DON'T BE FRIGHTENED!
Nicholas' lit jack-o'-lantern
Mr. Death is who Nicholas chose for his pumpkin pattern this year, but that's getting ahead of myself!
After his last soccer game of the season this past Saturday morning, we took Nicholas to the pumpkin patch. 'We' was Amy, Uncle Mark, Donica and me. As you'd guess, I took scads of pics (unphotoshopped) but this (above) was my favorite! He was so cute trying to pick up the pumpkin he picked out for himself (and gets extra points for bending his knees!)
Amy's garage was the "manufacturing plant." Mark was in his spot with his own pumpkin; Amy was in her spot with hers. Across from them was Nicholas, with Donica helping him figure it all out. Somewhere along the way, they both agreed that Nicholas' pumpkin would not quite work for the pattern he chose, so they switched with the 4th "extra" pumpkin, slimmer but taller.
Then they went at it! The slimy, slippery, messy seeds inside were carefully saved, every one! We all had anticipation for the roasted seeds to come, thanks to Amy's delicious recipe.
The tedious punching of holes on the pattern was all part of the suspense for Mr. Death. No one doubted for one second that he would be ferocious. And so he was/is! But as I said,
DON'T BE FRIGHTENED!
Even Nicholas would say, "It's just pretend!" It's all part of our lovely Halloween tradition, right?!
Ginnie, that pumpkin is neat; you can tell Nicholas I said so. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I will be checking out the possibility you emailed me about. I'm just always too busy to get at new things as quick as I would like. One of my church positions will be ending next September so that should free up some time in about a year. I'll just have to watch that I don't take on new obligations. :)
Oh Ginnie - How much fun was this! I love all the pictures - but you're right - picking up the pumpkin IS THE BEST! I am really in the spirit now. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a scary, scary pumpkin - you guys did a great job! I love it.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting into the spirit today too and preparing some Halloween goodies for the kids.
That is one scary pumpkin! You did a wonderful job. I can't wait to be back in Canada to really get into the mood. In Switzerland, it's still not very popular. Although live in a community with quite a few expats, I wonder how many kids will be coming by this evening.
ReplyDeleteTim: Awww. Yes, we'll tell him everyone thinks it's scary :)
ReplyDeleteI'll respond to your other comment via e-mail.
Judy: I think you've been in the spirit a long time, based on what your house looked like at the beginning of the month!
Christina: Donica and Nicholas get ALL the credit! Do they do trick-or-treating in Germany? I don't think I ever asked.
CS: When you grow up with this, it's just not the same when people aren't in the spirit or don't know the tradition. BTW, no kids ever come to our house because we're so far back in the woods. But one year we lit pumpkins at the top of the drive to induce kids down the drive. Guess it's too scary in the dark :)
I love the picture of him bending over to pick out the perfect specimen for his carving!!
ReplyDeleteYou know you're kids are grown when noone asks to carve the pumpkins by our front door, and only one is going "tricks and treats"! I, on the other hand, have a dress rehearsal tonight for a Florida Voices concert this weekend (blog soon to come), and am dressing up as Woody from Toy Story!
I love Halloween, even at 40!! :)Have a great time tonight...oh, btw, is Nicholas a "pillowcase" or "plastic pumpkin" carrier? My preference is pillowcase--holds more stuff! ;)
Adorable pic of Nicholas as everyone agrees. And what a great pumpkin! You'll see I have a jack-o' on my East Lansing blog.
ReplyDelete(I tried embedding a link to my blog, but the tag was broken; too long I guess.)
Oh, and did "someone" purposely dress him in maize and blue for this photo op?? :D
ReplyDeleteThe word verification is "umfhjg" so I think it stands for "U of M flying high just gags," with no offense intended.
All the jack-o'-lanterns looks great! And so do all the pics in the album. So good to see everyone.
ReplyDeleteI saw on one of the food shows someone carving pumpkins without cutting all the way through -- with an exacto knife, then scraping away the rind. You can still see the light shining through the now-thin rind, which makes a very cool look. I'm going to try that next year. It seems to allow more control. All that thick rind is hard to cut through! Your family looks so cute doing it! :)
Ok, I think that's all. :|
Great, great pictures! I just love jack o' lanterns!
ReplyDeleteThat Nicholas is absolutely adorable!
Mrs. M/Shari: HA! Some kids do grow up, I guess, and the rest of us stay kids. It was definiutely a fun afternoon for the 4 adults and Nicholas on Saturday when we carved the pumpkins. Actually, I didn't do any carving. I just documented the entire thing! I think Nicholas is a "plastic pumpkin" carrier, as I recall. He'll be with Nick tonight, so who knows! I sure hope someone takes a pic of you as Woody. How cute is that!
ReplyDeleteRuth, Ruth and Ruth! :) I just checked out your
jack-o' on your East Lansing blog and LOVE it! (hopefully my link will work.) You and Don are so talented :)
The UofM sweats Nicholas is wearing is because it was so cold at his soccer game. All the kids had to wear something else besides their uniforms. Donica bought those for him last Christmas, so they really came in handy.
If UofM can keep flying high, there will be NO gags. HA. Thanks for looking at the album, btw. We had so much fun. That sounds like a cool idea with the exacto knife for next year!
Dixie: Awww. Thanks. And do you and B celebrate Halloween, I wonder, there in Germany?
oh that looks like so much fun. The girls house is all decorated and they are anticipating going out tonight, not doing any homework and eating a lot of candy...
ReplyDeleteI'm being good and going to photo class...
I've been blogged out lately and so busy.. But I'm hanging in there. =)
ET: Actually, no one comes to our house because we're back in the woods and it's dark. I guess we had all our fun on Saturday :) I'm glad you're hanging in there!
ReplyDeleteI love halloween, but it's not a big deal over here. I love the photos!
ReplyDeleteNext year I'm going to make a jack-o'-lantern, even if it's only for me :) It all looks like sooo much fun!!
DW: Do it next year and take a pic for the rest of us :)
ReplyDelete