So I dressed my kids up and threw them in a pumpkin patch

...because of the awesome photos that I *hoped* would come out of it.

And I got a few.

But did I get a single decent frameable pic of all 3 of my offspring together?

Nope. Nuh-uh. No way. No how.

Since we'd already carved our pumpkins, I didn't really want to spend money on more pumpkins but I wanted to take full advantage of the fact that there's a church who has a pumpkin patch every year pretty near our house. I put the girls in some of their Sunday best and Oliver in one of the 3 pairs of pants even remotely still long enough for him (sheesh he grew 4 inches since last October) and drove the 5 minutes to the patch. And since I didn't want to seem like a total free-loader by letting my kids run around while I snap pictures, I told them they could each pick out a pumpkin.

No bigger than their hand.

Because, you know they charge by the size at those things.

So off we went to the patch last Saturday morn before the parade. I pulled up in the mini, opened the doors, and let them run wild.

This is O's "I see the camera pointed in my direction" face.

Every.

Single.

Time.

In this one, I got 2 out of 3...

...and here?

1 out of 3.

The one that wasn't looking before.

(sigh)

And approximately 57 pics of 0 out of 3 looking at the camera.

And by the way, my plan of not spending a booty load on more pumpkins worked. This little photo shoot cost us $3.75-

3 little hand-sized pumpkins and a yellow warty gourd that MM picked out.

And hasn't really let go of since...

Pumpkin Carving: 2012 edition

Monday night was pumpkin carving night at the Mathews casa, and if you've been hangin' round these parts for any length of time, you're probably aware that we take our carving pretty seriously.

As in, mess with me while I'm workin' on mah pumpkin and I will cut you with this teeny little carvin' knife.

I kid.

Kind of.

The other Mathews clan came over, so there were 4 kiddos a' singin' and a squealin' and 3 pumpkins spilling their guts. No kiddos lost their guts, thank the Lawd. Here are the results of our labors from Monday, as well as pumpkins from years of yore. Or, from yester years. Or from long ago....

Oh whatevs...the past 7 years or so.

My 2012 Pumpkin

Ursula

Hubs 2012 Pumpkin

Mona Lisa

...and since we had an extra,

Hubs other 2012 Pumpkin

Angry Bird

And...the Mathews pumpkin Hall of Fame:

The hubs 2011 pumpkin:

Ironman

My 2011 pumpkin:

Barbie

complete with eyelashes.

do you see them?

I worked hard.

Here's the hubs 2010 Death Star Pumpkin-

and my 2010 Storm Trooper Helmet-

I think we skipped over 2009.

Probably due to lack of sleep from a little girl.

Her name rhymes with Schmeliza.

2008-

hubs is Darth Vader, mine is Thespians.

obviously

2007-

hubs Transformers symbol thingy

and my sweet lil' Nemo

2006-

hubs Star Wars

and my Charlie Brown and Snoopy

I also carved this Blues Clues punkin' that year for my preschool classroom-

And, I just so happened to have dug up a pic of my musical pumpkin from 2005.

So there ya have it! Our pumpkin carving history in one post.

So tell me...

do you carve pumpkins?

Are you as competitive as we are?

Is this your first time to see the Mona Lisa on the side of a pumpkin?

Hmmm??

Do tell...

p.s.- I published a post of pics + videos from seester's wedding day last night, so if you missed it- click HERE

Pumpkin Carving: 2011 edition

Happy Monday Friends,
and Happy Halloween!

Today I wanted to share with you just ONE of the many projects we checked off of our list over the weekend.

Carvin' up some pumpkins.

Check.

The hubs and I are pretty competitive when it comes to, well...

anything,

so punkin' carvin' is no exception. I'm planning to do a "Pumpkin Carving 101" post in a few days but for now, here's what we ended up with this year as well as a few pics from previous years.

The hubs 2011 pumpkin:

Ironman

Hubs did most of his carving last Thursday, outside, but since it's starting to actually feel like Fall around here, I opted to do my carving inside. The girls got in on the 'take out the pumpkin guts' action but Oliver wasn't interested.

Just ignore the laundry on the rack and the dishes on the counter and the ponytail holder around the cabinet door handles, mmmkay?

My 2011 pumpkin:

Barbie

complete with eyelashes.

do you see them?

I worked hard.

pssst- if you think Instagram is a cool photography app, try camerabag.

Also totally cool.

And now, for some pumpkin archives-

Here's the hubs 2010 Death Star Pumpkin-

and my 2010 Storm Trooper Helmet-

I think we skipped over 2009.

Probably due to lack of sleep from a little girl.

Her name rhymes with Schmeliza.

2008-

hubs is Darth Vader, mine is Thespians.

obviously

2007-

hubs Transformers symbol thingy

and my sweet lil' Nemo

2006-

hubs Star Wars

and my Charlie Brown and Snoopy

I also carved this Blues Clues punkin' that year for my preschool classroom-

And, I just so happened to have dug up a pic of my musical pumpkin from 2005.

So that's a walk through our pumpkin carving history.

Can you believe how many Star Wars pumpkins were in there?

Can you believe how many times I said the word pumpkin in this post?

Pumpkin.

There's another.

Sorry.

What about you?

Do you carve pumpkins?

Are you super competitive?

Do you and your spouse place bets on whose pumpkin will get the most 'likes'?

Yeah, us neither...

Hey! Pssssst!

I totally made it to 200 followers, so look for a giveaway post later this week.

Someone will win their choice of goodies from my shop, and I worked on a few new items over the weekend!

Thanks so much for being awesome readers!

I mean it-

you all totally rock!

I hope your Monday does too!