Pumpkin Pandemonium

Halloween is finally close enough that we decided to go out over the weekend and get our pumpkins for carving. We went to a nearby nursery that always has lots of fun activities for the kids (for those who know the area Green Valley Nursery.) It was a gorgeous day for it!
Of course, lots of people get one family pumpkin for carving and maybe a smaller one or two for the wee ones in the family. That would be just way too simple for our family, so we each pick out our own big pumpkin. Wayne didn't really feel up to pumpkin carving challenge at the moment so he decided he would just be WiseGuy's assistant later on and helped him pick out a rather small pumpkin (our intention was just for WiseGuy to paint and/or use marker on the thing.) SmartyPants picked out a fairly medium sized pumpkin and i picked out a monster of a thing (it weighed in at 20lbs up at the register!)

When we made it home (after a hayride, going through a corn maze and riding up to Skyline Orchard to pick up some fresh apple cider) we started prepping our work area on the table in the backyard. WiseGuy has no patience...and while we prepped he hopped on his scooter and took off. Thanks for the help, dude! SmartyPants couldn't stand to wait, either, clamoring to get her hands on the carving tools. Unfortunately, we only had one set of carving tools (save for the two pumpkin scrapers i just happened to have.) i didn't think it would be TOO much of a problem since WiseGuy was supposed to be painting his, but, since my family can never do things the EASY way that wasn't going to happen. WiseGuy wanted nothing to do with the carving session and Wayne decided that he wanted to carve WiseGuy's pumpkin. i reminded Wayne of the size of this dwarf pumpkin and he shrugged it off and chose a pirate ship pattern out of the carving pattern book. SmartyPants chose a ghost holding a candelabra and i chose a Jekyll and Hyde type of 2 faced thing.
We gutted our pumpkins, saving the seeds to make baked pumpkin seeds later. The carving didn't seem to take as long this year as it has in the the years passed. Even for SmartyPants...and this was only her second year doing the actual carving! i was thoroughly impressed with Wayne's pirate ship....he didn't kick butt job considering the size of his workspace. Mine didn't turn out too shabby, either.
i have yet to bake those pumpkin seeds. They are laying on a cookie sheet drying. Maybe later today....yeah....maybe later.