Pumpkin Carving

Tonight was our pumpkin carving night!  Every year, I have these great visions of family fun...all of us happily carving away at the dining table, laughing and enjoying the moment.  Why haven't I caught on that stuff never goes that well with kids!?!?!

It started off well....all excited to carve our three pumpkins.

They were VERY enthusiastic scoopers.

We put the scooped goop in a bin for a mini sensory table.  My sensory-seeking girl LOVED it.  We gave her chopsticks (her idea), the little plastic scooper thing from the pumpkin kit and some measuring cups to explore with.

Then it all went downhill.  The kids wanted Phineas and Ferb themed pumpkins.  (Here are a whole bunch of Disney themed printable pumpkin patterns.)  Anytime you're cutting something out besides a simple triangle/square face, it's not going to be a kid-friendly activity.  Liliana was happy with the pumpkin gunk for about 15 minutes while Micah watched an episode of Phineas and Ferb to get into the spirit.  But the next 2 hours worth of carving (yes, 2 hours!!!) was spent with us taking turns carving the pumpkins and breaking up fights between the kids.

They turned out super cute though!

Here's Phineas:

Ferb:

And I know what you're thinking "Hey, where's Perry?" 

Oh, there you are Perry.

I desperately wanted a Dr. Doofenshmirtz pumpkin, since he's my very favorite...but we couldn't find a pattern.  My hand is insanely cramped right now, but it's worth it!  At least we don't have to do this again until next year...and by then I'm sure the kids will be ready for it to be a really fun, enjoyable family night.  Right?  ;-)