Jack-O-Lanterns

We started carving our pumpkins at a family dinner at Grady's.

We finished them the next day at home.

Oh yeah. And Sterling was there too. :)

Pumpkins

In our search for the perfect pumpkin this year, we found a fantastic pumpkin patch nearby in a previously unused field.

Bryce kind of loved it, running, jumping, yelling and making the most of acres of open space.

There were also other entertaining activities, like this climbing hay stack and a little train ride.

At the end of the day, we had 5 lovely little jack-o-lanterns and a bowl full of delicious roasted pumpkin seeds!

Rachel's birthday and jack-o-lanterns

Rachel's  8th birthday was on Monday and that means she got a birthday party, which is a big deal because I only do friend parties on the 5th, 8th, 12th and 16th birthday. So we celebrated with friends on Friday. 

On Thursday, she got kind sick, tummyache and fevery. So I kept her home from school and after a good nap, she felt a lot better, so I took her out on some errands and this happened.

We had fun preparing for a Halloween themed birthday party. We froze spiders in ice cubes for an extra creepy drink with our pizza dinner.

We played lots of fun games like Bingo, Pictionary and Monster bowling with these cute tin cans I painted.

We also painted stenciled bats on black paper. 

You can't see the spider ice cube in her drink, but its there. That's why she's making a face!

Rachel has a good group of friends.

One of her favorite presents, she insisted on getting a picture of. Legos!

Rachel may have had her birthday party a few days after her actual birthday, but we did celebrate as a family on her actual birth date.

After a special dinner and cake and ice cream, we carved jack-o-lanterns!

In order:

Camille (with glasses), Rachel (with Dad's help), Hash (with my help), Parker (Electro Clan from Michael Vey) and Syd (Super Syd)

I roasted the pumpkin seeds afterward and we feasted on them all week!

Carving Pumpkins

 

We cut it a little close carving pumpkins this year. We purchased the pumpkins two days before Halloween and then carved them the next day. I guess it kept them really fresh at least.

 

Did we get everything?

Listening for a heart beat?

Working with knives. Yowza. Watch out!

And the final product. Just in time for Halloween night!

And just can't help but link to this pumpkin carving day in 2014.