Pumpkin painting

Even though our neighbors have promised to set up a special night of trick-or-treating for the Bug should the moppet decide to show on Halloween, it'd be a bummer to miss the Bug's first "real" Halloween. Technically, it's her third, but this is the first time she could tell me what she wanted to be (a unicorn, which is harder to find than you'd expect). And she was super excited for our visit to the pumpkin patch (where she was going to find a Bug-sized pumpkin, and I would get a Mommy-sized pumpkin, and Daddy would get a Daddy-sized pumpkin). We even upped the fun quotient by inviting the cousins (and Aunt Katy and Uncle Dave) to join us.

We went to Eden Farms in Stamford - very close to our house, and they put on a good show for the little ones. After two or three trips through the hay bale maze - which the Bug and cousin Chris-Chris absolutely LOVED - we took a hay ride down to the pumpkin patch. Sure enough, the Bug found the tiniest, most perfectly pumpkin-shaped pumpkin I have ever seen. And believe it or not, it we had to defend it at least half a dozen times. After we all found our perfect pumpkins, and cousin Lily went for a pony ride, we went to the cousins' house for the carving.

The carving didn't really materialize - or more precisely, none of the kids paid any attention. But what did materialize was a karaoke machine. So the kids took turns serenading us. They each held the microphone, articulated the lyrics clearly, and it was probably the first time I've really wished we'd had our video camera.

When we got home, the Bug knew exactly what she wanted to do with her pumpkin. So, per her instruction, we got out the paints and she created a beautiful masterpiece:

No idea where she got the idea of pumpkin painting, but this will be our centerpiece until in rots from the inside out.