Carving Watermelons and Halloween Costumes

It's the day before Halloween and we are carving watermelons.

Watermelons?

Yes, that's right.  Watermelons.  Michael grew tons of watermelon in our garden this summer.  After he picked the ripe watermelon in July and August, more watermelon grew on the vines.  These were smaller and we never thought they were ripe.  Michael picked them the night before it froze and we have been keeping them in the garage.  We decided to carve them because we had so many and it would save us at least $20 by not buying pumpkins!  

The kids thought it was a great idea.  They even told all their friends at school they were going to carve watermelons.  Miriam couldn't stop hugging her watermelon and Adam copies her, of course.  

Carving watermelons are a lot easier than carving pumpkins.  Scooping out the insides takes only seconds as opposed to pulling out the stringy pumpkin seeds.  We were surprised to see that these watermelon were overripe!  The fruit was mushy, but that made them easier to hollow out.  I did taste the fruit, but it wasn't very sweet.  That's what you get with a watermelon growing in September.

Here we are, posing with our masterpieces.

(the next day...)

Today is Halloween!  

The girls dress up in their costumes for their Halloween parties at school.  Emily is a witch, of course.  Miriam picked this costume out herself.  She says she is a hula dancer, and I think that is because it came with two plastic flower leis.  We don't argue with her because she feels beautiful in it and that's what counts.  Miriam actually let me help her with her hair-do today.  It has been weeks since I have been allowed to help.  Emily on the other hand, told me witches don't comb their hair, so she went to school with a bed head.

Even the little kids get to dress up this morning.  The elementary school is having a Halloween parade and all the families are invited.  We are on our way to the gym to wait for the kids to walk by.

Even Michael came to watch the parade!  He sure doesn't like his picture taken, but the kids were so cute next to him, I couldn't resist.  See the chairs set up in curves?  The students get to wind back and forth through the gym through the path of chairs.  It's amazing how many parents come.  By the time the parade starts, every seat is full.

Isn't this the most adorable spiderman you have ever seen?  Yesterday he threw a huge tantrum complete with throwing himself onto the floor and kicking and screaming when I tried his costume on him to see how it would look.  Today however, he held his feet out for me to put it on him, and actually wanted to wear it.  Kids are silly.

This is our bee.  That's Joshua's name for her.  He says, "bee" instead of "ba-by."  That was the inspiration for her costume.  She is so soft and warm, she is fun to hold in this outfit.

And we can't forget our favorite fire fighter.  He has the best smiles.  Adam loves the hat, but doesn't like the clear shield that covers his eyes.  We keep it permanently up - although Joshua likes to tease Adam by pushing it down now and again.

It's been a half and hour waiting for the parade to start and our little bee fell asleep for her morning nap on Dad's lap.  Too cute for words.

Finally!  the kids are coming!

Miriam came to give me a hug as she went by.  She was so close, I only got a picture of half of her.  Beautiful costume, Miriam.

Emily didn't want to stop for a picture, but the line conveniently slowed to a crawl so I could get this shot of her.  Pretty cute for a witch who doesn't like to comb her hair.

Want to know that best part about the kids Halloween costumes?  We found them all at a second hand store while on vacation in Colorado.  They all averaged about $5-$6 each!  Great deal!