Pumpkin Carving

The children seemed really excited to carve pumpkins this year.  However, once it came time to clean out the pumpkin guts-- there were varying degrees of enthusiasm.  I remember enjoying that part when I was young, but my children (most of them any way) try to choose the pumpkin that will have the least innards.

The pumpkins were really thick skinned, which made them pretty tough to carve. 

I love the way that Kailani is always willing to dive right in and try whatever needs to be done. She not only cleaned her pumpkin, but was constantly offering to help everyone else with whatever they needed. All of my children were very cooperative, which made me so happy.

I love that boys smile! In this picture, it looks like I have a pumpkin stuffed under my gray shirt-- Man! my belly is getting big.

Cameron was excited to carve this year. He looked at ideas online, and completely did the entire thing on his own. 

Karen's doggie pumpkin

This is the template Cam chose for his. jack-o-lantern..

NAILED IT!!!  Even though it didn't turn out like he had planned (remember that the pumpkin skin was about 2 inches thick-- making it difficult to do details)... I am SO proud of him and think he did awesome for his first time.

Kailani carved the words "BOO" next to her guys mouth.

Creed loves his cat that Ryan carved.

Kyle did a Disney themed jack-o-lantern. He put a lot of thought into it, and did all the carving on his own. It has mickey ears (in the upper right), a genie lamp, a seashell (from Little Mermaid) a star shaped fairy wand, a crown, and a glass slipper. I thought it was very clever. 

We had caramel popcorn for a treat, and laughed, and carved, and everyone was happy! It was a great night.. 

On an unrelated note...

Today was 70's day at the middle school. Kailani looked pretty groovy when she left the house.

It was also Pajama day and CrAzY hair day at the elementary school. Karen is usually pretty leery about that kind of thing, so it made me happy to see her eager to participate. It was, however, too much to expect her to wear regular shoes-- so she wore her flip flops even though it is freezing outside.