So we had our annual pumpkin carving extravaganza last night. I remember when we would purchase one large pumpkin to carve and maybe a small one for each child to decorate the porch with. Destry or yours truly, more often than not, because he wasn't available would cut scoop and carve the jack-o-lantern face into the thick orange flesh. I have never been a fan of slimy, smelly things and pumpkin guts are both, but I "took one for the team" each year. Now we are up to five large pumpkins carefully selected by each individual carver/painter. Taylor was ill when the rest of us went to select the pumpkins, so we were instructed to text pictures of possible choices to him for review. Luckily for us, he liked the first one we chose for him!
After our traditional Monday night taco dinner was consumed and cleared from the kitchen we laid out old towels, carefully washed the pumpkins and located carving tools, seed and gut containers and paint supplies. Both Estelle and Sarah opted to paint their pumpkins this year--hooray! The other three were independent carvers. In fact, while I tried to keep things as tidy as possible while preparing the seeds for roasting, Destry found fun Halloweenish music on YouTube for all to enjoy. This was prompted by my saying that it felt like we needed to turn on some Christmas music or something. He obviously felt like the "or something" was much more appropriate. The kids agreed. Bah humbug.
Taylor was done in a jiffy. I was afraid that he was planning on something so elaborate that wasn't going to turn out as he envisioned and he would crush his pumpkin in a fit of rage--just kidding he is not that kind of a kid. But he has been known to throw in the proverbial towel before. While he was explaining to me how he was going to make a pac man and not cut off the top, I thought he also said he was going to carve something on both sides and his description sounded much more involved design than it actually was. Well, he made a giant pac man large enough to clean out the pumpkin innards and was finished with his simple design before Emma had finished designing hers. She drew a cute, yet uncarvable minion on one side of her canvas in permanent marker. When I suggested that she had included just a little too much detail, she turned it around and went for a one-eyed smiling face much like some of the minions in our beloved, "Despicable Me." She took longer than anyone, which was fine, but I thought she was done and I instructed everyone to clean up. She never complained, but I noticed that she had not yet carved the face in it yet, only cleaned it out and drawn the template. Bless her heart, I told her to finish while the rest of us began cleaning and getting dressed. Yes, dressed. Taylor, Emma and Sarah have colds and have been home in their jammies all day.
Spencer made a traditional jack-o-lantern face in his. Sarah started out colorfully, but as paint began to mix, she ended up with a lot of brown. Estelle, on the other hand, painted colorful stripes around her pumpkin which strongly resembled a Jamaican rasta hat. Everyone had fun and I think we were done in record time. This activity has gone from one that was largely parent-driven to one that is almost entirely child-driven. I love that. The only thing that would have made it better is if the children would have driven the clean up as well. Oh well, I guess that will be for another day, maybe. Maybe not.
Arctic Circle, the restaurant, not the latitude never disappoints in the Halloween decoration department. We decided to go there for our FHE treats. This year is Peter Pan themed. The ceiling is covered in black. All of the walls look like stone. Peter Pan and Tinker Bell are flying overhead and we were greeted by a life-sized Captain Hook when we entered. There is a mermaid cove complete with a real water fountain. There are skulls and other details looming for those who take the time to look. While we were there I pondered on yet another family evolution. When the kids were young and we had fewer of them we would order a shake to share. When there were a few more of us we would order two shakes to share. Recently, we have been getting everyone their very own ice cream cone. You see, ice cream cones are a drippy, sticky, gooey mess for toddlers and young children. It is much cleaner to use a spoon and scoop the sweet, creamy goodness into small mouths. This made shakes the treat of choice for many years. Since the older kids are not keen on sharing any more and Sarah can put away a cone by herself without much dripping we have graduated to ice cream cones--ta da! Certainly, no one would complain about having their own shake, except for the budgeter who also happens to be the payer, so ice cream cones it is!
Happy Halloween! And happy ever evolving after.
After our traditional Monday night taco dinner was consumed and cleared from the kitchen we laid out old towels, carefully washed the pumpkins and located carving tools, seed and gut containers and paint supplies. Both Estelle and Sarah opted to paint their pumpkins this year--hooray! The other three were independent carvers. In fact, while I tried to keep things as tidy as possible while preparing the seeds for roasting, Destry found fun Halloweenish music on YouTube for all to enjoy. This was prompted by my saying that it felt like we needed to turn on some Christmas music or something. He obviously felt like the "or something" was much more appropriate. The kids agreed. Bah humbug.
Taylor was done in a jiffy. I was afraid that he was planning on something so elaborate that wasn't going to turn out as he envisioned and he would crush his pumpkin in a fit of rage--just kidding he is not that kind of a kid. But he has been known to throw in the proverbial towel before. While he was explaining to me how he was going to make a pac man and not cut off the top, I thought he also said he was going to carve something on both sides and his description sounded much more involved design than it actually was. Well, he made a giant pac man large enough to clean out the pumpkin innards and was finished with his simple design before Emma had finished designing hers. She drew a cute, yet uncarvable minion on one side of her canvas in permanent marker. When I suggested that she had included just a little too much detail, she turned it around and went for a one-eyed smiling face much like some of the minions in our beloved, "Despicable Me." She took longer than anyone, which was fine, but I thought she was done and I instructed everyone to clean up. She never complained, but I noticed that she had not yet carved the face in it yet, only cleaned it out and drawn the template. Bless her heart, I told her to finish while the rest of us began cleaning and getting dressed. Yes, dressed. Taylor, Emma and Sarah have colds and have been home in their jammies all day.
Spencer made a traditional jack-o-lantern face in his. Sarah started out colorfully, but as paint began to mix, she ended up with a lot of brown. Estelle, on the other hand, painted colorful stripes around her pumpkin which strongly resembled a Jamaican rasta hat. Everyone had fun and I think we were done in record time. This activity has gone from one that was largely parent-driven to one that is almost entirely child-driven. I love that. The only thing that would have made it better is if the children would have driven the clean up as well. Oh well, I guess that will be for another day, maybe. Maybe not.
Arctic Circle, the restaurant, not the latitude never disappoints in the Halloween decoration department. We decided to go there for our FHE treats. This year is Peter Pan themed. The ceiling is covered in black. All of the walls look like stone. Peter Pan and Tinker Bell are flying overhead and we were greeted by a life-sized Captain Hook when we entered. There is a mermaid cove complete with a real water fountain. There are skulls and other details looming for those who take the time to look. While we were there I pondered on yet another family evolution. When the kids were young and we had fewer of them we would order a shake to share. When there were a few more of us we would order two shakes to share. Recently, we have been getting everyone their very own ice cream cone. You see, ice cream cones are a drippy, sticky, gooey mess for toddlers and young children. It is much cleaner to use a spoon and scoop the sweet, creamy goodness into small mouths. This made shakes the treat of choice for many years. Since the older kids are not keen on sharing any more and Sarah can put away a cone by herself without much dripping we have graduated to ice cream cones--ta da! Certainly, no one would complain about having their own shake, except for the budgeter who also happens to be the payer, so ice cream cones it is!
Happy Halloween! And happy ever evolving after.
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