Jack-o-lanterns!

Tuesday night was our big pumpkin carving night! It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun too. We turned on "The Worst Witch" (an old classic Halloween movie that I LOVED as a kid) and got to work. I think the movie replayed 4 times before I was even near done.

I went to a site online where you can create your own templates. The girls had a lot of fun picking what they wanted their pumpkin to look like, then we printed them off.

Justee had fun playing in the pumpkin. I even caught her taking bites off the spoon she was using to clean out her pumpkin. The face Justee is making, kind of makes her look like her jack-o-lantern. ;)
Charlee poked holes along the lines of her face; she really wanted to carve too, but she is just too little. I helped her do a little bit, and then she got mad that I was helping and went to watch the movie. Sydnee did hers all by herself. (I cleaned up the cuts a little bit after she was done.) She did a great job.

Taking a break from carving to watch the movie:

Once I was finished helping the girls, I started on my own creations. I did a haunted house and a ghost with bats. I wanted to try the method where you don't cut out any pieces, you just scrap the skin so that it is thin and the light shines through. I did that with the haunted house. It turned out ok, but man it took a long time, and it was very messy.
The girls' faces:We got some lights that change color to put in the girls' pumpkins, so here is some of the variety:

After the girls were put to bed, I took on the task of creating a pumpkin topiary. I saw the idea on Tracy's blog and thought it would be fun. I thought it would be faster and easier than carving 3 pumpkins. Boy was I wrong. It took a long time to clean them all out, make them fit stacking, poke all the holes and stick the lights in. Then, as I was carrying the heavy thing to the front porch, I wobbled as I was setting it down and the top pumpkin fell off, pulling the lights out of it. I had to re-poke them in. I think it turned out pretty neat...not perfect, but it's DONE. Thanks for the idea Tracy!


The aftermath: