My Pumpkins

After Mass, we picked and bought us some pumpkins.  Bob sad he was going "to sleep" on his in this picture, so that's what he is doing.

Pumpkin Patch Farm Tour

This trip was with the Catholic homeschooling group and was to a local pumpkin patch.  I'll admit upfront that it was a bit of a photographic flop.  I got too carried away in watching my kids enjoy their time and didn't take many pictures.  We tried for a last minute group photo, but too many moms were wrangling their broods and it was just too hard.  This was organized by a new mom to the group, and it was the first field trip we've been on with the group since not many of us moms are brave enough to attempt to plan one of these.  I am so glad we have a new motivated mommy in the group!

It was a cold day with some big winds out at the farm.  We toured the dairy cows and saw their milking machines.  We had the chance to view and/or pet the calves, horses, chickens, pigs, etc.  My children, you know the sons and daughters of the veterinarian, were mostly not amused.  Much to her animal-loving mother's shock and dismay, Hannah pretty much is grossed out by most animals, especially baby chicks, because they poop.  I tried to tell her everybody poops, but it was no no use.  Judah was a clingy little man because he is in that phase that since Murray died they have all gone through where he's afraid of all animals.  Isaac and Drew didn't complain, and Genevieve is our true animal lover.  Bobby was particularly interested by the chickens as usual.

Then is was off to the pumpkin patch via a hayride with no hay.  It was in a trailer type thing with narrow benches on the edges, high walls, and, as I said, no t a piece of hay to be seen.  The children were given the instructions that they could pick any pumpkin they could carry themselves.  I knew that was trouble when I heard it.  My three oldest picked the biggest pumpkins ever and carry it they did.  Drew and Judah picked nice small ones.  I had my doubts that I'd get away without paying extra for the big pumpkins, but I did.  Somehow the three Euros per kid got me some big pumpkins.  And that was after I prepared the big kids that they needed to expect the pumpkin to be a small one that came with the entry fee.  Hannah pouted and said she wanted to go back to Maryland on the drive there, but she recanted in the afterglow of finding, carrying, and taking home a giant pumpkin.

You can probably tell by the pictures of just Drew and Judah that I was wearing Bobby and that the three oldest were off with their friends during the whole tour with only brief check ins with mom.

All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon, ending with hot apple cider for us all and a bottle of pumpkin wine to take home.  I had to squeeze this trip into a very busy week of multiple trips to the doctor, hair salons, piano lessons, soccer practices, and Judah starting kindergarten (I had to stay the first week with him), and packing for a big trip to Italy, all while Brian was out of town for work.  However, in the end I was glad we did, because we needed some good time with friends just for fun.

A request for a fire from a cute little guy cannot be denied.

 Drew was asking his daddy for a fire over and over.  How could he resist?  I had to take the big kids to pack shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child at Five Below.  I came home to find out that he had wanted an outdoor fire.  So they were all three bundled up by the chiminea when we returned.

"I think this stick can go in the fire.  What do you think, Daddy?"

Who doesn't want to kiss those cheeks!!!

Can I be thankful early?

I know it's not time for Thanksgiving just yet, but today I am feeling really thankful.  Thankful for these little ones!

I love how Isaac is looking at Judah in this one.

When this guy gets tired, he sometimes will just lay his head right on the tile floor.  Kinda sad, huh?  I mean who is his mom anyway, and why doesn't she put him to bed?

I just found a couple more pictures of the never-ending tattoo on my phone.

Judah loves to climb in boxes, and our bench full of books is  no exception.

Raking has been the big fun outdoor activity in this wonderfully mild fall weather.  They love it!  The big kids all make big piles and call them their homes or something.  As you can see the tree isn't done with them yet!

I love this picture of this fat orange clad belly next to the pumpkin!

"Here's a profile belly shot for you, Mom!"

Genna's my tree climber!

Thank God for that face!  He's a stinker, but when all is said and done I could care less when I see that smile.

