Weekend Wrap-up: Pumpkin Festival

It was a delightful weekend but it sure was cold compared to the last week. Evie said it was "brr'ing" and we all agreed.

Saturday: It was my day to sleep late! We hung out at home all morning and headed to the Franklin Pumpkin Fest after Henry's nap. It was our fourth year in a row attending the festival and we really enjoyed ourselves. I really liked going in the afternoon because the crowds are much less dense. Everyone had to bundle up for the chilly weather but it was as difficult to fight the crowds. Evie had a blast riding the pony, sliding on the giant slides and of course eating delicious festival food. Henry barked at all the dogs, strolled around the petting zoo and ate his fair share of kettle corn. A sweet lady came up to chat with us about how precious Evie is and how she could tell that we just adored her. I love when people praise children for characteristics that really matter instead of just cuteness. It was so thoughtful of that lady to stop us and pump Evie with some self-confidence. She told Evie that she could tell that Evie was going grow up to be a really fabulous lady one day. Carl decided that we needed steaks for dinner since we skipped lunch to indulge at the festival. It's always fun to shop at Fresh Market so we picked up a few dinner essentials. Carl and I stayed up way too late which is always a bad idea. Let's be honest and say that way too late is not what it used to be but 10:30 seems like the middle of the night at our house.

Sunday: Evie woke up first which seems to be our trend for the last week or so. Henry woke up just in time for early church and then we woke up Carl. It's always a mad dash to get out of the house mostly because I am completely disorganized these days. Everything takes longer when nothing is in the assigned spot. Evie and Henry had time for a quick banana breakfast and then we were off. Henry is experiencing his first major bout of separation anxiety and it's pretty fierce. Even our minister commented that Henry sounded like someone had just abandoned him forever. Evie stayed with Henry in the nursery but quickly dropped her role as "protector" to play with a little girl. We sat behind a five week old baby in church and it's hard to imagine that my children were ever that size. Evie noticed that precious baby girl too and asked me if she was that little as a baby. Both kids did a fantastic job in church with no tap dancing, snacking or endless chatter. Success! We stopped for doughnuts on the way home and then the children put on a little show for us from their stage. After the encore performance, we went for a long walk through the park. Evie ran and ran but still managed to skip her nap. I took her with me to run a few errands including selecting a sweet treat for her dance party tomorrow. We had all kinds of interesting conversations including where babies come from and what it's like to live in Heaven. I need to brush up on both topics in pre-school friendly terms because Evie is quite astute. She was not one bit satisfied with my answer that babies come out of the Mama's belly at the hospital and wanted to know if we could live in a tree house in Heaven. We all headed to the fall festival at Evie's school but it was just so cold to be outdoors for any extended period of time in Halloween costumes. Evie told us that her favorite part was the hot dogs. Guess what, she did not even eat one bite of her hot dog!

It was a fun-filled fall weekend. Can't believe it was our last October weekend. It went by in flash just like it always does. November is on the way!