Prayer Pumpkins

So I was at Lowe's a couple days ago, and they had their mini pumpkins clearanced out. I got 2 bags full (maybe 9 or 10 pumpkins) for $1. 

I love pumpkins. I don't know what it is about them (and squash and gourds) but I think they are so beautiful! And I don't see any reason that they should only be out for Halloween-- to me they go with the Thanksgiving theme perfectly.

So... I let my daughter paint a couple, but I wanted to figure out something cool to do with the others. I kept picturing writing on them with a Sharpie, but I couldn't really decide what I wanted to do. 

Today the idea came to me: Prayer pumpkins! 

What are prayer pumpkins, you ask? Well, they are pumpkins with names of people we are praying for written on them. 

 Emma and I sat down and I wrote on the pumpkins while she came up with the names. I would start with something like, "I'm writing Aunt Julie. Who is in Aunt Julie's family?" Then as she came up with the names, we would talk about relationships, like he is her husband and he is also their dad. They are brother and sister. That sort of thing. 

I made a different pumpkin for each family of my sister and my husband's 2 brothers. Then another pumpkin has the grandparents on it, another has our family on it, and another has random friends and family on it. I still have a couple left, so as we think of people we can add more names.

Anyway, now when we sit down to pray for a meal, we can pick up a pumpkin and pray for a few people. Most of the pumpkins have about 6 names on them, so that isn't too much for my little almost 3 year old to handle.

Costumes

We don't really "celebrate" Halloween. I mean, we aren't against the kids dressing up, but other than that, we just aren't into it. And really, my kids like to dress up any day of the year.
So this year, I didn't buy any costumes. I had picked up a cute costume for Trevor at a yard sale for $1 during the summer, but hadn't gotten anything for Emma. Once Dan and I talked about things, we decided not to buy one for Emma, and to just stay home and hand out candy instead of going out ourselves. This seemed like a good way to save money and also teach the kids about giving.
Well, my kids are amazingly cheerful givers. Every time the doorbell rang, they ran squealing and laughing to the door, where I let them take turns putting candy in the kids' buckets. They had SO much fun!
Well, I went ahead and got the monkey costume out, and pulled out Emma's old costume, too, and it barely fit her. Here are some pics.

Fall Wreath

I really wanted to do a cute wreath for my door for fall. I'm working on being crafty, but I'm not that great yet. I kept seeing cute fabric flowers on Pinterest, so I figured I'd try my hand at those.
They turned out cute, but I'm not sure how anyone gets them very big. When I tried to make a bigger one, the fabric kept slipping down the sides of the flower, and it looked horrible. Oh well.

Also, I just want to say that hot glue guns are hot. (I used to frequent a coffee shop that had "Hot coffee is hot" printed on their cups, due to the whole McDonald's hot coffee thing, and it always made me laugh). Pretty sure my thumb is burned down into the bone. It sure hurts.