Scarecrow Snack Mix (and pumpkin update)

Around this time of year, my mother in law likes to make a yummy snack mix with candy corn and party peanuts.  The sweet of the candy corn juxtaposed with the salty crunch of the peanuts blend to make a wonderful treat.  Inspired by Beaver-ly, I made this delicious autumn snack mix yesterday--doesn't it look yummy?  I got the idea from here, but modified the recipe to use ingredients that we already had on hand.

 

I mixed together:
4 c. crunchy oatmeal cereal squares
4 c. mini-twist pretzels
2-12 oz bags brach's autumn mix candies
2 c. milk chocolate m&ms candies
4 c. caramel corn
1 c. honey roasted peanuts
1-6.6 oz bag chocolate graham goldfish crackers

It made a lot.  So I packaged some in 1/2 c. reusable containers for the boys to snack on in the next couple of days.

I put about half a cup of the mixture in each of 4 bags for my boys to give to their teachers tomorrow,

 

and I made these bags to welcome our guests, who are arriving later today.  :)

 

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And now, an update on our pumpkin escape artist, who decided to take up residence in a tree, about 20 feet off the ground. 

 

Here's what it looked like on August 22.

Here's what it looked like on September 6.  As you can see, it's a lot bigger and its weight has caused the vine to sag away from the branch.

 

Here's what it looks like today.  Hubby strung it up in a mesh bag to support its weight.  It's even larger, and is turning orange.

This is actually our biggest pumpkin this year, which doesn't surprise me, since its leaves, high up in the tree, get more sunlight than those that stayed in the garden area.  A friend of ours also has pumpkins growing in a tree, and she thought it would be pretty cool to leave them up there, but somehow carve them out so they could be lit.  If anyone can figure out a way to accomplish that, she can :)