Pumpkin Painting and Carvings!

After we went to the mall and rode the carousel with my parents, we went to Wal-mart and picked out a four dollar pumpkin. Hyrum was so excited to pick out the pumpkin and when he got back to the car, he went and told my mom that it was the biggest pumpkin EVER!

Well, the biggest pumpkin ever sat on our fire place for a couple of weeks until we got around to carving it. We didn't end up carving it until last Monday, on the 25th, for Family Home Evening.

Brandon and I decided that it would be fun and easier for the kids to paint their little pumpkins instead of carving them.

At first, we helped Ben and Emily paint their pumpkins by holding the brushes with them, but after awhile, we just let them go to town by themselves.

Hyrum painted a picture of himself on his pumpkin. Hyrum the pumpkin.
Brandon helped Emmy paint a face on her pumpkin and then let her pain the other side by herself.
I was in charge of Ben and let him do whatever he wanted to his pumpkin.
I think their pumpkins turned out cute.After the kids finished their pumpkins, we decided it was time to carve the biggest pumpkin ever. The kids watched with fascination as Brandon cut open the pumpkin. At first they weren't so sure about what they found inside the pumpkin, but after awhile of exploring the insides, they each wanted to have a turn scooping out the goop.
Ben is such a smart boy. While we were carving the pumpkins, he went to his room and brought out a book. Not just any book mind you, but a book about pumpkins and how they turned into jack-o-lanterns. No, this book wasn't just on top of the pile of books (I know, because I cleaned the books up earlier), he had to dig to find this book. He was so excited that he found the book.
Since we got a later start on Family Home Evening then we wanted to, Ben and Emmy ended up going to bed before Brandon started carving the pumpkin. As you might imagine, Hyrum was close the whole time instructing Brandon on how to carve the pumpkin.Hyrum told Brandon that he wanted the pumpkin to have ears and told Brandon how to make ears on the side of the pumpkin. Below are pictures of Hyrum telling and showing Brandon how to make the ears on the side of the pumpkin and watching to make sure Brandon was doing the ears just right. Hyrum wanted the pumpkin to look like himself. Hyrum also wanted the pumpkin to have a bum and pants, but we told him that wouldn't be possible.

After the carving was finished, we put a candle in the pumpkin and lit it. Hyrum loved sitting on Brandon's lap and staring at his jack-o-lantern. It was a fun night.