October 29, 2010

Pumpkins!

I feel like I go a little hot and cold with the blog - a week or two of nothing and then a bunch in a row. With apologies for the droughts, I also want to warn you to prepare for the next "bunch" :)
Those who have followed the blog for a while (i.e. since last year...) know that I LOVE fall and I LOVE pumpkins :) Failure to bring home pumpkins to carve/decorate is practically sacriligious (fall is almost a religious holiday for me. The sight of God's creation arrayed in vibrant colors inspires joy and praise in me like no other season). While this year's attempt was slightly less meager than last year's, until the twins are old enough to really appreciate the fun, I'm not willing to pay that much for a pumpkin picking experience at a farm. So, we found a local farmer selling their pumpkins with the honor system by the side of the road ($.50 per small pumpkin!!). Good enough for me! Unlike last year, when Allie screamed and Ryan sat contendedly in the pumpkins, this year Ryan screamed and wouldn't go near them (more the pain of his molars coming in than fear of the pumpkins), while Allie hugged each pumpkin, carefully chose her favorite, and then found a seat in their midst and refused to budge :)
No one here but us pumpkins!
The pumpkins needed to be decorated (of course!), and again I thought they were a little too young to appreciate carving (plus we were too cheap to get the $2 big ones!), so I decided we would paint again! Last year I painted their pumpkins. This year I decided to let them!
Ryan immediately got into the gooey paint.
Allie was a little more dainty.
Note the difference in mess on their respective sides...
Ryan eventually decided that it would be best to just roll the pumpkins in the paint!
Allie thought the paint would look pretty on the floor!

I thought it would be a good idea to use homemade fingerpaint for the pumpkins (because the twins inevitably taste the paint), but it turns out that the flour based fingerpaint, while gorgeous on paper, fades dramatically on a pumpkin and also refuses to stick. So we have drab, flaking pumpkins. Which is ok, because then I'll get another art session out of the pumpkins when we try again with the other paint!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

SO cute...Allie is such a big girl this year!! Ry sure loves to paint! I wish his teeth would come in and be done with all the pain. Poor Buddy. I love the Fall too. It is so spectacular even on a gloomy day. All the leaves are gone after our big wind storm :( I was looking out the window the other day and I just thought "How can Heaven be more beautiful than this?" But we know it is. God is Good to us. Love you all, Nana

Kelsey said...

Cute cute cute!!! I'm glad Allie had a better time this year! :) So sorry for Ryan though! :( Poor baby...yuck! They looked like they had a blast painting though! It's the pictures that count anyway, right? :)

Anonymous said...

Hey, that sounds like fun--reusable pumpkins!!! Oh, you are so brave!! What a mess, but oh, what fun! you have very blessed kids, Kim. I love fall,too. All the rich colors. I finally pulled the flowers out of my 30-plus pots the last couple days. Even though they were still lush and beautiful, I needed to clear the pots off the decks and put some preservative on it before winter. It's hard to say good-bye to the flowers--it's along time before they bloom again!! Hugs, Grandma