The tradition began in 2012…
we continued last year…
and this year we did it with all THREE boys. It’s our Halloween-pumpkin-carving-on-the-porch-tradition! Basically it’s my favorite time of the year and this is one of my very favorite family activities. It doesn’t take a lot, it involves us all, and I just know that it is something that we can continue for years to come.
We gather all together on the front porch with our pumpkins and our pumpkin-carving-blanket (weird I know but it’s part of the tradition!) and our ‘scoopers’ and ‘cutters’ (as Will calls them) and we make our fall creations. In the past, we had more control over the creativity part but this year we were ready to pass that torch to Will and let him decide the porch décor and his carving. He decided that he wanted nothing scary….but he wanted it to be funny and so we made a silly monster display with things we had around the house.
Weston really got into the activity more than Jeremy or I expected. He was even more into the blood and guts of the pumpkin than Will.
Will told us that he didn’t want to pull the top off or scoop out the stuff but Weston was all about it. He was like a zombie on a warm body.
Weston required a smidge of assistance. He tried at one point to draw on the ground and his baby brother….
Will needed no help at all and he was a pro. He drew exactly what he wanted and told us exactly what parts to cut out. It brought a little tear to my eye because he is so grown up now. Oh geesh. I am gonna start crying again if I keep talking about it.
Weston’s favorite part was sticking his pencil through the eye (not something we practice with anyone else) and seeing it fall into the hole. Then he would shout UH OH!
My favorite part was making a crazy mom face. Seriously Katie…you look like you are about to attack.
LJ was a little more limited in his involvement. I say he was our celebratory expert because the entire time he threw confetti (aka hay).
Let me explain his pumpkin…it has freckles…on the upper lip….it has eyebrows that Will said “look like mommy’s” (apparently I need to tweeze)…and it had hair and ears that had hair in them.
When Jer lit them up, it was like the boy’s brains exploded. I have never seen them so excited. It was all shrieks in the front yard. Will declared his ‘the silliest monster he had ever seened”.
Weston just liked getting REALLY close. And then he would try to hug them….after the third attempt, we convinced him to not to…but he really loved those creatures.
I told Jeremy that it was probably the best carving night we have had yet. Everyone was more relaxed (does that mean we are getting older?) and that handing of the torch (err…sharpie marker) helped make it feel like we were learning to do holidays OUR way…not the way we imagine it in our heads. It felt like we were really embracing the imperfect perfection of holiday memories…crazy monster topiaries and cardboard fangs and lip freckles and all.
Moving right along….ON TO HALLOWEEN!
Like I said last Friday…I had to scramble to get the holiday costumes together. I had the basics all bought but I had to sew some chaps for Will, a hat for LJ and cut up some shorts for Weston. Meet my little cowboy, rodeo clown and bull!
Seriously….that is the best thing ever. ever. ever. I love me a themed group of kids in costume and when Will was ADAMENT about being a cowboy, I couldn’t have been more excited. In fact, one of his neighbors (who is two years older than Will) told him that he should be a Ninja Turtle and Will said “yes, I will be a Ninja Turtle except I’m being a cowboy”….and my heart exploded in joy. And then I died on the road a couple times because Will loved saying Howdy Partner! to all the people who answered the bell. Seriously…I’d ride off in the sunset every night with that kid 🙂
Weston didn’t know what to expect and didn’t LOVE wearing his wig so we let him go without it and at the end of the seven house run, he came home, dumped out his five pounds of candy and walked around with anywhere from three to five lollipops. Best. Night. Ever. At least in his one-year-old brain it was 🙂
And just so nobody confuses us with people-with-perfect-lives, this is our post-sugar-up-too-late punishment. Apparently Weston thought he was gonna get to go to bed with a lollipop in hand…and LJ, well, when you mess with a bull’s costume, you get the horns 🙂
Overall, it was a really great week of fun. I can’t wait for this holiday season and honestly I can’t wait for next year to see how much they grow and change and what crazy pumpkins/costumes/porch décor we choose next time! So how was yours? What did your kids carve? Dress up as? Elsa? Ninja Turtles? Any cowboys out there?! Did the whole rodeo come to town!?
The cuteness all around kills me! Such a great tradition Katie! 🙂
I love your family!!!
I love, love, love your boy’s costumes!! I just get so tickled at that little LJ with those horns. So dang cute! We did not carve pumpkins with our oldest (4-yr old) but I like how you let them draw the face and then cut it out. I will have to try that next year. Also it got really unusually cold the week of Halloween here where I live so that deterred us a lot from carving. But I am looking forward to next year too when my littlest is 2 and can do more.
Oh and my son decided he wanted to be Mickey so we phoned it in on his costume and his little sister was Minnie. It was perfect!
What a great tradition! I love how you made the door into a monster face.
so cute I could die! Our family did a Wizard of Oz theme this year. I was Glinda, hubs was the Wizard, my girl was Dorothy and the boy was a cowardly lion. I love that they’re too little to have preferences. It was a Halloween dream come true :).
