Thank you, Sandy.

It took a hurricane to get me to carve pumpkins with my kids. It sounds lame, but October's usually so full of things to do that I've never prioritized the pumpkin thing, as much as it appeals to me. But this year was different.

 This year we'd spent a few days cozied up in our house making crafts, playing ponies, and trying to get some work done. (Working from home can sometimes be a BAD thing!) It was great of Aunt Jenny to come over Monday evening and play Boggle while the wind blew! Otherwise we had no company except one another. Which doesn't seem to affect us at all. Ahem.

 I get pumpkins every year. That's never the issue. It's making the time to DO something with them. So when school was out for the second day in a row and AWANA was cancelled, that left the evening open for playing with knives.

 Just kidding. I did all the carving. They did all the hard part--the prep work. It's amazing how fun a messy job is when you talk it up. "Wait until you SEE what's INSIDE these! And wait until you FEEL this awesome SLIMY-NESS on your hands!" And it crossed my mind to save the seeds to meticulously wash, dry, salt, and roast them. But that's as far as it got.

 Evelyn wanted her pumpkin to have eyelashes.

 Amelia wanted hers to have eyebrows. They'd drawn pictures of their pumpkins for me to copy. I admit I felt a little proud of how well they turned out. I mean, they're no great works of art, but after eight Halloweens' worth of parenting, these were the FIRST jack-o-lanterns. Brings tears to your eyes, doesn't it?

Here's hoping it won't take a hurricane to get me to do this again next year.

p.s. The girls are growing their bangs out. My apologies for the lack of barrettes. Everything goes to pot around here when I don't have to get dressed, go out, pack lunches, supervise homework, etc.