Halloween Traditions | Sometimes Short & Sweet is All You Can Manage

I wanted to do more for Halloween this year. 

But when this week rolled around, I had to force myself back to my list of Things I Don't Do and remind myself that I don't stress out about minor holidays any more.

So... these pumpkins? That's it.

*Gasp* I know, right?

There were going to be really cool caramel popcorn balls from The Pioneer Woman's Holiday Cookbook {this is an affiliate link, if you use it I get a small compensation} but ALAS! No candy corns at the commissary!

Then there were going to be really cute spooky pumpkin pancakes for dinner (also from the PW cookbook) but ALAS, no milk. And Momma was tired. And the girlies weren't really too worried about it because I made them popcorn for dinner.

Which we ate on the couch watching Despicable Me 2.

Because there was totally going to be Trick-or-Treating this year but... 

...it's no fun for Mom to take Double Trouble out for that without Dad... who had to work tonight.

And praise the LORD my kids are still young enough that they don't realize they missed out on a crap-ton of candy tonight.

It's okay cause tomorrow is Lily's 5th birthday and I have blue cupcakes at. the. ready. (Thanks to Aunt Kirsten!)

So we "just" carved pumpkins this year.

Which we didn't even get at a "real" pumpkin farm (unless you count the pile of pumpkins outside the Commissary as a pumpkin farm?) but we did have a fun family memory.

Even if it was just that one! 

My favorite part of the carving was how quickly the girls' tune changed from "PLEASE can we carve pumpkins NOW? Pleeeeeeease????" (every five seconds) to "EWWWWW this is so SLIMY!!!"

"Haha, welcome to the real world my loves. We're not going to do all the dirty slimy jobs for you your whole life! Also, stop flinging your dirty hand around and spraying pumpkin guts all over my living room. Thanks."

So seriously, Happy Halloween from my house to yours. 

And if you didn't do a bunch of Pinterest-worthy activities, don't worry, neither did I. And I'm sure all of our kids will turn out *relatively* fine.

If you found this post encouraging please share it on your facebook wall! 

And make sure to take advantage of the blog giveaway I'm running right now!

Happy Halloween from the Aiduks!

Morning from Germany and Happy Halloween!  Did you guys carve your Jack 'O Lantern, yet?  

I think this is the first "real" time I've done pumpkin carving with the girls.  I've usually been too busy   thought they wouldn't enjoy it   didn't really want to   made excuses ;o)  But this year the Commissary had them right out front calling my name "Jessica, stop being a party-pooper and get your kids a pumpkin!"  Fiiiiine.

They "helped" us get the pulp and seeds out...

Then we roasted seeds and I called them "pumpkin chips" (and loaded them with salt) so of course they were gobbled up in less than 12 hours!

After Mrs. Pumpkin had her face (the same face I always make for pumpkins... I think I need to branch out) the girls gave her hair and other random squiggly decor.

The smell and feel of this particular Halloween activity took me back to my childhood and strongly reminded me of my Dad (hi Dad!) who was always the wielder of the chef's knife and the great Carver-Man.  I love when simple traditions remind me of family.  

Happy happy Halloween to y'all!  Check out my spooky fire post over at Jesse's Girl Photography!  Have a blast doing whatever it is you're going to do today!