Halloween

On this last Thursday we finally got around to carving our pumpkins. It was so hard to find a time to get it done with school, soccer, field trips, dance, etc., etc., Thankfully it went so much faster than I was anticipating. A few years ago we got a special pumpkin carving kit, and in there was a little saw-like knife to do the designs, and boy does that little tool really work! We were done in no time at all!

Here we are cleaning out the pumpkins. We had great seeds, but I was in no mood to add another thing to our to-do list so we didn't bake the pumpkin seeds.

Devon had a front row seat to watch all the action.

Andy had to help clean out the inside. I knew my kids would have a problem sticking their hands in there.
Devon just thought it was great fun.
Drawing on their pumpkin faces so that we can cut out the design.
When Tate and Ayden were done carving and we were waiting on Andy to finish Devon's pumpkin the kids and I made Halloween sugar cookies for the school party the next day.
Here is Devon's finished pumpkin. Don't you love that the scariest pumpkin face is for the baby? I think it's hilarious that the pumpkin is about the same size as her head.
All the kids had two pumpkins. The 'tattooed' pumpkins are from our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). The CSA is a local farm that we get a lot of our vegetables from during the summer. About a month before the pumpkins are ready to cut off the vine, they cut the name into it with a knife. The extra month lets the pumpkins 'heal' and we've got a cool tattooed pumpkin!
The glowing pumpkins!
This is tonight right before we headed out trick-or-treating. They were really ready to go. Even Devon had a great time, staying awake the whole time we were walking around the neighborhood and only cried when I put her back into the car.

Tate is a Pteranodon, Ayden is a pixie fairy and Devon is our little bee.
Taking a look at all the candy. Ayden got a bit less than Tate because she had a bathroom emergency and we didn't have any place close to take her. Luckily she is a good sport and wasn't upset by it. In fact Tate informed us as we were driving home that he had too much candy and Ayden agreed.
Tate is quite proud of his haul. I was so impressed by Tate. At every house he would say "Thank you and Happy Halloween!" Grant and Tate literally ran from house to house. They were finally slowing down about an hour and a half later when Tate declared that he was done. We actually hit most of the neighborhood too.