Hey Punkin'

Halloween has always been big business in our house. Since I was a little girl, my mom hand made our costumes almost every year.

Following with that theme, pumpkins were a big deal in our house - and everyone pitched in to help.

In the early days, my brother and I could only be trusted to do guts removal.

But apparently, once you became a 10-year-old you were able to be trusted with those little orange knives.

Predictably, I chose the cuddly designs while my brother chose the scary designs. I think that trend carried through our entire childhood.

And then there was one legendary pumpkin - it had the neighbors runing for their cameras.

"Scary Caray."

(For those of you who didn't get the reference, that would be Harry Caray - of the Chicago Cubs). It's pretty clever, isn't it?

I felt the pressure this year to deliver something good... but let's be honest, creativity isn't my forte. One turned out good, one.... well, it was a good effort.

What do you think?

Ok, so I'm not exactly a pumpkin master... but they took a long time and I gave it my best shot. That's what counts, right?

Did you (or do you still) carve pumpkins? Do you use fancy carving kits or create your masterpiece freestyle??

P.S. The poor picture quality would be due to the fact that I took pictures of pictures. Oops.