Pumpkin Patch Day

I think it should be an official day of the year...Pumpkin Patch Day. We have more of a celebration on that day than Labor Day or anything. Actually it is more like "Labor" Day. It takes like a year to get out the house to go to a very special event like this. As a matter of fact it all started last November. That's right----November of 2005. Ella had gotten these beutiful fringe purple Gap boots from Connolly and I needed to make her a top to match because she didn't have anything to go with them. I found a pattern and the "perfect" material and went at it. Well it turned out to be the biggest seamstress project in my career. I couldn't cut a button hole in the fabric I chose, I couldn't find the buttons I wanted, the hood didn't go on correctly, and on and on. And then when I finally did get the thing very close to completion (everything except the velcro closure since the button hole didn't work) then--that's right--I could not find one of the boots on the morning before the pictures for her 2nd birthday. Ask Amos and Guru---I was a little t'd off. It took about a month to make that silly thing. I ran to Mervyn's and got a very cute little Velvet jacket, but it just was not a poncho to match. Cry me a river. She was going to wear it this year instead.

Okay, so we set out to go to the patch. I got up early and got ready and we were finally out the door by 10:00. Ugh! 10:00??? How can I wake up early and we be gone by that late? Oh well. It was a little chilly out so I told the kids we didn't leave earlier because I didn't want them to be freezing. One mention of the work freezing and Ella Mary freaks out. "I'm cold I'm cold I'm freezing---TURN ON THE AIR CONDITIONING MOMMY!" She calls any air blowing out of any vents the air conditioning. While we were in the car with our seatbelts and the "air conditioning" on I decided that we maybe might need some gloves and hats. I'm so brilliant. Mom of the year award coming my way. I think we finally arrived at the pumpkin patch/apple orchard at about 10:40 or so. Yes, we found our gloves.

We went and visited the animals and saw the cow's white long toungue when we tried to feed it, we looked in the porta potty, we touched all the rotten pumpkins we could find, had the mommy papparazzi take some pics, and then it was time for some hot chocolate. They have a really neat country store there filled with a ton of apples, a cute little snack bar, a little store with pie mix etc, and fresh apple tunovers and carmel apples. Yummmm.... We got some hot chocolate and took the lid off since it was scorching hot (I almost think it shouold be illegal to get anything that hot) and we walked in the area where they wash and bag all of the apples from the orchard. There was a preschool there taste testing apple cider and seeing how trees grow. So we watched enviously with our mouths dripping for the cider. The kids wanted their hot chocolate. We went back to the snack area and I told the kids about 36 times not to touch their cups of illegaly scorching hot cocoa while I got them a carmel apple. Ella wanted to put the lid on hers. So she did. And spilled it. All over her little 3-year-old hand. And she screamed bloody murder. For a long time. And she wouldn't stop. Yes, it looked like it hurt and I felt very bad for her. I just don't get why they have to do exactly the opposite of what you tell them? Well we got her all cleaned up and she was fine with her had still attached and functioning properly.

We had fun on a hayride getting pumpkins out of a field. There was a little elderly man that was working and the kids kept saying, "Thank you for the ride grandpa!" So cute. We got a bag of gourds and two pumpkins. Gabe kept asking what the gourds were for. I told him for decoration. He totally did not get that. I think he thought they were to eat.

It was very fun to spend time with the kids and give them my undivided attention. It was so nice out too! What a really great time. I think I may need to make a small album of just our day since I got so many pictures.