carving pumpkins.

This is pretty much my role every year... 

drawing faces or designs.

And I'm okay with that. (I did carve one with 19 first graders earlier that day, after all.)

I couldn't help but think back to last year. Gretchen was just a few days old. So tiny. She was wearing her little butterfly/ruffle butt outfit from Heather and Brian. It was one of two outfits that actually fit her. This year we could hardly get a picture of her, she was so busy.

Did you notice the pumpkin is upside down? The people at the pumpkin patch said it's easier to hollow them out from the bottom. Then it's easier to put a candle inside, too. You just lower it down over it. It seemed very strange to be doing it that way, but Corey said it was easier.

Lawson went outside first thing the next morning to go check on his cat. :)

fyi... I've heard so many people this year talking/blogging about how their jack-o-lanterns got yucky so fast. Corey read/heard somewhere that if you smear Vaseline along the cut surfaces that it will preserve them and help them last longer. He did it to ours last year and they seemed to last longer than others.