Carving Jack

Eli has loved the whole pumpkin thing this year. He has talked about the "punkin" patch quite often after we went with my family a few weeks ago. We placed his pumpkin right inside the door to our apartment and he has greeted every day when he comes home from school. I just knew he would love to give his pumpkin a face so we pulled out our pumpkin carving kit on Saturday and got to work.

I put the apron that held all the tools on Eli and he thought that was so cool.

Time to get dirty. :)

Hailey enjoyed her Halloween cookie...

...so much that we had to lose the shirt.

Our pumpkin was really "clean" this year and didn't have many seeds at all. I took what little bit we had and roasted them up. Marc LOVES these things. The recipes calls for 2 cups of pumpkin seeds (don't wash them just clean them off with a paper towel), 1 1/2 Tbs. of oil, and 1 1/2 tsp. of salt. Mix them up and then cook them at 250 degrees for 45-60 minutes periodically stirring them. I think Marc likes these so much because they are quite salty. :)

Our finished pumpkin!

I bought our pumpkin carving kit the first Halloween after we were married, and it has been SO fun bringing it out year after year. I think it has traveled to three cities with us so far and next year we will be in Memphis now that Marc has signed a contract with Christ Community Health Services. I think family traditions are great because you can usually take them with you wherever you go. :) We are going trick or treating tomorrow night with our ladybug and Thomas the Train. Eli is going to have a blast and I can't wait!