A Lovely Afternoon

Halloween is two days away and we are just carving our pumpkin. The delay was due greatly in part to Ava's inability to decide what she wanted carved into her pumpkin (a bird, a happy face, a witch, a house, a princess, a silly face) and mine and Andy's hectic schedules. I knew that we couldn't go on like this much longer or Halloween would pass and we'd finally have a carved pumpkin on our porch November 1st. It's like those people who still have their Christmas trees up in mid-January. So, I manned-up and, armed with a carving knife, a plastic scoopy thing and a couple of designs, I took the kids outside and we tore into the pumpkin. Ava never could decide on just one feature for our pumpkin, so we went with two. Why let a perfectly good pumpkin side go to waste? So, if you were to walk in front of our pumpkin you'd be greeted by a silly face, but go behind, and oh, there's a crow. We're fancy!

Ava and her pumpkin... and some leaves in her hand.

Now, if you ask Ava, she'll tell you that "WE" carved the pumpkin when in all actuality I carved, she took a few pumpkin seeds out, told me it was slimy inside the pumpkin and went about her business, occasionally asking, "Are you done yet, Mommy?" Jax, meanwhile, sat in his exersaucer on the back patio, and, promptly stuck any leaves that fell from the trees in his mouth. So, Ava's job became less about pumpkins and more about keeping her little brother from choking on a leaf. It all worked out.

After the great pumpkin carving extravaganza we pulled a blanket outside, enjoyed the gorgeous weather - sunny and 70 with a light breeze, and made leaf rubbings. However, the leaf rubbings were not nearly as interesting as the katydid crawling on our blanket. Ava watched that thing for a good half hour. We talked the whole time, of course, and it provided me a great opportunity to teach her about camoflauge, why birds eat bugs ("That's disgusting. I don't eat bugs!") and the ingredients in pumpkin pie (she wanted to know).

Checking out the katydid

It was just one of those great afternoons, playing in the backyard with my kids, looking at bugs, playing hide-and-seek. Perfect!