Pumpkin Contest

Being as involved as I have been this year does have its upsides. I do at least know what is going on all the time at Landon's school. For example, every year they have a pumpkin contest at the school that coordinates with the Harvest Festival. Go figure. I'm sure I got some note in Landon's backpack about it last year amongst all the other stuff and it ended up in the garbage. I cringe saying that, because I know realize how much time and effort go into each of those "notes" that go home. We do realize that most parents do just that...throw them in the garbage. But at least we know they can't say that we didn't try to inform them!
Anyway....back to the point here...I was a little more on the ball about the pumpkin decorating contest this year and so Landon and I set out to make the very best pumpkin that we could.
I'm going to be very honest with you. Though I love fall and pumpkins and all of that stuff, I HATE carving pumpkins. Well, not necessarily carving the pumpkins, just removing the guts of the pumpkins. It doesn't gross me out or anything, it's just annoying. Those strings of guts in there will not come out for me. I can get the seeds just fine....But the rest...sigh. I'm not a patient person. Never professed to be. So, instead of carving a pumpkin (which we did anyway, but kept that one at home) we decided to buy a craft pumpkin and paint it. Michaels has had these babies on sale for a while now at 50% off. So, it was actually cheaper for me to buy the craft pumpkin there than to buy one at the Pumpkin Patch. Go figure.

Again...back the the point....we went on Michaels.com and found this cute idea for making a Frog Prince out of a pumpkin. So, I got all the fixin's for it. Landon had such a good time painting and decorating the pumpkin too. More fun than carving! Though I will tell you that when you have a 7 year old paint a pumpkin, it takes about five coats of paint to get it completely covered. So, be prepared. It took us over a week to get this baby totally done because of it. Well, because of that and also a pesty little sister that really wanted to help. Let's just say that green paint doesn't come out of shiny red Wonder Woman capes very well. Sigh. Anyway...Between the cutting out of the legs, and making froggy feet and eyes, Landon had a ball and was so excited about the outcome. We did change one aspect of the design though...the crown was supposed to made out of yellow foam like the legs....and though I did buy the yellow foam, I knew at the rate that we were going we weren't going to get this dang pumpkin done in time if we had to do any more hand made stuff. So, luckily in Target's Dollar Spot they had this awesome crown. And tah dah! A little hot glue to secure it and we were done!

I took the pumpkin to school just before the end of school yesterday so that Landon could show his friends like he wanted to, and he got the oohs and aahs that he was looking for. Anyway...long story short...his pumpkin won "The Great Pumpkin Award" for his class, which is the 1st prize! He was thrilled! The pumpkin got to stay out in the hall all night during the Harvest Festival too so he could show it off.

This seriously made it all worth it. Look at how proud he is. Isn't this what it's all about? You get to stop running around with your head chopped off for a few minutes and just watch. Can I just tell you that I LOVE being a mom?