Monday, June 05, 2006
Gradual update #6 -- Carving Pumpkins
OK, yes I'm back from my 11-day TDY to Berlin, and yes we went to Legoland Deutchland this past weekend...but I haven't completely downloaded or sorted through my photos yet. Soooo, here's another gradual update to tide everyone over until I get the more recent photos and narratives ready. Enjoy!
The kids had fun selecting and getting pumpkins ready for Halloween, although MacKenzie and Benjamin were a little hesitant when it came time to scoop the guts out of the pumpkin. MacKenzie had made a jack-o-lantern in school with her class and had already brought it home, so she was more than willing to help Benjamin with his pumpkin...except for sticking her hand inside, that is. Benjamin carefully watched at first, but slowly got the hang of the operation, although he preferred using one of his spoons to scoop the guts out...and was working at a feverish pace of about two to three seeds per scoop. I had to step in and help speed things up a bit, otherwise he wouldn't have finished his pumpkin before Christmas! Zachary, on the other hand, made quick work of his guts, and was ready to dive into personalizing the face well before MacKenzie and Benjamin were ready with theirs.
Since we didn't start this project until October 30, we decided to go the quick and easy route...meaning we didn't actually carve these two pumpkins, but rather pounded colored pegs through the shells to decorate them. Zachary opted to still make a jack-o-lantern with a face, but Benjamin opted to create a ghost on his pumpkin (from a pattern...he didn't come up with the idea completely on his own). 
We only had two miniature mallets (one per peg set), so Zachary ended up using a larger one we already had, while letting MacKenzie and Benjamin wield the smaller ones. They were all pretty good at hammering the pegs in! And, more importantly, they had fun doing so!! However, I didn't realize until it was time to toss the pumpkins just exactly how hard they had hammered the pegs in... It was quite a chore to get the pegs back out so we can reuse them in the future.
But, ultimately, we reached the desired endstate of having three carved and decorated pumpkins sitting out on the front steps in time for trick-or-treaters. Whew!
The kids had fun selecting and getting pumpkins ready for Halloween, although MacKenzie and Benjamin were a little hesitant when it came time to scoop the guts out of the pumpkin. MacKenzie had made a jack-o-lantern in school with her class and had already brought it home, so she was more than willing to help Benjamin with his pumpkin...except for sticking her hand inside, that is. Benjamin carefully watched at first, but slowly got the hang of the operation, although he preferred using one of his spoons to scoop the guts out...and was working at a feverish pace of about two to three seeds per scoop. I had to step in and help speed things up a bit, otherwise he wouldn't have finished his pumpkin before Christmas! Zachary, on the other hand, made quick work of his guts, and was ready to dive into personalizing the face well before MacKenzie and Benjamin were ready with theirs.
Since we didn't start this project until October 30, we decided to go the quick and easy route...meaning we didn't actually carve these two pumpkins, but rather pounded colored pegs through the shells to decorate them. Zachary opted to still make a jack-o-lantern with a face, but Benjamin opted to create a ghost on his pumpkin (from a pattern...he didn't come up with the idea completely on his own). 
We only had two miniature mallets (one per peg set), so Zachary ended up using a larger one we already had, while letting MacKenzie and Benjamin wield the smaller ones. They were all pretty good at hammering the pegs in! And, more importantly, they had fun doing so!! However, I didn't realize until it was time to toss the pumpkins just exactly how hard they had hammered the pegs in... It was quite a chore to get the pegs back out so we can reuse them in the future.
But, ultimately, we reached the desired endstate of having three carved and decorated pumpkins sitting out on the front steps in time for trick-or-treaters. Whew!Labels: Benjamin, MacKenzie, Zachary
