Pumpkin Drilling

I've almost finished my purse. The two sides are now sewn together and I need to learn how to knit the strap. Then I'll wash it so the wool will felt and hopefully after that you won't be able to see all me mistakes because it will shrink so much (theoretically) - we'll see what happens.

The boys and I had our homeschool co-op on Friday. T has so much fun there and really looks forward to it. His embroidery is coming along nicely. R was in tears the night before not wanting to go. I finally told him I would sit in on his class with him until he's comfortable. He had a great time throughout the day, but he won't admit it.

We did our annual pumpkin "drilling" last night. Eventually the boys all dug into the goo to try and clean out each of their pumpkins. R and C had a great time drilling their designs around their pumpkins. They felt pretty powerful with the whirring drill in their hands. T decided he wanted to try carving this year. He did a great job drawing the face and then cutting around the lines. He's very proud of his carving skills. I'll try to attach a picture so you can see their works of art. Other than C actually stepping in the pile of pumpkin guts and slipping they all had a good time.

We got our garden cleaned out this morning and after picking through all the rotten muck we still came up with a pile of tomatoes, 2 cucumbers, 4 zucchini, 4 jalapenos, 2 squash and 8 pumpkins. We salvaged that stuff and then tore everything out. I was able to cook two of the pumpkins today and make some pumpkin puree that we'll use for pie, muffins and soup later. The boys want a whole meal of pumpkin stuff (Andy has said he'll plan on staying late at work that night since he can't stand pumpkin). We also roasted some great pumpkin seeds. After working in the garden, in the rain we came in and had hot chocolate and pumpkin seeds for lunch.

We all napped this afternoon and then the boys dressed up for the barn party. After having to listen to their questions of when we were leaving for it every 10 minutes I finally set the timer so they could check how long it was until we would go. This was done 2 hours before the time to go. Every once in a while I would hear them counting down a minute with the timer. They claimed the time went faster when they did that. I'm not sure if hearing this for 2 hours or the question of "when" was worse. It was finally time so we left the house with Buzz Lightyear (T), Batman (R) and Robin (C) and went to our 4th annual Barn Party. It's a toss up between this event and the 4th of July picnic at the same place for the boys' favorite event of the year. For the barn party the high school group from church sets up all kinds of games in a family's barn. They also give hay rides on a trailer pulled by a tractor. We all get a yummy dinner of hotdogs, soda and chips for $.25 an item - plus all the candy you can eat as you play the games. In the upstairs of the barn there is a hay maze and big rope swing. I almost forgot the highlight of it is that we park at the church and then take a school bus to and from the party. It was a very fun evening.