Jack-o-lantern artistry

Oh, orange pumpkin. Oh, orange pumpkin. How gooey are you inside?

Oh, orange pumpkin. Oh, orange pumpkin. How gooey are you inside?

AJ's fine with digging in.

But Sydney wants no part of it.

Oh, orange pumpkin. Oh, orange pumpkin. How gooey are you inside?

Have you figured out yet you can sing that to the tune of "Oh Christmas tree"? (And now that song will be stuck in your head the rest of the day. You're welcome.)

 

This was Sydney's first year showing any interest in joining this Larson family tradition. She was excited at first. Until she realized that meant sticking her hand inside the pumpkin and touching the wet, slippery seeds and other goo.

I believe I'm safe in predicting she will not pursue a career in large animal veterinary medicine.

We reached a compromise with her scooping out seeds, and me scraping out everything else. And then, somewhere along the way, she seemed to forget her aversion to slime and started digging in with the rest of us. 

She was excited to get to the carving part, because I'd promised we'd make a princess jack-o-lantern. That meant big eyes and eyelashes, a crown on top and hair.

I was so focused on helping Sydney I barely had time to note the activity all around us. AJ was busy creating Davy Jones, from Pirates of the Caribbean. Though he later decided it looked more like Captain Barbosa. (I have no clue if I'm spelling that correctly.)

Here's a look at the artists and their finished masterpieces.

Jessica's pumpkin (bottom left) wins for best teeth, and for subtle inclusion of her initials (which I didn't see until she showed mentioned them.) Jonathon's (bottom center) wins points for best peeled. And hey, at least he didn't hurt himself this year! Eric's jack-o-lantern (top right) showed particular creativity. If you flip it upside down, it shows another face. A cool concept, but who's going to flip over a pumpkin with a candle inside?

And now we can all start thinking about how to possibly top this next year. Happy Halloween!