the pumpkin patch!

we ventured out to the mosquito patch, er, i mean the pumpkin patch earlier this week, and it was quite an adventure! we met brian and his parents there after work, when the lighting is the best, and man, i was never expecting the mosquitos to be SO BAD this time of year. i think the pumpkin patch was set up in a BIG DITCH, and the mosquitoes wanted their home back! anyway, the kids were very tolerant of us taking so many pictures despite the feasting upon their faces.

i've shared my feelings about the lack of authenticity of our town's selection of pumpkin patches, so i won't go there again. but i will say that this year was the same. except we added mosquitoes. :) there were some nice hay backdrops that were a step up from the traffic we had as backgrounds last year. being the OCD photo mama that i am, i insisted on us moving 20 or so pumpkins over to the hay so that there would actually be pumpkins in our pictures of ya know, the pumpkin patch! so thanks, family, for humoring me! below you can see the kids exploring, and in the background, you can see our self-created photo studio. :)


the cousins were excited to see cute little white pumpkins, and that held them still for ohhhhh, 10 seconds!


later, we tried for another cousin shot, but the bugs were just too bad, and karina had had ENOUGH!


i subjected my kids to a few more pictures, and i thought this one turned out sweet. i could just eat them up! (oh wait, that was the mosquitoes' job!)


poor ethan was just a scratchin'! it wasn't long before they grew tired of the bugs and such, so we were about to let them run free...


but i remembered that we hadn't taken a family picture. so ethan and caroline knew the drill..."just a few more pictures!"


don't worry....we didn't make them sit for much longer... they were off and running to pick out pumpkins!

brian said there were too many shadows in this picture, but i had to laugh because all those shadows are all of us hovered around taking pictures! :)


"hmmm, i wonder which little pumpkin would be the best to throw?!"

this would be my entry for the "harvest boy poster child 2008" contest. :) if there was such a thing.


caroline was so proud of the pumpkin she found! thanks, aunt kristie, for capturing this shot, as well as several others in this post!


the pumpkin patch sold various sizes of pumpkins...
here, ethan is modeling the 36B style!

this picture shows the way i feel some days! but that little boy is priceless, and he is definitely not for sale!


this sign made me smile and then laugh. i laughed because i was glad that it didn't say "may your heart for others be bigger than your belly!" haha!


"did someone say belly?!"

so our visit to the pumpkin patch marks the beginning of our fall. we are excited that cool(er) weather is finally here! i look forward to preparing for thanksgiving over the next several weeks. are there any special "thanksgiving" activities that you do with your kids (that you don't mind me stealing!!)?