In Which Horomones and Pumpkin Guts Take Over....

A great family tradition involving sharp knives, permanent markers and lots of mess that we look forward to every year is pumpkin carving! What better way to spend time as a family than to stand in the dark on the driveway on the coldest night of the year and cut holes in vegetables? I mean who wouldn't want to join in the fun?! Pumpkin carving was so easy when the kids were little. We would cut a happy little face in their pumpkins after they had scooped out a few seeds and they would be so excited as they ran off to bed in their footy pajamas. NOT ANYMORE!!!

This years event involved a power saw, drill, knives, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Tyler's experience was pleasant enough. After all, he is 14 and knows everything, therefore needs no assistance with his giant squash. Josh also enjoyed the evening. What more could a 6 year old boy ask for than to throw pumpkin guts on his sisters while his daddy carves his pumpkin? And the girls......oh the girls......

First of all, Meghan is a perfectionist. This requires at least 30 minutes of scraping the inside of her pumpkin until all sides are equal, level and the same shade of orange. Then she spends the next 30 minutes or so deciding on the exact position of the lucky pumpkin's facial features. Finally she is willing to hand her pumpkin over to daddy to use his wonderful power tools on. (This is daddy's favorite part) The problem was daddy did not follow her specific instructions and made her pumpkin's eye the wrong shape! Let the cry fest begin....

Meanwhile, on planet hormone, Katy is diligently working on her pumpkin. Her frozen pumpkin. Apparently the poor orange orb had gotten a little frost bitten the night before and was not being very cooperative when it came to slicing it's eyes out. We couldn't cut it with the knife or the saw! Katy was becoming very upset because her pumpkin's eyelashes were not working the way she wanted. Daddy suggested that he could "start" the hole with the drill and then maybe she could finish it with the knife. She reluctantly agreed and daddy proceeded. What was heard next went something like this...."Daaaaaaadyyyyy, you ruuuuuiiiined it! The eye is toooo big! My WHOLE pumpkin is ruuuuiiiiined! You ruuuuiiiiin everything!" Keep in mind that this was very high pitched and loud enough for them to hear it in China! At this point poor daddy can't take it anymore and goes inside with the boys. This left me, with my own hormonal issues, to proceed with pumpkin rescue. I finally, somewhat forcefully, convinced the girls that if they wanted pumpkins we would do it my way or the highway! I did say it very sweetly though.

All in all the evening was mostly enjoyable. The pumpkins all got faces, the children ran up to bed in their pajamas without feet, and I had the pleasure of hosing off the driveway at 10:00 at night in the freezing cold. Gee, can't wait to do it again next year! Good times....good times....