And furthermore . . .

In case you thought the pumpkin fun was over, here's a shot of the four additional pumpkins we've carved in the last week.  I actually had nothing to do with these pumpkins, beyond buying them.  The amazing Ford truck was of course done by the talented Will Fike, and I believe that the other three were done by my creative husband.  From left to right we've got a crow, Jack's spider, the cat, the Ford, Lightning McQueen, and Snow White (did you know Disney has free pumpkin templates on their website--apparently Trace does!). 

Will working on his truck which he drew freehand!

Pumpkin Fun

In their four and six years, my kids have never carved a pumpkin.  They've painted them, drawn on them, and decorated them in other ways, but we've never carved one before.  Come to find out, Trace has never carved one before either, so this was a first for our family.  We all had a blast!

     These first two pictures are the pumpkins the kids did themselves, with sharpies.  This one is Jack's, and this pumpkin came out of our garden!  Jack made it scary with silver sharpie.

This is Caroline's, and it's intended to be cute.  I think she succeeded! 

These are the bouquets the kids have been picking with fall flowers and leaves.  Aren't they sweet?  One has been added every day this week.  The little perfectly round pumpkin in the middle came from our garden too, and we're convinced that it's the cutest pumpkin ever--but we might have a little gardener's pride.

Here is Caroline scooping out the innards of her pumpkin.  She didn't love doing it like I thought she would--she said it felt like spider webs.  I told her it was more like spaghetti, so then she was willing to help.

Trace used the big knife and cut the pumpkins open.  I guess I have these two pictures in the wrong order.

Caroline took this picture of Jack and I working on his spider pumpkin.

Jack worked hard on this pumpkin.  We printed a spider template from online, traced it, and then carefully cut it.  He and I worked together, and our hands were tired by the end!

In this picture he's showing the scary drawings he did on this lid of his pumpkin.  There's a spider and a few jack-o-lanterns.

Trace carved Caroline's pumpkin, with her input.  She had chosen a large pumpkin, and then she wanted it carved into a kitty cat.  That was a little complicated for a four year old, but she was willing to watch Daddy work on it.

Trace working hard.  I think his hands got tired too!

Posing for me with their pumpkin.  Cute!

While Trace and Caroline were working on the cat, Jack turned his pumpkin around and drew his own face and then carved it entirely himself.  Here's his proud smile for a job well done.  Now he's got a reversible pumpkin: spider/jack-o-lantern.

Jack's pumpkin face.

Two lit pumpkins sitting on the front porch.

Putting in the candles was the best part--both kiddos had a giant grin when they saw these faces smiling at them!  It was great fun for all of us!

A Day with the Wards

Yesterday my kids got to spend the afternoon with their friends Marilyn and Graham, while their mom took her mom to a doctor's appointment in Sacramento.  We're all glad that Gigi is recovering well from her surgery, but shhh! don't tell, but I don't think we missed them at all.  These four friends had so much fun playing together that I thought I'd share the photos I took of the day.  These are in chronological order. 

First they played dress-up and I took pictures so that we could make a frame craft later.  Do you think the lizard and the princess are good friends?

Miss Caroline in her elephant costume which she loves--it's size 2T and somehow she can still squeeze herself into it.

Three kiddos all dressed up.  It's awfully hard to get a snapshot with all three looking at you/smiling.  I can't imagine how professional photographers take family photos.  Experience I guess.

Mister Graham was willing to wear a hat for about 30 seconds, and he was very serious about it.  This was pre-nap, which may explain the look.

Jack the lizard is one cute boy, but I may be a little prejudiced.

Gluing buttons on popsicle stick frames.

Marilyn has an amazing sense of order and an ability to concentrate on detail work that you don't often see in a three year old.  She glued on her buttons and said, "now I will wait for my friends to finish."  Darling!

While our frames dried and Graham took a nap, the three other kids planted flowers with me.  The best part was that the rain stopped, so after planting they could run around outside.

Caroline helping plant in her third outfit of the day.  She loves to get herself dressed, and re-dressed as the day progresses.

The finished product.  They were good helpers, and my pots are full!

We printed the pictures we took earlier and put them in the homemade frames.  Aren't they creative?

This was my favorite part of the day.  The kids went out back and had fun "golfing," swinging, climbing and generally running around.  After an hour, the girls came inside and had a bath.  They were done, but these two boys, age 5, and 1.5, played golf in the backyard for another hour.  Graham followed Jack around, carrying his golf club and trying to imitate Jack's every move.  They were both completely entertained. 

Graham and his ball.

Trying hard to hit it.

Big boy and little boy, playing together.

Thanks for sharing your kids Lindsey.  I'll babysit anytime!

An Easter Craft

I have never made blown eggs before, but yesterday when I was looking up a chickpea salad recipe on Epicurious.com, I saw this "recipe" for robin's egg place cards.  I thought the kids and I would love to make them, so I called my crafty helper (the marvelous Miss Becky Miller) and this is how we spent our Sunday afternoon. 

The best pictures would have been of Becky and I (with occasional help from the two kiddos), blowing out 16 eggs.  That was harder than it sounds!  We were definitely all turning bright red from the effort.

These pictures are of us painting the eggs, and of the finished product. 

 Jack's ready!

 Caroline concentrating while Aunt Becky helps out. 

 Beautiful Becky.

 Jack starting on his second set of four is wearing some paint already.

 Hold your mouth right Caroline!

 The clever holders were a suggestion in the recipe, although the skewers that we had at home were too wide, so Becky and I modified them by taping toothpicks to the top with electical tape.  We thought we were pretty clever:)

 The finished product.  We won't put the rest of the names on until we get a final Easter head count, but we figured we'd be there for sure.  The speckling turned out to be harder than I thought, so I finished that after my helpers were in bed.  A fun project for sure, but probably more suited for kids a few years older. 

Next I saw a marbelized egg project on marthastewart.com when I was searching for the best way to blow eggs.  It looked a little simpler for kids, so we might try that later this week.  It's spring break around here, and today it's raining, so indoor projects are in order!  Happy Easter!