Halloween Pumpkins the easy way

The kids were pestering me like crazy to do the Halloween pumpkin carving, but there is no way that is going to happen this year. I told them to grab some permanent markers and have fun! I think they turned out great. But why am I so lazy and not carving them?

This summer, we demolished a rotten deck and replaced the deck with some temporary stairs to get us through the fall and winter. We plan on moving the door to a different wall and lowering the entrance to ground level next summer.


We did fine with these stairs for a month, but then Guess who tripped on her own purse strap and fell down the new stairs?!


So, no pumpkin carving for me. My kids are too small to do the carving still and having them clean out the insides is a nasty sticky mess that I'm always regretting for days after.

And hey, there is are perks-  the doctor told me no snow shoveling this winter! And I get to wear this totally awesomely decorated cast for a while!

Have you ever broken a bone? What kinds of things did you miss out on and did you find any "perks" to the situation?

[Spring update: The kids ACTUALLY did shovel all winter and they did a good job with out whining! May I never have to shovel again!]