Carving Anyone?

We spent the afternoon at Rachel's house today carving Pumpkins! Nothing like a last minute activity! And all I can say is Pumpkin carving has changed a lot over the years. You used to be able to carve a regular face and call it good. Now you have intricate patterns that have to be traced and then cut with exact precision. So when there are 6 pumpkins that need to be carved the task can seem pretty daunting. Especially when your helpers aren't very much help!
We started by cutting the tops off and letting the kids pull out all the guts. Too bad none of the boys wanted anything to do with touching the innards of their pumpkins! The girls at least attempted the process but the boys all freaked out when you tried to make them grab those slimy strings of gunk! So who got to clean all those pumpkins! The adults of course! And I must say we did a pretty darn good job.
Once all the pumpkins were cleaned out it was time for the kids to decide what they wanted on their pumpkins. I think our first error was letting them look at the precreated carving layouts in the book Rachel had found at the store. Because of course they all found the perfect image they wanted to use!! Rydman chose a picture of three coyotes on a mountain top. Emerie chose a head shot of one of the Disney Princess. Quincy wanted a spiderweb and a spider. Cutler wanted a "dinosaur"- it was actually a monster but don't tell him that. The babies were not nearly as particular so we left theirs for last. And even though the kids started out wanting to help, they soon got bored of the process. They did not quite understand why we had to spend so much time outlining the design!
I helped Quincy with her Spiderweb, and by the time I had gotten done with the outlining I realized there was no way that this pattern was actually going to work. The web was way to small leaving less than a 1/2 inch of pumpkin between the parts that needed to be cut out! I cut the first piece but then realized that even if I was really precise, the skin was so thick it was going to be nearly impossible. I knew she wanted a spiderweb, so I decided it would be easier to hand draw it on the pumpkin than it would be to follow the pattern! I think it turned out fairly well considering!
But by the time I was done with that one there was not much time or desire left to do something elaborate for Lincoln. Luckily he just found the carved pumpkins quite fascinating so he was more than thrilled with his face!