The Petros: November 2013

Our sixth annual pumpkin carving contest was a success once again. We had 41 total submissions this year. Before I announce the winners, I have to send a shout out and a HUGE apology to Sam L. (age 7), in Dallas, TX. He carved this awesome pumpkin, "Monster in the Dark," but somehow I forgot to add it to the competition!!! Sam did a great job scooping out the "guts" and designing and carving this pumpkin all my himself. Way to go, Sam!!!

Now on to the results of the competition!

Kids Entries (without assistance)-54 total votes

First place: Hope L. (age 11) won by a landslide with 20 votes for her pumpkin, "Spider Dude." This is the second year that Hope carved an award winning pumpkin!!

Second place: Lauren L. (age 8) received 7 votes for her creation, "Evil Genius"

Third place: Isabella P. (age 10) designed and carved "Ninja" and she received 6 votes.

Here are the other submissions for this category, listed in alphabetical order.

"Ape or Pig? That is the Question." carved by Cal L. (age 9) in MA.

"Flying Boston Banana" carved by Collin L. (age 10) in MA.

"Mikey Me Likey" carved by Ellie L. (age 7) in MA.

"Norton Pride" carved by Ben P. (age 12) in MA.

"One Tooth" carved by Anna P. (age 10) in MA.

"Scaredy Ghost" carved by Sarah L. (age 10) in MA.

"Wink, Wink" carved by Ryan L. (age 12) in MA.

Kids Entries (with assistance)-58 total votes

First place: As usual, Eliza A. (age 9), in Wisconsin carved an amazing pumpkin, "Skelly the Skeleton," with the help of her godmother, Mindy! Awesome job, ladies!! They won this category with 14 votes.

Second place (with 10 votes): "Mickey Mouse" by Joshua C. (age 3) in Florida carved with the help of his mom (and Mike's cousin), Julia.

Third place (with 9 votes): "Bat Signal" by Gabe K. (age 5) in Ohio with the help of his dad (and my cousin), Kevin.

The other pumpkins in this category include:

"Bat" carved by the Tempelis Family (Peter, Anne, Nicholas, Lilly, and baby Eliza) in Wisconsin

"Caroline" carved under the guidance of Caroline W. in Connecticut by her mom and dad, Matt and Meg.

"Cat" also carved by the Tempelis Family (Peter, Anne, Nicholas, Lilly, and baby Eliza) in Wisconsin.

"Creepy Crawler" carved by Kirsten in Texas under the direction of Ben L. (age 5)

"Grace" carved by Matt or Meg W. in Connecticut with the help of Grace (age 8)

"Gwen" carved by Tami K. in Ohio with the help of Gwen (age 2)

"Jackie the Jack-o-lantern" drawn by Elijah P. (age 5) and carved with the help of Sienna (age 8) and Liz in MA.

"Kitty Cat" carved by Kim (or Bob/Ben/Anna?) with the help of Sarah P. (age 6) in MA.

"Mikey" carved by Keira D. (age 10) with the help of her mom or dad in MA.

"Mr. Bobblehead" designed by Sienna P. (age 8) and carved by Liz in MA.

"Owen's Owl" carved by Eric T. in WI with the help of Owen (age 2).

"Scary" carved by the Dohertys with the help of Gannon (age 6) in MA.

"Skeleton" carved by the Dohertys with the help of Declan (age 7) in MA.

"Smiley" carved by Mindy with the help of Ian A. (almost 6) in Wisconsin.

Adult Entries (with stencils)-58 total votes

There were only two entries in this categoy, but it was a close race!!

The winner (with 30 votes) was "Red Sox Beard" carved by Kristin and Christina P (age 12) in MA.

A close second (with 28 votes) was "Spongebob" carved by Mike's cousin, Julia, in Florida.

Adult Entries (no stencil)-63 total votes

With 1/3 of the votes in this category (21 votes), the first place winner is "I Pulled a Hammy" carved by my cousin, Megan, and her husband, Aaron, in California! Did you recognize this face?!?

This is a very impressive likeness! I asked Mike what it was like seeing himself in a pumpkin. Very creative and well done, Meg and Aaron!

Here's the story behind the pumpkin. Megan and Aaron got married in San Diego this past summer. Since Aaron works for New Balance and Megan works for Girls on the Run, they thought it would be fun to organize a Koske-Olbur Fun Run 5K during their wedding weekend.

Mike is a competitive guy. If he thinks he won't win, he always claims to "pull a hammy," so I made him this special t-shirt for the fun run.

Much to my surprise, he and Isabella finished the 5K in 26 minutes (with very little training) and they came in 5th and 6th of all the participants. Not bad!!

Here are the happy newlyweds!! It was a beautiful wedding and a fun week with family!

Second place: "The Gymnast" (with 14 votes) carved by Alanna N. in MA.

Third place: "World Series Champions" (with 10 votes) designed and carved by Liz.

Here are the rest of the entries:

"Boston Strong" carved by Chris N. in MA.

"El Furioso"-an international submission from Argentina! Carved by my friend, Sebastian, with the help of his three "ghouls!"

"Eyelashes" carved by Meg W. in Connecticut.

"Four Eyes and Ginger (the dog)" carved by Matt W. in Connecticut. (I hope you don't mind the silly title I gave your pumpkin!)

"Hungry Hungry Jack-O" carved by Mike P. in MA. Since this contest started between Mike and myself when we were first married, I always have to make note when I receive more votes than Mike. Who's competitive?!? This is the first time in a few years that we're in the same category since I didn't use a stencil this year!

"Jack" carved by Joshua's dad in Florida.

"Jack-sun" carved by the Sunderlands in MA.

"2 Pumpkins" Our friends, Jess and Todd, had these two cuties, Sadie and Mackenzie, in the spring. They were too busy to carve real pumpkins this year, but they still have two cute pumpkins!

It's finally time to vote for your favorite pumpkins!!! Just like previous years, there are four different categories.

Adult Entries (without a stencil)- Pumpkins in this category were carved by an adult but without the direct use of a stencil. The design could be based on a picture or stencil but it had to be drawn and/or carved free-hand.

Adult Entries (with stencil)-These pumpkins were carved by an adult with the direct use of a stencil.

Kids' Entries (with assistance)-These pumpkins could be designed or chosen by a child but they were carved with the assistance of an adult.

Kids' Entries (without assistance)-Our final category includes pumpkins which were designed and carved completely by the child. It's okay to use a stencil as long as the carving is done independently.

Please vote for one pumpkin in each category. You may vote once in each category on the polls to the right of this post, leave a comment on each post, or send me an e-mail with your votes. Don't forget to have every member of your family vote for his/her favorite in each category! Feel free to pass this along to friends/co-workers! The more votes the better!!!