The Eighth Annual Pumpkin Carving Party

This morning we continued with another thrilling service of "Get a Clue," which was so amazingly epic.  Things are just clicking at KidPak, with great messages, videos, and a wonderful cast of characters.  You can see some of them here, trying to deduce a thing or two.  Madison has really been enjoying it.  Daddy saw her in the front row for both services today, as he continued his portrayal of Dr. Watson.  There were quite a few laughs along the way, and of course lessons learned.  Today we were focusing on the story of a "missing person," that one of course being "The Prodigal Son" from the Bible.  The skit explored the possibility of someone stealing the Crown Jewels.  Irene Adler appears, and is it entirely possible she's up to something?  Stay tuned!

Afterwards, it was time for something we all look forward to very much each year.  It was time for our Ninth Annual Pumpkin Carving Party!

Here it is, the usual "darkened room shot" of all the pumpkins after the event, all of them lined up for everyone to see.  We sit there and admire everyone's handiwork, as all the pumpkins are lined up in the living room on the fireplace.  They turned out great!

The weather was perfect outside, perhaps even a little humid at one point when the sunlight came streaming through the clouds.  But it was perfect for the most part, and we had plenty of people visiting, each bringing a pumpkin, perhaps some food, and each ready to carve an interesting design into a pumpkin.  Here's Madison, digging away:

She's sculpting a cat design, one you'll see in a bit.  She had a great afternoon, playing with the other children, and just having the greatest time with all her friends from church who arrived.

We started this eight years ago, the first October we spent in our new house.  The pumpkins turned out great, and have been doing so ever since.  Last year we had quite a few people in the house, and so it was slightly worrisome to us ahead of time that there'd be too many people this year.  But it all worked out fine in the end.

Here's Mommy, Camille, and Mary Shannon.  Mommy worked so hard to get this just right, preparing all this food, cleaning up the house, and setting up pretty much everything around the house so that people could socialize, eat, and yes, carve pumpkins.

Pastor Lance, Josh and Daddy were laughing throughout the day, as was everyone else.  It's just a fun experience out there on the deck, each of us creating something artistic with our pumpkins, talking and posing for pictures as we pull out the guts of these pumpkins, and slice away shapes.  Or in Camille's case here, sculpt away with special tools:

Josh brought an interesting pumpkin, and of course his carvings are always the most unique:



Mommy did a great job with setting up the front porch area as well, making it nice for family pictures. We took a few great ones of the other families throughout the day, but here's the one of us together, about to head back and do our carvings.

There were some new additions this year.  Kellan and Gabby were here with their newborn daughter, and Pastor Lance and Kate had their newborn daughter here as well.  Joey and Jordan's little boy was here for his second pumpkin carving party, and of course all the other kids were there as well.  It was just a nice time for all the families.  We ate Mommy's famous chili, and the other foods brought by guests.  Shobie brought fajitas, which were tasty!  There were plenty of dessert items too, and lots to drink, including of course apple cider.

At the end of the evening, we do as we always do:  line up the pumpkins in front of the fireplace.

We had a lot of great pumpkins this year, as you could see.  It's always wonderful to see all the creativity on display.  It's such a unique event, and we're so grateful to everyone for coming to enjoy the afternoon with us.  All of the pumpkins turned out really well!  Here's Daddy's entry this year, a carving of Baby Groot.

I think if Groot were here, he would approve.  He'd probably say something like, "I am Groot."  And here below is Madison's cat pumpkin.  She didn't use a pattern for this, and I think it turned out great!

All in all, it was a wonderful time, as it always is.  As folks left one by one, we were humbled and filled with gratitude for such special friendships, and warm memories.  Already, we're looking forward to next year!