Pumpkin Patching

Last week was a bit of a doozy for me. I was super sick and also seemed to have a lot of assignments (an exam even) and other to-do items. Mr. Man helped out a lot, as did sweet good friends. And the fact that the kids were off school Thursday and Friday when I was NOT, didn't help either. Much juggling ensued. I'm a horrible juggler. At any rate, Friday morning I took my exam, while my kids had WAY too much fun with their sitter and then we took a trip to the mall to visit the toy store and then spent a good four hours with some of our best friends out at our favorite farm. We picked pumpkins, bought apples to make applesauce, enjoyed the petting zoo (except for when our little friend got her hand bit by a pig), went on a haunted hay ride, played on the hay ship and maze and just enjoyed the fresh brisk autumn air. So fun and carefree. We raced home to get to football practice and real life on time. But it was a joyous afternoon and a good end to a rough week. (And this week brought snow, and cooler weather, so I'm glad we snuck it in!) I took way too many pictures, here are just a few:

He spent the first couple of hours like this. Isn't it good for kids to nap outdoors?

Boys enjoying the pigs

Miss J and her friend: true cowgirls

This little guy tried to sneak out of every picture I tried to take (see the top one for clues of him) but I barely caught him here. It was a fun game for my usually camera-happy boy.

Getting down to each others level.

It was busy busy... lots of kids and lots of running around.

The simple tree-hung tire swings were a HUGE hit.

Taking forever to find their PERFECT pumpkins. The Toddler was the pickiest. Didn't like the "dirty" ones!!!