The kids at the pumpkin patch

I really don't like Halloween. My feelings don't have much to do with the darker spiritual aspects. It's mostly that I don't like the hassle of figuring out costumes and the expense of buying them and the candy. I don't like that most people see Halloween as a day to dress as gross as they can. I don't like having to deal with massive amounts of candy with my children and negotiating my way around that. But as my children are in the perfect age to be excited about this "holiday," I have forced myself to help them with their wishes of dressing up and celebrating with everyone else. Today I surprised them with a trip to the pumpkin patch after our nature walk.

Pumpkin patch, playground, and corn maze

We even saw some good friends of ours there; we hadn't planned to meet them there, but appreciated the conicidence. The kids picked out the perfect pumpkins (it invovled walking to the farthest end of the field) and we brought them home.

Daddy came home early today, and he got involved in the carving.

When the carver tool broke, Daddy got out the power tools

Daddy's Pumpkin - Cyclops?

It's so cool to see the excitement of Annika - it's almost palpable. She could hardly wait to get started on the carving, and wanted to participate in each step. She thinks she picked a very scary face for her creation; I think that is part of the thrill for her.

Annika's Pumpkin

We roasted some of the pumpkin seeds, and we'll be snacking on them all week, I'm sure.

On Monday the kids will dress in their costumes and we'll go trick-or-treating. They'll get candy, eat some of it, save some of it, and trade most in for some new art supplies. Gabriel can't eat most of it because of his braces, anyway. I'll facilitate it all because I love my children, and part of my job as mother is to create happy memories of their childhood. The holidays are an important part of that important role in life. So even though it's not a day I care about, because my children do, I'll try to make it special and fun for them.

Gabriel's pumpkin