Costumes On - Check, Check

Mac has chosen what he wants to be for Halloween since he was old enough to have an opinion. I have tried to remember what he has been (Lion, Cowboy, Pirate, Zorro, Contractor, another Cowboy, a Hunter). I just remembered Zorro this evening when we were trick or treating. This year, he is at a Crossroads in his life where part of him is still very much a kid, but he is also a teenager-so he wasn't sure if it would be "cool" for him to trick or treat with us. I told him he could be Indiana Jones-and it didn't take much to convince him of that. The leather jacket is Lee's-that he got on his mission in Korea.

Mason also choose what he wanted to be.......a vampire. I have NO idea where he got hat idea-seriously. I am probably one of the only people on the face of the Earth who hasn't read the Twilight series. Every Halloween I always remember Mason's first Halloween. He was 10 months old, and I found Mac's Lion costume, so he wore that. I decided that year to shop for Mac's costume early, when Mason was 9 months old. I was still able to put him in a Baby Bjorn carrier, and he still had to be on oxygen. We went to the Costume Display Store in Everett-and it was loud, alot of lights, and alot of stuff going on. Mason was forward facing, so I couldn't see him. He suddenly got "heavy" like he was asleep, but I thought "there is NO way this baby is asleep". I asked Mac if his brother was asleep and he said yes. I couldn't believe it! I later discovered that his coping mechanism for dealing with stressful situations, is falling asleep.

Back to tonight. We trick or treated our neighborhood, then went to another neighborhood a few blocks down. Mason was getting tired after only 40 minutes of trick or treating. He does this every year. This year, we were able to trick or treat Papa and Nana Dawson's house. They live almost 20 minutes away from us, so that was cool that we got to see them.

Pumpkins Carved, Check

This week has been busy with Football, Parent/Teacher Confrences, 1/2 days for Mac, No school for Mason, and who knows what else. Carving Pumpkins has always been one of Lee's jobs to do with the kids, but he's been really busy this last month. I really don't like to carve pumpkins, it's gross, and it's messy. But, we managed to do this last night-and we were almost done when the Dad walked through the door.

Mason wanted to make sure we had the "Big" bowl for doing this. Other tools we use: an ice cream scoop for scooping out the "guts", and 2 knives-one of which is one of those $2.00 pumpkin carving knife, that actually, works pretty well. For this picture, he had his hands out like one of the girls on The Price is Right-a show that he has NEVER seen before. I told him to put his hands away.

Mac actually did his all by himself, without any help from me. I was in fear that he was going to slice his hand open, or cut one of his fingers off..but he did his whole pumpkin without any help from me. (Pardon the mess in the background. Mason cleaned off the table, quickly after dinner-and some of it is also Lee's mess, but that is for another post at another time).

Mason on the other hand, needed all sorts of help of course. He so wanted to to everything himself too, so I let him scoop out the guts with his hands. He was elbow deep in pumpkin guts. He wanted to separate the seeds so we can "Clean them, Roast them, and Eat them". This was a little song he learned in kindergarten last week. He was singing it for at least 20 minutes.

Mac decided to "free carve" his pumpkin without a design or a plan. It turned out pretty well all things considering. Mason wanted an "angry" face on his. I went upstairs to talk to Lee for a few minutes, and Mason said "Mackie is carving my pumpkin now Mom, so we don't need you". Stab me in the heart. Lee told me to just let them do it, and I went down and it was almost done. Mac did everything that Mason wanted him to do with his pumpkin too. It looked pretty good as well.

The finished products. BOO! Mac's is on the right and Masons is on the left. I carved my pumpkin (with help from Mason). I was too tired to be creative, so I just cut out some geometric shapes. It wasn't worth taking a pic and posting. Happy Halloween!

My Bad

The University that Uncle Derick went to was the University of Florida-not Florida State. Thank you Auntie Jessica for correcting me on that. Now a bunch of red neck good ol' boys won't come and hunt me down and shut down my blog.

For Uncle Derick

I just got off the phone with Uncle Derick who lives in Florida. He checks out our blog every once in a while. He got this sweat shirt for Mac when he was 6 years old, and it was too small for him when we got it. So, we saved it for Mason-and he's been wearing it. Uncle Derick attended Florida State-home of the Gators. I took this picture a while back when Mason was sick, and had a loose tooth. He didn't want to smile, but he wanted me to take a picture of him, wiggling his tooth-which explains why he has his finger in his mouth.

Halloween update: We have our costumes, and will carve our pumpkins tonight (I really hate carving pumpkins). It's supposed to rain tomorrow night, so we will be Trick or Treating at one of 2 Malls around where we live. I love Trick or Treating at Malls-it's nice and warm, inside a Mall. It doesn't get any better than that.

Honey Pumpkin Pie

Lee's favorite pie, is Pumpkin. But not just any Pumpkin Pie, Honey Pumpkin Pie. I have used this recipe for over 10 years. Everytime I try out a new Pumpkin Pie recipe, he knows once it touches his tongue that it's not the Honey one. The original recipe came from a cookbook my Mom has had for years and years, that is now out of print. It's a Better Homes and Gardens Step by Step cookbook, and she actually gave me the book so I could cook, bake and become a better wife, to my poor husband who was eating frozen dinners. Here is the recipe, with my modifications. It's a combination of the Better Homes and Gardens recipe and the Libbys Pumpkin Pie recipe. This makes 2 - 9 inch pies, but you could cut everything in half to make one.

1 29 oz can of Pumpkin (I use Libbys, it's better, and there is a difference)

1 1/3 Cups of Honey (3/4 cup if you are making 1 pie)

2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon

1 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon ground Ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground Nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground Cloves

6 eggs

2- 12 oz cans evaporated milk

Single pie crust for 2 - 9 inch pies (I use the roll out pie crusts)

In a large mixing bowl, stir together pumpkin, honey, cinnamon, salt, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Add eggs. Beat eggs into pumpkin mixture with a fork. Stir in evaporated milk, mix well. Fill pie crust shells, dividing mixture between the two pie shells. Bake at 375 degrees for 55-60 minutes or till the pie is set.