!

We had a really FUN party for Mig's 2nd birthday! Because he is such a Cowboy's fan, we had the party during the Cowboys vs. Ravens game (too bad the Cowboys didn't pull out the win.....good game, though). We ate fun snacks while waiting on pizza.

Then we ate pizza and watched the first half of the game. At half-time Mig opened gifts.

He was SO ADORABLE! Each gift he opened, he would show the contents around the room slowly - almost Vanna White style (who he loves, by the way) before moving on to the next gift. 

Here he is showing off rolls of coins and a Bolo Tie from Aunt "Barbie Q." and Uncle James:

And a Cowboy Football from Uncle Nick, Aunt Brandy and Emily: 

After gifts we had cake and ice-cream. Every time I asked Mig what he wanted for his birthday he would tell me "Football Cake". He was SO excited about cake time! 

I'm not sure what he wished for, but I don't think it was a win for the Cowboys. Although on game days he requests that we pray for the Cowboys.

So excited for Football Cake!

He was also very excited that his buddy Jax was there to help celebrate! 

After cake we watched the excited 2nd half of the ball game.

I also snagged these super cute pictures of Byron's brother Nick with the kids and just couldn't help myself from making a sweet collage of them!

And the handsome brothers together:

We were so blessed by the family that came up from central Texas to help Mig celebrate! We had a house full of birthday guests and it was so much fun!! Byron and my brother-in-law Will agreed that it was the best 2 year old birthday party ever! Really - how many times do you get to go to a 2 year old's party to watch football!?!

Fort Worth Zoo Homeschool Day 2012

On October 4, we participated in the Fort Worth Zoo Homeschool Day for our second year in a row. We saw Lions:

And Tigers:

And Bears! Oh My!

And a whole lot of other animals, too!

This year was kind of special because we went with friends! Some sweet friends of ours from Woodland Park have moved to Denton short term for a ministry program and we are so excited that they are here!! 

Their youngest son, Jax, and Mig have become fast friends!

Gabe and Sammy were friends in Woodland Park and are happy to be reunited here in Texas!

Aren't they cute?!?

We all had a great time at the Zoo!

More Southfork Pictures

Here are some more pictures I took while on our trip to Southfork Ranch. 

The first thing you do when you get to Southfork is ride this tractor and trailer around the grounds as the driver points out where certain scenes were shot and explains some of the camera tricks they use to make the house and land look larger than it is. The kids LOVED this part of the tour!

Gabe and Selah decided to do a super hero pose - so Mig and I joined the fun!

The tractor ride ends at the mansion where you are shuffled into a front room and given a little discourse about the history of the show and the ranch. After the presentation, you are free to roam the house and the grounds as long as you would like. The show is not actually filmed inside the house, in fact the interior looks  nothing like the interior of the house, but they have set up the rooms to reflect the personalities of the tv characters, which is fun.

The veranda has been used on the show and is has a beautiful view of the ranch and the pool:

This is Elana's house from the new series:

There are also two gift shops where you can purchase your own stetson just like JR's:

Such fun!!