31 Days of Pumpkins

See my album of  "31 Days of Pumpkins"  that I have been doing on Facebook.

Pumpkin Delight

I take my pumpkins seriously...

..... joyfully serious.

As fall comes around and the colors of the trees begin to change I start to look for that bright orange pile of pumpkins that makes my heart happy. For some reason within me pumpkins give me joy.

As I look back over time I try to remember what causes this feeling in me. My first memories would be of carving pumpkins in the backyard with Marvin Lynn,

                               Kathy,
                                    Randy,

                                            Jayne

                                                 and I.

 (Vicky would have been too little.) I remember always trying to carve the best face...you know...triangle eyes and nose and a toothy grin.

Maybe ... 

 that is what it is about...

 the toothy grin...

jacko-laterns are happy faces that made me smile.

 And then when our pumpkins were carved and the candle inside would be lit we would Oh and Ah over them.

In 1987 my dad started the "Sowers Family Hayride" and I decided it would look nice decorated. I would stay up all night and carve 10 or 12 pumpkins. I would line the driveway with pumpkins, like a runway for the haywagon.

The family would gather round the pumpkins after they had been lit for the evening and Oh and Ah over all the pumpkins I had created. (I think I like Oh's and Ah's)

In 1997 my friend Pam and her family had a foriegn exchange student from Germany. They do not celebrate Halloween there. They ask if they could bring her to the hayride and carve pumpkins with me so Julia could have that American experience. 

It was so much fun to carve the pumpkins with them. That was the start of my yearly Pumpkin Carvin' Party.

 13 years later we are still doing the Pumpkin Carving Party. Everyone brings pumpkins. They pick out a perfect design and carve away. It is neat to see all the designs that are carved into the pumpkins. Some are easy...triangle eyes and nose and toothy grin.

Some are funny.                         

Some are hard.

And some are super easy!!!

(My brother uses power tools...lots of powers tools)  

                                 

When each master piece is done it goes outside to the table to be all lit up with all the others. At the end of the night everyone stands around and Oh's and Ah's over the jack-o-laterns...there it is again...

                             I  Love The Oh's and Ah's.

I Love Pumpkins.

I love sharing this time with family and friends.

I love all the memories. (2002)

Mom and Dad...Dad's last October....2008.

Everyone's a star and deserves the right to twinkle~
                                                   Marilyn Monroe