Pumpkin Carving, 2014

We had originally planned to carve pumpkins on Friday night, but Anna’s illness canceled those plans.  The only other good time for us was Monday morning.  Thankfully, Anna was feeling sufficiently better so that she could participate.  In fact, she was feeling so good that she fixed everyone breakfast that morning and had a smile on her face the whole day!
To start off, the kids and Greg went to pick out pumpkins and buy some paint, since Luke and Anna were dying to paint their own little pumpkins.  When they got home, we began by drawing “test designs” for our pumpkin.

Next, we relied on Daddy’s artistic ability to transfer the kids’ ideas the the pumpkin itself.

The kids always go for a traditional design, which is fine by us!
After that, of course, it’s time for the de-gunking:

We never know how the kids are going to respond to this from year to year.  Last year, they were both disgusted with it.  This year, Luke was cool with it, but Anna thought it was gross.  Some of her faces below indicate her feelings on the matter:

While they de-gunked, I separated out the seeds for roasting:

Then, I went in and rinsed the seeds while Greg started carving:

While Greg carved, the kids started on their own pumpkins:

Their paintings ended up being very…um…colorful.
Pumpkin carving is such a simple ritual, but one that we very much enjoy each year.  This year, it was especially sweet because Anna was feeling so much better.

Can’t you tell?
And here is our finished design, “touched up” with a little glow-in-the-dark paint by Anna:

Ghouls at Grassmere

Last Sunday night, we went to the zoo’s annual Halloween event, “Ghouls at Grassmere.”  We were inspired by the kids spending the afternoon at the zoo and seeing everything being set up for it.  We’ve gone once before, with free tickets, and I remember that though the kids liked it, we thought it was a little pricy for what it was.  However, the kids really wanted to go again, and they seem to be at the perfect age for it right now, so we decided to give it another go.

I was really happy that they dressed as Harry and Hermione.  A big part of that decision was that it was supposed to be chilly that night, making long-sleeved Hogwarts robes a sensible costume choice.  But really, regardless of weather, Harry Potter just holds a very special place in my heart.

Anna is pretending to be scared in the picture above.  We snapped those pics as we walked through the “Enchanted Village,” or something like that.  Then it was on to pumpkin land, where Anna felt herself powerfully drawn to this bouncy house. 

It was like a moth to a flame, I tell ya.  Luke wasn’t as interested, so he and Greg went to play the carnival-style games.  Anna and I went to meet them afterward, stopping for some photo ops.  (And by the way, this was all Anna’s idea.  Seriously.)

Reunited, I did make them take a picture in front of this cool sign:

Then it was time for more carnival games:

Followed by the “Scary-Go-Round”:

And the haunted hayride:

The kids favorite section of the hayride involved bubbles:

Next, we journeyed to the “Monster Lab.”  There was a line to get in, so the kids bided their time by working the activity sheets they had won during the games, including a decorate-your-pumpkin sticker sheet.  After Anna decorated her pumpkin, she used the leftover stickers to decorate her face:

Then, it was into the Monster Lab:

It was too dark to get many good pictures, but the lab was cute.  After we exited, it was time to do the last thing on the agenda:  a trick or treat trail throughout the zoo:

The best part of the trail was this random bubble machine.  The kids loved it, especially Anna:

And lastly, here is my little Hermione on the trail:

It was a fun evening, and I’m glad we did it, but I think this might be our last year for it.  We reconfirmed that it was pricy for what it was, and I think the kids would have more fun at a one of the pumpkin patches I recently heard about.  We will have to try that one next year.  In the meantime, the kids had no complaints about the evening, and it definitely qualified as some good family time!

Numbering Our Days

“Teach us to number my days aright

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”  Psalm 90:12

Teach us to number our days aright.  I kept thinking of that verse this weekend as I made my decisions about what to do.  My head told me that I needed to unpack from my trip and spend the day scrubbing my house because we had people coming over tomorrow.  But my heart (and my husband) told me that we needed to seize this beautiful fall day and celebrate—celebrate closing on our house in Summerville, celebrate the fleeting beauty of autumn, celebrate our love for our family.  And so we did.  We used gift cards to go out to eat for lunch and dinner, and we spent the time in between that in God’s nature. 

Teach us to number our days aright.

When we got home, I did do some cleaning and vacuuming and prepping for today…but first, I made leaf wreaths with my kids.

Because that was more important.

Teach us to number our days aright.

And you know what?  When our church family got here on Sunday, they didn’t seem to notice that the kitchen floor had been swept but not mopped.  In fact, they didn’t even seem to notice that the carpets had been vacuumed and spot cleaned.  They just noticed the food…

…and the football game…

…and the company…

…and the LEAVES.

I’ve blogged some lately about our family’s desire to cut back, to slow down, to not be so busy.  We’ve axed ballet, and co-op, and now tae kwon do.  And I know that all might sound negative.  But the reason we have cut back on that stuff is so that we can more clearly number our days aright.  We cut back on all that so that we can have  more time to walk through the woods and to eat beef stew with friends and jump into leaf piles.

Teach us to number our days aright.

Teach us to number our days aright.

Teach us to number our days aright.

That we may gain a heart of wisdom.