goo gone wild

We've been carving pumpkins with our boys every year since it was basically just Brandon carving the pumpkins while the boys sat in their high chairs and we did our best to make them interested in what was going on. Then we went through the "the boys choose what they want carved in the pumpkin but don't help at all" phase and now we've finally reached the point where the boys can help clean out their pumpkins! We can't quite trust them to do any carving yet but it's fun to watch them do the parts that they can.

Maddox totally gets into the pumpkin carving process. He loves cleaning out his pumpkin, getting elbow deep in pumpkin goo and standing over Brandon's shoulder while he carves. Ash, on the other hand, can't stand the sights, smells or sounds of fresh pumpkin. Just seeing Maddox pull pumpkin innards out of his pumpkin grosses Ash out and then when the smell hits him he can't even hardly stand to be at the table.

It took A LOT to get Ash to take this picture with his pumpkin. He was crying because the smell was overwhelming him but he finally posed for one "pre-carving" pic before moving as far away from the pumpkin as possible while daddy and little brother finished the process.

The boys chose the easiest pumpkin designs in years this year! Maddox wanted an OSU logo design and Ash wanted a Minecraft Creeper on his pumpkin. They turned out really good!

Funny (and very true) story, as I was writing this blog post Ashtyn walked into the room, looked over my shoulder, saw the pictures I was writing about and said "Eew! That makes me sick!" Ha! The poor boy can't even look back at memories of the pumpkin carving process without getting queasy! Sure, our memories of carving pumpkins as a family will be filled with Ash gagging, Maddox chasing his brother with pumpkin goo and Brandon yelling at them both to calm down...but they are OUR memories and they are perfect.