We're growing pumpkins!

Two years ago was my very first Halloween with mom and dad. To celebrate, mom carved me a pumpkin that spelled out my name.

It was, in fact, a 'Jack' o lantern.

Dad's pumpkin on the other hand wasn't as "cute" as mine. He got the idea to turn his pumpkin on its side, pretend the stem was its nose, and show it throwing up all the insides- the seeds were EVERYWHERE.

(this picture isn't dad's pumpkin exactly- but it gets the point across...)

After grossing out all the kids in the neighborhood (and receiving accolades from the adult neighbors) dad 'cleaned up' the pumpkin throw up and that was that.

Then spring came. Flowers started blooming, grass and plants got super green and then one day, mom noticed a really weird looking weed.

mom: Hey, Eric...did you see that killer weed we have in the front yard?
dad: No. Where are you seeing a 'killer weed'?
mom: Right where you had your halloween pumpkin actually!

Turns out, we have fertile soil- and sure enough, within a few more weeks, we had a vine, then a long vine, then a SUPER long vine with flowers and then, it happened.

We grew a pumpkin. Totally by accident.

Last spring mom asked dad to get a section of my backyard ready so we could plant a whole garden of pumpkin seeds with the hopes of having more Halloween pumpkins.

After a long day of chasing the dirt that dad threw into a pile (and then walking on top of the pile and howling...its so much fun having a platform to stand on!) the garden was set. All they needed were pumpkin seeds.

What mom didn't know was that it was too late in the year to plant seeds. Opps!

This year however, mom has been on a mission to grow pumpkins. Last week she went to Home Depot and bought a "seed greenhouse" and planted the little guys.

Within a few days, "things" started happening.

me: mom, how long will it take to have a pumpkin?
mom: I don't really know, Jack


It was awesome to see how fast these seeds grew. (mom moved 'em to the window sill so they could get more sunlight- as per the instructions...)

me: do we have pumpkins yet?
mom: almost...just hang in there


...And exactly one week since mom and I planted the seeds, it was time to move them outside to the mulch beds.

me: is it time yet? do we have pumpkins? can we plant them yet?
mom: yes we can
me: YIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPY!


When mom was setting up to plant the pumpkins, she got me ready to sit with her. Whenever I'm in the front yard, mom always puts on my red lead, gives me toys to play with and big bowl of fresh water (typically with ice cubes, but she was in a hurry...)


Now that the pumpkins have been planted, every night mom and I have gone outside to take photos, water them and to see how they are progressing. (this is the most recent photo of the pumpkins- mom and I took it last night)


I can't wait to show everyone when we actually have a pumpkin! Since we planted about 32 seeds in the 12 holes in the greenhouse, odds are pretty good we'll get at least one (maybe two? I don't want to be greedy) pumpkins.

Its hard to think about fall so early into summer, but I can't wait to watch them grow!!