It's Pumpkin Time!

When we first started having kids I discovered a horrible secret!  Though Chris loves birthdays and Christmas and he can't get enough of Halloween costumes and decorating, he HATES doing pumpkins.  So after the first year that I carved Evie's pumpkin and did everything myself, I decided things had to change.  Now, we still go pick the pumpkins out as a family (be it farm or store) and then I do all the pumpkin fun after that.  Because I do it by myself we have found a less messy (sort of) and easier to complete way for our kids to do pumpkins.  WE PAINT!  Honestly, with little kids and the warm weather we've been living in for several years, painting is the way to go!

So I covered the kitchen table with one of those vinyl tablecloths taped down and covered my kids in Kmart smocks.  (super cheap)  They each got their pumpkin, a paintbrush, cup of water, and all the paint their little paper plates could take.  

I was pretty sure that both Eve and Joe had the idea down, but Liz and Al are still pretty little so I knew I would be multi-tasking a lot.  With Vaughn at the table my eyes were going to need to be VERY open!

Vaughn had a lot of fun and was finished very quickly.  He had a small pumpkin.  He was also finished quickly because there's only so much paint I think a kid can ingest before a hospital visit is necessary.  He loved it.

Each of the kids were very focused.  But like I said, Ally and Lizzy were a bit smaller than was okay to just let them go crazy.  So I watched Al do her thing and boy, was it fun.  

She loves to pose for all my pictures.

Lizzy was doing a great job until she realized I was watching.  Then her paintbrush got a little carried away as she went from concentration mode to singing mode to crazy girl pose!

focused

singing

pose!

Joe was having such a great time.  He's a very careful child when he's doing pretty much anything.  Artwork is one of the more difficult subjects for him because there are not a lot of rules and guidelines. He did do a beautiful job and helped keep the girls on track.  (by this time Vaughn had gone to bed, so it was just him and the girls).

Evie's passion is anything artistic and free.  She loves to paint, draw, color, create, make, or change.  She had so much fun doing the pumpkin that she of course requested some extra paper when she was done.  She still had paint left.

We had so much fun and the kids had a great time.  Their creations were fantastic.  This is still one of my favorite holiday activities.  So lucky I got to have great kids to share it with.

super cute video!