Pumpkin fun and other stuff

Here's what we did this morning.Step 1: the planning. Luke and I drew 4 pumpkins and then got dad's approval. Then we drew two more and went with the bottom right one. Julio liked square teeth more than pointy teeth. Who knew?Step 2: Drawing on the pumpkin. Luke asked if he could colour the orange (his role in the planning phase) but I mentioned to him that it was already orange, to which he replied, "oh right. it IS orange!" So this is the uncoloured, naturally orange pumpkin, in it's pre-carved state.

Step 3: Let the carving begin! Julio was the designated carver and Luke was the designated cheerer. He cheered a lot throughout the initial "cut the top off" carving process.

Luke really liked this part.Way to go dad!Step 4: Scooping out seeds and junk.
Step 5: Face carving. Very intense. Luke was a little disturbed that Julio kept cutting up his face. At this point Luke and Samuel needed a little snack from all their hard work (yeah right, Luke wouldn't even touch the gooey stuff) and so they sat while Julio carved. Julio and Luke had kind of an interesting conversation filled with many a "why". Here's a video of the process...(kind of long, no obligation to watch it all)

Step 5: Displaying the creation! Voila. Buckteeth pumpkin has come to life.

The happy pumpkin guys.

And now for a couple of other random moments. Julio and I went to the ballet on Thursday. I was quite excited about this and felt it necessitated a new outfit. Seeing as I don't trust my clothes shopping abilities for myself, I solicitated Jaimee's help in the shopping process.

A fun time was had by all, at shopping, and the ballet. The boys even behaved well for our babysitter, so miracles were abounding that night. It was all magic, besides being in the children's section of the ballet (second balcony) with kids tearing around the halls before the ballet began. But everyone behaved themselves during the ballet, including Steve and Sheri-Lee (our ballet dates). Again, miracles do happen. We saw Carmina Burana, and the music and choral was absolutely amazing. Even with my eyes closed (which may have just happened a couple of times...long week, dim lights, soothing music...especially the first part, Beethoven's Seventh Symphony had a bit of a lulling effect on me...lovely) it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. And here's a picture of "Noodle Head" as we referred to him after this meal. Nothing says cute like noodles on a head, n'est-ce pas?

Giggling Sammy with noodles on his head is quite cute too, in my humble opinion.

Samuel's daily ritual...wake-up, run and get a book, get up on the couch and read. It's so amazing to me how much he loves books! I'm a little tired of making animal noises all day, but at least he's happy.