Out of All the Pumpkins in the Patch, He Chose a Rock

I'm barely able to comprehend that November has arrived already! But, Halloween has come and gone and all that's left are some pumpkins by the front door. Before I can fully move on to November, I've got to give a proper finish to October.

The day before Halloween, we found ourselves in the midst of a gorgeous, warm fall day and headed down the road to the pumpkin patch for a hayride. Lawson would have been happy to sit in the tractor by the parking lot all day long, but we finally made it to the hay ride that left us out in the country aside a sea of orange. We walked all around the pumpkins, but Lawson had his eye on other things. He snatched up a pumpkin-shaped rock, which Lawson calls a "gee-ock," and it was clear that there would not be any pumpkins coming home with us that day. He even had a little whirlwind romance when he found himself in the middle of the patch with a cute little girl who offered to help him with his gee-ock. They soon realized that not only did they have eyes for each other, but their boots did, too. They admired the eyes on their respective frog and bee boots and giggled with each other until the tractor started up to take us out of the pumpkin patch. I caught them making eyes a few more times as they passed each other around the farm, though. I'm going to have my hands full with this little Casanova!


















Halloween day rolled around and the fear of swine flu kept us home. I'm normally not a germ-a-phobe, but with Naomi still being so young, I'm avoiding the flu like the plague. Visions of snot-nosed children digging through bowls of candy only to eventually be eaten by a soon-to-be sick little kid swam through my mind all morning. So, that night, I dressed Lawson in a bear costume, walked him out the garage, around to the front door and he had a ball ringing the doorbell and trick-or-treating at mima's house over and over! He also thought it was great fun have the doorbell ring and see all sorts of kids show up to get their pillowcases filled!











And so our October ended with a fluffy little bear running gleefully around the house, sucking on his loot (two dum-dums) and yelling "ALOOWEEN!!!" It also come rolling to a close as Naomi figured out that she can get from point A to point B by rolling over and over and over. The look of glory in her face when she realized she got to where she wanted to be all by herself was pretty awesome. Luckily, I don't have to roll around on the floor to get where I want to be. I'm there already.

The Cutest Pumpkin of All

The days leading up to Dustin leaving were nuts, to say the least! There was flooring to be laid, tons of tools and furniture to move off the wood floor so it could be sanded and finished, odds and ends to tie up around the house, trips to Home Depot, packing and preparing for his detachment, and finally, trying to squeeze in a little family time. Well, we squeezed it in, barely, on Saturday night before sunset. On the way home from Home Depot, we passed the pumpkin patch and decided to go. We hurried home to get in warmer clothes and then raced back to play for a while before the sun went down. We parked, I put Naomi in the sling, then Dustin says, "um, where did you put his shoes?". Um, yeah. "Can't say that I put them anywhere." We soon realized that our tag-team effort to hurry out of the house left each of us thinking the other would put his shoes on. Luckily, it's only 5 minutes to our house. Dustin left with Lawson to get some shoes and I got 15 minutes to snap a couple of pictures with Naomi before they arrived. She fell asleep the rest of the time and it ended up being a really good time for Dustin and I with Lawson (and his shoes). We had the corn maze all to ourselves and ran around in circles, getting lost a few times, only to finally emerge and make a beeline for the pumpkins to claim our own while we could still see! Lawson hopped into the wheelbarrow and we headed down the middle of the pumpkin patch. Not five minutes later, we had a wheelbarrow full of cute pumpkins and some great memories! I'm quite sure I already had with the two cutest pumpkins, though....

HARVEST

HARVEST by Kimberly Laird.

It's like Christmas in the fall around here! Our wood floors are officially laid down in the entire upstairs and tools are headed back down to the garage so the floors can be finished! Dustin did an amazing job on the floor! I'm so proud of him. It's almost like we have a new house now. One that we will get to enjoy for six months or less, but it looks a heck of a lot better than it did when we bought it two and a half years ago! I'll post before, during and after photos when the floors have the finish on them.

We also have pumpkins on our front porch from our trip to the pumpkin patch yesterday (more to come on that, later), which is so much fun!!! And to add to the fall decor around here, I made the picture above to frame from a photo I snapped in the corn maze. I'm digging this harvest season so far!!!

Comforts

There is a crispness to the air as I wake up each morning to find myself deeper into the fall season. Halloween is around the corner and leaves are beginning to crunch beneath little feet shoved inside colorful boots. I love this time of year as the coats rotate back into the closet and smoke starts billowing out of chimneys. Something about this season draws me to life's "comforts". Crackling fires, warm cups of coffee in my favorite mug, roasts in the crock pot, and snuggling under a blanket together on the couch. This fall will bring all sorts of changes around our home. We'll be moving back upstairs to enjoy our newly finished wood floors that Dustin has been working so hard on, for one. But that leads me to number two, which is that by "we" I mean Lawson, Naomi and I. Dustin leaves on Tuesday for his final detachment with VQ-2. It's always hard to say goodbye and this is no exception. We'll have to enjoy the finished floors and playing in leaves and drinking coffee under a blanket to the tune of a crackling fire all by ourselves. Seasons bring change and so does being in the Navy. Luckily, this is our last detachment this tour and the next few years will be sans detachments!

So, while I'm not looking forward to the "big bye bye", as we explain it to Lawson, I am looking forward to all the fun this fall has in store for the kids and I. And I'm looking forward to the end of our final detachment! No more goodbyes sounds pretty good!!!