Fall and spring are my two favorite seasons with summer a close second and winter a far-off third. Which is funny because Alex's favorite season without a doubt is winter. He will give you numerous reasons why it is his favorite and why it should be yours also. Regardless the season or the holiday, we do a lot around our house to celebrate them. I suppose it makes life more fun, but I love seeing my kids' expressions and excitement over the changes, the decorations and the festivities.
It was all Andy's idea to plant pumpkins. I don't claim any credit on that one. However, I will admit it is one of the best ideas he has had when it comes to the holidays. We planted a few small pumpkins at our house so we could watch them grow. The kids loved checking on them in the garden all summer long; even when it seemed like we had failed. They would try to chase the bunnies away from the garden in fear that they would eat their pumpkins, which was so cute! Although we planted the small variety at our house, they take up so much room! I know that I mowed over a vine or two this summer with the lawn mower because they did not stay within the boundaries of the garden. In my head I would be yelling like a British born native, "Mind the boundaries!". But, I'm sure glad we were able to yield a small crop, six.
Andy's grand idea was to plant some larger, 100-pound pumpkins, down at his Grandpa and Grandma Guse's farm on the land his parents now farm. This is the second year we planted down there and just switched over to where Andy's Grandma used to have her garden. We weren't able to get over to the farm to check them very much this summer, but it was sure fun talking about the pumpkins and how big they were going to be this year. It's also fun to be able to share this experience with Andy's parents. When we went to pick them this year it was even more fun that Andy's brother, Matt, his wife, Kristen, and their children, Aaron and Rachel were there as well. We had a lot of laughs and made for some more special memories.
The kids all were able to pick which ones would be picked next, and although they tried their darnedest, none could lift them. Aaron and Rachel had a few good rolls on some of the pumpkins, and Alex even did too. Aiden enjoyed standing on one or two here or there, but most of all he enjoyed running around and looking at all the pumpkins.
We borrowed my Dad's truck and trailer to go pick up all the pumpkins because we had been told by my Father.In.Law that they "probably wouldn't fit in the mini van". He was obviously getting in a little fun there as we couldn't even get them all in the pick-up and trailer.
Grandma Guse came up the next weekend. She and Alex had a pumpkin stand, but the weather didn't cooperate too much and they didn't sell any pumpkins that day. A co-worker and some friends bought a couple of pumpkins from the boys. They were so excited for their $5. We have talked quite a bit about what they could do with their money. We talked about buying another toy, saving it for college, or putting it in their someday fund. We had settled on buying on another toy. Hey, it's their money, they have to have some say, right? Until today. See, we are sponsoring a family at Church for Christmas this year and I told Alex about it this morning. I told him we would be buying something for a family just like ours; with a Mom, a Dad and two little boys. He didn't even hesitate before offering to buy a toy for the boy his age using his pumpkin money. My kid has a big heart and he knows how to make his Mama's heart happy.
I am so looking forward to planting pumpkins again next year. It provides such wonderful opportunities for my kids to play, learn, grow in faith and relationships. My husband is full of wonderful ideas!
No comments:
Post a Comment