It's Pumpkin Carving Time!

 We woke up this morning and actually had to use the fireplace because it was so cold out! Big difference from this time last year when we were trick-or-treating in 80 degree weather and sweating as we were carving our pumpkins! Ryder has been begging to carve our pumpkins since the day we came home with them from the patch, so with the weather feeling festive, we decided to go ahead and carve them.

 This is the face of one happy boy as he anticipates which pumpkin to carve first. We got Ryder a 'Mr Potato Head' witch face to stick on his pumpkin that we let him pick out. We thought he would enjoy this more than trying to carve his own pumpkin. Scot however, chose a Grim Reaper pattern to carve out on his.

 I was tending to this very fussy Little Miss while the carving festivites were going on, so I opted to pick a pattern and carve mine later this week. With Halloween less than a week away, I wanted to do as many fun pumpkin and Halloween themed ideas as we could, so stretching the pumpkin carving out will be better in keeping with this. The attention span of an almost 3 year old will also be better with this decision ha!

 Ryder was being silly and as Scot scooped out the pumpkin goo, Ryder was sure to play around with it and I told him to pretend he was eating it. He was very fascinated with the pumpkin once it was carved out, and he kept asking Daddy to let him see the hole where it was hollowed out.

 Here's Ryders finished pumpkin in all it's glory! I think it turned out really cute and will look great next to the other pumpkins on the front porch

I decided to roast pumpkin seeds, in going with the pumpkin carving theme today.

I think Ryder had just as much fun dumping the seeds from the paper towel to the baking sheet!

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Fresh pumpkin seeds
• Vegetable oil or cooking spray
• Salt
• Kitchen knife
• Baking sheet
• Paper towel
• Spatula

DIRECTIONS

1. • 1
     Separate the seeds of a freshly carved pumpkin from the stringy membrane. Rinse the seeds just until they are free of any membrane matter.
   • 2
     Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
   • 3
     Put the seeds on a paper towel and let them dry for a few minutes.
   • 4
     Spray a baking sheet with butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray or brush with a light coating of vegetable oil (or butter). Put the seeds on the baking sheet in a single layer, turning to coat lightly with the spray or the oil. Sprinkle the seeds lightly with salt, if desired.
   • 5
     Put the baking sheet in the oven. Cook the seeds for 10 to 20 minutes, or until brown and slightly crisp, turning once. Allow to cool before eating.
   • 6
     Store seeds in an airtight container. ENJOY!

**I got the recipe courtesy of eHow.com**

Read more: How to Bake Pumpkin Seeds | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_1388_bake-pumpkin-seeds.html#ixzz1bd4P9Kwo