Countdown to Halloween Day 29: Jack O' Lanterns!

Hey there everyone! Tonight I thought I would share one of the most treasured traditions of the Goodwill Geek's household. Jack O' Lantern carving night! We don't go all that fancy around these parts, simply picking out five pumpkins from Walmart... but it doesn't matter if the pumpkins came directly from the patch itself or simply from a shelf at the store... we make magic with them either way. 

Here's my oldest son going through the planning phase of his pumpkin.

Here's my youngest son. I have no idea what the deal is with this face he's making. The boys were SO excited to get started on their Jack O' Lanterns this year though! As soon as I came home with the pumpkins, they both helped me carry them in from the car and started begging to carve them out IMMEDIATELY. We had to wait a bit before we got started... so you can imagine it a bit of an agony for them.

I could watch this kid make faces while cleaning out his pumpkin ALL DAY. The dry heaving, the whining about how slimy it is... this is as much a part of the tradition, and my delight, as the pumpkins themselves every year.

Mwuah-Ha-Ha!!!

Here I am taking the top off my youngest son's pumpkin. He is just SHAKING with anticipation at this point. I realize you can't hear it, but we've got Halloween tunes cranking in the background.

My youngest son is way more willing to scoop the guts out of his pumpkin than the older one. Look at those faces!

A pumpkin in the process of being emptied out. Tools of the trade all around.

Then my daughter got into the action. She was very secretive about her design at first, but she's always willing to get her hands dirty when it comes to pumpkin guts.

I just love watching them all at work.

Now my wife's getting into the the action, working on her pumpkin design. Of course, my favorite thing in this picture is my older son's face. HAHAHA!

Bowls of guts all around (to pick out seeds for later...) we see the process of a pumpkin becoming a Jack O' Lantern.

This is the first year we've let the boys cut their own pumpkins, and they were SO proud and excited!

This is the most quiet and focused I have ever seen my youngest son before. It was almost eerie.

My daughter's design finally revealed... Oogie Boogie!

Here is my oldest son's Jack O' Lantern.

Here is my youngest's. I was very impressed with his work.

Here is mine! I love his big toothy grin.

Oogie Boogie came out amazingly well!

And my wife decided on the Chesire Cat, as a preview for her Halloween costume this year!

Here they are, lined up on the autumn-y porch. 

The lighting ceremony. The Jack O' Lanterns look almost as excited to be lit as the kids are to see them being lit!

Oogie Boogie looks even better lit up in the night.

This one just looks agonized and spooky in the dark!

I still think my youngest son's may be my favorite this year!

I like my pumpkin's grin lit from within even better!

The Chesire Cat looks even loonier!

And here they all are, lined up and grinning together on our porch in the night!

And of course, it isn't a proper jack o' lantern carving session without roasted pumpkin seeds afterwards! 

That's it for tonight kids! I'll be back soon with some more Grave Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Haunting!

Halloween Countdown Day 28: Jack O' Lanterns!

This was actually supposed to be my post for last week's League of Extraordinary Bloggers photo challenge, but then I got horribly sick and we put off carving pumpkins until this week and boo-hoo I missed the deadline. But here we go anyway. I will say it's pretty unusual for my family to carve Jack O' Lanterns so close to Halloween. We usually have them up a week in advance at the very latest. 

First up here is a handful of shots of my boys cleaning out their pumpkins. My older son (on the left) kept announcing how he has "gotten used to pumpkin guts" and was very excited he could do this task without dry-heaving this year. 

My wife and daughter are both tired and sick with what I've got, so I didn't really get to man pictures of them worthy of the internet. Luckily these two kids were cute enough for the five of us. 

What's he looking at in there? 

My wife's obsession is with Sugar Skulls this year, and so she designed her Jack O' Lantern accordingly. She also made these for some friends: 

Some sugar skull cupcakes. She's so darn-tootin' crafty!!!

So from left to right: My pumpkin, just sort of a generic Jack of all Jack O' Lanterns. Then m youngest son's, which is meant to look a little like Jack Skellington, but mostly just a "pooky garry keleton" (spooky scary skeleton) which he did not carve himself, but gave very specific instructions in broken toddler English. Then there's my wife's sugar skull pumpkin again. Really love how hers came out.  

Next up we have my daughter's cat pumpkin and my middle son's "Trash Pack" Jack O' Lantern. (He's ALL about the Trash Pack this year, as you'll see when I post pictures of costumes). That is meant to be a trash can with ooze dripping from the lid, and the words "Trash Pack" etched in the front (that part's hard to see). 

In one of my favorite pictures of '13, here he is admiring his Jack O' Lantern (Mom helped him with the carving, but they discussed the design ahead of time). 

Here is youngest enjoying the 'pooky' Jack O' Lanterns.

And finally, the whole effect with good ol' Skully up in the window, overlooking the Jack O' Lanterns and the crunchy Fall leaves. Perfect. 

That's it for me tonight kids! I'll be back soon with some Groaning Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Haunting!