My Pumpkins with their Pumpkins

Drew with his Spiderman Pumpkin, carved and cleaned out by Mommy

 Pumpkin carving used to be something I loved to do and looked forward to the day when I would be able to do it with my children.  I thought it would be all fun and a little bit messy.  We would all sit at the table and I would patiently help each of the children with their own pumpkin.  Well, then I had kids and realized that these kinds of crafty projects with a bunch of young children is actually full of me saying, "Hold on a minute," and, "You have to wait your turn," until even I don't believe I'm actually going to get around to helping them.  We start this at 4pm and guess what I am having to do simultaneously?  If you said, "Cook dinner," you'd be right.  If you said, "Nurse the baby," you'd also be right.

So you can see how this wasn't what I pictured ten years ago when I was carving a pumpkin for my front door step alone.  Drew immediately decided it was too dirty in that pumpkin to help pull seeds and pulp out.  Surprise!  Surprise!  (My tough as nails son who falls out of windows and down a flight of stairs with barely a cry cannot stand dirt on his hands or clothes.)  Hannah wanted help in designing her pumpkin carving, but didn't like any of my ideas.  Genna knew just what she wanted, but drew the picture way too small to actually carve it.  Isaac needed help carving.  Drew also needed me to just do the whole thing since he is not allowed to tough sharp things.  Judah was just hungry and wanted attention, because did I mention he is my only jealous of my or Brian's attention child?

Genna did a Eucharistic pumpkin.

Brian was out of town and so that added an element of craziness to the whole thing, but, as you can see, the pumpkins got carved in the end.  We almost made it with no injuries, but at the last moment Genna was using my linoleum cutter to write her name and slashed her arm with it.  It took a very neat little piece out of her arm, but nothing a little band-aid wouldn't fix.  She is one of my two tough ones, so she handled it calmly.

Hannah made stripes.

Isaac made Mary's heart, pierced by a sword.

This was on Wednesday, and as I write this on Sunday the pumpkins have already been banished to the front porch due to mold.  The squirrels will probably eat them soon.  

Die Herbst (translation "Fall" in German)

The girls have memorized a poem about the Fall in German school.  I'll have to get it on video.

The weather suddenly was so beautiful that we all had to go out and play in between cooking for Thanksgiving.  When we got out there, the kids all asked for rakes and bags so they could rake the huge amount of leaves that recently dumped off our Japanese Maple.  Our tree is always the last to drop leaves.  This means that all the neighbors' yards have been long raked and no more leaves are falling in their yards.  Our tree still has a good amount. Our yard sort of stands out right now.

We didn't quite finish before nap/rest time, but we stuffed 4 bags and got the majority of it done.

They all had a turn jumping on the leaves to squish them down into the bag. 

Where's Waldo?  Hannah is inside the bag.

Buried alive by leaves

My favorite season is autumn.

The colors of fall are so warm and inviting. I love taking leaf pictures with the kids in their hoodies.

I was surprised Drew put up with this, but he just hung out for me.

The big kids were actually the ones who didn't want to take these pictures because they were in the middle of a Frisbee game. Mean Mommy made them stop while the baby was happy.

Here's a shot of our maple tree in the front yard in it's orange-red glory. I love this tree. It's the last one to lose it's leaves.

A Room with a View

While I was sick all week, I was in bed and didn't even notice that our tree finally caught up with the rest of the world and turned. Here's our view from inside looking out...

Here's a view from outside looking back at our house...

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

We just read this book from the library, and so I thought I would surprise the kids with this pumpkin. (I stole the idea from here, but I drew and carved it freehand.) They helped me clean it out and separate the seeds, but I did the carving after they were snug in their beds while visions of pumpkins danced in their heads. We made progress from the last time we carved a pumpkin, everyone stuck their arms all the way in the pumpkin to pull out goo, but only a couple of times each. Hannah was a huge help separating seeds for roasting. (The seeds are drying as seen in the last picture for tomorrow's roasting.) The little ones got bored and started playing trains while Hannah and I finished the job. It was so fun standing in the kitchen with my oldest daughter sorting seeds. Having daughters is great at these moments. One day we will be making Thanksgiving dinner together.