the gourdy conclusion

When I last left you, my kids and I had made our own versions of the Family Fun Bat o’Lanterns and I had no working camera.  So let’s pick up where we left off.  This time you’ll have to put up with real pictures of my children instead of my amazing artwork.  So sorry…maybe when I break this new camera.
(Dear Husband, just kidding.  I’m going to be really careful with this new one and prove to you I can, in fact, have nice things.)

So, we had fancy-faced pumpkins all ready to go

I spray painted some large wooden beads purple and orange

To do this, I dumped them in shoe boxes and sprayed away, then would shake the box, and spray again.
 
Then I pulled out some crazy huge needles I inherited from my grandmother as part of her sewing kit


Threaded some fishing line on the needle and let my seven year old have at it.

Here I told him to show me how much fun he was having

We needed the huge needles to get through the pumpkins.  Even then, some of the pumpkins were too wide for the longest needle.  For those, I used the flat end of a skewer to push the needle the rest of the way through.  Thankfully the pumpkins were solid foam and the needle just slid through, instead of dropping into a hollow inside.

When we were done, we had a pretty awesome Halloween garland to display

I have to tell you, I’m not good at kid crafts.  Science experiments, fun adventures, Family Dance Party USA—totally rock those.  But letting my kids just do their own kiddie things with paint for home display, and not trying to take over—not always my strength.  But other than one bat face, my kids decorated each of these gourds and I love how they turned out.  
 

I think this will be a favorite item in our Halloween décor for years to come, because my kids made it.  It’s very them.  I love it.

And even though they didn’t tell their dad to buy me expensive gifts (you know, other than the new camera…), and even if they don’t understand my need to completely recreate my artistic visions,

 

I really, really love these kids and their crazy, unique way of doing things

a lot.