Pumpkin Carving Party at Jeanne & Russ'

Jeanne and Russ graciously hosted a pumpkin carving party at their place!  Jeanne and Russ provided the main course (pumpkin curry), pumpkin carving tools, stencils for the pumpkins, and floor space.  Audrey brought newspaper so that we could get as messy as we wanted.

The pumpkins innocently waiting... unknowing of their future...

Malcolm wanted to show off his ... pumpkins.

But, before we started carving, we needed some sustenance.  Jason and Malcolm dug into the feast provided by Jeanne and Anita.  Jeanne warmed up some pita bread with humus, while Anita slaved over the hot stove preparing crab cakes and cheese/rice balls.  Coincidentally, they looked exactly like the ones from Trader Joe's!  ;)

Russ attempted his best Astro-boy flight over the group.  Not sure what Henry is doing.

Audrey and Henry, digging into their pumpkins.

Jeanne and Russ taping on their respective stencils onto their pumpkins.

Rather than choosing a stencil, Anita and Jason opted to create their own masterpieces.  

Anita hard at work on her pumpkin design.

Anita's pumpkin!  Can you guess what it is?

I was kind of Nazi about the pumpkin carving.  I let Malcolm help a little bit, but then I took it away from him again.  I apparently have pumpkin-carving control issues.

My pumpkin!  I mean ... our pumpkin!  Can you tell what it is?

Our pumpkin was of 3 wolves, howling.  Pretty cool, isn't it?

Anita's pumpkin: Hello Kitty!  Soooo cute!!

Audrey's pumpkin is a runner, just like she is!  Jason's was really scary.  

Russ's pumpkin is the pirate skull and cross-bones, Henry's is the smiley one in the middle, and Jeanne slaved over the haunted mansion.  Everyone did a great job!

As a p.s., totally unrelated to our pumpkin carving night, my neighbor has a ginormous golden retriever. He's at least 80 lbs, stands really tall, and is really just goofy.  This morning, he was outside, lying in the middle of the street with his owner crouching next to him.  I totally freaked out and thought that someone had hit him.  So I ran outside, and offered assistance.  Turns out, the dog had found a nice shady spot with cool breezes, and didn't want to go inside the house.  *Whew*  I think the dog and his owner were outside for another 10 minutes before the owner convinced silly doggie to go inside.


Isn't he cute though??