We're Still Here

When we last left our heroine, the Emergency Snow Fairy, we were at the pumpkin patch ... which is where we still are, because the E.S.F.'s mother really knows how to drag a 2-hour adventure out into a week-and-a-half's worth of blog posts, doesn't she?

Since we previously got a regular-sized pumpkin when we went apple picking, this time we focused on the gourds and the cute little baby-sized pumpkins. I didn't want to have to tote a camera bag, a pair of fairy wings, a 42-pound kid, a giant vat of French fries AND a 10-pound pumpkin back to the car at the end of the trip.

Shae had absolutely no compunction about getting down-and-dirty with the pumpkins. She was very thorough about the whole thing, really, examining each pumpkin that interested her, checking for bugs and vines and leaves and dirt and bumps and whatever it is that gives a squash the three-year-old equivalent of "character." Burrs in her crinoline did not faze her in the least.

In the end, we came home with two tiny pumpkins and one cool gourd that we "donated" to her classroom. What are we going to do with them? We still have our original pumpkin, completely unadorned, still sitting on the dining room table, like some kind of really weird version of "Weekend at Bernie's Fruit Stand" or something.

Good times, good times. And now we are starting to get revved up for the bonfire -- already she knows that after Halloween comes Thanksgiving, and that means BURNING STUFF. And maybe this year, we'll have Joey with us.