spooky dinner and pumpkin carving

John called me the week of Halloween and said he had a surprise.  He said he couldn't keep it from me any longer, but the doctor he is working with bought him a plane ticket home for the weekend!  How nice is that!!  John said the doctor either really likes him or just feels really bad for him :)  Maybe both!  Anyway, so generous of him and something we all needed and appreciated so much.  We kept it a secret from the kids and they were so excited guessing on the way to the airport who it was we were picking up.

Remmy is definitely a daddy's girl and didn't leave John's side all weekend.  She wanted nothing to do with me, which was a nice break for me too :)  I thought this picture was so sweet.  As soon as he got home they showed him our Halloween books and requested he read to them.

We carved out the guts of our 5 pumpkins that afternoon.  We were having dinner and carving the rest of the pumpkins later that night with friends.  I thought carving out the guts before would save a ton of time.  Brooklyn and Remmy loved helping, Jake, not so much.  He picked out 2 seeds and called it good.  

Our good friends, Nate and Kayla Bartholomew, invited us over for a spooky Halloween dinner (Papa Murphy's pumpkin face pizza, salad, fruit) and to carve pumpkins.  They have 3 kids as well and they are all right around the same age, same gender.

Kayla had everything decorated and tables set with cute stuff.  

that is a lot of pumpkins to carve!

Remmy up in their business on the table.  I tried doing an Olaf for Jake and failed miserably.  I had a bad cutting knife, but that is just an excuse.  I was awful.  I ended up accidentally cutting off his head and had to make two huge eyes instead, yeah bad.  John was much better at carving and after my failed attempt I sat back and watched.

I was proud of Brooklyn.  She carved her pumpkin entirely by herself, her request.  I gave her a knife and supervised.  She was thrilled to do it and with the way it turned out.  I didn't get a picture, but she did a great job.

the babies - Remmy (17 months) and Lainey (almost 1)

Kayla had doughnuts and set up the string game for the kids.  The older girls loved it, Jake was just frustrated and wanted to eat his (surprise surprise).  Some of these pictures crack me up.

gave up quick and used his hands