Pumpkin Carvin' Fun

Today was the first day in a while that I was really looking forward to returning to work. We had (what seemed like) a long weekend and I was glad to have a break today!

Today the boys returned to Natalie's house. Benjamin was so excited about going back to Jack's house. I called Natalie around 11:30 a.m. to see how things were going and I couldn't believe how quiet her house was. She said the babies were napping and the big boys were downstairs in their great basement play area. It sounded like they had a good day and even made it to their nearby playground. She also reported that Samuel went down the lil slide there with the big boys and enjoyed that.
We arrived home for the day just after 6 p.m. so we ate some leftovers and got ready to carve a pumpkin. Benjamin was sooo excited and Samuel was being really good. I have a ton of photos from this evenings pumpkin carving event so I will try to pick just a few of my favorites to post.

I actually purchased one of those pumpkin carving kits at the grocery store the other day. And I was so bummed that as soon as I stuck the main blade into the pumpkin and started to saw it snapped in two. So much for those kits! I got out a knife and got to work. I let Benjamin decide what shapes we would make the pumpkins eyes and nose and how many teeth he would have and after I cut them with a sharp knife he followed along with a plastic knife and got the pieces to pop out. He really enjoyed it.

Then we brought in one of our small pumpkins from our visit to the pumpkin farm with his school. And we put together a "Mr. Pumpkin Head". (It wasn't as easy as it looks. Those pieces just don't pop into that pumpkin. You have to create a deep whole for them first).

Anyways, we all had a blast and I felt like a better and happier mom today. The kind of mom I want to be not the frustrated and worn out mom I was turning into yesterday.

Samuel went down so easy tonight and Benjamin and I enjoyed a couple of Halloween books then he snuggled in too.

It looks like Don bought a camera finally! He e-mailed some photos of his living quarters and a couple of himself too. So, I'll post some here and share this message with you:

"Attached are some pictures of my living quarters. I also took a couple from my front door. The light in the sky is the moon and the T-walls are barricades between trailers. I'll try and take some more pictures so you can get a better feel for where and how I am living."

Tomorrow will be a busy and fun-filled day as well. We will definitely miss Daddy-O on Halloween. We usually all dress up and have a great time in our neighborhood passing out candy with our neighbors and trick o' treatin' with the kids. Just think, Daddy-O, you'll be home just in time to enjoy these festivities next year! We so look forward to that day.

Happy Halloween!