Oct: Carving Pumpkins!

This year we got brave and let the kids carve their pumpkins (vs. the "Mr. Potato-head or painting approach of years past).  I foolishly planned to do it on a Monday night for Family Home Evening. I should know better during busy season because I got the kids all excited and then had to begin and carve and clean out pretty much solo since DMP had to work late :) 

EJ and Bear really liked pulling the pumpkin guts out. Birdy tried hard, but after she started gagging and dry-heaving, I took pity on her and finished hers for her :)

Birdy got really into carving out her intricate design. She is her father's daughter in that she likes puzzles and will get into things that require detail work and logic.  EJ is more my speed- quick and "good enough" without a lot of fore-thought :)

I drew a couple of simple pumpkin face options and had Bear pick out his eyes, nose and mouth. Then he watched me carve it. As you can see, he was pretty excited about it!

The kids were excited to show off their finished products!

After the kids went to bed, DMP and I had a mini-date where we were able to carve our own designs. It was a lot of fun. I haven't carved a pumpkin for myself since college!  Mine is above and DMP's is below.

Sadly, we learned the hard way not to carve pumpkins a week and a half before Halloween if you live in TX :)  Guess we'll put it off a little longer next year... (I know Pintrest says you should dip them in a bucket of bleach, but that sounds like too much work :>)