The Pumpkins Are Growing Up

I almost left one of my children on the edge of a cornfield in Arthur yesterday. 

I refrained however and we arrived back home still as a family of four.

I guess we won't be going back to the Pumpkin Patch again.  And in the battle of wills that my youngest and I seem embarked upon I am never stepping foot in Curtis Orchards again.

How's that for being the grown up one?

When we got to the Pumpkin Patch, Owen casually looked at the scores of gorgeous pumpkins and said, "they don't have very many good pumpkins this year....we should have gone to Curtis Orchards."

It went downhill from there.  At one point I went to sit on a bench and look at chickens while the three of them got refreshments.  I just wanted them far, far away from me.

I think I'm not accepting how grown up they are.  I was somehow picturing something like this:

and instead I got this:

this pretty much sums up the day....that's me, closing my eyes and attempting (and failing) to be patient:

Finally we gave up and left....with only three pumpkings...no beautiful squashes, no mums...no fun.  Then I rained on their parade even more and declared the afternoon free of computers/games.  Leo mourned a while and then went and played with Lego before settling down with a book.  Owen stayed right next to us...for HOURS....talking about how much he wanted to play games, how unfair we were, etc., etc.  I retreated to the yard.  He eventually came out and said he'd just talked to Aunt Debbie...."for a REALLY long time," he added defiantly.  I told him that was fine---he could call Aunt Debbie whenever he wanted to.  Then he admitted he felt much better and finally wore me down to allow him to play a game 35 minutes earlier than scheduled.

Good God.

Luckily we capped the day off by attending our beloved Dick Detzner's opening at Amara.  I love him and I love his work.  We got a chance to talk with Kirstin, Jim and a few other friends (breakfast next time you're in town Becky!).  When we got in the car to leave (I was fading fast, still not feeling great) we talked about how incredibly lucky we feel to have the friends we do.  We got home, Ernie made me popcorn and I hugged my sweet babies really hard.

If I were going to be an animal I think I'd be a chicken....particularly a polka dot one....