Carving Pumpkins

This afternoon we carved pumpkins in our front yard. We usually buy our pumpkins at Hall's Pumpkin Patch when we visit, but I ended up buying three really good-sized pumpkins at Walmart when I visited the neighborhood store about a week ago. With the heat of Texas, we can't carve our pumpkins too early or they will get gooey and moldy in days, so we figured today would be the perfect time to carve with just over a week until Halloween. It's been unseasonably cool this year and we hoped it will stay this nice through Halloween. Halloween in Texas can be anywhere from 90 to in the 40s, so there really is no way of knowing what to expect!

The girls were busy playing and I had to convince them to take a break and carve the pumpkins. Of course, once we were outside they couldn't get enough of it and really had fun. I had to cut both of the pumpkins the girls chose to carve since they couldn't even get the knife to go through the pumpkin. Once I removed the lid, Sofia went to town cleaning out hers while I cleaned out Olivia's. Meanwhile, Olivia had a blast using my camera which makes me a little nervous but I've also taught her how to put the strap around her neck and how to be very gentle with the lens. Of course, there were a lot of crazy photos I had to delete after we were done, but she also took some pretty cool shots and I really loved it because I'm always taking the pictures so I'm rarely actually in them. She loved taking photos of me and of Buddy. She did capture a few of Sofia working on her pumpkin too. Nearly all of the pictures below were taken by her, except for the few at the very end.

Olivia took a break from taking pictures and used a Sharpie to draw the jack-o-lantern face she wanted. Once she was done, I started cutting and it actually looked really great! The eyes were small, but the face was really cute! Buddy loved to eat all the little pieces of pumpkin as I cut. So, as I cut pieces out I would feed him. He loved it. Sofia drew the face on her jack-o-lantern and wanted to cut it all herself. I gave her the bread knife, which I find works best when cutting through pumpkin and she cut away. She did a great job and only needed a little help from CK for the eyes. Otherwise, she did it all herself.

Once they were both finished, I took pictures of the girls together with their jack-o-lanterns and then they decided to ride their scooters around the neighborhood. It was such a fun afternoon and it really is one of my very favorite traditions of Halloween.

The pumpkins (photo credit: Olivia)

Sofia and I ready to get started

Cutting of the top of the first pumpkin

Buddy (photo credit: Olivia)

A close-up of me

Sofia cleaning out her pumpkin

Sofia

Papa

Buddy and me. Buddy loves eating the raw pumpkin

Papa and Sofia talking about possibly jack-o-lantern faces

Finishing up Olivia's jack-o-lantern face

Buddy!

Sofia working hard cleaning out her pumpkin

Olivia and her finished pumpkin

Sofia still working....

Starting on her jack-o-lantern face!

Olivia and her pumpkin

The girls and their pumpkins

Sofia and her pumpkin

The finished jack-o-lanterns

The girls and me

CK and the girls!