The Great Pumpkin

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays, especially when we are able to crank up the smoke machine, but it has been a little subdued lately. Last year, we were en route to Korea, and had no pumpkin of our own. This year, we're in Italy, and while they do celebrate the holiday to some degree (mostly limited to bar parties) there's no trick or treating or yard decorating or any of the usual Halloween type events like in the states. So, we decided to carve one of our pumpkins early to get Aidan in the spirit.

Joel got the carving kit at the grocery store, and Aidan picked out a picture of a monster carrying a trick-or-treat bag. He was really into it at first:

But, he decided the insides were too gross and refused to help scoop out the pumpkin. No fear, that's mommy's favorite job!

Then he took a rest while Joel worked on the design.

The finished product- pretty awesome!!!!

Unfortunately, this pumpkin totally rotted away in a few days, due to us keeping it inside in the warm house and lighting it every morning during breakfast and every night during dinner, at the request of one little boy. No problem; there are four more pumpkins outside our front door, waiting to be carved!