The Newson Narrative: The Pumpkin Patch

The weather is getting cooler. The leaves are changing colors. And next week we have a Primary party, including a pumpkin carving contest. Of course, that means, it must be pumpkin selecting time! You know, last year, we were just out of sync enough that we never did get around to getting and carving a pumpkin. It was a sad thing. And the year before, we left it just long enough that we ended up just grabbing a couple from the grocery store (gasp!! The horror!!!) So it was quite nice to look forward to heading back out to the pumpkin patch again. Finally. And let me repeat that finally part, because we had some fun trying to get cash this morning. By the time we got it, Melinda was on her 8th "why is this taking so looooong" whine. Okay, I wasn't actually counting. But 8 is a pretty good guess, I think.

Melinda and Jacob both had fun running around looking for the perfect pumpkin. I'm not sure what Melinda's criteria was - she was too quick and roaming pretty far. And according to Jesse, she didn't give any indication of what she was looking for, she was simply looking. Jacob, on the other hand, went straight to trying to pick up every pumpkin he liked. His favorite pumpkin was one he found that looked more suitable for windowsill decoration, or pumpkin pie making, than a jack-o-lantern. It was his favorite because "this one isn't too heavy, mom!" He was carrying it around in one hand, by the stem. I did persuade him to pick a bigger one that we could carve a face into, later. Alex seemed more interested in the grass than the pumpkins at first, but eventually warmed up to them enough to try chewing on a few stems and licking a few of their skins, just like a good teething baby should do.

It amazes me that Melinda is this big. The last time we were in this pumpkin patch, she was just barely 2 years old, and looked so much younger. This picture is perfect to me, that way. This is not the pumpkin Melinda picked, but it was one of the first few that caught her eye.