The last time I showed my face around here (which was a month and a half ago, just to refresh your memory) I said I was—checks notes—"going on a tear to try to catch up the blog before the end of the year".
Ha!
I have exactly twelve books—yes, a happy dozen—sitting in my book trolley waiting for recaps and are we going to talk about any of them today? Certainly not! It's Halloween and that can only mean one thing...
...time to carve pumpkins!
Between a trip to California this month and sharing dog-sitting responsibilities with my parents for my sister's golden while she's deployed, we waited till the last minute to get pumpkins this year. Tuesday we went to the Super Walmart and the Sam's Club and they had NOTHING. Not even a place for pumpkins much less a big box with the rejects rolling around the bottom of it. Cody was confident we could still find some at Ingles so Wednesday morning before the sun was even awake, we made the trek down the mountain to pick up two of our favorite small humans and then stopped at Ingles to see what we could find. And not only did we get two of the heaviest pumpkins we've ever had, they were on deep discount because of how long we waited to get them. So I guess we'll take that win.
We promised the kiddos that we'd carve the pumpkins with them so after naptime, we set up our pumpkin carving station and got to work.
At this time, please note how thick the walls of my pumpkin are!
Our little guy was brave and helped Cody scoop out all the guts, but our little miss was not interested in sticking her hand into the slimy, gloppy mess. Can you blame her? She enjoyed playing with the scoopers but not actually scooping any pumpkin innards out of the gourds.
I mentioned back in May when I posted about our Alaska trip that Cody and I had recently started watching Smallville. After visiting my brother in California this month and bingeing the show for a week straight, we are now deep into season 7 (out of 10!) and choosing a Justice League theme for our pumpkins seemed like the obvious choice for our carving endeavors this year.
In case you've never seen Smallville, the show is about a teenage Clark Kent living with his parents on their Kansas farm before he becomes Superman. Along the way, we meet other young heroes from the Justice League who help Clark navigate the various disasters he inevitably finds himself in the middle of.
Possibly my favorite episode of the show so far has been in season 6 when Green Arrow, the Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman all show up to help Clark take down Level 33.1 so I decided to tackle the Justice League shield, and Cody, of course, did a classic Superman shield.
Believe it or not, this is the most difficult pumpkin I've ever carved—not because of the intricacy of the design, obviously, but because of just how thick my pumpkin was. The first big cut I made, the knife I was using didn't actually slice all the way through so when I went to try to take out the piece, nothing happened. More than a little frustrating, to say the least. But I persevered and I think it turned out okay, all things considered.
My brother is probably the only person who will appreciate this, but by all means please note my Clark Kent coded red and blue flannel.
Between the last minute pumpkin hunt, my thick pumpkin, two little "helpers", a stinky diaper mid-carve, and a ticking clock, this year's pumpkin carving endeavor felt a little chaotic, but memories were made and the tradition lives. All in all, another fun edition of our pumpkin carving adventures.
Happy Halloween!
October 28, 2026
P.S. I got double the pumpkin carving action this year! My brother and sister-in-law hosted a cozy little cider donut and pumpkin carving party this past Sunday. After Cody helped my nephew design a Very Scary face for his pumpkin last Friday night, and I showed him pictures of some of the pumpkins Cody and I have carved in the past, he decided we were obviously the experts in the family. Cody had to work Sunday but my nephew wanted me to help him carve his pumpkin. Oh what fun!
October 25, 2026
