Sunday Snapshot - Jack O Lanterns!

I have found over the years that as certain holidays approach, I will have these visions of incorporating certain 'traditional' activities with the girls.  Like trimming the tree, Easter egg hunt in the back yard, helping to prepare the Thanksgiving meal, going to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins, etc.  In these visions of mine, they are perfectly coifed and dressed.  We conduct these activities with lots of time and lots of pictures are taken.  


Then reality sets in and I find if I want to meet those parameters, it doesn't end up happening at all!  So, I've learned to not plan it out too much and when the opportunity presents itself, just go with the flow and do it anyway!  


Enter the Halloween jack o lantern.  We were supposed to go a pumpkin patch with friends a few weeks ago but Ava was sick.  Then we decided to just go to a cute local farmer's market of sorts and pick the pumpkins from there.  But Jason forgot to take the turn on the way home from church and we were miles past it when we remembered.  Ava had pumpkins on the brain though and really wanted to get them THAT day.  So, we ended up at the grocery store.  Not exactly the picture taking opportunity of picking out pumpkins off the floor from where they were sitting under the produce coolers.  


But, we still had the carving of the pumpkins to catch on film at least!  And for that I could get them set up on the back patio (good setting) and put them in some fun Halloween clothes (great dressing) and go to town.  We got home with our pumpkins and I went up the barn to feed the horses.  When I came back down the pumpkin carving had begun with Dad on the small landing out the back door (lots of hard concrete and big air conditioners in the way) and the girls were in their play clothes (except for Amelia who chose her pajamas to change into!) with crazy hair and bows askew.  *sigh*  Oh well.  Just go with it, right!?  The girls had a blast anyway...

 

One of Ava's favorite parts is hollowing out the pumpkin!

Amelia is trying figure out exactly what IS inside this thing anyway?  Oh well, better start taking out the guts!

Ava decided to design her own face and drew it on the front with a crayon (can you see the scrawl on the front?).  Then Jason cuts out what she has drawn for her original creation!  Amelia on the other hand, chose a template out of a book we had.  While Ava made a big deal of trying to make her's 'scary', Amelia did NOT want a scary pumpkin and chose a non-scary bat.  She kept saying that her's was a 'happy pumpkin'!  And that "the bat NOT scawy".  I think she was trying to convince herself ;-)

And here are the finished products!

So maybe not the most picture-perfect pictures, but it was a memory made and the girls had a lot of fun!

For more Sunday Snapshot, stop in at Ni Hao Y'all!

Until next time...