Meet Mr. Pumpkin

Last night was our traditional Halloween FHE where we carve our family jack-o-lantern. The kids each like to have their own special assignment or job.

McKay said at first he would be the "scooper" to get out the pumpkin insides, but after a couple of attempts with a spoon resulting in only one or two seeds, he deferred that job to Hannah and Courtney who were willing to stick their hands in and pull out a handful.

Hannah designed the eyes for the pumpkin and she made sure that Brian knew he was supposed to keep the solid black part (the pupils). I don't know how many times she told him as he was carving, "Daddy, remember not to cut out the black part."

Courtney designed the nose. She drew several versions on paper but ended up going with your basic triangle.

Hayley wanted to do the mouth. McKay had started drawing some mouth ideas on paper, so Hayley just took one of those and added a couple more lines.

McKay then took everyone's paper drawings and copied them onto the pumpkin itself.

Finally, Daddy got the job of the actual carving. (McKay did a very small piece, but it was a little hard still -- and dangerous -- for him.) The kids did help pull/pop out the cut pieces.

We took a family picture with the pumpkin as we do every year. It didn't turn out that great (I'm not sure where the haziness in the corner came from), but it's a fun tradition!

Mr. Pumpkin has made his new home on our front porch, where he is sure to quickly grow old and moldy. :-) (That's why we wait until just before Halloween to carve him!)