Pumpkin Carving...

Since moving to this part of the country, I've discovered that fall is by far my favorite time of the year! I love that the weather cools off, I love watching the leaves change, and I LOVE carving pumpkins!!!

Last year, Steve and I went to Circle S Farms and searched through the pumpkin patch to find our pumpkins. We were hoping to hit another pumpkin patch last Thursday since we both had the day off (which doesn't happen often), but Mother Nature had different plans for us. Steve had a meeting for work until about noon, and at noon the rain moved in. So instead of waiting to get our pumpkins, we decided to skip the pumpkin patch this year and pick our pumpkins at the grocery store a block away from my place. Yeah... we cheated...

I think we did pretty well. Steve and I each picked out a pumpkin, and we even picked out a little one for the Monster. After we got them home, we washed them off and got ready to carve. Steve had to leave for a couple of hours, so I thought I'd begin on my own. I thought it would be easiest to start with the Cookie's. It was small... No problem, right? WRONG!! I messed it up so bad I had to throw it away and head back to the grocery store for another one. My girl wasn't going without a pumpkin! While I was at the store the 2nd time, I decided to grab another little pumpkin for Tootse. She didn't need to be left out of the festivities either.

I got my pumpkin done first. I knew what I wanted to put on it so I pulled out the pattern and started in. Let me just say... I LOVE the pumpkin carving kits they have in grocery stores!! They always have neat patterns, they come with lights, and the tools are awesome! I can remember carving pumpkins as a kid and always being afraid that I was going to cut my fingers off. It's SOOO much easier now! I wasn't really sure about my pumpkin while I was carving it, but once I got it cleaned off and put the light in it, I liked it.

Shortly after I finished mine, Steve got back and decided that he wanted to start on his. The problem was that he couldn't decide what he wanted to put on it. He searched and searched on the computer and finally settled on a pattern. It was perfect!

While Steve was working on his, I grabbed my girls' pumpkins and got to work. Since I messed up the first one I had... I knew that whatever was going on them had to be small and it had to be simple. I found part of a pattern that had a cat and a moon on it, so I decided to use that for Cookie. Tootse's pumpkin was even smaller, so hers ended up with just a few bats carved into it. I did get a picture of Cookie in her Halloween costume with her pumpkin... She looks rather proud of it...

At the end of the day... even though I was a little bummed that we didn't get to go to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins... we had a great, MESSY time! The best part of the night was at the end when we lit them all up. They always look so neat!!

I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!!!