pumpkin patch visit 2015

There are a couple of things I can't quite get over:

One, is how looking at Chase is consistently like looking back in time to when Austen was a baby. It freaks me out. Example:

And two, how my girls are now one and four years old. Did you hear that right? I said FOUR YEARS OLD. Three months ago, I had a five year old, a three year old, and a zero-year-old (as my kids would say). Then all of a sudden all my children grew up a tad, all at once, and now I am the mother of a six-year-old, a four-year-old, and a one-year-old. And unfortunately for my mama heart, I barely have time to accept that my baby has become a toddler before my preschooler became a pre-K'er. And it's funny how in our heads, our mother heads, it's always, "Next year she'll be (fill in the blank)!" All aghast, as if how dare they become the inevitable subsequent number that labels their abilities, their babyness, the way they need US less and less. Next year Austen will be five! (How dare she!) Next year Chase will be TWO! (Really... how dare she?!) And River will be SEVEN. (This... this I cannot accept. I have tears now. Really.)

But I digress. So, it's October, which is the month of celebrations. My two girls' birthdays, my little sister, my grandpa. A close friend just gave birth to her third baby (her first girl!) and my grandparents' anniversary is in October. I was really trying to convince Chase to be born on that day, but she wanted to come on her due date; which, really, I have no qualms about. My little predictable, mild child. We also have several cousins who have October birthdays. October is also my favorite month, besides the fact that I celebrate a lot of people I love, it's also the month that the trees celebrate by tossing their fiery leaves like confetti to the ground and the earth sprouts forward trendy little pops of color placed just so. (Funny how it knows how to do that. So Pinterest. And all from scratch, too.) And it's the month that has its own sound, its own smell. Crunch and rot. Okay, that's not poetic at all, but tell me you don't also love the sound and smell of dead leaves on the forest floor? C'mon, admit it. Who doesn't.

So to celebrate with October, we went to the pumpkin patch for Austen's birthday, which I think has actually been our little accidental tradition for the last three years.

I think my children are cutest in a pumpkin patch. I mean, they're cute always, but look at this smile.

It's so fun to see how excited they get about simple things like hay rides and finding the perfect pumpkin and buying things like pears and corn on the cob at the farmer's market, sipping hot cocoa or cider while sitting in a dusty barn, jumping off hay bales and getting knees muddy and holding kittens and petting ponies and goats. Yes, all of it. I love it, too.

Ah yes, my favorite month. For its colors, its celebrations, its tastes and smells and sounds and cool breezes. The sunny days that bite the face with cold... those are my favorites. The ones that demand boots and scarves and cinnamon-scented candles. Yes, please.

(A little behind-the-scenes look at what it took to get some cute pictures)

This was literally the only picture of the three of them that turned out almost good. Sigh. :) (Side note: Chase is totally chewing on something like straw or a rock in this picture.)

Yep, I am the mom who has a miniature pumpkin on every available surface in the home from the beginning of September until the Christmas bug bites (usually mid-November... I know. I know.). I am the mom who serves squash soup every week and puts canned pumpkin and cinnamon in anything that will have it. Chocolate chip cookies... why not pumpkin chocolate chip cookies? Oatmeal... heck, why not cinnamon pumpkin oatmeal? Chicken pot pie... just kidding. We'll stop there. But hey, a little butternut squash couldn't hurt, right? Actually, that's not a bad idea.

I love my sweet babes. They are my reason for enjoying my Octobers. Sure, I'd still have the scarves and cinnamon candles, but they bring the joy and the meaning, and they're the ones that convince me pumpkin tastes good in everything in October.