finding beauty // mr. happy mcsmiley and mr. grouchy mcogre

We had a snow dusting this past Monday. I am not prepared  for this. Not at all. As sweet and pretty the cold white dust is, it's just a little message about the winter that is to come.

Theme Thursday: Prepare

See, I'm in Texas. Like I said, I grew up in South Texas where there are two seasons: hot and hotter. Since living in North Texas I have experienced snow every year as well as ice storms (I did not know these even existed before moving here!). Winter has become more real to me since moving to Dallas even though I spent two good years in Washington, DC for graduate school. There was something about knowing that my time there was temporary. But, here and now in Texas, this is our home and it gets cold!

I will say one thing, these Texas Autumn sunshine-y skies are gorgeous. I am always amazed by them. The trees, the vastness, the sunshine, all of it is so pretty.

Beauty Find Friday: Autumn Sunshine

Now that I've shared about my winter fears, moving onto what we did on our snow-dust day. We finally got around to carving the little pumpkins we brought home from our visit to the pumpkin farm!

Even though these recent days have been tough, there was so much grace on Monday. So much grace.

We had a good day. And, as a friend recently said, Everything is grace. You're so right, Jenny. Everything truly is grace and by that alone has there been peace and rhythm to our days this week.

My little monkeys were funny about cleaning out the pumpkins. They both requested spoons to avoid sticking their hands in.

I obliged.

And this one was pretty happy about it.

We had a good time, a good day, and both boys were pretty happy about this new experience even though we couldn't go outside and haven't been able to till today! Thankfully the weather has been amazing today! Thank you, Texas!

I gave pumpkin seeds a try but they were a major fail. As yummy as they smelled they did not come out crispy, crunchy, and seasoned. Instead they were still slightly moist, even after an hour and I feel like the seasoning didn't take.

Ah, well! Do any of you have a tried and true recipe for yummy roasted pumpkin seeds? I'm all ears! I love snacking on them when they're good!

Finally, after all the to-do's were almost done, I asked the boys what kind of face they wanted on their pumpkins. We don't have carving tools so I made do with an apple corer and a knife.

These pumpkins are hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing after they requested their faces. Immediately Bigfoot, my Mr. Happy McSmiley asked for a Happy face! Onto the little man in the house and he shook his head at happy face. I continued to ask my little ogre what face he wanted and the next thing you know, he shared his own little grouchy face. His older brother then yelled He wants a grouchy face! Grouchy face it was for my little Mr. Grouchy McOgre-man

Prayer request for all in the North dealing with that crazy snow weather. It really is so scary and many are stuck in their homes. How has the weather been in your area?

Linking-up with the amazing women over at Like Mother, Like Daughter, Theme Thursday over at fun Clan-Donaldson, and Finding Beauty with the incredibly talented Aimee.