The Alien Pumpkin

Since it's that time of year and Caiden has been home sick, we thought it would be fun to cheer him up by carving a pumpkin...an alien pumpkin that is (that's what he wanted to do).

Kiya and I taking out the innards (Caiden was still eating his dinner)
Kiya getting her hands dirty
Of course we have to use our senses and smell and feel the pumpkin seeds

After doing this for many years now we have a kind of routine. The kids and I take the pumpkin innards out, and Dave does the actual carving of the pumpkin.

Kiya and Dave inspecting the pumpkin before carving
Dave making the first cuts
They are all engrossed in the pumpkin...just for different reasons
Caiden is looking at his sliver of pumpkin, Dave's still carving and Kiya's ready to put the cap on
Caiden kept calling this his "pumpkin eye"

Now that Kiya is a bit older she was really into "experiencing" the pumpkin with all of her senses. It was quite cute.

Getting her hands dirty
And of course she had to make sure it was edible

Caiden was more excited with the pieces of pumpkin that Dave was cutting out.

This was Kiya when she looked at the pumpkin and we turned the lights off...hehe
Both kids watching the pumpkin glow...my flash is bright the lights were OFF
Kiya made this pumpkin

The kids seemed to have fun, and we have our traditional carved pumpkin now (so I don't feel so guilty on depriving them of this holiday fun).