Carving Pumpkins

I've officially carved my first pumpkin as an adult! And though I'm sure we did (my mom is very artsy), I don't remember carving them as a kid, either (back to the memory issue and the reason I started this blog in the first place!).

So yesterday I decided to overcome my slight paranoia that I wouldn't have a clue as to what I was doing. I watched a YouTube video by the Pumpkin Lady on how to carve a pumpkin, went to Michael's for the pumpkin-carving kit (so I wouldn't have to use a knife and potentially slice a finger), and got home-bound-with-the-swine-flu Ivie fired up for carving. What better way to spend a day off, right?

This morning we set to work. I say we, because Ivie had all intentions of helping me. She was so excited to put bats and stars (one of the little cut-out kits we came home with yesterday) in the pumpkin.

Her excitement lasted about 2 minutes. The time it took me to cut the top off the pumpkin and pop it out. Then, seeing the goo inside, she exclaimed, "DisGUSTin'!" and made an awful face. In that instant, she became nothing more than a casual observer, and even that lasted only until she got sidetracked by the Wizard of Oz movie that was playing in the living room. So the carving was left entirely to me...

I started with the aforementioned bats and stars on one of our smaller pumpkins. Figured that would be a nice way to ease into the activity (and a less-expensive pumpkin to throw out if I ruined it). But I didn't! So I quickly moved on to the grandaddy of our pumpkins. While perusing the internet for free carving patterns, I came across one of the Tin Man. Since we have a Wizard of Oz theme going this year (with Ivie dressing as Dorothy and Macie as the Scarecrow), it seemed like the logical choice. (And I'm not going to lie - the apparent simplicity of the pattern was a huge factor, as well...)

The best part of the whole experience? Dale walked in the door after his lunch meeting and said, "Is that the Tin Man?". Yea! It's recognizable!

So here's our family of newly-carved (and otherwise-decorated) pumpkins...