Pumpkin Carving With The Franzone Family

This was actually the first year that we have carved a face in a pumpkin. The really neat thing about it was that we were also all together: me, Aubrey and all three kids. We had a great time. Aubrey and the kids picked out the pumpkin while I was still working. After dinner Aubrey read The Pumpkin Patch Parable, a neat story that takes creating a jack-o-lantern from a pumpkin and turns it into a story about God’s love, grace, mercy and forgiveness.

After the story Aubrey and the kids decided what sort of face they wanted on our pumpkin. They then drew it onto the pumpkin in permanent marker and then… nope, Aubrey didn’t get to open it. That was a (dirty) job for Daddy! As I pulled all of the “icky goo” out of the pumpkin the kids had a great time touching it and complaining about the smell. It was all very fun. Aubrey and the kids then started pulling the seeds out of the goo so that they could roast them. It was my first time carving a pumpkin but I think I did a somewhat acceptable job… at least the kids seemed to thing so.

We took our carved pumpkin outside and set it up on the porch with a candle to light it up. Thankfully it even felt like October today so the mood was just right.

We came back in just in time to try some “yummy” roasted pumpkin seeds. Well, they were not as awesome as we had expected, though it was our first time roasting the seeds too. The sweet ones with sugar and cinnamon turned out a little mushy so you couldn’t crack the shells. I thought the salty ones were good, but Ragan said they tasted like fried food. lol

Finally, I got all three kids to write up a short paragraph in their journal about our pumpkin carving experience. Here is what they wrote…

– Gavin writes:

I tasted pumpkin seeds today. First, we pickt a pumpkin. Then we took it home. Then we carved it. Then we roasted the seeds. It wahs fun.

– Ragan writes:

Today, my family carved our first pumpkin. It was so fun. I love it. We piked a pumpkin. Then, we took it home. Next, we set out news paper. After that we stuck a knife strate in the middle and then my daddy started to cut out a hole. Then we got all the gooey pulp out. Yuck! Then we took all the seeds out. Then we rinsed them off and cut out the face. After that we put them in the oven. And that is how we got our pumpkin.

– Avery writes:

Today we picked out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and took it home. Then my super-great Daddy carved a face in it. I touched some of the yucky pulp but I didn’t like it and Mommy had to wash my hands off immediately. Mommy roasted pumpkin seeds, though I wasn’t that impressed with them. After all of that I sat at the coffee table with my Bubbah and Ragan and wrote out this journal entry. I love my family (especially my Daddy)

Well, at least that’s what I think she wrote. The translation may be rough. I’ve included a scan of it below so that you could compare what she wrote with my paraphrasing above.

We had a blast this year carving our very first pumpkin! You can view the rest of the photos from our experience on our Family Gallery in the Pumpkin Carving 2008 album.