Pumpkin Potpourri

We had so many comments on our car decorations (above) at the ward 'Trunk-or-Treat', that I figured I might as well show the pumpkins off a bit on the blog this year. Carving a pumpkin is probably my favorite part of Halloween, so we try to put in as much effort as possible. This year was the best yet.

Sadly, our boys weren't as interested in carving this year. Jordan cut two tiny eyes out of one and let Mommy do the rest. Carter picked a pattern and then made me carve all of it. Davis shouted in frustration that the pumpkin wouldn't fit in his mouth.

TLC and I have been using stencils to create pumpkins since we were hitched, but our selection was usually limited to whatever we could find at the grocery store. This year we used ZombiePumpkins, and a world of options was opened. I chose Edgar Allan Poe, because I love his works and he's just darn creepy on a pumpkin! It's probably the most detailed carving I've ever done, but it still only took about 90 minutes, and it's well worth the result, methinks.

For 2003, Cynthia carved the name of our newborn, Jordan, into the mouth of a pumpkin. For the sake of equal parental treatment, all three boys have had a pumpkin like this. (Not that they care at this age...) The lid is always intentionally placed on incorrectly to give a scarecrow-ish appearance. Funny how family traditions spontaneously occur.

This is TLC's creation. I wasn't sold on the idea of an owl, but man...this bird looks menacing when lit up! This stencil is also from ZombiePumpkins. It almost makes me sick that she can make such perfect tips and edges.

This is the pumpkin that Carter picked out and then had me carve. Not gonna lie, I kinda phoned this one in. Doesn't quite have the same amount of polish as the other pumpkins. But it's still pretty cool.