jack-o-lantern

A week or two ago I bought a pumpkin for the front step. She's been in love with it and pats it or gives it a hug when we go in or out.

Last weekend she got a Halloween book from my mom and she learned that a pumpkin with a face is called a jack-o-lantern. She's been excited about that all week.

So last night we decided to make our pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern. Neither my husband nor I had carved a pumpkin in years and years, so not only was it a first for Rachel, but it was also a pretty new experience for us, since it had been so long.

We drew the face on first before we cut (but we really didn't end up following our lines very well!). Rachel wanted to draw on it too, so we gave her a crayon. You can see lots of scribbles on the side of the pumpkin if you look at it in the light.

She enjoyed scooping out the insides at first, but gave up after a minute or so, and I had to finish the job.

While Daddy cut the face, she enjoyed playing with the triangle pieces (excuse my husband's psychotic-like face, please....)

Afterwards I put the candle in and all she wanted to do was blow it out (She tried, but all she did was spit all over the inside of the pumpkin!).

She was so excited to see him this morning when she got up. She said, "It's ready, Mommy!" I said, "Ready for what?" And she answered, "It's ready to eat!" I told her we don't eat jack-o-lanterns. She said, "Yeah, it's just puh-ten (pretend)." That's her new favorite word.

She's also learned about costumes, and knows what she's going to be for halloween and that she's going to go "twick or tweet!" She doesn't know what that means yet, but I'm sure she'll love it once she does. And yesterday she had overalls on, and out of the blue she points to them and says, "I hab fah-muh (farmer) costume on, Mommy!"