A Visit to Pappy's Pumpkin Patch

A few weeks ago, I received an email from my Aunt Judy about Bell Family Farm. Think small town, old school, family owned pumpkin patch. It was exactly the kind of place I'd been looking for, so we called up our buddies Janet and Clint, and Mark and Sheila, told them to load up Jackson and Sadie's buddies Reed, Eli and Josiah and headed out to Pappy's Pumpkin Patch. In a word, this place is fabulous.

It is just outside the Loop in Tyler, down a bumpy road and across the street from a new housing development...and yet, when you see the cars parked in the grass in front of the green barn, you just sortof know it's the real deal. For those of us who love those Kodak moments, this place has tons before you even get through the door.

And as soon as we made it out the back door (the barn is filled with unique varieties of pumpkins as well as other fall/Christmas gift items) the kids were in full-on farm fun mode.


Everything here is free. Yes. Well, almost. Face painting is cheap. Fish food, 25 cents. And of course, the pumpkins. But the kiddie train?

The one that made my daughter smile like this while it was STANDING STILL?

FREE.

The kids actually sat in the train for a while, waiting for the driver to fix the tractor that pulled it. But when it became clear that whatever ailed the tractor might not be fixed soon, the kids moved on to other things. Like the rubber ducky races at the water pumps.
And the play set. Let me just say that my daughter loved loved loved sliding down this slide. A hundred times.




The face painting was just too tempting to resist. The ladies wielding the paintbrushes were super talented and while we waited our turns, we watched kiddos walk in the tent and super heroes, animals, and fairies walk out. I was so proud of how good the boys were during their transformations...sitting still as rocks and doing exactly as they were told.

Jackson was super (no pun intended...oh, who am I kidding?) excited about the end result:

While we waited for the hayride to return from the pumpkin patch, we took a wagon ride to the pond to feed fish and dress scarecrows. Or children. Details.

Finally, our turn on the hayride arrived, and the kids were, well...see for yourself:

The pumpkin patch itself was its very own Kodak moment. Or two. Or twelve...

Jackson wore his John Deere boots on this excursion, which are two sizes too big. Turns out he was a big fan of that little flaw, because he could kick them off at any given moment. And apparently there's nothing more relaxing than kicking back with your buddies in the middle of a bunch of pumpkins.
Right before we headed home, miracle of miracles, the kiddie train started running. Sadie was happy to just watch, but Jackson, Eli and Reed couldn't possibly leave without taking one last ride!

This is the kind of place where family traditions are born.

See you next year, Pappy!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Our Daddy had a birthday on October 6th. We made him his favorite cake. Momma helped a little, but the secret to this cake is having plenty of holes poked in it...and we are really good at poking holes!

Daddy was really excited about his cake. We really wanted to put a snowman candle on the cake, because that would make it extra special. Momma said snowman candles are a little hard to come by in October, so we settled for Spiderman...which is pretty special too.We helped Daddy blow out his candles. It was so much fun we did it twice...birthday song too.

Presents came next. Jackson got Daddy this cool hat, but Daddy already knew that because Jackson isn't very good at keeping a secret! I got him a hunting watch to replace the one I broke a few weeks ago. Momma got him some clothes. Good thing we were around to give him fun stuff.

Our Daddy had a great birthday...but that's because our Daddy is a great Daddy!

New Starts

This school year has started out with all kinds of new and exciting changes for our family. For me, a new subject to teach. For Sadie, getting used to going to day care four days a week (But who are we kidding? She loves going to Mrs. Tanya's, and it isn't like day care at all.). Kevin recently began a new project with a new company. And Jackson?

Jackson started pre-school.

Kevin and I joke about the fact that our children are equally ours: Sadie looks like me and has a mind like her Daddy. Jackson looks like his Daddy and has a mind like me. He has been excited about starting Sunshine Friends since he went to story time there one day last October. When we went to Meet the Teacher night the week before school started, he didn't want to leave. This kid LOVES school. I still can't get him to tell me what they do there (another indicator that he is most definitely my son), but he loves his teachers and is always excited about going back.

And these last pictures? This one here, where my children are hugging and looking like they like each other?

And this one? Where they are looking happy and smiling in the SAME PICTURE?

That's a new development too. Good stuff.

Changes

I'm not a fan of change. For those of you that know me, this isn't a big shock. Rearranging furniture in our house is almost always my husband's idea, because, frankly, furniture is heavy, and once you find a good place for it, why move it again? I've owned five cars since I turned 16. If I hadn't totaled one of them, the number would be three. My husband laughed hysterically at me the other night while we watched the 10 o'clock news...he was waiting for me to start twitching because we were watching channel 5 and not channel 8. Obama's campaign slogan was not geared towards people like me. If you're going to ask me to change, darn it, you'd better have a fantastic reason.


I change my hair, my clothes, and my mood. That's about it. The whole fact that Jackson is starting preschool tomorrow would normally be my change limit for an entire year (more to come on that note later).

And yet, when my boss called in the middle of June asking if I wanted to change teaching positions, I said yes.


Huh?

Who is this person?


I have taught the same subject since 2002. I liked it. I was good at it. I was comfortable.

But still.

As much as I love to write myself, in the seven years I taught writing, I only found a handful of students who embraced it like I did at their age. Some were beautiful writers and still hated the whole task of it. Most of the rest of them just hated it altogether. I could make them adequate. I could even make them proficient, competent, and maybe even good. I could not make them love to write. And I'm not mad at them for that. If anything, I'm mad at me.

I was being blessed with a job that I've wanted to do since I student taught twelve years ago. Am I nervous? Heck yes. I have big shoes to fill and high goals to obtain. I have to reach back into my student teaching days to remember what I learned way back then. I am doing something I've never done before. And that makes my hands sweaty.


But I'm excited too.

I get to finally commiserate with my students at least a little. I love to read now, but I hated reading in junior high. I was smart, but not a fast reader. I was terrified of reading aloud. I avoided reading as much as I could without getting into trouble.

I can finally give a speech to my class telling them I understand. I get it. But I want to change their minds. I think literature--good literature--can easily sway even the most reluctant reader. I want them to see that if I could be transformed into someone who loves loves loves a good book, there's hope for all of them.

What an adventure this will be!

A Day at the Redneck Waterpark

Who needs to pay $20 a person to get into some fancy waterpark when all a three year old (and his sister) really needs is a hose, some dirt, and his tractors?


Please note the fancy swimsuits.


And, yes, Sadie is eating the mud.