Pumpkin Spooktacular!

We found some HUGE pumpkins at a local nursery. It was raining, so the process of searching for THE perfect pumpkin was quicker than normal. We found a few perfect ones, but they all seemed to be rotten or split from the rain, I suspect. We finally settled on a few, and managed to talk the lady down on her prices.



I still think we got a hell of a deal with the ones we came away with! $7 for one and $5 for the other!!! Not too shabby! Although...the pumpkin in the middle cost a LOT more than that! Tee hee!



After laying out newspaper to protect the table, Calli was given a Sharpie to sketch out the face she wanted on her pumpkin. She decided on a face that was 1/2 nice and 1/2 scary. She probably would have included a ponitail, earrings and a necklace if that was a possibility, but carving them would have taken all night.



Removing the "lid" was ok...



But we had to bargain to get her to put her hands inside and pull out the guts. She insisted she needed gloves! I can only assume she remembers the way I gutted my pumpkin last year with full arms covered! I was a little less stiff this year.



They turned out pretty well in the end! After the carving party!!



I wonder how my pumpkin magically appeared as a Princess??!! Strange how many things get dressed up as princesses in this house...lamps, teddy bears, dolls, chairs...pumpkins...



Mine had some cool warts that I chose to use as eyes. But they didn't show up very well in the dark!



Here is Calli's freshly carved:



And here it is lit outside!



Adam carved a spooky pumpkin and had a great idea to make it even cooler. He broke open a glow stick and slimed the pumpkin with it, but because it was raining, the glowing slime didn't turn out quite the way he had envisioned. It's too bad, because it was a pretty cool idea.



Here it is when it was lit.



And now to prepare the pumpkins for a whole array of recipes! We have soup, pies and pumpkin and potato pancakes planned. I better get busy!