Halloween in July

Charlie and I were hanging out on the lawn yesterday afternoon watching the traffic go by while Cubby foraged for green beans in the garden*. At least, I thought that was what he was doing; turns out, he was foraging for something else.

He came running up to me with "an enormous squash!" he found. It was really more like a small pumpkin from a volunteer vine that came up over by the sheep shed. And it was most certainly not done growing. But since it was a volunteer and most likely not edible anyway, I didn't care that much. Besides, Cubby had plans for that pumpkin. "We can make a jack-o-lantern, Mommy!"

One nice thing about Cubby: He is never lacking in enthusiasm. And even if I am sometimes (always) lacking, I can fake it.

So we made a jack-o-lantern.

 Scooping out the guts with a smile.

I prefer to think of my pumpkin carving style as "classic" rather than "boring and crappy."

While I was inside putting the large, serrated knife safely out of reach of Charlie, Cubby got to work with his pocket knife and a leaf.

"I made a jack-o-leaf!"

Oh, that clever Cubby.

We still haven't illuminated it yet, since it doesn't get dark until 9 p.m. and my children are not awake at 9 p.m. Hell, I'm barely awake at 9 p.m. I suppose I could light it in the morning, since it's still mostly dark at 5:15 when Charlie wakes up, but somehow I'm lacking in festive Halloween cheer at that hour in the morning.

No matter. The making of it was the fun part, anyway. And there are more pumpkins where that one came from. Assuming I can keep Cubby the Stealth Harvester from picking them all before October. No promises.

* The one reason above all others I must always grow vegetables: My kids will eat ANYTHING if they can pick it straight from the plant and shove it right in their mouths. But if I dare try to serve them a cooked version of the very food they ate half a pound of in a raw and unwashed state? It's suddenly anathema. Weird little creatures, those kids.