Pumpkin Carving

This sure made for a fun day with the kids. We will bring down Ethan and Eric's pumpkins if they still look good tomorrow. We heard a lot of "eeaaww" while making these, but I think they enjoyed it...for a minute or so.

Trying to get 5 kids to look a camera and smile is nearly impossible. But we tried very hard, and lucked out a couple of times.

Ethan had the most difficult time with this. He would not put his hands in to feel the pumpkin innards. But Ethan did finally put his hand in to feel the cool, squishy substance. The most fun was listening to him in the bathroom trying to wash his hands. Chef school is probably not in his future.

Eric didn't mind it as much, but some of his expressions were good. Most kids don't like to be bothered with washing their hands. But Ethan and Eric weren't really sure why a parent would encourage them to get their hands dirty in the first place.

Mike and Shae, it's something to build on for fall in 2009.

Well, it's been just over 2 weeks now, having the boys with us. Now they are spending two nights with Grandpa and Grandma Dalke. Our family of 5 wondered why the house was so quiet last night. It's only been one day removed from the chaos, but I miss them already. Can't imagine how their parents are feeling. But Sunday morning will be a great reunion. Haven doesn't know what she is in for. I'm sure these two energetic, silence challenged, glow-in-the dark companions will quickly introduce her to the good life. They may have picked up a few new words, but I can't take all the blame for that. However, they do know Ephesians 6:13-18 quite well now. And that we will take credit for, they had Ben and Drew to help teach them those verses.

Tomorrow we'll pick them up and take them to Omaha for the weekend. They'll get to dress up one more time tomorrow. And we will have all 8 Dalke cousins together for a couple days until we get to welcome the 9th cousin. We are all excited for Sunday morning. We pray for safe travel. The Lord is good!