Pumpkins = mess

Noah has several favorite words; one of them is "messy." That definitely fits the bill for what happened at the McCallen house tonight. Our whole living room was "messy" from our successful and unsuccessful attempts at carving pumpkins.


It all started out innocently enough. David and I each took a pumpkin and began scooping out the guts. In a rare change of pace, Noah decided to pop a squat with me (instead of Daddy!), and climbed on my lap to help scoop. That means he looked into the pumpkin a lot and he waved around the scooper as if directing an invisible choir of ghosts and goblins.


But once the guts of the gourds started filling our garbage bowl (yes, I watch Rachel Ray), he became fascinated by the pumpkin innards. He ran his fingers through them; He dropped long strings of slimy stuff on the floor; He ate a few bites of raw pumpkin (and said, "Mmm!"); and then he began to re-stuff our hollowed globes as David and I carved.


Ahh, the carving. I pride myself on always carving intricate, advanced and stunning pumpkins. I buy those cheapie kits in the store that come with carving tools and patterns, and I spend sometimes hours making my pumpkin glow just so. This year I failed on all accounts. I don't know if I was distracted by the nearly-17-month-old running around (those mini carving knives are hard to keep track of!) or if I was just off my game, but I totally fouled up my design.


Originally I was going to carve this spooky-looking kitty because Noah loves them almost as much as dogs. In fact, he kept pointing to the pattern picture saying, "Kitty!" (insert big smile here). But as I carved, I realized too late that I didn't carve the delicate areas first. By neglecting the proper carving order, I found that slim pieces of pumpkin would disconnect as I sawed, crumbling the facade of my kitty image.

The final straw was when the perfectly curved tail came off in my hands. Darn! Perturbed and perplexed, I violently sawed the kitty off at the base and pitched my frankenstein-esque feline to the side.

Then I took stock. Hmm... big gaping circle with some curling stuff at the top. I decided to add some more fluff and call it "The Gates of Hell." David more accurately named it "The Pineapple." Oh well. It's definitely not my best effort. Although, from the side, it looks like I carved a pumpkin within a pumpkin... and that's kind of cool.


As for David, he did a fantastic job! He freehanded a piece that said NOAH on top with a silly smiley face on the bottom. It's so darn cute. And big dude was just tickled about it. His chubby little finger couldn't resist poking at the glowing spaces.


Botched kitties-turned-pineapples aside, it really was a fun way to spend a few hours. And I think Noah's first carving experience was a success. Judging from the giant bowl of pumpkin goo and the status of my living room floor, it's obvious that a good time was had by all.

The Pineapple/Gates of Hell & the Noah Silly Face