My Hubby, Shawn got in the Halloween spirit too yesterday. He did the annual pumpkin carving this year and got to spread the pumpkin guts on the table and let Samantha get her hands into them too. I took photos and roasted the seeds.

We normally do a tedious Jack-o’-lantern by using a pattern but Samantha wasn’t into that part. She wanted to see and feel the seeds and yucky stuff. With her interest in science growing, she took her time looking through it all. Her class recently learned the names of the parts of plants and showing off to us was her goal. It worked. We were smiling at her ability to remember the terminology.

This was something that none of us had seen inside a pumpkin before – a seed that had taken root. Yes it’s on a piece of our newspaper, the St. Pete Times…

Samantha found it while rummaging through the pumpkin guts. She later put it in a wet paper towel and plastic cup. We’ll see what comes of it. It’s nice when education and family fun mix together without any work on my part.

Samantha wore an adorable Halloween costume from Costume Express that she decided according to what event she attended. Tonight she was a cat. So as she went Trick or Treating, she meowed and purred. Totally dramatic. I have no clue where she gets that from….

When she went to a friend’s birthday and Halloween party, she was a mouse. And when she attended the local Weeki Wachee Wild and Wicked Night, she decided to be what the costume was meant to be – a cuddly bear.

The most important thing is that she had a blast. Oh and brought home a lot of chocolate that she doesn’t like.

Did you ever get those little boxes of raisins when you went trick or treating? When I was a kid that was called a trick and ended up in the cupboard where it went stale while we ate all of the candy treats we got. That neighbor meant well but missed the point of trying to give our nutritious snacks for Halloween. I’ve seen everything from apples and oranges to pencils and homemade trail mix.

But if you want to make your Halloween nutritious and fun for the kids why not try chocolate milk in shelf stable cartons? They don’t need refrigeration and children love chocolate flavored anything. Milk is good for growing children because it has calcium for bones and replenishes fluids after the kidlets have run around a lot, especially on a night like Halloween.

Learn more about the benefits of giving something good to eat with Tetra Pak milk cartons for Halloween by visiting Trick or Treat Me. You can also get a coupon for Hershey’s Shelf Stable Milk (plain, chocolate and strawberry) and Organic Valley milk.

Send a Halloween tweet on Twitter and Tetra Pak will donate 10 cents to World Wildlife fund per tweet on Twick or Tweet Me. Happy Halloween!

It’s easy to see how much I love Sweet Tomatoes. If there was a Souplantation near us, I’m sure I’d be eating there too. Salads are one of my all time favorite foods, but you can get so much more at Sweet Tomatoes and Souplantation and all at one price, buffet style. Their fare includes pastas, bakery items, soups and all are fresh and made daily.

There’s some exciting events going on that I’d like to share with you that shows how much this company cares about interacting with their customers:

The crEATe Recipe Contest –

• Use ingredients from either restaurant to create your own recipe, name it, list the ingredients, take a photo and add it to the special website, Facebook page, or by email to create@gardenfreshcorp.com.
  
• Just by doing this, you’ll get a discount coupon.
• Ten finalists will be chosen in November and all guests will be invited to vote for their favorite finalist in December.
• The winning recipe and chef will be announced in January and will win a year’s worth of free passes and the chance to be featured in an upcoming ad.
• Contest ends October 31.
• Open to restaurant guests in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas Utah and Washington.
• Visit the Official Rules page for all information.

The Pajama-Rama Event on Sunday, October 18^th in celebration of National Pajama Month -

• Children are invited to roll out of bed and head straight to a restaurant location for the 3^rd Annual Pajama-Rama.
• Children will have a free breakfast from 9am to noon with the purchase of an adult meal.
• Breakfast items include Belgian waffles, French toast, egg scramble foccacia, cinnamon chip biscuits, potatoes O’Brien, make-your-own breakfast burritos and much more!

Giveaway: Win 2 Dining Passes to Sweet Tomatoes or Souplantion. There will be 3 winners!

The Rules:
1. Contest starts now and ends Sun. Oct. 18th at midnight EST.
2. Open to adults 18 and over in the US.
3. Winner will be chosen by Random.org.
4. Winner has 2 days to claim prize.
5. Have fun and tell your friends.

How To Enter:
For One Entry For Each Below: (please leave a separate comment for each entry)

Entries:
1. Leave a comment about one menu item that you like.
4. Follow my blog on Facebook – use the Networked Blogs widget on my sidebar – Leave your Facebook name please.
5. Follow me on Twitter. Leave your Twitter ID please.
6. Become a fan of Sweet Tomatoes/Souplantion on Facebook.
7. Tweet about this contest and leave a link to your tweet please. You can tweet about this contest once per day (please leave a comment for each tweet):

Win 2 Meal Passes to Sweet Tomatoes/Souplantation 3 Winners! @ConnieFoggles http://bit.ly/l53GX PL RT

This was a compensated post (I received 2 Meal Passes) and sponsored by Family Review Network. Please see my Disclosure Policy for more information.

*CONTEST ENDED. WINNERS ANNOUNCED SOON.*