The results are in... Between the votes on the polls on my blog, e-mails I received, and the votes from my mother-in-law's co-workers at a hospital in Erie, PA, we received between 108-118 votes in each category!!!! As always, we were impressed with all of the submissions to our pumpkin carving contest this year!!! I really need to step up my game! Thanks to everyone who submitted a carving and to all of you who voted!! This has been a fun annual tradition for our family and friends!
Adults (with a stencil)
Travis H., from Montana was the well-deserving winner in this category with 62 (out of 111) votes. He said that he used a stencil for The Reverend's Devil, and it took him four hours to carve this intricate pumpkin!
My carving,
Unreal Estate, came in a distant second with only 24 votes.
Both
Haunted Tree and
Spider were carved by Jen G. in MA. I found out after I posted these, that her daughter, Skye, helped her scoop out the pumpkins but Jen did all of the carving.
Adults (without a stencil)
This category was won by a margin of only 1 vote!!!! Mike eeked out a win with 38 (out of 108) votes for Ball Eater.
Patrick M. from Connecticut came in a ridiculously close second with 37 votes for
A Dark and Scary Night. Well done!!
The other pumpkins in this category in alphabetical order:
Devil Pumpkin carved by Jen G. in MA
Floating Ghost carved by Sarah H. in Wisconsin
Go Brewers carved by Andy H. in Wisconsin
Halloween Surprise carved by my brother-in-law, Nathan H., in California
Nanny, Nanny, Boo, Boo carved by my cousin, Kevin K., in Ohio
Kids' Entries (with adult assistance)
For the second year in a row, the winner in this category, Frankenstein, was carved by my friend, Mindy T., in Wisconsin with the help of her god-daughter, Eliza A. (age 7). This is the third year that Mindy and Eliza have participated in our contest, and they didn't disappoint! Eliza spent her library time at school looking through pumpkin carving books and she found the perfect stencil. She has quite the creative eye, and Mindy has awesome carving skills. They swept this category with 45 votes (out of 118).
Ellie L. (age 5) from Massachusetts came in second in this category with 13 votes.
Angry Pig was inspired by the Angry Birds game.
Other pumpkins in this category:
Enda the Happy Ghost-named by Bronagh M. (age 2 1/2) in CT and carved by her dad, Patrick
Freaky Pump-designed and decorated by Aaron T. (age 7) in MA and carved by his dad, Ben
Halloween Hooo-drawn by Sienna P. (age 6) and traced and carved by Liz
Happy Guy-drawn by Elijah P. (age 3 1/2) and traced and carved by Liz
Happy Happy Face-named by Ailish M. (age 4) in CT and carved by her dad, Patrick.
Happy-Go-Lantern-carved with the assistance of his papa, Jim K,. for Gabriel (age 3 1/2) in Ohio. We decided that this should win a prize for the best lighting. My Aunt Susie told me that it took my cousin, Kevin, just as long to photograph the pumpkin as it took his father-in-law to carve it!!! The trick was shining a flashlight from above the pumpkin.
Madi's (a Little) Batty-designed and carved with minimal assistance by Madi H. (age 9) in Montana
Spider Crawling on a Cat-designed by Caden H. (almost 6) in Wisconsin
Who Are You (pictured above left)-scooped out by Ian A. (almost 4) in WI and carved by Mindy
Kids' Entries (no adult assistance)
Noah H. (age 8) in Wisconsin won this category with his unique design for
Star Pumpkin with 50 votes (out of 110).
Calvin L (age 7) designed and carved
Japanese Beard Guy and he came in a not too distant second with 35 votes.
The final two pumpkins were:
Harry's Firebolt-designed and carved by Isabella (age 8) and inspired by Harry Potter's broomstick
Pumpkin Dude-designed and carved by Collin L (age 8 1/2) in MA.
Thanks again to all who carved and all who voted!! See you again next year!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
My youngest cousin, Tim, and his wife, Liz, welcomed their first baby this morning.
Ryan's cousins, Jack and Emma (my cousin, Liz's, kids). Does Emma look like Sienna, or what?!? They even share the same birthday!
Other pumpkins in this category:
The final two pumpkins were:
It's hard to believe that all three of our kiddos are in school now!
We caught Elijah's big friend, Thomas, before he headed off to seventh grade this morning.
The start of a new tradition... Adam and Elijah's official first day of school photo
Elijah, Adam and Anna are ready for action!
Sienna and Isabella were able to send Elijah off on his first day!
Elijah led the way down the hall and didn't even look back!
He found his cubby and knew just what to do!
Four alumni look on as the little guys head in to class.
Elijah found a seat and got right down to business.
Time to be dismissed!
Elijah and Sammy made it through their first day!
