I am really trying to exert as much energy as I can into maintaining normal family life for my kiddos. It gets a bit overwhelming some days, but we end up enjoying it.

This year, instead of going to the grocery store, we actually went and picked out our pumpkins on our own. We have a fantastic pumpkin patch just down the street from our house. The kids just loved the experience.

Nena was the first to score her prize pumpkin! She was so proud of her choice. She had the exact color that she was looking for. It couldn’t be a shade darker or a shade lighter. It had to be the right height, the right roundness and the right stem type. Oh, did I mention that she is starting to get a little high maintenance.

Bear, on the other hand, couldn’t find the right one. He spend 1/2 hour looking for one that worked for him. Ironically though, he didn’t have any standards by which to pick his perfect pumpkin.

Toad found the perfect Toad pumpkin. It was a little dented and soft on one side, however he didn’t care. That was HIS pumpkin and no one was going to convince him otherwise. He was so proud of his choice. He takes every little moment of choice as a personal victory and savors every little minute of being “grown up.”

We love this activity every year. It will be fun to see where we end up next year. Will we be at this patch? Will we be at a grocery store patch? Will we even be in the valley? I guess that only time will tell.