A tradition of pumpkins

Last night we carved pumpkins!  This year was really fun because both of the boys are old enough to pick out what they want and even help a little with the carving.
They opted not to go to a pumpkin patch, saying a grocery store pumpkin was fine.  They spend so much time playing in the woods I think the idea of a pumpkin patch is sort of boring to them.  We really lucked out yesterday and showed up at the grocery store right when they were holding a Halloween event.  The boys got to color a picture for a contest, take part in a cake walk, and "trick or treat" through the store.  Fun!

Carving pumpkins has always been a tradition in my family.  My mom used to take my sister and I to a local nursery to pick out pumpkins.  We would then make the big decision of what to carve.  This was before the day of kits and fancy tools.  I remember free-hand drawing the Batman symbol one year and my sister cutting her finger on a kitchen knife while carving.  Definitely a labor of love back in the "olden days."  I can't talk about carving pumpkins without mentioning the year my best friend and I searched for a pumpkin on Halloween, the small college town she lived in not having any, and finally settling on carving a spaghetti squash.  I don't think I have ever been a year without carving a pumpkin...or some sort of gourd!

This year was super easy as I bought a new kit with plenty of skinny carving tools, a little rotary puncher for the templates and a scoop.
I still had to use my artistic skills to make a Creeper template for E's pumpkin.  If Minecraft is the cool game for boys right now, then my EZ is the king of cool.  Levi opted for a spooky face, he says is a devil.  Cool.
The whole process took less than an hour but we had such a great time.  We danced to the Monster Mash and also listened to Thriller in it's entirety.  Yep, it's still scary!

My template for a Minecraft Creeper

Hard at work.  Photo courtesy of Ezra.

Levi preferred playing with the guts.

Ezra taking a turn at carving.

Finished Jack-o-lanterns!

Happy Halloween!