Pumpkin carving "Fun"

I started writing our Halloween blog, but then realized I didn't publish what happened AFTER what has come to be known as "The Pizza Incident".

We carved pumpkins.
Always a good time...sort of.

Here's how it went:  After we enjoyed the pizza and I explained "The Pizza Incident" to Brent when he came home from work...we pulled out a tarp on the sunroom floor to prepare our pumpkins for their magnificant transformation into jack-o-lanterns.

The problem is, not only do the kids  not carve the pumpkins (obviously), but BOTH of my kids get grossed out by, what  they call, "the goo-ey goo" (aka the inside of the pumpkin). So, after about 5 minutes into our carving and 5 trips to the bathroom to wash Gwen's hands because she's crying because they are "dirty with the "goo-ey goo")..... we end up doing ALL of the work.
Here's a couple of pictures during the initial process---like the first 2 minutes

And Brent is a perfectionist when it comes to having a completely"guts-free" pumpkin.  He cuts, scrapes, pulls out and fine tunes the pumpkin until the thing is BEYOND hollow.

While he's fine tuning the gut-less pumpkins,  I tell the kids to decide if they want a happy or scary pumpkin.
Gwen says she wants a "happy guy".
GREAT.EASY.DONE.

Grant, however, picks out the haunted house (which Gwen proceeds to call "her castle") stencil that comes with the pumpkin carving tools
TOTALLY.NOT.CARVING.

Me, knowing that I'm going to be the one carving the damn thing, tells Grant: "This is kind of hard for mommy...why don't you choose this scary one...he's COOL"

Grant: Whines.Cries. Over-reacts   "Nooooooo....I want the Haunted House"
Gwen: "Yeah, Grant wants myyyyy castle on his pumpkin-guy"

Inner monologue: Sigh. How hard could it be? My hand is only 1/2 burnt and sore from The Pizza Incident...
So I begin tracing with the "tool" the kit provides...
..and I carve...and carve...and carve....

Grant to Brent: "Mommy isn't good at carving pumpkins..she takes a long, long time"
Brent laughs
I glare...and continue carving....

..Now, Jackie begins carving my pumpkin (she only admidittly likes pumpkin carving to harvest the seeds and make yummy pumpkin-roasted goodness at the end of the night)..but she sees that since I'm carving two pumpkins, she'll help out with the one I bought for "my pumpkin".

Brent had gotten a migraine during this process and decided to make a "sad-guy" pumpkin.

And at the end of the night...there we have it..our 4 family pumpkins.
The Ghosts. The Sad-Guy. The "Castle"-Haunted House. The Happy-Guy.

Me to the kids: "Don't you just LOVE our family of pumpkins?"
Grant: "Mom, you don't have a pumpkin." That's Jackie's, Dad's, Mine, and Gwen's pumpkins
Me: "What??  I carved BOTH of your pumpkins! Doesn't that count for anything? Can't I SHARE your two pumpkins with both of you"
Grant: "No, mom, we don't SHARE pumpkins".
Sigh.Moms never get any credit.
Pour wine.