Halloween Part 2: Pumpkins

Pumpkins are probably the biggest part of Halloween at our house.  Every year Zac and I get very competitive and started a competition years back with our jack-o-lanterns.  We must come up with an original idea out of our own heads, that we have never seen before on the Internet.  I have to stay off of Pinterest for months before Halloween so that I don't accidentally see any great jack-o-lantern ideas.  We always carve the pumpkins the week of Halloween and post the pictures on Facebook for our friends and family to vote.  This year the prize was $25 that the winner must spend selfishly on themselves and the loser has to make the date and make sure that the winner actually spends the money.

Of course, after watching Zac and I compete for years in this manner, the kids have started getting competitive too and wanted in.  I hesitated.  If one of them wins, then that means four of them would lose and as a parent, I hate having to tell any of my children that they aren't a "winner".  But the more I thought about it, the more I decided that maybe it would be a good learning opportunity.  How many times in life will my children compete and potentially lose... sports, science fairs, school competitions and competing for scholarships and employment, just to name a few.  I decided that we could take this opportunity to teach the kids real sportsmanship in a friendly family setting and how to put their best foot forward in competition.  The kids who planned their pumpkins out and prepared carefully did better than those who just plunged a knife into their pumpkins and then decided what they wanted to carve.

Dad helped Bronson, but Bronson told Dad what kind of eyes, nose, and mouth that he wanted.

He was THRILLED with the whole experience.

Everyone worked hard.

And Whitlee was a good sport while watching in her walker.

 

Everyone was happy with the way their pumpkins turned out.

Ian's Pumpkin Psycho

Tanner's Cabin Comforts 

Ashlyn's "Whooo Loves Halloween"

Charlotte's Pumpkin Shapes

And Bronson's Green Troll Pumpkin

We put the kids pumpkins up for a vote on Facebook and kept a running tally all week.  In the end Ashlyn's pumpkin took first place and she received a trophy that she will get to sign and keep all year.  I had a couple of kids who were slightly disappointed that their pumpkins didn't receive more votes, but we focused them on cheering for their siblings and all was well in the end.  This is definitely a tradition we will repeat.

And then there was the adult division:

Zac's, Separation of Spirit and Pumpkin (After a Tragic Carving Death)

Dang he is so clever!

And mine: Radioactive

Okay, so I bombed it this year, like bad.... but can I just explain my thought process?  I thought, that I could break glow sticks and paint them on the pumpkin and create a glowing effect that would last all night.  I also painted that sucker with COATS of glow in the dark paint before the glow sticks just to reinforce that eerie "radioactive" glowing effect.

It worked-ish for about 5 minutes, and then it was just a big slimy nasty mess.

And so, I resorted to trick photography to try to get the radioactive effect I was going for.

But the voters didn't buy it and Zac won by a landslide.

And the unfortunate part is that I was trying very hard all week to model good sportsmanlike behavior for the kids and so I didn't get to cuss or smash pumpkins or throw a cat against a wall.  I just smiled and said "Isn't daddy so clever.  I am so lucky that I get to take him on a date and reward his brilliance."  And truly that is how I feel.

But NEXT year he is going DOWN.