Give em’ pumpkins; they make pies

A neighbor friend of mine had written up a sweet blog post about her two girls and their fascination with the mini pumpkins. She talked about how they would carry the pumpkins around, line them up, organize them, make them into imaginary families, etc. I thought this was something my kids might actually be capable of doing. What a great idea: local produce turned into toys. What could be more “green” than that?

Upon our exit of Cox Farms yesterday, I purchased four mini pumpkins on top of the three smallish ones that were provided. My kids were stoked. I’m thinking, “rock on” we have a great activity ahead of us. They clutched their pumpkins on the way home as if they were prized possessions. We talked about pumpkins and where they come from and what we do with them during the fall season.

After arriving home with their new “toys” in hand, I watched as my monkeys proceeded to make pumpkins into pumpkin pies. Instead of sorting, stacking, and organizing, they decided to play with them true-to-form-Alex style. They were hurled from the back door onto the deck to see whose could fly the farthest. They were rolled into the street to see which one could hit the acorns. They were dropped from the sofa to see how loud they could sound. Finally, they were used as bowling balls down the steps. I should have let them continue, and I would have had my pumpkin mush for pie. But I kind of felt sorry for these poor pumpkins. Perhaps we’ll just paint them instead.