pumpkin carving

Tonight we decided to do a little pumpkin carving, Alyssa wanted a princess pumpkin but since this is the first time we have done this as a family (last year we just painted them) and both Michael and I can't remember the last time we actually carved one, we tried to find a simple pattern. I printed off a pattern of a cinderella castle I found online and we went to work on it. The girls were distracted by great pumpkin charlie brown on tv, but they stopped to touch some of the insides. It took a little convincing for Emma and then she thought it was fun, it took a lot of convincing for Alyssa just to hold one of the seeds. We should have read the tool kit instructions because we learned later that not cutting at a 90 degree angle would result in small pieces falling off and there are a few pieces hanging by a thread. Oh well, here it is, our castle pumpkin. When Alyssa saw it she said, "wow, it's a barbie diamond castle" (she doesn't own any barbie dolls and has never seen this movie but because she has friends who love all things barbie she loves it now too) I think it looks a little like a haunted house but it is pretty good for our first try.