Carving Pumpkins!!

This is definitely one of my most favorite traditions!  I LOVE this part of Halloween.  I'm pretty sure I've said this every year, but I'm saying it again- it goes SO WELL!!  Yeah, it's messy, it's probably dangerous giving little kids knives, but it's been such a great bonding time for our family!  Nate even got into it this year :).  And he loved it too!!  It's so fun to hear everyone talking to each other, getting along freakishly well, complimenting each other, offering help.  There's no fighting, no whining.  Everyone is just busy working on their masterpiece!  It's heaven!!  Sounds crazy, I know, but it's heaven!!  

And again, it was amazing how much they all did on their own!  Even Jack!  So cool!

Molly spent most of the time with us, in her high chair and wasn't too happy.  She did get a little time with the pumpkins, but for the most part she was not interested.  I ended up rocking her to sleep at intermission.  

This was a big deal to Luke!  He was planning his pumpkin design in church the day before!  He was very focused and totally into it.  It was cool to watch him.  He was so thrilled about the size and shape of his pumpkin and kept talking about hwo cool it was and how he had n ever had such a big one.  Because we have the rule- if you can carry it to the cart, you can get it.  I was really surprised he was able to get it into the cart :).

Noah was pretty focused and quiet for the most part.  Carving two pumpkins (he got one when his wolf den went to a pumpkin patch) takes a lot of concentration.  He was so proud of his masterpiece!

Bradley had a great time!  He was in such a good mood!  It was fun to see him so happy.  He went all out and did his pumpkin face sideways!  It was so awesome!  

Kelly was also very focused!  She had a plan and she was working!  She came up with a really cute idea and made a fun pumpkin.  It's always fun to see what she comes up with.

It was so fun to see Charity NOT struggling with hers this year :).  She knows this activity is for fun now!  She wasn't stressed at all and made an adorable pumpkin.  I was so happy for her :).  It was a bummer that she had to hurry and get back into her book- she needed more reading pages for the end of the term.

His Maynes tongue :).  Jack Jack had a BLAST!  He was SO into this!  He carved his pumpkin all by himself!  He totally loved every minute of it too :).  I LOVED how his turned out :).  It's so cool that he did it himself!

I love this picture :)

I kind of just sat there and enjoyed every minute of this experience :).  I did carve my own and totally branched out and did a "skull" looking one- inspired by the shape of my pumpkin.  I really just wasn't sure what to do with myself most of the time though :).  It was a nice little break.

Cute Erika had a lot of fun!  She picked the short plump one that I had told her about :).  It was a pretty cool shape, just missing the huge stem.  She had a lot of really cool ideas she just wasn't able to pull off.  But she did turn her almost cat into a very cute face!  I LOVED how hers turned out.

See!  Maynes tongue!

Nate had a blast too!  Carved his very own pumpkin which looked incredible of course, and even noticed the heaven that was going on :).

I really love this picture right now.  Not because of how we look obviously, but because we are sitting on the porch :).  This is our new spot ever since we started running together in the mornings.  When we get done, we've carried on the tradition of sitting down on the porch to cool down (and talk of course :) ) before we go inside and begin our day.  I am so grateful for Nate and his willingness and encouragement in helping me with this crazy new thing.  It's been such a blessing to have him.  Nothing against the girls- they were awesome and made it such a neat thing and special time together in the mornings, and I do miss them so much!!  I just couldn't do this without Nate at this point.  He helps me get up, he helps me keep going.  He talks to me and keeps my mind off the minutes and miles.  He's my friend, my companion, my push!!  I'm so SO glad he is here for me on this.  I just love being able to start our day out this way together and have this time together.  I think this picture will always mean something special to me.  Thanks babe!!  Oh and there's our pumpkins :).

Molly was sleeping so I didn't get her picture that night and unfortunately I didn't get one of everyone on the porch together!  DARN IT!!  Hopefully the picture of Nate and I is cool enough to make up for that :).

Here's Molly the next day:

She liked her pumpkin :).  I carved it to look like her, but the new tooth, the one that was supposed to look like it was coming in, busted off!!  Such a bummer.  But anyway- look at this cute girl!

Such a tease!