Carving Pumpkins

10/27 - We had so much fun carving pumpkins!  Spencer had an early out day at school which meant he got home at 1pm.  Aaron leaves for work at 3:30pm so we had just enough time to carve our pumpkins before Dad ran off.  We bought them while Spencer was at school but I managed to get a good one for him.  When he came home and saw it he said, "Mom, how did you know?  That is just the best pumpkin and the one I would have picked!"  I'm glad I knew my Spencer man well enough to pick a perfectly round one with a long stem.

Alex loved his pumpkin.  We put him in his highchair with the pumpkin on his tray and he was just rubbing it and trying to lick it with his crazy long tongue. 

Amelia was napping when we started but we were so short on time that I decided to start without her anyway so we could get done on time.  I got a picture of the other three all ready to go.  Alex was still attempting to lick his.  Miya was perfectly posed and smiling sweetly and Spencer was attacking his pumpkin with his finger tips like he was going to break into it with his bare hands.

Spencer's obvious enthusiasm led to him going first.  Aaron help him cut off the top and he was excitedly disgusted at the "pumpkin guts!"  We gave him a spoon and had him attempt a little clean up while we helped Alex and Miya open theirs. 

Alex, of course, tried to lick his. 

We put the top down and let him play with it.  The sliminess intrigued him and he played happily while we helped Miya.  I did keep a close watch on him to make sure he didn't try to eat any seeds though.

Miya was so funny while Aaron was opening hers.  From the first stab into the top and with every movement she'd say, "you've almost got it.  Keep going.... keep going.... you've almost got it... THERE HURRAY!"  It was so adorable I couldn't help but giggle. 

She was not jazzed about this innards and made yuck face as she cleaned out her pumpkin. Later she inspected her nasty hand while gingerly picking off the goo. 

Spencer on the other hand was all smiles with his.

He was quite proud of his goo hand.

We gave the kids some washable markers to draw their faces on the pumpkins.  It was fun to see what Spencer came up with. 

His entire pumpkin was designed by him and carefully crafted by Aaron. 

Miya got a little help from Aaron on the drawing and cutting. 

She's not yet the artist she wants to be but has lots of ideas which needed to be carefully executed and paid careful attention to Dad's efforts. 

The finished products were wonderful.  Miya got a princess pumpkin complete with carved crown.  Spencer got a "spooky doctor" pumpkin with a small cross next to his spooky mouth. 

I carved Alex's with the traditional triangle eyes and sparse toothed mouth. 

He approved. 

Alex was so cute loving on his pumpkin.

Amelia woke up just as I finished Alex's pumpkin, perfect timing!  I let her draw on her pumpkin to and she created a masterpiece of swirls and shapes. 

I let her look inside and she was so cute with her excitement but was not loving the idea of cutting up her new pumpkin. 

I asked her what shape she wanted the nose and gave her options.  She said "tri-hangle" (it's all about the extra H with her).  However, when I removed the nose and popped out the superfluous part she was so sad.  She pointed to the hole and said, "ooh NO!  Uh oh nose!" 

She had a hard time getting past it but when she recovered she decided on circles for the eyes.  Maybe I should stop here and mention how this kid blows me away that she knows all her shapes.  We have this shape puzzle and she can name all of them even the octagon!  Anyway, so I cut out the eyes and she promptly yoinked the carving tool from my hand.  Fished out the eye shape from the pumpkin yuck bowl and used the carving tool to smash it back into place (without any luck) while continually saying "uh oh eye" under her breath.  She finally decided it couldn't be fixed and maybe it was more fun this way and let me make a big smiley face and we were finished. 

The group shot was so cute!  I was holding up Alex but hiding behind the kids so it's just the four of them with their custom made pumpkins.  Two minutes after this picture Aaron left for work, we made it just in time.