(Michael blogging...) Even though tonight was a school night - it also was one of the few nights we had left where we'd have all the kids together at one time before Halloween. Ergo, we rationed, we must carve pumpkins! So - with that, Ethan and I and his friend Marissa, shuffled off to Fred Meyer to pick out three shiny orange gourds (but of course had to settle for dirty ones).
Now - undoubtedly, your first reaction must be: "But, Michael! You have six kids in the house. How could three pumpkins be enough?!?!" Because! This summer Laura and I bought a few pumpkin plants from the Beaverton Farmer's market and planted them on the side of the house. A week or so ago, we harvested our bountiful crop and reaped a net total of four healthy sized pumpkins! Yowza!
Now armed with seven total pumpkins and our ever-sturdy little carving k
nives, Laura and I orchestrated a giant pumpkin-carving event of which all kids participated. First we lopped off the tops of the pumpkins and set the kids to the task of degutting the seeds and innards. After about 20 minutes of that - all the pumpkins had been scraped more thoroughly than a fisherman's' knuckles.However, before anyone was allowed to cut into the face of their pumpkin - each kid was asked to draw their design idea on a 3x5 card so that Laura and I could assist with the actual carving, when needed. All the drawings were pretty standard for pumpkin fare - although Emma's pumpkin was to come complete with eyelashes and Carter's initial drawing looked simply like a pumpkin that had been strafed with gunfire (I urged him to reconsider and he acquiesced).
Getting Emma to dip her arm into the juicy guts and seeds of the pumpkin was the most difficult task of the night. The best I could get her to do was to gingerly and carefully lower her arm into the pumpkin just enough to grab a single seed with two fingers - and then
reverse the process to take the seed out - taking extreme caution to never let her arm graze the side of the pumpkin shell. It was like a live-action, Halloween version of the board game "Operation." Once the seed was removed, she held it out in front of her like a dead cockroach and dropped it into the garbage can - thoroughly nonplussed with the entire experience. Nonetheless, all the other boys (and Marissa, too) dove into the task with zeal and aplomb.Eventually, all pumpkins were carved and Laura set them alight on the front porch. While I still have misty-eyed reverie for my Obama pumpkin from two years ago - I must say, these are a pretty fine damn bunch of pumpkins!
Next year, Laura and I will plant our pumpkin starters in a different spot in the yard and (hopefully) we'll get a bigger yield. Who knows - maybe we'll have so many we'll need to make all forms of pumpkin-based desserts and baked goods out of them - just like the amazing pumpkin pecan crumble cake that I am just now polishing off! Now - bring on the trick-or-treaters!
