Halloween: In a Pumpkinshell... I mean Nutshell

We did pumpkins two weekends before Halloween. They lasted one week and started molding and caving in. Our Little Someone asked where the teeth on Daddy's pumpkin were going. By the way, can you tell whose pumpkin is whose?

I'm the 'traditionalists'. Little Someone picked out her mouth, nose and eyes... and daddy? ...he's the life of the party.

Since those pumpkins were starting to stink up the place, they got thrown to the cows in our neighbor's pasture. Well, we had to have a pumpkin for Halloween, so a day or so before, got a little small jobbie that we cleaned out and carved indoors.

After a choice of pattern pics, a kitty cat was the winner...

The big night begins as we slowly transform... well, my midsection didn't (I guess I could have painted that section orange and gone as a wandering pumpkin).

"Abby Cadabby" in the making (a fairy from Sesame Street):

And here she is:

A pot-belly scarecrow (?) in the making:

(thanks for the help Grandma)

All dressed and ready for the walk... except, hold on, I've got to go to the bathroom ONE MORE TIME (me, not Abby Cadabby).

A motley crew?

Abby Cadabby flying with Daddy:

No, Miss (real) Abby, I'm not biased... Someone here is cuter:

One last shot after our excursion and before we transform back...

Halloween was 'Buzzing' with Excitement!

Our first Halloween went off without a hitch. Our Little Someone had a grand ole time. And, though a little shy here and there, never did she want to take her costume off or get fussy or upset like I hear so often happens with little ones. I think much of that has to do with preparation in talking about it/explaining ahead of time what we'll be doing and making sure nap time is not put on the back-burner... who knows, maybe we just got lucky.

The first three daytime pics were taken at a little Halloween gathering in a neighboring development near us. Our little Bumble-Bee had fun seeing the other "silly kids dressed in costumes".

Look at me...
Our Blue-eyed Bumble-bee...

This pic doesn't show all the kids running around. Here, you see our someone was holding onto her pumpkin that she picked out...

Our first Trick-or-Treating door!...

Looking at all the 'silly decorations'...

(those are big round 'ghost' earings hanging off my ears).
Starting to catch on...

Whoo-hoo! I like this, "let's go to another house"...

Momma and her little Buzz...

The Aging Process... Stinks.

As seen before~ young, fresh, smooth, newly carved pumpkins...
Then, it happens~ time passes and things settle, sag, turn wrinkly, spotty and mold appears... then the little one's top caves in... while we sit at the table, eating dinner.

Needless to say, these puppies are going to the burn pile later today.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Our Little Someone got to experience her first pumpkin carving... well, she didn't experience the carving part on her own, but she helped in every other way. Including throwing the pumpkin seeds/insides to the disposal dogs. No, they didn't get it all or even much more than a few tiny handfuls, as I wasn't about to risk the 'this will make their gut do strange things' phenomenon (hey, they're 160 & 162 lbs respectively and if a regular person has 'clear the room' capability, imagine a person-size dog).
ANYway, pumpkin face making was thoroughly enjoyed... well, except for the part when my 'so-focused-on-carving' other half stabbed himself with a very sharp knife while doing the 'baby' pumpkin (we had a momma & daddy pumpkin too). After bleeding and butterfly bandaging, we finished the pumpkins.
While daddy carved, someone was putting the pieces back~ "Where's the other eye, momma?"
"Here it is."

"Where's the pumpkin's mouth, mommy?"
"Here it is." ...and she got it to fit back in place... and took it out again... and put it back... and so on...

Guess who's coming to dinner? ...pumpkins!

We dimmed the lights in our dining room for just a bit to show how the pumpkins light up. After we turned the lights back up, someone wanted to "turn the light off again, momma".

We did.