Even though we made four puffy painted pumpkins already (one for each family member), we knew we couldn’t let Clara’s first Halloween go by without some traditional pumpkin carving action as well. And last weekend’s trip to the pumpkin patch definitely got us in the mood. Here’s the queen of our world flinging her arms out as if to say “I’m the queen of the world!”
And we even gave our royal highnesss the option to choose her very own pumpkin for herself, and she quickly picked this one out:
Ok, so maybe “picking out” meant more like touching one of the pumpkins we sat her next to. But she truly couldn’t keep her hands off of that one in particular, so we brought it home for a mere $2 (she’s already thinking frugally!).
We knew we wanted to keep the carving simple, since we don’t always have time for complex around here anymore. And thinking about how Clara was getting all hands-y with the pumpkin back at the patch sparked an idea. All it took was Clara keeping her hand still long enough to get a good tracing.
Maybe “good” is a stretch, but we deemed the one of the left “workable enough.”
We traced it on cardstock, so cutting it out left me with nice template to trace onto Clara’s pumpkin.
The plan had always been to use two handprints as the pumpkin’s eyes, but the fact that the fingers made them look like feminine eyelashes was a happy accident. An accident we then ran with by adding some puckered lips for the mouth and a wavy hairline at the top. Guess our baby girl is getting a girly pumpkin!
Some careful cutting later, we ended up with this:
And with the addition of a flameless candle votive we’ve got our traditional jack-o-lantern with a first-year-of-parenthood twist. Simple, but we quite like it.
Oh, and speaking of Halloween, check out how we’re embarrassing dressing our kiddos this year for their first hurrah together.
Yup, Clara’s a hamburger (in honor of her bro) and Burger’s reprising his role as a hot dog to complete the theme. Both are store bought (Clara’s from Old Navy, Burger’s from Target). Somehow I feel like our little lady’s gonna give us a hard time about this when she’s 16…
Psst- We announced our big winner for this week’s contest at the end of Monday’s original contest post. And Ikea actually surprised us by tripling the number of $350 gift cards they’re giving away. Click here to see if you’re part of that lucky trio!
That jack-o-lantern and their costumes are too cute!
OMG! This post was off the richter on the cuteness scale! Thanks for a good laugh this morning. Yeah, Clara is gonna roll her eyes at that pic in a few years, but I bet she will appreciate it when she’s 25 :)
The costumes are awesomeness! Even in her pics, I can tell that Clara already has so much personality. :)
Oh, that girly pumpkin is ADORABLE! That turned out quite nicely and shows that simple is often the way to go!
And your grilled goods are looking quite stunning in their costumes as well! I’m looking forward to seeing my nieces and nephews all dressed up this weekend!
Sooooo cute! That top picture is adorable. The pumpkin loos really good with the flameless candle.
And those IKEA folks knew what they were doing, even though I didn’t win the giftcard I had already spent some of that money in my mind…so I am headed to IKEA after work to pick up a few things.
Great job! Carving pumpkins will be on our weekend agenda! We grew our own this year so it is extra exciting!
What a cute idea, you guys! Clara and the pumpkin are adorable :)
love love love it. your kiddos are both pretty darn cute.
are you two dressing up for halloween at all?
Hey Amy,
We’re just gonna be “mom and dad” this year. Which is quite a change from last year so we’ll take it!
xo,
s
Bahahaha, I’m in love with the “Queen of the World” photo and her face in the hand tracing pic. Glad your photoshoot turned out well…. but what was all the hammering about??
Our pumpkin turned moldy after ONE DAY! What the heck?
http://bontempsbeignet.blogspot.com/2010/10/this-c-gets-c-minus.html
We were trying to fix the pocket door, which we ended up completely taking apart (picture us ripping off molding, breaking out the crobar, etc). Craziness. We’ll post about that adventure soon.
xo,
s
Cute!!! Love the costumes, and I thought I’d tell you (though I’m sure you know, because you are uber-on-top-of-life) that you could take the little critters to Chipotle. They’re offering $2 burritos to those who are dressed as processed food! Score!
