7th annual pumpking carving party

October brings us to that time of year where we are celebrating all things fall.

When we first moved out here, we invited Jonathon's boss and his family over to carve pumpkins. They don't celebrate Halloween in Japan. They have 3 kids and we thought it would be fun to get together and show them something very American. I remember when they showed up. We had asked them to bring their own pumpkin. We answered the door and there they were, our five cute friends with one little baking pumpkin. (I really think that we shared our pumpkins. If we didn't, shame on us! But really, I think we did!)
So here we are, 7 years later in what is one of our families favorite traditions. We invite our Japanese neighbors and all of the Japanese from Jonathon's work over for pizza and pumpkins. It's amazing how much the kids like it. Especially since there is only one other little girl who comes. This year they worked so hard cleaning and helping us get ready. They deserved a party!

Enjoy the millions of pictures below!

Olive, who insisted
that this year she was old enough to do it her self.
All of it.
Our neighbor

Break for food.
Gyoza wa oishi!
The kids
Cedar who also insisted that he do it all himself.
(Though he didn't really like getting the guts out.)
Aspen working hard!
The fruits of her labor.
Olive and Cedar working hard.
The fruits of their labors.
Jonathon Working hard.
Everyone working really hard.
(yea, I know, I need to get out the thesaurus and find some new words.)


Outside: