Punkas!!

The above is Elliott's pronunciation of pumpkins. The girl is obsessed with pumpkins! I have taken her to a number of pumpkin patches, and she is the happiest I have ever seen her when she is surrounded by large, orange pumpkins. As soon as she sees the sea of orange, she starts screaming "Wook, Mommy! Ownge punkas! Have a!" (Look Mommy! Orange pumpkins! Have some!) She has to touch them all (and I mean ALL), she sits on them, hugs them, kisses them, and then moves them all around the patch or field. The only thing she doesn't like about pumpkins is the dirt. She gets very upset when they are muddy, and even more upset when they are wet with dew. Eventually she gets over it, and will love on them regardless, but she is a bit perturbed. And it doesn't matter if the pumpkins are real. She loves the faux punkas in craft stores, and she loves books about them. She loves watching "Cinderella" so she can see the pumpkin turn into the coach. She's completely obsessed!

Our latest trip was this morning, and she was in heaven. She and I went with our MOMS Club. Gabriel was in school and Janna stayed home with Jon (Daddy had his "special surgery" yesterday). So she had me all to herself - which doesn't often happen. The place where we went was in a large field, and there were rows upon rows, bins upon bins, and piles upon piles of pumpkins. She was beside herself with glee. It was so cute to watch. And to hear! She would run from pile to pile, sit on a few, and scream to either myself, Katie, or Jennifer (my 2 best Mommy friends) to look at her and take her picture. I took over 50 pictures of her and various pumpkins this morning alone. That isn't in addition to the various other pictures I have taken of her in other pumpkin patches.

So today was a great day! I love the Fall - and I am so glad that my kids seem to love it, too. Gabriel understands what seasons are, and he loves that the leaves are changing color and falling off the trees. Elliott, as I said, loves the fruits of the season. She loves picking apples, too. And Janna is just such a happy girl.