Pumpkin Parade

I thought it would be extra fitting for a Friday the 13th in October to blog about the fall festivities happening over here!  First up we have Alex's "pumpkin parade" for school.  I don't remember any of the other kids doing this in 1st grade, but I loved it!!  Each student was supposed to choose their favorite character from a book and then decorate a pumpkin to look just like it.  No carving was allowed (it makes the pumpkin rot too quickly) -- just paint, fabric, glitter, glue and/or any other craft materials needed to make the transformation.

I thought it was such a fun idea that obviously I decided all the kids would be interested in creating their favorite character as well.  And they were!  Or at least they were at first.  Things starting fizzling at the end when expectations weren't realized in the reality of the makeover, and in the end only Grace, Alex, and Jane were completely happy with how theirs turned out.  {Although, in my opinion, Grace's shouldn't even count because it wasn't based on any real book character.}

 Sophie was attempting "Auggie" from Wonder, but ultimately scrapped her whole project because she's kind of a perfectionist and was really upset when her vision wasn't matching up with the execution of her design.  I understand the feeling.

Nevertheless, it DID keep them all occupied and mostly happy on General Conference Sunday when I rolled out the big guns and gave them all their little {pie} pumpkins and got down the paint and craft supply bins.  Alex decided to go with Captain Underpants and the resulting pumpkin was hilarious and adorable, even if the cape did fall off in his back pack when he brought it to school yesterday.  He didn't seem to think it was that big of a deal and refused to do anything about it -- like ask his teacher for help gluing it back on, but it's bothering me much more than I'd like to admit!  Hahahaha.  I just like things to look the part, dang it!  Haha.

 Jane decided that painting popsicle sticks brown would be the perfect material for Matilda's hair.  

 

 Jane's finished "Matilda."  With which she was pleased as punch.  :)

Grace's finished "80's character."  Whatever that means.

Along with the pumpkin, he also had to fill out a "Character Report" and his efforts on that were classic Alex as well.  One of these days I'll get him to care more about the quality of his handwriting and his work, but for a 1st grade report, it's probably par for the course.  Haha.

One last pumpkin to round this post out, is THIS little pumpkin at his Fall Festival at preschool.  It was adorable to see his picture frame that he had decorated that day, and the shot that the teachers took of his class on their "hay ride" was hilarious.  I just love that little ragamuffin child of ours.  ;)

Happy Friday the 13th!