Pumpkin Pickinz' 2011

Saturday morning, October 15, the older two boys & I headed to Oregon Dairy to participate in its Pumpkin Pickinz'. We asked our friends the Grube's to join us, and Shawn told me to leave Ryan behind once again so the older boys could enjoy themselves more. Seeing that the weather forecast was calling for a cold and windy morning, I agreed that the baby would be better off with Daddy. I moved an exersaucer into our bedroom where Shawn could let him sleep next to him or have a couple toys in bed or use his arms to move the Schnook to his exersaucer. I think they really bonded that morning. And the older boys & I had fun, too!

We pulled in right as Chris, Lisa & Isabella did, so we parked right next to each other. Great timing! We got in line to catch the first wagon ride to the pumpkin patch. We opted not to get off and do the punkin chucker, which was the first stop, but press on to find our pumpkins!

Caleb found a little one right away! I told them that their job was to find a small one that they could manage to carry since I was one mommy with two boys. They agreed and did a great job finding a little one.

Joshua picked one out and held it up. Then he said it was too heavy and found a smaller one. This went on for awhile that they would find another one and then another one because theirs was "too heavy." Eventually I carried one and I think either Chris or Lisa carried one for the kiddos as the other one carried Isabella's - then they would find an even smaller one and trade us. Ha!

We ran into friends of the Grube's there as well, who pretty much stuck with us the rest of the morning. They seemed nice enough.

My heart sank as I realized that I had dropped my $20 bill. Instead of carrying a bag or purse, I had simply stuffed some cash in my pocket that morning - one $20 and two $5's. Thankfully both fives were still there as Oregon Dairy more than doubled their pricing from years past - these tiny pumpkins ended up costing $8!!! I was surprised; but Shawn said that every organization is now trying to rip off families. While someone started the event possibly to be nice, now that they have a following, they are gauging people for small pumpkins. I bought our pumpkin to carve at Weis, then, for $4 and it was huge and from a grocery store rather than a farm (where typically I've seen small pumpkins for $1 or even two for $1). Such is life! At least we enjoyed the two-second trip to and from the pumpkin patch on the wagons, etc.

We searched and searched for the missing money to no avail. I knew I had spare cash back in my car (praise God!) so I remembered my easygoing husband who would tell me not to get rattled and just enjoy the rest of our day. What was gone was gone. I said a prayer to help me not feel bad and that I would find it! I tried to shrug it off and be easygoing like he always is. I appreciate having a husband who is kind and patient at all times! I reminded myself to be more like him and not get worked up. I asked for peace and I was believing that God would give me that peace as we continued on. So, I said "don't worry about it - I don't see it anywhere! Let's just go back to the barn and enjoy the rest of the morning." So, we lined back up for the wagon ride back to where we started.

Here's a picture of an expecting Lisa (we're SO excited for them!) and Chris, who was running a half-marathon the next day in Hershey.

They offered to take a picture of me with the boys with my camera in the pumpkin patch before we left. :) I love these kids!!! I was so glad to have a morning out with them.

We are also so blessed to have good friends who I feel comfortable venturing out with by myself with our kids. They are a great family!

Here's part of the gang heading back to the barn with our small pumpkins ready to decorate.

The pumpkins don't look as small in the pictures, I think, as they do up close. If a 3-year-old can carry the pumpkin with ease, you know it was pretty little. They were smaller than the ones we bought for Joshua's party for all the families to decorate and take home.

When we got back to the next area, we asked the kids to pose for a picture. :) While the forecast had said 40 degrees and windy, it ended up being not that cold (I'm guessing 60s?) and just a slight breeze. I had a long sleeve shirt on both kids then a sweatshirt with a hood and a jacket or hoody and they were definitely warm enough.

We went inside the barn, and the kids went right up to the corn table. Years past I thought they had two corn tables, but this year there was just one. Then on closer inspection I realized it wasn't really corn this year either. It was STONES! There wasn't corn in there but gravel from the parking lot. It was dirty and pretty gross. :( :( :(

The kids went to do the hay tunnel but either they were scared and didn't make it or someone blocked their path because they all came right back out, as did other children. We saw some other folks from preschool there as well.

Joshua & Isabella tried to milk the cow that was there. This is the first time that I've ever seen anything that looked like milk come out. I was surprised that there was liquid in it as they pulled!

Next we went over to decorate the pumpkins. I asked the boys not to use paint since I had to carry them home and hadn't remembered a box to carry them in so they didn't get all over my car. They said that was just fine and used stickers instead. Isabella painted away and glued on hair, eyes and a nose.


After the kids were finished decorating the pumpkins, Chris & I took the pumpkins out to the vehicles while Lisa volunteered to stay with the kiddos. That way they didn't have to carry around a painted pumpkin, and I could grab more cash out of my car for the rides. I helped Chris get Izzy's pumpkin into a bag and got red paint on my hands. He was also covered. Such is the life of a parent! :) :) :)

Chris & I stood in line and got the tickets for the barrel rides, which were $2 each. I decided against doing the tractor rides which were also $2 each, much to Joshua's displeasure.

Here are Lisa & Isabella decorating - Lisa hadn't brought regular glasses and couldn't see well with her sunglasses on inside or with them off. Poor girl! 

Chris was taking pictures! I thought Shawn would laugh at this photo since I'm always telling him to take more pictures at events for me. :)

Here are the boys enjoying their barrel rides. They LOVE these! AND, I must give God a big shout out as He answered my prayers at the end of our adventure! I found my twenty still rolled up in the grass. With the wind it's AMAZING that it didn't blow away to infinity and beyond! But, there it was planted right where I could see it at the end of our time that morning. I was SO blessed! And I rejoiced just like the person who lost the coin in that parable when it was found! I'm sure the party in heaven when a sinner is saved was more than my 'woohoo God!' moment, but you get the idea.

That night, we decided to do a "family movie night" so Daddy could keep his foot elevated. We finally saw Cars2. Our original plan was to take Joshua to the movie theater, but we debated on whether Caleb would be able to sit that long or not. Finally we decided just to watch it at home as a family. While it's not quite the same as going to the 'big screen' it was nice to have the opportunity to see it together, to have a place where Caleb could get up and play and move around and not be a distraction to anyone else, and a place where I could also have Ryan and feed him when needed, etc. We did make it a special night with popcorn for the boys, which our Bean seems to enjoy.

I love family time! So do the kiddos! :) Thanks, Shawn, for bonding with the baby while I had time out with our older boys. And thanks to our friends for coming along and hanging out with us! Thank you, God, for providing for us - for the beautiful weather and for the opportunity to have days such as these. We had a fun fall Saturday!