this year's pumpkins

I've been pretty much traveling non-stop all October so we barely were able to squeeze in the pumpkin carving:

This year's pumpkins were not as elaborate as years past, but they did feature a duck drawn by Rain Dragon herself as well as a requested pig and chick (I carved the chick):

And they still brought some nice holiday spirit to the house:

Happy Halloween, all!

this year's pumpkins

I had hoped to revive our pumpkin carving party tradition this year, but fate was against us. I had gotten rid of our old dining table and ordered a new one but  the shipping company somehow lost it. We have been using this red bench as our table for the last five weeks:

I finally just canceled that table and ordered another from somewhere else. Crossing my fingers the new one makes it!

A pumpkin party without a table seemed rather inconvenient, so we carved solo again this year. And again, we themed them to her current obsession. Right now,  she is in love with Curious George. She started with the books but now prefers the TV show. I know, sacrilege!!

But she likes better that "the man catches him" (and George doesn't break his leg) in the TV episode and she is never satisfied with my answers when she asks, "Why did he open the ether bottle? Why did they have to put George in the cold shower to wake him up?" when I read the book(!). And, I've kind of accepted it because the TV show is a bit more contemporary with characters of different races and women working. In fact, Rain Dragon is so interested in the female firefighter that it was one of the characters she chose for the pumpkins:

Hundley (or Pretzel, she always makes me change the name when I read that book), Lady Fireman (that's Rain Dragon's name for her) and, of course, George

In the years past, I mainly used a plain kitchen knife. But this year we bought some new carving tools and what a difference! So much easier!

And they come out so much better too! I think these are our best pumpkins, yet:

I know Rain Dragon thinks so!

       

this year's pumpkins

We're a little late with our pumpkins this year!  Again, no pumpkin party (what? nobody wants to have toddlers and sharp knives together?) and, to Rain Dragon's protests, I carved mine alone:

But to make up for not letting her do any of it, I carved her current favorite bedtime book:

her favorite is Lyle and the Birthday Party which she calls "Lyle go to hospeetall"

The Sasquatch carved her favorite characters from her favorite TV show, Peppa Pig. Oddly,  her favorite characters are the periphery characters that barely in the show like Mr. Rhino and Mr. Potato. 

Mr. Rhino silhouette and a Mr. Potato outline!

And, of course, we did let her paint her own:

She was pleased with our finished display during the day:

But we all agreed that it looked best at night:

Happy Halloween!

this year's pumpkins

So, this was the first year in a while that we did not have a Halloween pumpkin party. We've been so busy that we haven't been able to get it together and connect with friends in our new locale. Also, we just thought a party of sharp knives and small children were not a good mix. So, this year we decided to carve on our own. Hopefully, next year (or maybe the year after) we can start the pumpkin party tradition again.

Rain Dragon was upset that we wouldn't let her carve her own pumpkin so to make it up to her we themed the pumpkins around her favorite friends:

Yes, her toys are wearing diapers. She refuses to do anything unless they do it first. 

I carved her friend "Cute":

bonus points if you recognize where he's from! It's the Sasquatch's fault. 

And the Sasquatch carved Kermit  "Moo-Moo":

originally he was called "Mermit" but then we put a Kermit band-aid on her boo-bo and now he is "Moo-Moo"

Even though she still would've preferred to play with the sharp knives, the finished pumpkins were an acceptable consolation prize:

Happy Halloween!

When Halloween Meets the Moon

From one of the schools I visited in Florida, comes some Halloween fun: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon inspired pumpkins! Here is how Dragon would look if he were made of pumpkins:

Thanks so much, students! Have a happy Halloween!

pumpkin party

Last week, before the big storm (we weathered it fine, hope all did as well!) we had our pumpkin party. Yes, it was that time of year again! This year has been even busier than last year, but I felt like we had to squeeze in our traditional pumpkin carving! Since we will be moving, this is our last pumpkin carving in the apartment.

This time we were all tight for time and the carving began later then usual. There was also a lot of baby juggling:

So our pumpkins were not as elaborate as years past. But I think they still looked great!

There was Peep, a cat and Mike Tyson's tattoo:

And a rainbow:

didn't it come out well?

I couldn't finish mine until Rain Dragon went to sleep, which was apropos as it was an homage to her:

Yes, I did a dragon pumpkin!

As usual, it was great fun!

I hope next year we pumpkin carve in our new house with new and old friends.

Pumpkin Pacy

This was actually sent to me last year, but I've been holding onto it until now. A librarian at a school in Wellesley had students create their favorite book characters with their Halloween pumpkins.  One girl chose Pacy from Year of the Dog!

She looks good as pumpkin, don't you think? Happy Halloween!

happy halloween pumpkins!

It's been a bit crazy lately but I refused to give up our holiday pumpkin carving tradition. So, the gang gathered together again and we had a messy massacre of pumpkins guts:

But I think we are all getting better at carving because I think this was our best batch yet:

As usual, there was an eclectic theme ranging from Spiderman to bunnies:

The Sasquatch did a particularly charming Pac-Man themed pumpkin:

I admit I had a soft spot for the children's book ones:

Richard Scarry and Ed Emberly-inspired!

Because, of course, I carved some of them:

My older sister and niece came to the pumpkin carving for the first time and both did frogs:

What will we carve next year?

late pumpkin post

It's been so crazy-busy here in chez Grace that our annual pumpkin carving party was delayed until Saturday--the day before Halloween! At least we got them in before the holiday! (and the pumpkins were cheaper because it was the last day!)

But it was great to get all the local gang together for a messy pumpkin gutting and cutting!

Including Baby M, who painted her pumpkin:
and chose the book The Problem with Chickens as inspiration for her mother's pumpkin:
as well as this intricate duck decoration from a Chinese clip art book for me: (I tried to talk her out of it but she kept insisting on this design)

and if I remember correctly, Baby M also requested a sea otter but got a jellyfish pumpkin instead:
But, in the end, she seemed to like all of them.

Hope you had a fun Halloween!

pumpkins!

It's almost Halloween, and that meant last Sat (right after the Boston Book Festival) was the time for my annual pumpkin carving! This year, because of scheduling problems (I've been running into that a lot lately), I carved half my pumpkin with Jon, Loretta & Austin:

And the other half the next day at Ranida's house (with Stella and Marius):

I carved hopping bunnies to enter in ModCloth's Trick Out Your Pumpkin Contest: I'm hoping to win the $100. gift certificate so I can buy a new outfit for my TODAY Show appearance!

I entered Ranida's too. Cross your fingers!