Matthew grows a lot of delicious winter squash this year, but he’s never grown a “jack o’ lantern pumpkin.” He plans to correct that next year (especially after dropping twenty dollars on “squash we can’t even eat”), but this year, we visited the pumpkin patch.
We visited Braeutigam Orchards two Sundays ago. I posted these photos on Facebook that evening, and I felt like a bit of a fraud, because this perfectly illustrates the Facebook effect: the pictures people share often give an unrealistic view of events (and if you compare your own REAL life with what everyone is sharing on Facebook, you’re likely to not feel too great).
So, in the interest of full disclosure, while there were some good moments, this happy little family outing was anything but. It started with stress about keeping someone halfway quiet on a Sunday morning while we tried to get out the door, my own anxiety about returning in time to avoid the dreaded car nap, and getting lost on the way to our destination, to the constant chorus of, “Are we at the pumpkin patch yet?” (“Yes, kid, why don’t you get out of the car and wander around East St. Louis looking for a pumpkin. Knock yourself out!)
Anyhow, I don’t want to dwell on the bad, but it was what it was. I went into yesterday with a plan to have a better Sunday. I started with some mindfulness practice (while Matthew and Gabriel made pancakes), followed by a quick jaunt outdoors with Gabriel, to run and shake off some energy. After a quick Skype chat with my mom, we headed outdoors to carve the big pumpkin (an 11 pounder).
Matthew and I handled the knife work. Gabriel helped scoop out the seeds and goop, and drew on a second pumpkin.
He also enjoyed running around with the sword from his Peter Pan costume and playing with some Halloween figurines (while sporting tiger whiskers).
In the end, we had a lovely Sunday morning, and we have a pretty great jack o’ lantern (to be revealed on Friday, along with some costume pics).
Her Green Life 
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