Carving pumpkins

I don't think it's a secret that I'm not a fan of Halloween.  The only part I really enjoy is carving pumpkins.  By default, this has become a tradition on Emily's birthday.  I didn't even attempt to get fancy this year because I didn't have the time or the tools (our pumpkins were huge and thick-skinned).  Both kids were excited to design their own faces anyway.  I ended up doing 95% of the work because both kids were also grossed out by the insides and didn't want to touch anything except with a spoon.  I did use a good tip pinned by my sister about cutting a wide slot down the back as part of the lid for ease in cleaning out and lighting the pumpkin.

I seem to always find myself scrambling around looking for votive candles at the last minute, so this year I splurged and bought some special battery-operated pumpkin lights I recently saw featured on The Today Show in a waiting room.  Unfortunately, I was in a hurry, so I didn't read the package label closely and ended up with strobe lights instead of the color-changing LED lights I was looking for.  I guess it might be scarier, but it's definitely more annoying!  The kids had a lot of fun with them, though.  I must admit it was pretty tricky trying to get a  picture of both pumpkins lit since they were only briefly in sync every minute or so.  The kids tried to make scary faces, too. :o)