Carvin' with Kate

My mom needed me to get these pictures done and printed so she can work on our Halloween scrapbooks. They are more like small flipbooks and they are the greatest thing since Betty White (sliced bread came after her if you didn't know that).

So instead of editing each photo or trying to work on each one and get them done months from now. I batch edited some just to give them some light or color since they were taken indoors on a cloudy day.

Now since we've gotten past my photography disclaimer, we can get on to the goods. The guts I should say.

Ava requested none other than......come on.....what did she want on her pumpkin........Elsa!!! Didn't see that comin' did ya?

Austin wants anything 'cool' which in this case turned out to be an intricate mummy face

Ava is routinely a very messy girl and in this case, she wasn't too thrilled with pumpkin guts.

ahhhh pumpkin seeds. quick...put on the oven!

She got a little more comfortable with pumpkin guts as time went on.

Austin enjoyed sorting out the seeds for grandma to wash.

Ava enjoyed washing the seeds in the sink. She could have played with them in there all day.

Takes a lot of concentration to poke all those dots onto the pumpkin to get the design just right. Elsa has  a LOT of cut-outs.

Look at that mummy face! poor Kate had intricate designs and VERY large pumpkins to carve thanks to Jason.

Ta-da! Queen Elsa. She's in the pantry so we can close the door to see how well she glows.

Elsa equals one happy Ava

Can you see her in there?

pumpkin seeds are just about done!

Oh that mummy is just awesome! Turned out so good. Thanks Kate!

I'm ok with having rotten pumpkins long before Halloween. Long gone in the trash and less of a chance some stinkin' teenager is gonna throw it at our mailbox.

Elsa and Royal Knight/Spartan/Dragon

There was no surprise when Ava said she wanted to be Elsa for Halloween. There have been times in our household where if you don't address Ava, as Queen Elsa, then you get absolutely zero response from her.

Austin on the other hand, just randomly saw a Spartan costume at Costco and decided he wanted to be that. It was very clear that he wanted to be that from the shield and sword that the costume came with. But when asked what he wanted to dress up as in early October, he chose the Royal Knight's costume I purchased to take pictures of him for his Royal Knight Birthday Party mid November.

But then when it was time to go to school and wear his costume for the Halloween parade at school he chose his Dragon cape from last year. I think when I told him that he couldn't bring any type of weapon to school, he decided to boycott.

These photos were taken very early October. I had my cousin Kate who is the master pumpkin carver come over to carve pumpkins the very first weekend. It makes more than complete sense to me.
 A) Kate is always busy in October since she is a complete rockstar at carving pumpkins
B) Halloween has the worse weather known to mankind every.single.year. Always rainy and cold
C) I want pictures to have back right away so Halloween scrapbooks can be made that we started making when Austin had his very first Halloween.
D) These kids change their minds so much and if I am going to buy a costume or two, I want pictures of them in it before they just decide to scrap it or boycott or whatever.
E) isn't this enough reasons to make your child dress up in early October!?

Genuine smile from my buddy!

Dance party everyone. Always my favorite when asking the kids to get in some pictures for me

Watch out Elsa!

Well, I will just freeze you then!

Or we could just move Halloween to the first weekend in October! How about that!?