Love this Katie. Especially the melt down picture at the end. You are my favorite!
Too cute! And the real life photo at the end…..heartwarming. 🙂
Love that last picture… Our Will came down with his first stomach flu about 1 am after trick or treating… and eating a butt ton of candy… it will be a halloween we will never forget…
Those costumes are perfection!
My 3 yr. old was Super Why, the only one we saw in a see of ninja turtles and Iron Man. He thought his cape was awesome, and gladly demonstrated his flying abilities to everyone on the block. On our way home, he started to hand his candy out to other trick or treaters. Like you, we had the best night ever!
I hear you on the themed brother costumes! They are the best! My 4 yr. old was Batman and my 20 month old was Robin. So many compliments! It was a great night! So, I have to ask, in your family photo, did the camera focus on your door? Only asking because I just sent my camera into Canon for doing the same thing! Hopefully I get it back before Thanksgiving but I could not chance having non-sharp images for the holidays!
Your kids are too cute! I love your porch decorations.
Pumpkin carving! We haven’t tried this with our little one yet… what’s wrong with us? She’s 3. Mental note for next year, carve all the pumpkins.
The costumes are great. My little girl was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. If only we could convince her that Halloween is OVER and there really is no reason for her to continue wearing the costume every.single.day. http://www.bradleycowan.com/2014/10/somewhere-over-rainbow.html
omg, this has to be one of your cutest posts to date. and not for home or holiday tips…just to watch your family grow over the years and see all three together like this. Will’s face in that cowboy costume (he looks so proud) and that last pic is killer. LOVE
You have an adorable family! One of the biggest reasons I love love love this blog is that last picture. You could have left it out and made us all think you are a catalogue family but the fact that you included it is amazing…and oh so similar to how our night ended. 🙂
oh my goodness – one of my fave posts ever. Let me explain:
1) ridiculously cute
2) you look fab
3) imperfectly perfect
4) the matching plaid
5) the costumes and finally
6) THAT LAST SHOT! Oh man. so cute.
thanks for sharing. Love it!
Ha, your hubs is wearing house slippers. Cool story- My husband and I were set up by my sister and her boyfriend at the time and our first date was a movie night at his place in october and my now husband wore his house slippers on our first date and I thought it was so hot! I didnt know men were into house slippers until I met my darling husband! I stll tease him that it was those house shoes that I fell for. You got yourself a good man! Lol
I love this! I loved themed costumes too! My little girl is just about 3, and I really felt like it was my last chance to get creative… we’ll see what happens next year!
I dressed her up as Cruella de Ville and her baby brother as a dalmation puppy, and it was TOO cute. She was originally asking to be a princess, so I got her to be Cruella by getting her a tutu and a necklace to go with it. She ditched the wig half way through, but we made it.
Luckily, no meltdowns that night – we let her choose 5 pieces of candy – yes 5! And luckily, she went to bed one happy camper.
So cute! I love it when a group of kids does a themed costume! Mine were a spider and skunk this year, so no theme there but my oldest got to be what he wanted and that made him so happy. I actually made their costumes too, which I loved, but I’m not sure they will get to be anything fuzzy or furry again… that fabric was not so much fun to work with.
Love your pictures!!! Ahhh sounds like a great Halloween for all three boys! Your costumes were the best! My 5yo daughter (who loves everything princess, pink, and well pink princess) said she wanted to be Ariel the little mermaid and I thought-GREAT I can finally have my “Theme” halloween! My 2 yo son can go as Sebastian the crab. My husband said “don’t you think our son has enough disney princess influence lately?!” Which he is right…My son can sing three princess songs completely. So I “man-ed” him up this year and he went as a Mountain lumberjack man/Paul Bunyan, I even knitted him a red beard (to match the drapes ;0). So I guess my theme is a halloween from Mountains to the sea :0)
What an adorable family and great post!
I absolutely LOVE the boys’ costumes! As a Texas gal from Houston where we have a huge rodeo, I about died when I saw their little outfits. So sweet! And I love the pumpkin carving on the porch. What a great idea. Do you use a remote to take the pictures? If so, what kind do you use?
You are so lucky to have such a lovely family! I’m dying over the last photo! Although, I think I make the same face as LJ when I realize it’s Monday morning and I have go to work.
Great memories you are creating for your boys! Thanks for including the after shot as well. The candy corn pot was cute, too. My 22 month old was a cowboy!
First, adorable munchkins and costumes! Second, where are your amazing boots from? Love them!
The costumes look so fun! I must say though, Weston looks so, so grown up!!
Katie, your boys are absolutely adorable. You did a great job on their costumes!
That last photo is priceless!! So true! Cute costumes & pumpkins 🙂 My kids were Nemo and Madeline.
Incredibly sweet! The costumed-kid line-up looks like a greeting card … “trick or treat smell my feet give me something good to eat”! Do I see candy corn painted planters?
