To The "Punkin" Patch

Such great memories should be re-lived, remembered,

 but not always repeated. :)  Enjoy.  

For years and years, I've been wanting to go to a pumpkin patch with the kids. Really, it has been years and I'm not sure why we've never done it. Probably too pregnant or too nursing or something along those lines! Well, this year, I was determined, except I had a problem. I don't know where any pumpkin patches are located! The yellow pages do not have a section label "Pumpkin Patch" and after my internet search I determined we were going to a Pumpkin Gathering Patch. That means someone else hauls the pumpkins from the muddy patch and puts them into another field where you can go and pick the one you want. Since none of the children have ever been to a real pumpkin patch I figured they wouldn't know if they were missing out on a full pumpkin patch experience. They'll never be the wiser!

Saturday morning we got a late start, but headed off to Lovely's Farm Market for our pumpkin experience. There were several rows of pumpkins, but for whatever reason Titus wanted to choose the outside row and the biggest cart, even though we were only getting one pumpkin. The pumpkin on the cart here is not the one we chose. Titus was just "trying out the pumpkin" to see if it was the one he wanted. It kept falling over and rolling, so Mr. Tidy Titus DID NOT want any part of that pumpkin! Between the five children I think it is very possible that they touched or thumped each pumpkin. Now they weren't running all over like wild children, don't think that! I haven't lost myself and gone completely mad.

Also, they had several piles of small and tiny pumpkins, those were fun to look at because many of them were not the traditional colors. Of course, there were several green pumpkins and those just don't seem like pumpkins. They're the wrong color! Pumpkins must be orange.

We were all having a fun time keeping up with Emily and Titus who wanted to try and find the BIGGEST pumpkin. I was trying to take lots of pictures, knowing that I would come home and delete half of them.

After I put Emily up on some bales of straw for a picture, Caleb called to me from across the field. He had balanced two pumpkins on his shoulders and wanted me to take his picture. So, I quickly took his picture focusing on him, before they fell off. As soon as I took the camera down, I looked back at him and saw Titus working on pulling his pants UP!! Ahhh!! I shouted to Caleb, "Stop him!! Cover Him!! What is he doing??!!" How could I miss that? He was right there near Caleb and obviously he didn't notice what Titus was doing!! He had gone potty in the pumpkin straw!! I rushed over to him and we took care of the situation more properly. I was thankful that there weren't any other people in the field while we were there!! It was at this point that I looked at my camera to check the last shot of Caleb. Sure enough, right in that picture, where I didn't even notice, is Titus...going potty on the pumpkins!!

How could I be so blind??!!! I guess I was just lining up the focus points and didn't look "outside the box"!! And right there before the naked eye, stands Titus!! It started out as an innocent trip to the Pumpkin Patch place and ended up being much, MUCH more! I always edit my photos in some fashion or another, but who knew that I would have to block out body parts to make my picture family friendly!! There is never a dull moment around here. How is it that we face so much drama? I know other families with lots of children and things like this NEVER happen to them!! Do we really ask for it anymore than other people? I just don't know. Oh, don't think that I'm complaining, please. I love my family and its drama. After all, the Lord knows what we can handle, or at least he knows what we need to keep us looking to him for answers. In this case, I really didn't know how to phrase the question to the Lord... Somehow, asking the Lord about incidents that involve pottying in public just seems odd. I don't mean to be irreverent, and maybe that's why it feels odd.

Well, after all of that excitement, it was time to go. That was enough Pumpkin patch experience for me. I was thinking, before this, maybe next year we'll find a real patch where we can actually cut our own pumpkin. I retract that last thought.

Until next year.

**Years later, I am happy to report that Titus, as a 7 year old knows better and would never dare to do this again.  amen.
I was considering taking the kids again this year, but with Emily in tow it seems a lot safer just to buy one at Aldi.  :)