We actually heard about that a few days ago. We thought it might be more chaotic than fun, but we laughed at the thought of trying to juggle our dressed up kiddos while munching on a $2 burrito!
xo,
s
What a great idea for your lil’ punkin! It’s our baby girl’s first Halloween, too! She’s almost 10 months and she’s going to be a lady bug all because I found this hat –
http://www.etsy.com/listing/59682763/lil-ladybug-cotton-hat
(it’s soooo cute on) Anyway, love love love your blog! It’s really inspiring us to get on the move and start updating our house. We just finishing installing laminate wood flooring (ugh) and next is a redo of our half bath! Thanks for helping with the inspiration!
The riffs on burger and dog are killin’ me!! LOVE!! Her burger costume looks much better than store bought — did you guys craft that TOO??? Awesome. Molly in Fla.
Molly P-H – We’re not so handy when it comes to costume sewing so these are both store bought (burger from Old Navy, hot dog from Target). They were quite the deal for how good they look!
Hayley – I wouldn’t say we’re experts in the pumpkin carving arena either but some things that always help us: make sure the hole you cut in the top is big enough for your hand and is either jagged or wavy (like ours) so you can set your top askew to let candle heat/smoke out without it falling in. We like to trace our design on first using a pen or Sharpie and then use the cheap pumpkin cutting saws you can get at the store to make slow and careful cuts. Remember you can always cut off more, but it’s pretty hard to put anything back! Have fun!
-John
Hi J & S,
Any pointers on actually carving the pumpkin? I’ve got one waiting for me, but I’m too scared…
I think this is irresistably cute. We are taking our Boo Boo to the pumpkin patch this weekend. I cant wait!!!
So funny that you mention fixing a pocket door. The first house I bought (not my current house) had a pocket door between the front hall and the kitchen. When I toured the house before buying it would not go all the way back into the wall because the homeowners had installed an over the stove microwave and the bolts stuck into the wall cavity where the door was supposed to go. So in our contract that was listed as one of the things to fix. When I went to the house after the closing the door was GONE! LOL! They “fixed” it by removing it and sealing up the doorframe. It was cosmetically perfect, but a bit of a surprise. Lesson learned…be more specific about repairs in a home purchase contract.
What a cute idea for a personal touch on pumkin carving, and those costumes are to die for! Great post guys! I really enjoy your blog.
Oh my, she is just adorable. And don’t even get me started on the cuteness of the Halloween costumes! Love it! I’m quite impressed that you got both of the little ones to sit still for that sweet shot!
Did your guys make the costumes? THe pumpkin is really cute.
Oh my goodness! You guys are such an adorable family. Love, love, love, your creativity.
How adorable!
I was so excited to carve my pumpkins last weekend, when I went outside to discover my car had been egged and my pumpkins stolen :( Oh well, maybe next year!
I just love the kiddos costumes too! I’ve been Hannah Montana for the last two years (yes, I do realize I’ll be 20 in 6 days…), but I’m not dressing up this year. It was mandatory to dress up for work when I was at Dairy Queen all through high school (we gave out free medium cones to the trick-or-treaters), and I think I’m rebelling now that it’s not required and I’ve no party to go to.
Oh My, those costumes are so cute! I love the “curl” on the pumpkin top! Maybe that wasn’t on purpose… Also, very creative idea to use her hands as the pumpkin’s sweet eyes!
I love the costumes! I actually am dressing up my 4-month-old son as a hamburger and my chocolate lab as a hotdog from ON and Target as well, good minds think alike:)
The costumes are too stinkin’ cute! Love Clara’s Burger honor :)
What a great idea for pumpkin carving!! I think it may be a little girly formy baby boy though. Maybe I will try to come up with some other design I can use his traced hands for though.
Also, the costumes are so cute :). Did you get her hamburger costume at Old Navy? I saw one there when I was picking up my sons shark costume.
Yall have one cute kid!
Hahaha!!! I love them!!!!