Our “little” guy dressed up as Paul Bunyan for his daycare party. He’s 13 months and is the biggest in the room with some babies that are 2-3 months older than him! So, I always use “little” more for my own humor when referring to him as my husband is 6′ 6″ so it is not in our “little” guy’s genes to be small. My husband is a huge fan/wearer of plaid and flannel. I’d love to know where you bought the boys’ shirts from?
Also, you have a beautiful family and I appreciate you sharing your life with us.
This is the cutest post! I love the costumes you chose for the boys. It looks like you had a blast! Your boys seem like so much fun too. Thanks for sharing the fun. 🙂
My 12 month old daughter was a cowgirl! 🙂
Great post, Katie! I loved the costumes and the porch decorations (especially the eyes over the door). So cute! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
What a great post! Katie, please, please, please, please tell me where you got your boots!! They look so comfy!
I melted when I saw the picture of Will and Weston smiling at each other during the pumpkin carving. I would have been a teary mess had I been there. Such a beautiful family Katie!!
So cute…. all of it. 🙂
Katie, thank you SO MUCH for including the real life photo at the end, I love seeing how totally adorable your family is but I really appreciate you keeping it real. From a mom that could barely get a screaming one year old boy shoe horned into a last minute Wal-Mart costume, I marvel at the moms that have a themed family costume. With full Maleficent makeup. And a pumpkin carved like a dragon. That breathes real fire. Meanwhile I’m still trying to get Laffy Taffy out of my hair.
Keep up the good work, mama!
Awesome and realistically perfect!! 🙂 Love their costumes, love their pumpkins and your decorations — everything. Our little guy has insisted on being an apple ever since the summer (I even tried to persuade him to be a farmer who GROWS apples…nope). So, an abstract version of an apple he was! The hubby and I were the farmers, instead. “Apple growers”, don’tchya know. 😉
My kids are a bit older and carved the Superman and Batman logos onto their pumpkins…My first thought, was Why???? But the kids in the neigborhood all wanted their pictures taken with the pumpkins…they loved them. I even had a group of 7 middle school girls all dressed as super heros come up and pose with the pumpkins… I could hear them on the front stoop, but no one yelled trick or treat, so I opened the door and offered them candy…they said they just came for the pumpkin pictures, they were on their way to a party!
Fabulous Family!
Phenomenal Post!
Cutest cowboy, clown and cow!
Thanks for sharing
SO awesome Bower family!! I love the traditions, as a boy mom, I feel like we share so many similarities (ecsp end of the night, up too late pic, haha story of my life!)!!! LOVE that you use the same blanket every year, that will be so great to look back at all the pictures… How you all started with such a roomie blanket and how I am sure at some point will all have a hard time fitting on it! Keep the traditions going, LOVE your blog, LOVE this post and hope you all are well. Came over to your blog a few years ago from YHL and have followed ever since, thanks for sharing!!!!
So cute! Will loved his Spiderman pumpkin last year so I feel kindred to your superhero pumpkins 🙂
xo – kb
LOVE that 🙂
xo – kb
Target 🙂
xo – kb
Aren’t they fun!?
xo – kb
Target 🙂 I got them last year but I think they had them online.
xo – kb
I did! Check out the photography equipment tab to see all the stuff (honestly I link to it because I forget the model number and name all the time).
xo – kb
We got them at Walmart. Fancy, I know 🙂
It’s the HealthTex brand. And I love that Paul Bunyan theme! Now if only he had a blue dog!
xo – kb
Aww…There is no such thing as too much Disney princess….(says the mom with no girls!)
xo – kb
Jeremy did it. Eyeroll emoji. He reset the camera and didn’t tell me and I wasn’t about to make the kids retake the pic…so a clearly focused door we have 🙂
xo – kb
Please do a tutorial of your porch ladies. Tooooo cute! 🙂
Can I just say that I love all of the matching shirts?! I just got married and we want to try and wait for kids, I don’t know if ’tis the season or what but your posts keep giving me baby fever! ! I can’t wait to start traditions- this is just so sweet!
As a weird side questions- what kind of leggins/tights are your favorite? Seems like I’ve been searching forever and can never find quite what I like.
Love all the pics! The costumes are awesome! And that one picture of Will and Weston looking at each other, with their pumpkins in front of them… Oh my. That might be the sweetest picture I’ve seen!
I literally laughed at that last picture of your three boys – Weston’s pout face-down on the floor!! Hahaha! That would totally be my middle son as well! I just love that you captured the realness of life 🙂 So great.
Also – your house was SO meant for your family. I love how you use each part of your house for all sorts of projects, memories, hosting events, etc. It is a much-loved house for the five of you!
So much fun!!! I love the holidays and traditions!!!
I am on the fence! They are so hard to find! I do have a couple pairs from Forever21 that are okay…but my favorite ones are the ones I was wearing in that photo and they are from Gap. I also got some from Lands End Canvas and they are probably a little better than F21 but they cost more.
xo – kb