i went to the pumpkin lot and all i got... {pumpkin "patch" 2015}

I don't typically post a lot of unhappy pictures. And as devastating as this one seems...

I promise she was smiling just minutes before and laughing her head off just seconds later.

Tatum was crying because I wouldn't let her go on the giant inflatable lion slide. I watched a mom staring at us while we wheeled the wagon out to the car. She was either thinking, "glad that's not me" or "what is wrong with that mom that that poor child is that upset?". I'd like to think it's the former and not the latter. I didn't care either way, but by the look on Tatum's face, you would have thought something terrible had happened. I guess in her world, it did. ;)

I told all 3 of them (Kieran did not want to go to the pumpkin lot and Erik was out of town), that we were going just for pumpkins and not for the rides. After a weekend of soccer and basketball games on both days back to back, a quick pitstop was all I had left.

All I could think of was Charlie Brown saying, "I went trick or treating and all I got was a bag of rocks."Tatum really wanted to go on that slide and I felt like she was thinking, "I went to the pumpkin lot and all I got was a pumpkin and a ride in a wagon."

Pumpkin lot, what's a pumpkin lot?

A dirt lot filled with haystacks and pumpkins placed on top.

And it's not that we haven't gone to this lot before, it's just that I love going with the whole family (when we visit my parents) to a REAL farm! 

You know, the ones where they have GIANT wooly cows with horns.

Or where the pumpkins are actually still on the ground where they were grown!

We go through the corn maze and on the slides there, too, but most of the time is spent searching for the pumpkins, eating lunch and enjoying the scenery and each other's company. It doesn't feel crowded because there is so much land and everyone is spread out.

No farm, no inflatable slides, just a picture with hay up Tatum's nose (she did that on purpose)...

 laughing because I asked her to take the hay out of her nose...

sticking her tongue out at me when I asked for a picture (that's karma because I used to and sometimes still do this to my mom)...

and fake smiling (Liam is cooperating and Anna has now followed suit with sticking out her tongue).

All in all they were grateful that they picked out their pumpkins, I'm grateful that I stuck to my guns and didn't give in to the travesty of not going on the lion slide,

  and next year we're going as a whole family back to the farm!

pumpkin patch 2010

Erik and I went to pick up my brand new car today (and didn't come home with it because it needs to be detailed...post to follow), and actually had the opportunity to enjoy each other's company at lunch...by ourselves. Imagine that! I have a lot of moments, that most people do, where you think to yourself, "where did the time go?" or "how quickly the seasons change!", and it's becoming more prevalent as I get older. It's amazing what a difference a year makes. I look back on last year's trip to the pumpkin patch, and I feel like we were just there. 

Anna's hair just a ball full of curls at the base of her neck, has quickly turned into bouncing pig tales...

 

 and my growing boy, Kieran, is that much more excited by pulling the wagon all by himself.
We went to the smaller patch this year, closer to home, because it was raining and just easier for me.
I'm growing a third and final little pumpkin,

 and she's due in two weeks!

How the time goes...

 how the seasons change...

but we never stop laughing,

and we never stop

 loving.

Sure, we have our moments and they aren't ones that I'm always proud, but we are not perfect nor should we be. We are a family. We grow and change with the seasons, we learn from our mistakes, and at the end of the day,

we walk together, no matter what.

pumpkin patch

video clip of me and kieran on the super slide!

This past weekend, we took a family trip to Moore's Pumpkin Patch. We had never heard of it before, until we saw it on the drive home  from the airport! 

I'm sure Kieran would have been fine holding on by himself, but I just don't trust a merry-go-round without straps!

Next, we went in the jumpy, which Anna usually loves, but she ended up bouncing maybe a few minutes. At Weezie's, she can jump on the trampoline, bounce on her bottom, and almost stand up on her feet again! Instead, Anna liked going down the slide, aka the ramp to the bouncy entrance :)

Kieran, on the other hand, lasted the whole 10 minutes, and the only way to get him out short of us climbing in and yanking him out, was to pretend we were walking away and leaving. That is ONE QUICK WAY to get a little boy out of a bouncy, let me tell ya!

Meanwhile, Anna had fun driving in the car,

and riding a bull.

She thinks she's so big, that she was planning on busting through this gate to take a ride on the bees!

So we distracted the both of them and took them on a wagon ride to pick out our pumpkins.

If you've seen pictures of me when I was about Kieran's age, then you know that this "look" was my "look". From first glance, you'd think he was extremely unhappy to be there, but if you look closely, there's a slight twinkle in the eye, just a teeny tiny, ever so slight, upturn in his lips. It's because he's giving the stubborn look, and right after this was taken, he smiled! This look was my look. We may not look alike, but we definitely have parts of our personality that are identical!

Found the perfect pumpkin for his school project!

Trying to eat the crackers through the bag.

Aren't my boys so cute?

Headed to the top of the super slide!

And away we go!

Happy to take home her pumpkin!

We picked out some colorful gourds too!

Bye, pumpkin patch! We'll see you next year!

We had fun riding your rides, sliding down slides, and picking out pumpkins to mark a festive October and November!