McLeod Farms, Halloween 2012, and Taco Soup

We headed to McLeod Farms in McBee to pick our pumpkins for Halloween.  They have it set up really nice.  When you get to the Farm they have these hay bales set up while you wait for the tractor to come take you to the corn maze and pumpkin patch.  We brought Cooper with us.  All the boys had a great time.

Cooper and Drew

Drew

Cooper Jac and Drew

Since I held Jac 99% of the time, obviously he was dying of thirst when we got to the Corn Maze.

Riding the tractor to the pumpkin patch.

See I was there.  Jac is so cooperative with photos!

Drew is proud of his pumpkin picks!

I hate that I didn't get any pictures of the house or office with my Halloween decorations.  At the house I let Drew "decorate" his pumpkin with these plastic faces.  He put all the pieces on the pumpkin--it was funny!

On the front porch I had two bales of hay that I put purple mums, my metal pumpkins, and a few real pumpkins.  I places three white pumpkins between the bales of hay that I painted "Trick or Treat".  I have these great pottery pumpkins that I put on each side of the steps.  I was very proud of my front porch.  It was very festive.  We bought two blow up decorations for the front yard.  Drew was so excited about these.  Next year I'll have to take pictures of the Town of Chesterfield's decorations.

Halloween in Chesterfield is kind of a nightmare for me.  Let's say minimum there are 300 trick or treater's who come to my house.  That's a lot of candy!  I've been very lucky and a dear friend whose child is grown has handed out candy for the past three years for me.  This way I can trick or treat with my boys.  This year we convinced the Smallwoods to pull a trailer with their four wheeler and had a grand time!

Jac was EXHAUSTED.  He only got on the trailer for a quick phoot with Alyvia Todd--he stayed at the house with my mom.

Chloe, Drew and AT a/k/aKitty 1, Spiderman, Kitty 2 posing at the post office

Posing at the bank with the Kings.

Posing at the Brown's.

I made Taco Soup on Halloween.  I got the recipe from kellyskornerblog.com   It is so good.  You have to make it!  In fact I'm going to make it this weekend.

Taco Soup

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 14.5 oz can whole kernel corn
2 16 oz cans of ranch style beans (I only used one can because I'm not a bean lover & it was fine)
* Maybe not everywhere but I know here - you find cans at the grocery store of ranch style beans. If you don't have those - substitute pinto or black or whatever you like. 
3 cans of diced tomatos (maybe substitute 1 can rotel if you like spicy) (I got the garlic/onion kind and I think it gave it great flavor)
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 pkg Hidden Valley dressing mix

Brown and drain meat. Saute onions for a few minutes.  Combine all ingredients the crockpot.  Add chili powder, salt and pepper to taste. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.  Serve with shredded cheese and fritos. And sour cream. 

My next post is going to be on our Thanksgiving.  I'm getting hungry for some reason.