Our FIRST Pumpkin Carving.......

OK, so maybe carving isn't quite right.......you see I came across what seemed like the neatest thing at Target- a "Pumpkin Light Up Set" consisting of a mallet, patterns, battery powered mini light and colored plastic 'pegs' to put in the pumpkin. Yes, you're noding your heads, a 'Lite Brite Pumpkin Set". Now really, WHO could walk away? Nope not me, I bought one. Course then I realized we needed TWO for TWO pumpkins, as there was only ONE light, oh DUH.......Anywho, we were out shopping last friday and we went back to Target and got another set, and then darling daughter picks out 2 great pumpkins at the grocery store. (yeah yeah I know, I'm a little behind on this post-life has been busy this week! AND I did preview it on Wordless Wednesday's post-that counts, right????)

Do you know HOW hard it is to keep a 2 1/2 yr old from trying to carve a pumpkin as soon as you get home???? Yup, pumpkins had to go up high. As did the 'sets' as she was fascinated with the colored pegs.....

We decided to wait til Sunday when all the grandparents where there to share the new tradition! Hubby claims he's never done this before so he got given the camera (yes, Trisha (MomDot.com) I have officialy become one of THOSE bloggers who sees a blog in activties we do, ha ha), and my dad acquiesces to dad-in-law (DIL), as he carved many a pumpkin with me. DIL says ok, then, 'oh oh I haven't done this in a whole lotta years'. 'Don't worry I say, it WILL come back to you, and we're doing it an easy way!' Yeah, I'm SO funny aren't I? You KNOW what's coming!

He attacks the pumpkin and we finally get the right knife, and the top off. Then we get to the scooping part. Now I had also bought 2 really cool scoopers at Target that are serrated on both sides to make the scooping go quicker. Plus being the size of a normal serving spoon helps get more pumpkin out in less time. Honestly, even kids need larger carving sets than the ones they make and sell at Target and Walmart these days! Darling daughter does super with the scoop, no accidents, no owies, but will she put her hand inside the pumpkin without the scoop???? That would be a OH NO I WON"T. It was 'yucky'.

So of course, darling daughter wants to stay on a roll.
So take a wild guess who gets to do the fine scraping, while
she and DIL start on the 2nd pumpkin. yeah, you right!

(And yes, I actually THOUGHT out what to wear for
said pictures- blame my mom, she's the one who
taught me to be coordinated from head to toe and
accessories....besides it was for the blog, too, right....
HA HA HA HA)

So then I get first pumpkin done and we trade off
(yeah I get all the fun jobs....I'm the MOM). And then we
have to tape the patterns on, and try to figure out what
to make the holes with, because you see the pumpkins skins
were just a tad TOO hard to just mallet a plastic peg INTO! And of course, there is no such
tool with the set. Of Course................

So luckily we have one of the cheap sets handy (I was a Girl Scout, I did think ahead and be prepared!), so we opt to use of those tools WITH the mallet. Thankfully it was a SMALL mallet as darling daughter can not aim straight when hammering yet and adult thumbs get 'nailed' (sorry I had to use it) frequently during this episode! So we discover once a primary cut is made, we can remove the pattern and it's quite easy to push the pegs into the cuts made. Now here is where we learned another lesson- these patterns look great on paper but when you have an assortment of clear, yellow, green and purple (is this a Mardi Gras pumpkin or WHAT?) pegs, and darling daughter will not stick to just one color per design outline, you don't necesarily understand what you are seeing in the pegs, on the pumpkin when it's done.

We made a bat pattern on one pumpkin and an assorted stars pattern on the other (don't ask it- was an easy design and she loves stars...). It's also 4 hours til dark when we are done, so we go inside and try darkening the room to see how they look. No good, too much light. So now darling daughter has to WAIT.   NOT GOOD...........lots and lots of going up to and touching the pumpkins to see if they are magically lighting up yet....SIGH...at least we had dinner to keep her somewhat busy for 40 minutes!   Oh, and yes, the kit also comes with bat and star peg 'toppers' (another word for ARGHHHH, as you have to put the peg in first in order to make sure the topper stays ON when inserting peg INTO the pumpkin)....You can sorta see the bat outline on pumpkin number 2 here, as well as the bat toppers.

So the end result is we finally get the lights on at dusk and can see what the pumpkins will look like....okay we flashback to Jaws and we decide we need a BIGGER light INSIDE the pumpkin (though the flashing light from the kit is interesting and would probably work pretty well for a small pumpkin-oh yeah, that means 2 more to carve out...) first, but we've got the look at least and darling daughter was extremely happy that the pumpkins were 'happy' (aka lit up) . So here's the best pix we had of the bat pumpkin (the stars pumpkin is at beginning of post). Yes, it's a little blurry as I was being attacked by a horde of mosquitos who had not yet been succombed by the Citronella fumes (this IS Fall right? WHY will those suckers (sorry again) NOT die and go into hibernation????? Anywho, pumpkins are not bad, but I've gotta find bigger lights or 2 battery packs for the balls of Christmas lights I found tangled in holiday box, that definitely had the right amount of light we need per pumpkin! We also decided that hunting down old Lite Brites and using their pegs, and tangled up balls of Christmas lights, is probably a nicer look than the kits,

and a must for NEXT year's pumpkins (and possible a cheaper alternative also...).....

Oh wait, we have to CARVE pumpkin faces next year....hmmmm....

maybe we'll just have FOUR pumpkins next year.....