Pumpkins!

 Pumpkin carving was a multi-day project this year. We started out with just washing the pumpkins in the sink on Thursday, Oct 22.

Naturally, Henry excelled at this task. Our little water boy was all about playing in that soap and water and getting that pumpkin super clean.

Mommy ended up getting a clean kitchen floor out of the deal - the water that was spilled from the sink had to get wiped up after all (water spills = the one time Mommy is forced to wash the kitchen floor).

The next day we began carving our pumpkins. Henry was quite proud to be entrusted with the knife.

Follow those lines!

The boys were NOT impressed with the pumpkin innards. In the end, Mommy ended up gutting the pumpkins. ("Mom! I just can't handle it!")

Cutting open the top was enough knife work for Henry, so he opted to paint his pumpkin rather than continue carving.

Micah said he wanted to carve the shape of Michigan in his pumpkin. Mommy felt this was a bit too ambitious of a project, so we pulled out our Michigan shaped cookie cutter.

Hammering the cutter into the pumpkin wasn't exactly a piece of cake either. It's harder than one might imagine! (Perhaps it has to do with the fact that Mommy was worried about misshaping the cookie cutter, so it was only gentle taps.)

Finally!

Of course, we had to read Too Many Pumpkins on the day we did this project.

Helen wanted to paint as well. But Mommy was smart enough just to give her the paint brushes and some water. No way could Mom handle a toddler with paint when she was already dealing with pumpkin guts, boys with knives and hammers, and pumpkin painting.

On the other side of his pumpkin, Micah wanted to do a letter M. We decided to skip using the M cookie cutter, since that was so labor intensive with the shape of Michigan. Mom just drew an M on the pumpkin and, with teamwork, it was cut out. (It was a great lesson on persistence until a task is complete...)

Our finished products! For Helen, we made Cookie Monster from Sesame Street, complete with cookies, of course.

Henry's H and paint job.

Micah's Michigan...

and M.

Oh, and Micah also insisted on a traditional pumpkin face.

Now, for the full effect...