Three Little Pumpkins - Soon to Be Four

We made our annual visit to the local pumpkin farm last weekend. The day was cool but surprisingly not rainy; so we had to take advantage of the weather. There are dozens of pumpkin farms to choose from in our area, but we started going to Lee Farms when the Drama Queen was just a year old and have made it a tradition. I love that most of the activities are geared towards younger kids, but let's face it - the real reason we love going to Lee Farms is to eat their phenomenal pumpkin and apple cider donuts!

It just so happened that on that same day, Old Navy was running one of their "one-day-only" sales on their puffy vests. Since the kids needed some new winter wear anyway, we stopped there first and scored cozy vests for the whole family.

The Spud got his tractor fix.

The Drama Queen was sweet and helped her brothers find pumpkins before she chose hers. She is getting so grown-up these days!

The kids eagerly anticipated their apple cider donuts.

I enjoyed waddling all around the grounds, watching the kids excitedly choose pumpkins and run through the hay maze. It will be really fun next year with four kids!

We have the kids pose here every year. Mr. Beast is catching up to the Drama Queen in height and has already passed her in weight. Makes me want to stop time for just a little while. . .

Face painting was a first this year. The Spud decided half-way through that he was finished; so his pumpkin looked a little funny.

And this is my absolute favorite photo of the day. It was such fun to see the Beast enjoy himself without getting overwhelmed or having a meltdown. It is usually really hard to get him to pose for a photo anyway, and I love this candid shot of my little man.

So pumpkin carving will be in the near future for us. We can't do them too far ahead of time because here in rainy Oregon, carved pumpkins rot much more quickly.

Pumpkin Fever

Lately, the small fry of the house have been all about those jolly round orange harbingers of autumn. The Spud and the Beast in particular will shriek "Puuumpkins! Puuumpkins!" whenever they see the colorful gourds. Adding to the pumpkin frenzy, a local store has put up a giant inflatable smiling pumpkin. Whenever we pass it, I think the only thing holding the boys back from launching out the window and giving it a big hug are those 5-point harnesses on their car seats. :)

So, it was with no small amount of excitement and joy that we headed out to the local pumpkin patch last week. The sun managed to poke its head out for one day here in rainy Oregon, and we took full advantage. When we first arrived, I realized that the eagerness of the kiddos would not be contained for long; therefore like any good mother I forced each child to pose and smile graciously at the camera before outfits got ruined or meltdowns ensued.

The Drama Queen did a beautiful job of course - showing off her new fall boots.

I was just thankful to get the Beast to sit for a second. He was a little overwhelmed by all the activity.

The Spud lent me one of his famous charming smiles before running pell-mell throughout the farm.

Seriously, that kid barely stopped for a second. It took him forever to decide on a pumpkin because he couldn't stay still long enough to choose. Grandpa had the fun job of keeping track of the Spud. :)

Meanwhile, the Beast saw his chance to make a break for it and gave Daddy quite the workout during the chase. I was the photographer; so I left the heavy work to the guys while I snapped some photos like this one:

and this one:

One of the reasons we like Lee Farms so much is that they sell some killer warm cider donuts! The promise of these tasty treats was enough to get all three hooligans on the straw at the same time, finally providing an opportunity to get a photo of them all in their matching outfits:

Well, we tried, anyway. The outfits will be reappearing in a future family photo shoot, so no worries. The kiddos wolfed down their donuts and begged to go in the hay maze/tube slide. I was more than willing to allow them to work off their sugary donut rush.

Somehow the Drama Queen managed to end her slide in a perfect pose. :)

And if you are wondering if the Beast suddenly grew an extra pair of legs, that is not the case. It is merely the Spud forgetting to wait his turn and literally coming down right on top of his brother.

We ended our pumpkin patch trip with a very large and perfectly round pumpkin (the Beast's); a tall and skinny pumpkin (the Spud's); and a squat white pumpkin (the Drama Queen's).

We still had plenty of pumpkin fun coming up though: pumpkin carving with the kids, a pumpkin party with our Sunday School class, and pumpkin bowling. But that's another story for another time...