11.2.23 Pumpkin night

This Halloween we were able to stay home. For the first time in years, we just stayed home and took the night as it came. We did chores that had to be done, made a healthy dinner, and did homework. We had stew with a side of pumpkin and pumpkin muffins. My parents joined us and then we got to work on carving pumpkins. 

The kids had gone and gleaned pumpkins from a local farmer's field earlier in the week. We will feed the excess to our cows and chickens. We started the carving with a saws-all cutting and opening for seed removal. 

There were a lot of hands scooping and flipping seeds. The kids were so excited. 

First one complete thanks to help from Reed. 

Greg and Andrea made a pumpkin too. 

Papa helped Merle.

Millie took the knife on her own. 

It was so nice to have Harold home to help. 

As we wrapped up the older kids enjoyed visiting with Papa Corn. How we all love talking with him. 

A happy crew with gutted pumpkins. John was charged with making an A it turned into a Viking hat. Know it live it love it!

Addie was away in Kentucky. We got this picture from her travels that horse is probably worth over a million dollars. 

 Life is full and busy. I'm thankful for nice traditions and many hands to help make that successful for so many pumpkins. My report on the conscious parenting effort- is when do the parents get to have any growing-up moments? Any space to have feelings of frustration or stress. I'm working to be more thoughtful, there's plenty of wondering how to handle various situations and help kids grow and develop in the areas they need. It's a lot to work on every day. 

We are all working on growing and improving and sometimes just surviving the day getting all the things done that are necessary. We are blessed in our efforts to survive and improve. God is good.