My Itsy Bitsy Spiders

Finally a festive Fall picture together...

Mmmm...I can handle these kind of spiders...October yumminess!

My, not so Itsy Bitsy, Spider anymore.  {sniff, sniff}

My, Itsy Bitsy, spider for as long as she will allow it.

The Pumpkin Patch Can Have Challenges

We did it... our annual Fall Pumpkin Patch visit! {there is an exclamation point behind this for a reason} 'How did it go?', you may be wondering.  Well, it went.  For fear of sounding too disappointed, let's just say it had some challenging moments.

Basically, every Saturday in October this year is booked either with t-ball games, the school festival {already done and gone, but a weekend in October, none the less}, and birthday parties.  This was it!--the only Saturday of the month to make this happen.  And sure enough...Clay had a tennis match.  Thinking this will be "no problem", I mean seriously I have the two of them by myself all the time, I loaded the kids and the car up and off we went.

What I did not take into account was the fact that Maggie is v..e..r..y slow to warm up to new places {unless she is in my arms or at least eye level with me} and it is nearly impossible to get two kids {one very clingy one} situated for a picture in the patch and then run backwards over pumpkins, {without tripping}, and get that golden pumpkin patch shot.  So again, another photo op failed.

The other logistic I did not take into consideration...carrying that very clingy, {but also precious child}, and a pre-schooler's GIANT pumpkin pick.  I must have looked a fool with Maggie on one hip and a pumpkin on the other because people came out of the wood works offering to carry one of them to my car.  So generous, but we all know that Maggie was having none of that.  My sweet Jack, trying to be such a 'gentleman' helped carry the pumpkin as far as his little muscles would let him...that really brought people to our rescue {and a smile to my face}.

And then I could probably list the other issues we had along our visit...poor Jack got elbowed in the face by another child {total accident}.  He was such a trooper though.  Maggie tripped excessively over pumpkins {more reason to want Mommy to carry her}.  And both kids were blinded by God's beautiful sunshine on a gorgeous Fall day.

So, yes we did it! {with an exclamation point}  Maybe it wasn't as smooth as years in the past.  But, we can officially check Pumpkin Patch off our 'Fall Things To Do' list.  Jack is happy {as he was the entire visit minus the little injury}.  He has one pumpkin to carve into something spooky and one bumpy pumpkin that he thinks is already spooky.  And Maggie thinks she had a good time.  She has repeatedly asked to "look" at the pumpkin pictures on my camera.  I tried to explain, there wasn't much to see, but she insists.

Okay, so maybe one year during Fall I will look back at this giggle.  But for now, I only take one very valuable lesson with me...Pumpkin Patch visits must include the entire family from here on out.

Initially all was well with Maggie and her 2nd Pumpkin Patch visit ever.

All too quickly she realized that she couldn't pick up a pumpkin by herself.  This was the start of a downward spiral.  {we are still good here though}

Meanwhile, Jack was having a blast, like any kid should at the Pumpkin Patch on a beautiful day.

This was the GIANT pumpkin that he really wanted.  I realized, as Maggie had earlier, that Mommy can't pick up every pumpkin by herself either.

This was my failed attempt at a picture of my favorite pumpkins.  Well, I guess not totally failed, you can see both of their faces and there are actual pumpkins in the picture.  Just a little too much sunshine and one clingy Magpie with an extended arm, basically saying, "hold me and NEVER put me down".

And then...all in her little world was okay.  Maggie found Maggie-sized pumpkins.  And she could even carry them all by herself!

Counting pumpkins.  It goes something like this...fee, figh, wun, foe.  Maybe her numbers aren't in the right order, but she does have one to one correspondence.  No to mention, I adore watching my little pumpkin trying to count..yummy!

I'm pretty sure she spotted Jack's wagon here.  Yay!  Somewhere to put all those little pumpkins she adored.

I can not brag on my Jack enough.  He was so incredibly helpful.  He grabbed the wagon, he helped us fill it, he carried the money {I didn't have pockets}, he payed for the pumpkins, he tried to help carry them to the car, and he smiled at his sister when she got a little less than desirable to be around.  And he even told her, "Pumpkin patches sure do you make you grumpy".  Ha!  Love his perspective!

