Pumpkin Carving Party

We were invited to a pumpkin carving party on Saturday night.  We had never been to such an event before and did not know what to expect.  Normally, we just carve some sort of face into our pumpkin and call it a day.  A party with a contest for the best overall pumpkin made us rethink our carving approach.  Would the party-goers be professional pumpkin carvers?

I decided to find J a little something more detailed to tackle figuring we’d be up against some crazy competition.  I searched high and low for an interesting, free pumpkin stencil pattern online and finally settled on Yoda.  Anyone who knows us knows that Star Wars is huge with our kids so I knew my selection would be a crowd pleaser (at least with our family).

While J was hard a work with a margarita at his side, I cruised the activity stations with the boys.  We hit the cookie decorating table first.  Of course, we did.

The boys each chose a mini pumpkin to paint next.  They both took their time to create a couple of lovely works of art.  The pumpkins now reside on our front porch.

By the time we had finished making the rounds at the bouncy house and swing set, J had finished Yoda.  We went inside to partake in some yummy food.  The hostess made two delicious soups to share: chicken noodle and curry harvest.  I tried the curry one and fell in love.

I brought a batch of monster eyes.  There were none left in my serving bowl at the end of the night so I’m taking that as a testament to their yumminess.  There were lots of other wonderful treats like a Thai noodle salad, cornbread casserole, chili, rolls, brownies, cakes, etc.  It was all so good.  I definitely over did it and was thankful that I had run the causeway earlier that day.

When the sun went down the jack-o-lanterns were set out on some hay bales in front of the house and lit with candles.  Yoda came to life!  J did a wonderful job carving him!

All of the pumpkins that were carved were pretty amazing.  See the one three to the right of Yoda?  That one was my favorite.  It was Lionel Richie!  It says “Hello” at the bottom.  How random and creative!  A couple of us were even inspired to sing a few bars of the song.

Glow sticks were handed out to the children while the parents voted on the pumpkins.  Somehow they came up with the idea to link all of the sticks together to form a giant glow ring.  I thought it looked pretty awesome!

Toward the end of the evening, Cutie Pie finally warmed up to the idea of having his face painted.  He asked for a dragon.  The hostess’ mom is quite the talented face painter, no?  Cutie Pie ended up falling to sleep with the green monster on his face.  Sadly, much of it had rubbed off by the morning.

While Cutie Pie was getting his face done, a very flamboyant guest burst into the Puff the Magic Dragon song.  He knew every single verse.  I was impressed.

The pumpkin carving winners were announced at the end of the night.  One of my friend’s won for the prettiest pumpkin.  Another friend won for the scariest pumpkin.  And J won best overall!  I was so proud of him!  His prize was two adult tickets to SNOW and ICE at the Gaylord Palms resort!

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Spring Fling

Friday was the Spring Fling at the boys’ preschool.

It was also last day for Cutie Pie’s teacher, Ms. Toni.  I embellished a wooden letter “T” for her as a going away present.  Her husband was laid off from his job and they cannot make ends meet on her preschool teacher salary.  It’s such a sad situation and a testament to the awful economic times that we are in…  Ms. Toni is so sweet and loves the children so much.  She even gave us her phone number so that we can plan a park play date some time soon.  We will miss her!!!

The Spring Fling festivities were held indoors this year due to inclement weather.  The air conditioning was not turned on in the room was quite stuffy!  The air conditioner controls were locked up and lady who had the key was absent…  So, we made it work in cramped, hot quarters.  The kids didn’t seem to mind a bit.

J took part of the morning off and was able to spend time with Cutie Pie and his classmates.  He had to get back to work before Wildman’s class came out.  Unfortunately that’s the way life works sometimes.  I’m glad that he was able to be there for some of the fun though.  I know Cutie Pie loved having him there.  So did I!

The cupcake decorating/eating station was a huge hit!

Cutie Pie asked for a white turtle on his arm at the face painting station.

Cutie Pie also liked pinning the tail on the bunny.  They didn’t make the younger kids wear the blindfold.  🙂

After half an hour, it was time to go outside to see the ice cream man!!!  The preschool arranged for an ice cream truck to bring treats to the children.  Needless to say, they were thrilled!

Cutie Pie and Cousin B both chose ice cream sandwiches for their treats.  Yum!

Once the ice cream was devoured and a sugar high was firmly underway, we headed back to the classroom for an Easter egg hunt!  Ms. Toni had the children make their own Easter baskets earlier in the week.  It was so cute watching them hunt for the eggs.

When J left to go back to work, I headed back over to the sweltering hall to meet Wildman’s class and do the fun events all over again!

I love going in Wildman’s classroom.  There is so much to look at that I’m overwhelmed at first.  Mrs. H, Wildman’s teacher, let me stay for story time.  I can’t tell you how rare it was for me to be allowed into the classroom, let alone stay for story time!  Mrs. H is extremely old school and insists on parents leaving and picking up the children at the door.

While Mrs. H played the book on tape (!) for the children, I sat there trying to absorb all of the projects, posters, art, calendars, chore charts, etc. on the walls.  It’s so awesome to see all of the creative things Mrs. H does with the kids.  They seem to stay extremely busy each day.

The Spring Fling was a great way to kick off Spring Break!  We’re officially ready to party this week!  Stay tuned to see what shenanigans we’ve got planned.