Halloween!

Always a fan favorite in the OmaHeck household, Halloween is the annual introduction to fall. We love to decorate our house and ourselves... This year's celebration began way back in May when Cyndie and I plopped some pumpkin seeds in a corner of the garden. Mother Nature and Nebraska soil rewarded our efforts (apparently not much is required) and we got some pretty decent pumpkins.

We lost a few along the way. They boys know that if you knock the pumpkin off its vine in August or September, no matter how big it is, it will get mushy. Tate loved to tell me that "another pumpkin is rotting" and to ask when it will be completely decomposed. But our harvest ended well and we had some pretty good sized ones.

Now looking at this picture, you might think that Dane has had some kind of unfortunate accident and lost his leg. Let me assure you that he is completely intact, and the missing leg may have been his way of channeling his 2007 costume (see below).















Carving the pumpkins with Dad is an annual tradition. We got it in under the wire, and were pretty excited to let our friends know that from seed to harvest to design to carving (and pulling out the guts first!) these bad boys were 100% home-grown.













The take this year was as bountiful as ever, and we had lots of fun running the neighborhood with friends and seeing the decorated houses that seem to get better each year.

Here are a few more shots of the boys' costumes... These hams can really play it up!