Two years ago, when I was pregnant with Seth, one of my baby shower themes was a "Lil Pumpkin". I also craved everything pumpkin ALL. THE. TIME, which was a slight problem for me because I announced my pregnancy in March and Seth was born at the end of November. So I'm sure you can just imagine how many pumpkin treats I ate and drank when it became available to me!
Then, a year ago, I took Seth to the store and bought him his first lil first pumpkin. When I first took this picture, I titled it, "My lil pun'kin with his lil pun'kin". I want to cry just a little bit when I see this picture. Where did my baby go?!
I guess you can say that Seth, pumpkins, and I have a lot of great memories together.
With all this to say, Seth and I had another pumpkin adventure last week, and I wanted to share it with you all.
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Hey mamas, you know those days where nothing you offer your kids to keep them entertained suffices?
Do you want to color?
No.
Do you want to read a book?
No.
Do you want to get on my bed and throw the pillows on the floor?
No.
I had a day exactly like this last week. All my attempts to come up with some new daily diversions to keep my toddler from wanting to watch Sesame Street all day long had failed. Then I remembered that the pumpkin patch was just down the road, and that some fresh air and new scenery was just what we both needed to keep us both from going insane. So I gathered and loaded our pile of stuff (as per usual) into the car.
Side note: why do kids need SO much stuff for just a car ride?! Like, seriously. We are just going five miles down the road. Why do we need this overflowing diaper bag jam-packed with four different types of snacks (because of different bribing options, that's why), a juice cup, a huge puffy jacket, and two extra pairs of shoes between us? We are only going to be spending forty-five minutes max at the pumpkin patch.
As we pulled up to The Patch, we were one of the only ones there - an introverts dream come true. Anyone else who was there was wandering through the corn maze at the other end of the property. Plus, there were wheelbarrows galore to choose from. Jackpot!
I am a person who always has to have a plan. If there is no plan, I can count on stress and anxiety to be right there waiting for me. But since I will have none of that, I try to always have a Master Plan for everything that I do. With that, I convinced Seth to sit his lil tooshie down in the wheelbarrow and away we went to find the perfect pumpkins.
It was so nice being out in the pumpkin patch with no one else around us. Even with the freeway just behind the trees, it was really peaceful. The sun was shining and it was actually pretty hot out for an October day in the Pacific Northwest. Much to my dismay, my plan for wearing my cute flannel shirt, a scarf, and layers of shirts had unfortunately backfired. Seth loved tromping in, and exploring around, the pumpkin bramble. At one time, his pants got stuck on the plant's stickers and he face-planted right into the dirt! I couldn't help but laugh, but he was not amused in the slightest. Look at him: he's so dang cute with those little sweatpants and his binky.
After we found our five little pumpkins, we headed over to the register. Along the way, there was a little play area with bouncy balls that kids Seth's age could play on. It was a rectangular area that was blocked in with little blocks of hay. Even though this was not a part of the premeditated Pumpkin Patch Master Plan, I couldn't say no to Seth wanting to play. After about 15 minutes of not even giving seasonal allergies a second thought, I remembered that hay is, in fact, a serious allergen and began praying earnestly that Seth didn't have any sort of hay fever allergy. (At the time of publishing: so far, so good)
I have plans to paint our pumpkins with all of our names on them, but until then, this is what you're greeted with when you're at our front door!
Not too bad, if I do say so myself. The fifth pumpkin is sitting on my kitchen counter, and I'm going to gut it and roast its seeds. Bwahaha!
I mean, YUM!