The last time I carved a pumpkin, my mother was holding the knife. I'm thinking I was about ten, before it was not longer adorable to entertain me and before I discovered boys. A couple days ago I was in Fresh Market and they had big gorgeous pumpkins, so I came home and asked Corey if he wanted to carve pumpkins this weekend. He said no. So this morning when I was at Albertson's and they had huge pumpkins two for $6, I did what he loves so very much for me to do. I bought two of them.
I'm so very tired of being that beast that fusses and bitches and corrects short people all day. Landen is grounded for yet another conduct mark, so he's without electronics privileges for the weekend. I grabbed a little bit of daylight this evening and surprised Landen with my two big pumpkins. I sent Corey a bunch of stencils today to print, so while we waited for him to come home with those, the boys and I set about prepping the pumpkins for carving.
First you have to start with a giant pumpkin. I do not remember watching my mom struggle so much to get a knife through a pumpkin top. Also, how are you supposed to cut that shit in a circle? Mine could barely be described as an octagon.
Thankfully Landen was willing and eager to scoop out the guts of the pumpkins. It's so very nasty and icky and gooey and that's just the shit that boys are made of.
Not surprising, Jake was much more interested in the knives than in the goo that is the center of the pumpkin. Also, please notice how he crosses his toes.
See?! Excited about the ick. He actually did a great job of using the ice cream scoop to scrape the seeds and the pumpkins bits from the pumpkins and then use his very own digits to pull the yuck out. If you have a dog who helps you do everything and eats a bunch of goo, do not freak out. It's not poisonous to dogs.
This is the look of a boy who has been commanded for the last time not to touch that knife and who is trying with every fiber of his little being to not touch the knife again.
So when Corey got home we taped the stencils to the pumpkins and used safety pins to poke a bunch of holes in the lines of the stencil. Corey and I worked on a pumpkin and Jake and Landen worked on a pumpkin.
Here you might be shocked to find a photo of the very husband who, when asked whether he would like to carve pumpkins, denied any desire to participate in the activity. Yet here he sits, at dusk in our driveway, poking holes in a pumpkin with a safety pin. That's why I keep him.
And Cousin It came to our pumpkin-carving party.
Have I ever mentioned on here that the only activities that Murphy does not participate in are ones that involve nudity? There is nothing a member of his family (maybe mostly me) can engage in that he does not want to be right in the middle of. Folding clothes? Invited. Waking the boys up in the morning? Him first. Carving a pumpkin? Sign him up.
As night fell and I went off to grill steaks and make homemade potato skins, Corey was left with the cutting, led by the light of the MagLight Landen was holding.
It is really hard to cut a pumpkin. It does not slice easily, and the two I got were really thick. It took the strength and dexterity of Corey's hands to get them cut, even though we did not make it through the process with the center part of the "A" intact.
At the end, we had a pumpkin with a regular nose and a bat for a mouth.
And the outline of the letter "A."
After they were done I took them outside and sprayed them with a bleach-water mixture to keep them from molding and getting nasty before Halloween. After they dry, I'll be rubbing the cut edges with Vaseline, which is supposed to prevent them from drying and shrinking.
Both little boys thought the pumpkin process was fun. We talked about how much they remember their mom liked Halloween. They were really excited to see the candles light up the inside of the pumpkins. Next year, Landen wants to help Corey combine two different stencils to make a "Two-Face" pumpkin. Jake wants to draw his own stencil. I'd just like to make an intact "A." We managed to get through it without anybody yelling or snarling or snapping at anyone.
Happy Weekend, Internets!
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