A "pooky" one

I know I know I always say it but I LOVE LOVE LOVE pumpkins.  When Deke asked me to marry him he had put my ring inside of a pumpkin from the bottom and had filled the whole thing with streamers and candy. Having no idea I started cutting open the top and when I lifted up the lid my ring was hanging from a streamer from the top of the pumpkin.  It was amazing, creative and perfect...just like him.  I have never heard of an engagement like it and love that this was the way he asked me to marry him.  Therefore my very fond feelings of affection for pumpkins when they start to pop up in the stores and around town in pumpkin stands.  It is one of my top three favorite fall activities to hollow out and carve pumpkins.  This year was really fun because after I cut her lid Emma pulled up her top and started pulling out seeds which shocked us both since she is our kid that HATES being dirty or sticky and I must wash her hands fifty times a day.  Avery and Hunter cut their own lids and pulled all their own seeds out by themselves which was really fun to watch.

I still can't believe that Emma reached in and pulled out all of her seeds without crying or melting down about her hands being dirty.  At first she pulled them out making all kinds of horrified faces but pretty soon as she watched the rest of us she went to town and even started smiling about it.  Peeking in to check and then announcing that she had found "one more."

Avery loves taking the seeds out and never has a problem with this part.....

Same with this guy...

Hunter who can be somewhat of a perfectionist decided to choose a predone pattern from a book and copy it.  Avery grabbed a crayon and announced that she would be drawing her own idea and that she was drawing baby Hudson to carve on her pumpkin.  Hunter had chosen a scary fire ghost face and kept telling me that Hunter was doing a "pooky one."  I asked her what she wanted on her pumpkin and she told me a mickey mouse.  Not a pooky one like Hunters. So I did my best/horrible attempt at one.  Thank goodness that she is two and so she thought it was great.

It was really fun to watch Hunter learn how to follow the pattern and then watch him carve out the details especially the tricky parts.  Avery had taken her crayon and drawn a picture of a baby all bundled up in a blanket.  Her drawing was adorable and I told her wait a minute so we could figure out how in the world to carve it.  Deke was busy carving and I was helping Emma potty inside and when I came out Ave was sitting there with a confused look on her face holding a carving knife and a generous hunk of her pumpkin.  She hadn't waited.  She had decided to go ahead and carve the pumpkin and had cut around the outline of her baby drawing which to her surprise had left nothing but a gaping hole which was pretty much the size of the entire side of her pumpkin and resembled nothing except possibly a potato or giant jellybean.  She was bummed and sat there holding her chunk of pumpkin with her drawing on it.  Deke and I started laughing and explained to her why we had tried to get her to wait.  We helped her find a small part on the other side to create a pumpkin face and she did a good job carving it out.  It made us laugh.  Everytime I looked at that pumpkin over the next three days it would bring a smile to my face looking at its gaping hole.  I love you kid.  

Deke chose a predone ghost pattern as well to carve and I took an idea off of Pinterest and just drilled a whole bunch of holes in my pumpkin which was really easy and looked cute.  I do wish I had used a bigger drill bit and made the holes larger though.  This year being so pregnant quick and easy but still cute was the way to go.

Mom and Dad's pumpkins all lit up....

Hunter's pooky pumpkin, Avery's cute pumpkin face you can sort of tell on the left where the gaping hole starts.  I didn't take a picture of it because she was feeling bad about it so we tried not to focus on it.  Emma's mickey mouse.

It was so fun to have them all lit up on the porch, they made it feel so festive.  Wish the littlest Burch was here already to see them, have to admit it I am getting super excited to have him here.  Soon.