Brookie Pookie Lemon Cookie

Halloween Pumpkin Party

This weekend we had a pumpkin birthday party for my mom.

I have to start off with a photo of my pumpkins!

65.8 pounds (middle), 55 pounds (left) and 35 pounds (the white inbred) .....  

My girls were on the decoration committee....

  

Butternut squash vase with flowers from our garden.

Pumpkin vase ........

  

Pumpkin Carving ...... 

 

Spidey Brandon.

Proud Brooke on her pumpkins.

  

Lindsey rejected her albino pumpkin. She didn't want anything to do with it. I thought she would sympathize with whitey, newly part of a Mexican family and all. Guess not ..... Pasty ended up coming home with me instead of being displayed on their front yard. I'll take care of you ...little ashen buddy.

Aunt Jeannine tried the hardest to win. She is ALWAYS and forever in competition with my girls. She is probably the single driving force behind my girls giving all they've got. The girls are determined to best her at everything - and she is a fierce competitor so it gets pretty crazy. All three ended up with a numb, useless hand afterwards! Aunt Jeannine ended up taking third to Reiley (1st) and Kendall (2nd). I have to admit, her pumpkin was pretty cool in person.

Kendall's ghost pumpkin (2nd place).

Reiley took 1st place with her pumpkin pumpkin. She took home the $35 prize. She was so excited. I couldn't vote for one daughter over the other so I sneaked two ballots in the basket; one for Kendall and the other for Reiley. I know ... cheater, cheater pumpkin eater . ha ha.

  

The funniest? My MACHO Uncle Ed made a BEAUTIFUL floral pumpkin arrangement. Isn't it pretty? So Martha-Stewardy of him! Glad to see he has mellowed and as gotten in touch with his feminine side in his old age. I lightened the photo to show better .... because it is so rich in detail ... it's perfection and so ... pretty!

Aunt Jeannine baked her famous pumpkin pie which was my mom's birthday cake. Everyone looks like they are part of a cult wearing skull necklaces. Those are the necklaces Reiley made and sold last year. Everyone has one ... fun to see everyone wearing them again.

My sister and mom on her birthday. It was a fun evening.

 

Pumpkins, Stems, Vines ... and a Hat 10/12/09

Every year we throw a pumpkin birthday party for my mom with a pumpkin carving, largest pumpkin and best pumpkin pie contest. This year we started out behind because we had to wait for our garden to be constructed. Everyone's vines and pumpkins were growing while we had nothing planted. In fact, Rudy, (our competitor) was called in to consult and ended up helping to dig trenches in his cowboy boots! 

In the end, everyone's pumpkins shriveled and died. I soon found out you have to rotate your crop for a successful harvest. My mom grew a half breed somehow, looks like a cross between a watermelon and a pumpkin with green and orange stripes all around.  

Lacking space, my brother David asked if we could grow his pumpkin. He picked his plant, bought it fertilizer and promised to sing to it. In the end I think his pumpkin felt unloved. It grew up pale and .... well, pale. When his wife LIndsey visited it for the first time her first reaction was denial and rejection. Poor pumpkin turned a lighter shade of white ... why don't you love me, mom??? 

Here is Brooke with the knit pumpkin hat and pumpkin vine scarf I knit her.

 

Pictured is one of our larger pumpkins. We left the stems long for the time being. They were filled with water so we left it long until it dries out.

I wanted to make her 3 year old cousin, Brandon a pumpkin hat for the pumpkin party. Brandon refused to wear a pumpkin hat, he said the hat was for babies. My husband said, of course he won't wear a pumpkin hat .... he's a boy. Having all girls, a pumpkin hat for a little boy didn't seem implausible. Now I know ........ I always said if I had a boy God help him because I only know girl "things" and this was a perfect example. 

Pushing our newly picked pumpkin out of the garden to display in the front yard.

  

Here is our third giant pumpkin. It is oval shaped and as long as long as the wagon!

Couldn't resist a pumpkin portrait. I know it would have been better if the pumpkin stem was cut down. We felt bad cutting the pumpkins off their vines. The pumpkins were still drinking. We'll cut it when it dries up.

 

My hard working gardeners. All spring and summer they worked the garden. Every weekend they would go out and pick vegetables, pull weeds and tie our giant tomato bushes to the fences. They netted fruit to keep the birds out and were constantly thrilled by the growth in the garden. We had so much fun ... the pumpkins were the most entertaining. 

 

Last year's party pics .........

Hmmmm...... Uncle David ..... I don't think your so called pumpkin deserves to sit next to the others!

Take it back .... it doesn't even deserve to be called a pumpkin much less be at our party!

Can't believe you tried to enter it ... for shame!

  

Brooke (right) and her best friend Charley (left) sitting on Aunt Jeanine's winning entries ......

 

Hard at work carving pumpkins.

 

Never any winning entries from Aunt Liz and Uncle Ed however every year they never give up trying ... :) 

 

Making messes ........

Pumpkin pie entries ..... yum!

Party's over ...... pooped out.

Brooke's Maxi Top 10/6/09

A fun and quick knit. I've always enjoyed the patterns from a talented mother, Elena. Her daughter is Brooke's age and I consider myself lucky her patterns grow along with Brooke. She is a gifted knitter and uses her daughter for inspiration. For every one knit piece I complete for Brooke, she knits four for her daughter. Her patterns are posted on her website:

http://moreknits.blogspot.com/

Her aspirations for a toddler knit book is in her future. I am sure she will do well, her designs are perfect for a toddler and not fussy at all. I told her I want to knit every one of her patterns however I know I can never keep up!

Brooke loves her new top. Most of the photos I took of her were blurred because she was doing a happy dance because she liked it so much! 

Knit with Louisa Harding Cashmir Aran.