Pumpkins

We grew pumpkins as usual this year.  For the last few years we've ended up with anywhere from 20 - 30 pumpkins.  This year we did a different variety.  We got 4 rather large pumpkins.  I'm pretty sure little brother's was as big as him and weighed more.  Then we of course had the giant one that husband's dad grew.  Please to enjoy our carved masterpieces!

 Big brother's  He and his cousins and big sister were The Avengers for Halloween, so this was appropriate.  It didn't turn out quite like I envisioned (note the toothpicks holding it together) but close enough!

 Big sister's.  I found a minion pattern and she was SO excited to carve this one!  She marked the pattern on the pumpkin and carved a lot of it on her own.  Unfortunately, the pumpkins we grew were really thick, so our normal tools were not up to the challenge.  Mommy ended up helping her finish.  So proud of her for doing so much on her own this year, though!

 Little sister's.  She wanted something scary but not too scary.  She loved her little ghosty!

 Little brother's.  Pretty sure we've done this pattern before, but this is what he picked out.  He liked the silly face - definitely did NOT want any scary faces!

 The BIG one!  We almost didn't carve it because we thought it would be such a pain, but husband decided to just cut the top off and see how that went.  It ended up being very easy to cut through, easier than our smaller ones.  So he gutted it and carved a traditional jack-o-lantern.  All straight lines, making that part easy, too.  We got lots of compliments on it!

 All ready for trick-or-treaters.  It makes me a little sad that we only get about a dozen.  Our street is short and it's usually only our house that is lit up for the kiddos, so we only get the teenagers.  Ah, well!  More Almond Joys for me!

 Little sister had to do a book report pumpkin.  She was supposed to pick a book and then decorate/carve her pumpkin as one of the characters.  She chose Horton the Elephant.  She really wanted me to carve an elephant.  I was so not doing that.  I am all about the simplifying.  I told her we'd make the pumpkin into the egg.  We have red paint and white paint already, so voila.  Husband and I went on a breakfast date the morning before it was due and decided to see if we could find a cheap stuffed elephant to stick on top.  Ta da!  Laziness is the mother of creativity, I guess!  Of course, now all the kids are fighting over who gets the elephant so I had to hide it.

Not sure why big brother did not want to smile for me.  This kind of puts into perspective how big Jack was, and therefore how big our other pumpkins were, too!