Walker Pumpkin Carving 2015

It's easily the favorite family tradition in the Walker Family. Each year we get together and carve pumpkins. All growing up, we carved pumpkins with our parent's best friends, the Olivers. The past couple of years. now that both families are grown (and most of the Olivers don't live very close) we haven't been able to get together with them, but we still think of them and talk about how wonderful they are, so it still counts.... almost. My mom just posted this photo from... probably about 20 years ago. Isn't it a gem? (That's me, my dad, and my little brother, Matthew.)

We are proud to be carrying on the tradition. 

This last weekend we got together with my parents and siblings for our annual party. Complete with Cheesy Potato Soup, fun pumpkin designs, a couple rounds of werewolf and a dice game. 

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A is for Austin and for Aggies. Win.

My parents grew these awesome pumpkins in their garden with the help of Matthew and Melissa. There are actually four pumpkins, but the other one was already inside prepping for it's Yoda design. (See pictures below.) I'm so impressed with how big they are. My dad carved the biggest one and we decided to get a picture with Austin sitting inside. Cute, right?

Yeah, he pretty much hated the entire thing. Even when we tried to bribe him with a marshmallow. Fail.

Lydia requested an apple on her pumpkin. We asked repeatedly, giving her lots of different options of what she might like. A panda, a funny face, the letters of her name, etc... But nope. She wanted an apple please. And she didn't want a bite out of it - she wanted it to be a whole apple. So that's what she got. David and I picked a little pumpkin for ourselves because we figured if we were carving 3 pumpkins, they all better be little. After much deliberation, we decided to carve the silhouette of a dancing couple. I think it turned out great. 

Last story of the night. All growing up, we had a Halloween countdown named Frankie. My mom would use saran wrap to make a candy countdown to hang on this little Frankenstein guy. We would get to cut off a piece of candy each day and we loved it! There's been a bit of deliberation about who got to inherit Frankie, with Jenna claiming that she called dibs yeaaaaars ago. Unbeknownst to us, Melissa coordinated with my dad to cut out the frankie shapes for each one of us and then she handpainted them and surprised us with them that night. I can't believe the planning, the time, and the talent that went into recreating these for each of us. We love them! Melissa also supplied the saran wrap and candy for each of us to make one countdown chains for each family. I can't wait to get ours hung up. I just know it's going to become a wonderful Peaden tradition, too. 

Happy October and Happy Halloween from the Walker Family.