Wordless Wednesday: Pumpkins!

 

Last Few Pumpkins

 Leena did a Tron symbol for her pumpkin.

She's hoping to do a blue light inside.










Mxyl did a Divine Mercy image on his - it should look really cool when it's lit up!

Pumpkin Carving

 All sorts of interesting and creative pumpkins this year!

Oob decided he wanted to do a candle inside of a candle inside of a candle (the third candle is the actual candle in the pumpkin).

The design is both cut out and carved.






 Choclo did a pumpkin with Luigi on one side, and Waluigi on the other.

If you don't understand the reference, it's...complicated, but you can try watching this.

 Zorg went for creepy.

Klenda painted hers with a steampunk design, then did a Kirby inspired Dr. Doom carving.

Leena hasn't done hers yet, and I still need to get a picture of Mxyl's, so I'll post theirs later.

Getting Ready for Halloween

 It's almost here!

 We've been painting pumpkins and webbing up the front porch.

This year we have a lot of actual spiderwebs which have been building up over the past month.  I'm not sure where the actual spiders came from, but the real and fake webs can stay for another week!

We will carve the pumpkins this weekend, which probably means roasted pumpkin seeds: yum!

I think I might also cook one of the eating pumpkins, maybe for pie,, or maybe to make candied pumpkin (double yum!).

Choclo and Oob haven't chosen costumes yet, which is fine by me.  I learned a long time ago not to set up costumes too early - they will invariably be tired of them and make something else at the last minute.

The older Zoomlians have picked out the candy they will be giving out, so the critical part is done!

Pumpkins

Painted Pumpkins

 One October, many years ago, we bought 6 pumpkins, one for each kid, and stored them festively on the porch, waiting for carving.

Someone stole one, evidently thinking that we had a lot of pumpkins, and wouldn't miss one.  We did.

Leena's Tahu mask, Oob's Soundwave, Zorg's Deathstroke

For those of you living in other climates, around here you can't carve your pumpkins more than a few days before Halloween, because, after that, they start to rot.

Mxyl's Wanderer above a Sea of Fog

But we figured out that we could paint our pumpkins, and since then, we've painted our pumpkins with Biocolor, a kind of washable paint that you can peel off of any nonporous surface.  When we're ready to carve, we peel and wash off the paint and go at it!

Klenda's Hydra

 It's actually doubled our enjoyment: we get to do two fun and creative things with our pumpkins!


Usually, I neither paint nor carve a pumpkin because I'm helping out various kids.  As they get older, and need less help, I find myself at loose ends.

This year, I started doodling on a white (eating) pumpkin with a marker, and then on a gourd, and then things got out of hand.

 But it was fun!

Halloween Stuff

 The Boy Scouts had their Scary Movie Night last night. 

Besides watching a scary movie (Jurassic Park this year), they dress up for fun. 

This, obviously, is Zorg as Darth Chickenus.

I was going to pun on that, but I chickened out.

 And we've been carving pumpkins.

I'd like to go on record that I love Minecraft.  It is now my favorite thing ever.

Everything about Minecraft is square and easy to cut into a pumpkin.

Each pumpkin comes out exactly as the kid envisioned it.  

Thank you Minecraft!  I've never had such an easy Halloween in my life.

 

Leena did Bionicle on her pumpkin, and it's all complicated curves, but that's fine because she did it entirely on her own.

On the back she carved the Bionicle motto: Unity, Duty, Destiny.

Did I mention that she and Klenda have joined the crew at Bionicle Comedy Central?  They have!

Klenda is carving her pumpkin using her wood carving tools, and she isn't done yet.  I'll update with hers when she finishes.

And, of course, I'll post actual costumes tomorrow.

Big Pumpkins

Here are Choclo and Oob's pumpkins snuggled up in the red chair, with Zorg's Iron Man vs. Hulk pumpkin nearby.










And here are Leena's Earth Pumpkin and Klenda's Winged Wolf.






In other pumpkin news, we have a Brode Galeux D’Eysines, which means "Embroidered with warts from Eysines."  Can you guess which one  that is?

I think it's beautiful, warts and all.  It's also supposed to taste great!

The other two are the bright orange "Cinderella," and the tawny "Fairy Tale," two of the best tasting pumpkins I've ever had.

From my experiments pies last year, Cinderella had the best combination of flavor and texture for pies, and Fairy Tale had the best flavor, well, ever.  It's the only pumpkin I've ever eaten raw (slice it thin, it's amazing!).