Pumpkins 2009

Over fall break, Ava and I laid integral plans for our Halloween preparations. We shopped for costumes, created goodie bags for her preschool party, and prepared to carve pumpkins. This year, instead of creating our own designs, we opted to buy templates from Wal-Mart, along with carving tools. I personally preferred this method, since we were able to carve without the use of knives. Last year, Ava was very respectful of the dangerous tools of pumpkin-carving, but I didn’t want to push my luck again.

Together, we chose two templates to carve: a wicked witch and a demon face peeking through blinds. Because the witch was listed as a difficult design, I convinced Ava to begin with the demon face. Luckily, the day we chose to carve was beautiful and crisp—perfect for the task at hand. We moved Ava’s picnic table onto the front porch and arranged our tools. She was in charge of de-gutting, which she loved, while I tried to figure out the new carving methods. Hudson watched through the screen door from his bouncy seat, surprisingly interested in our goings-on.

Almost two hours later, we finished our first pumpkin. This explains why the other one has yet to be carved. If the easy pattern took two hours, I can only imagine how long the witch would take. Hopefully we can manage to finish that one before Halloween actually arrives. Keep your fingers crossed!

More Halloween magic to come in a later post….