pumpkin carving

Halloween is almost here so we knew we had to get busy carving some pumpkins!  Since we've been in various apartments over the last few years, I haven't had the opportunity to carve a pumpkin in a while so I was excited to do it this year.  Jared got into the swing of things too and we picked a couple up while we were at BJ's the other day.

The first thing we did was peruse the internet and find some carving patterns that we liked.  It just worked out that we both picked ones with wolves in them!  Jared picked one that was advanced and I picked one that was a little easier.  Then, we spread out newspaper, put a Halloween mix on Pandora, and got to work.

I always find the scooping-out-the-insides part the grossest...

While we scraped out the goopy stuff, we separated some of the seeds so we could roast them.  I was really surprised at how easy it was and it made the house smell sooo good!  I just rinsed them off, spread them on a baking sheet, sprayed them with vegetable oil, and sprinkled a little sea salt on them.  Then I baked them at 325 degrees for 25 minutes and they were delicious! Very crispy and salty and the perfect snack while we worked on our carvings.

But back to the pumpkins... Jared had brought home one of those little carving sets (but only had the scoop and the little knife) so we took turns using it.  We put the patterns on the pumpkins and poked holes with a pin all around the outline so we would know where to cut.  We got so into the project that I forgot to take pictures!

Here are the results, and they are pretty impressive if I do say so myself!

my pumpkin

Jared's pumpkin

spooky stoop decorations!

Bring on the trick-or-treaters, we are ready!!