halloween is over

yes... Halloween is over

it was a good one
we had a good Halloween
we did not make it to Cox Farm
but we went to the Haunted Forest instead
which did not entirely work out because Grant may be too young
just the same
we tried to celebrate Halloween and its fall festival in all of its glory

funny...
I like Halloween as much as my kids like Halloween
the costumes... the candy... and the carving of the pumpkins
my boys are both at a point where they want to carver their own pumpkins

in years prior we worked a system where the boys drew pumpkins and we would discus
s the images
then I would draw and then carve the pumpkins
this year I tried to work something similar
only for Dean I would only draw his image on the pumpkin and then have him carve it

well... I think Dean felt I improved on his idea too much to call it his
and Grant got distracted and I went ahead and carved the other pumpkin the way I wa
nted to

as much as the boys liked the pumpkins
I sensed that they wanted more pumpkin carving
and more carving where they got to do more of the carving

so... we roasted the seeds and that was that
until I bought a few more pumpkins the next day

well... the guided process moves more fluid than the free range process
but the free range process comes with risk

it the situation is not guided risks losing momentum
so.... I stepped in and stepped out
but... I am not sure if I stepped in enough
because we had to return to things at another time
a time that never came for Dean because Dean had to work on his homework while I got to work on the pumpkin with Grant

sometimes guided does not need to be guided
but really there just needs to be the companionship
like the unicycle for Dean... I was not riding as much as I was hanging out with him
that was enough for him to keep moving

so... I hung with Grant and kept my carving knife to myself
young Grant was using the pumpkin specific small saw
I instructed the use of the poker that makes the connect the dots
strong willed Grant resisted

Grant told me he was going FREE STYLE!

which I get... I totally get
Free Style is how I usually carve my pumpkins