Who knew?  All we needed was a wagon and some itty bitty pumpkins to keep Mags content.  And if it had been up to her, we would have bought an entire wagon full.

This is the "spooky" pumpkin that we don't have to carve, according to Jack.  And check out those muscles...that's my good eater.  

Spooky House

It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween around our house.  The decorations are up, costumes are purchased {I can't believe I'm saying 'purchased' instead of made this year}, and the candy bowl is full.  There was only one thing missing, according to Jack, ...a "spooky house".

Yes, my cautious, "I'm too scared" kiddo, is really into the spookiness of the season this year.  I am amazed at what intrigues Jack this Halloween, as opposed to scaring him.  He is so in to the gross, creepy, and scary of it all!  He checks the mail with me daily to see if there is a "spooky" magazine in the mailbox for him {i.e., a catalog full of junk from one of those ridiculous vendors like Oriental Trading}.  And if one does arrive, he can entertain himself for a good hour flipping through every page and finding the grossest stuff and oohing and gooing over it.

Okay, so back to our missing Halloween 'must have', again, according to Jack.  He has been asking, repeatedly, for a "Spooky House".  Not knowing exactly what this meant, Clay took the reins.  And ta da...

Okay, so maybe you are thinking what I was..."really?".  But, it was exactly what our Halloween boy wanted.  I was thinking more of...painting a big box, decorating it, cutting, glueing, etc. etc.  Obviously Mommy is not well versed on creating forts spooky houses.  Thank goodness for Daddy.  He saved me a lot of wasted energy.  Throw a sheet up in the bedroom and call it spooky, there you go!

However, it was not complete until Jack added a few "characters" of his own.  On his wish list--a witch, a ghost, and a vampire.  After scouring the house, this is what we got...

The ghost being a homemade little guy from a pillowcase {thanks Daddy} and the witch being a stolen kitchen decoration.  So, we are still missing the vampire.  But, no fear, Jack's favorite "tween" ager neighbor promised to come over next week and help him make one from a black garbage bag.  Which means I have to leave this make shift "spooky house" up for at least another week.  You should see me climbing over furniture to get to the other side of his room.  All in the name of Halloween love, I keep telling myself.

And to end this "spooky house" post,  I will leave you with a spooky BOO! from our little Halloween pre-schooler.  How could something so precious ever be spooky?

The Fall Festival Divide & Conquer Style

The kid's Pre-School held its annual Fall Festival this weekend.  It was Clay and I 's our first official 'divide and conquer' day {the first of many I'm sure}.  Jack had a t-ball game at 10:30 on the fields directly behind the festival, so Mags and I hit the festival while the boys played ball.  At the completion of the ball game, Jack sprinted {cleats and all} to the festivities.

It actually worked out well. Maggie had a good hour to make festival choices for herself and I got a little one on one time, {at an actual event}, with my darling baby girl.  However, I must confess, we were both elated when Jack ran in to spice up the fun--sometimes it's just too quiet without him around!

The only down fall of this 'divide and conquer' morning, and yes this is a down fall, was Jack joined us in Sand Gnats uniform.  This was the first year that he wasn't able to debut his seasonal Halloween tee at the Fall Festival.  And to make matters worse, Maggie was able to.  So my photo op dreams were crushed by t-ball get up.  And worse than that, because of the 'divide and conquer' style of the day, I pretty much gave up on any photos of them together at all.  Again, the first of many photo dreams crushed, I'm sure.

Regardless of attire, the kids had a blast kicking off Fall, festival style.  Each in their own way, of course.   Maggie took her time deciding where and what to do and Jack dove head first into the first bounce house he could find.  Maggie picked necklaces from the prize jars and Jack picked sugar.  Maggie had her face painted and chose the orange pumpkin and Jack didn't want to stop long enough to even see what the choices were.  They did, however, both agree on one thing...the train ride...go figure.  Maggie "choo chooed" her away around the track parking lot and Jack actually sat still with his boyish grin {which, by the way melts my heart}.

So, I can officially put a check mark by Fall Festival 2011and now it's time for the rest of our fall fun.  I'm thinking a  Pumpkin Patch visit is on the horizon!