Pumpkin Pickin', Take 2

I decided to give this whole pumpkin patch thing another whirl today. Call me crazy but I guess I needed to prove something to myself, like I was a good mom in control of her kids. Funny enough, this time around we went sans Richie. That's right, I took my 2 kids, no stroller, no Baby Bjorn, no leash. Last time I checked that made it a 2:1 ratio, all the while I had to carry Abby on one side, my 10 lb. bag on the other, and keep an eye out for Isaac (make sure he was within a 1 mile radius). Luckily, I went with a group of my friends so they had my back. And this time I decided to push the limits and get 2 pumpkins, although they were small ones, and carry them alone (ok they were in a bag!). It was nice though that Isaac had his friends to play with. They held hands and walked through the patch. Together they stood, together they fell (pictured below). They were really cute! It was quite a workout for mom, I was sure I lost at least 5 pounds by the time we were done (I weighed myself when I got home...still weigh the same!) Isaac and Abby had a blast, it was a beautiful sunny day, and once we got home, we all took naps. I couldn't ask for a better day.

Growing Pains

The past few weeks I have suddenly realized that time goes by way too fast! First of all, where did summer go? Second, I have had to buy my kids tons of new clothes because they grow like bean stalks! Isaac is wearing size 4T shirts (he's not even 3 yet!) and Abby's waist line has suddenly expanded (don't tell her I told you). I can't complain about the latter since she was only 10th percentile in weight at her 9 month checkup. But 4 lbs. later, I'm sure the doctors won't be giving me a hard time at her one-year! Our friend Jack came over a couple of weeks ago and Isaac quickly realized that he was wearing the same pajamas as him! I forget how much older Isaac is than Jack but seeing them dressed the same brought it out even more. Abby wore a dress to church a couple of weeks ago that I bought for her when she was still in my tummy. I swore when I bought it that she would never fit into it because it just looked so big! Well as you can see from the picture, it fits her perfectly now! Where does the time go? My little baby will be 1 next month...Unfortunately, mom isn't ready for another baby (and she won't be anytime soon) so we'll have to enjoy every minute of every day!

The Great Pumpkin

Pumpkin Pickin'

(check out our pics on our web album!)

On Saturday we took the kids to a pumpkin patch in Sauvie Island. We had heard from tons of people that it was the best one around where we live. There were lots of fun things to do there. We got on a hayride which took us to go pick our pumpkin. I had never been to a place like this, there were vines all over the ground and some of the pumpkins were still attached to the vines! How cool is that! Well once we got off the hayride at our destination we told Isaac he could pick ANY pumpkin he wanted. We walked around and around and then there it was...It glistened when the sun hit it and was the most perfect shape we could ever imagine! It had no dents and was absolutely beautiful. Richie grabbed the pumpkin as we stood around admiring it once more. Then we took the hayride back to the entrance, paid for it, and had a wonderful drive home! It was perfect!
Well, now I'll tell you the real story...We arrived at the pumpkin patch at 11am and it was freezing outside. The weather had called for a beautiful sunny day, but once again, it seemed like they were wrong. It finally did start clearing up by the time we got on the hayride. Abby squirmed the whole time on it and I'm still surprised she didn't fall off the ride. When we got to the patch, we walked around looking for Isaac's perfect pumpkin. Isaac kept tripping all over the vines and would whine every time he would fall. His hands were all dirty and he kept asking for a wet wipe so he could clean them off. He walked around and around, then we all started to get hot because we were dressed in layers. So we took off our sweatshirts (which I had to carry!) and kept looking...By this time Richie was saying we should just get a pumpkin at the grocery store! Finally Isaac picked his pumpkin, he pointed it out to me, and I couldn't believe it. It had a big white mold spot which pretty much took up one whole side of it. I quickly said no to him trying to explain why. He didn't get it so I saw another one close by which looked pretty good. I showed it to him and told him we were taking that one. By this time I'm dripping with sweat carrying a ton of sweatshirts in one hand, pulling Isaac along with the other, and trying not to trip on the vines and land on my face. I showed the pumpkin to Richie and he put it over his shoulder and handed me Abby. Finally we took the hayride back to the entrance, paid for our pumpkin, and got in the car for the ride home. AND then we were stuck in traffic for and hour and a half trying to get off the island (it only took us 15 minutes to get there in the morning!) That's the real story, but I have to admit, it really was a lot of fun. We will never forget our first pumpkin picking adventure. Plus, I didn't mind driving home in traffic because at least the sun was shining on my face which it hasn't done in about a month or so (we do live in Portland!) We can't wait to go pick our Christmas Tree next month!!