The pumpkin idea is fantastic!! You guys are always so creative!! And as usual, Miss Clara has the cutest expression while daddy’s tracing her hand. :)
I love the costumes and the pumpkin turned out awesome. I might have to try this with my little one’s hands!!
SHE IS SOOOOO CUTE!!! Love the first two images!
The picture of Burger and Clara in the costumes is awesome. I laughed out loud!
Ha – those costumes are TOO funny!
Any tips on keeping squirrels from eating your pumpkin? We just bought our first house in March and we are so excited to have our first halloween in a neighborhood with lots of kids, but a squirrel ate right through our pumpkin after only a few days!
That’s a tough one, Meghan. We don’t know any tips for keeping squirrels from eating your pumpkins (maybe distract them with a supply of acorns nearby? Ha!). Anyone else know of any?
-John
VERY cute costumes!
Did you make Clara’s costume?
Love the jack-o-lantern! I never would have thought of that! Girly and spooky all rolled into one. Enjoy Clara’s first Halloween!
OHMYGOODNESS!! I LOVE CLARA’S Costume!! Did you guys make it or buy it?
Oh my gosh! Your kids costumes are absolutely adorable! I wish you guys were trick-or-treating in my neighbourhood!
I absolutely love those costumes! Did you make them? Hahaha her little face is so cute as a hamburger topping.
Hey everyone,
The costumes are both store-bought (we’re not that good with a sewing machine). Clara’s hamburger is from Old Navy and Burger’s hot dog is from Target.
-John
Their costumes are adorable!
LOVE Clara’s face in the hand-tracing pic. She makes the best facial expressions.
Oh my gosh… can’t handle the cuteness!!
So stinkin’ cute! I’m so going to be a copy-cat for Halloween and steal your pumpkin idea. But how in the world am I going to get my little guy to sit still long enough? :)
i have a random question for you guys.
i believe you mentioned before that you have plaster walls in your house, is that correct?
if so what reccomendations do you have for hanging pictures, shelves and other potentially heavy items in your walls. this has been a curiosity for us lately with trying to add things on the walls and not wanting to cause any cracks or damage if not necessary.
thanks
Hey Amy,
We just drill a small pilot hole in the wall, hammer in a plastic anchor, and use a screw that fits right into the anchor to hang things that are especially heavy. Otherwise a nail will do the trick! And small pilot holes in the wall beforehand can head off cracks.
xo,
s
I heard an strange tidbit that coating Vaseline on a jack o lantern will preserve it a bit longer. I have yet to try it, but it did sound interesting!
Adorable! PS: I’m loving the new “spontaneous” posting!
How hysterical! My one year old son and my five year old shih tzu have IDENTICAL costumes as your little ones! We got our hamburger costume at Old Navy as well.
I was a picnic table for Halloween in 4th grade, talk about embarrassing! I think the more embarrassing part is that I picked out the costume.
I think I might have to steal your pumpkin idea, too cute!
Yesterday I tried out the puffy paint pumpkin for my centerpiece!! I already had white puffy paint, so I did it after spray-painting. I used a flat white spray paint and the puffy paint came across as little pearls. I am loving it, and I even blogged about it–of course giving props to you guys. GREAT idea.
http://chrislovesjulia.blogspot.com/2010/10/gettin-my-craft-on-pearly-pumpkin.html
oh my gosh. those costumes are fantastic. love it!
OMG!! That looks scarily like the one I carved a couple weeks ago (that has since become compost! boo for carving too soon!) That is such a cutie idea to use her hand print!! YAY!
http://temporary-nest.blogspot.com/2010/10/peter-peter-pumpkin-carver.html
Oh!! Heres the link to see my Maralyn Pumroe! :)
Clara always looks so calm in pictures. She really does have a serene disposition. I can tell she will be a go with the flow, down for whatever kinda girl. And Burger is a pro with the look over his left shoulder! Looks like tons of fun. Where did you all find a REAL pumpkin patch? All I see around here is road side “patches”.
Hey Ashley,
We went to Ashland Dairy Farm. We loved it!
xo,
s