Pumpkin Picking...

Yesterday we headed to a local farm to pick pumpkins!  It was a beautiful and (finally) chilly Fall day.

Last year, it was the four of us and we used a tripod to take this family photo...

But this year, we met our friends there and they snapped this shot for us...

I will admit it was a little emotional for me.  I loved our yearly pumpkin patch trips and adored taking cute photo of the boys.  Fall is my favorite time of year.  Everywhere I posed Brian, it hit me like a ton of bricks that Gavin was missing.  But there were definitely moments where I felt Gavin so, very near to us.  Like when I wanted to recreate this photo from last year...

...and it turned out like this, much to our surprise...

Regardless of missing Gavin, we still had a lovely afternoon.  Brian, especially, had so much fun!

He's such a good sport getting his picture taken - and is actually quite the ham!

Ed and I took some photos of each other with Brian and this one just melted my heart...

...and this one, too!

Me and my two little pumpkins.

Our friends took a hay ride to the pumpkin patch, but Brian wanted nothing to do with the it.  And I figured all that bumping around could be hazardous to the people I was sitting near!  Brian and Ed decided to walk together to the pumpkin patch while I found a nice, comfy bench.  

I was happy for a few moments alone - surprising myself, yet again, with my emotion.  A woman sitting next to me said she and her husband had watched me walking up and she remarked to him how lucky I am to be this pregnant in the cool weather and not the summer.  I just nodded and smiled.  If she only knew how insignificant that is to me after all we've been through.  I have very little to complain about.

Ed and Brian came back with "the two biggest pumpkins EVER" according to my little pumpkin wrangler!  And with that, we said goodbye to our friends...and goodbye to the pumpkin patch.  Next year our photos there will change dramatically yet again.

As soon as we got home, we changed into nicer clothes and headed to Granny's house!  Our family put together for a new TV for her place as an early birthday present, so we brought it over.  Ed set it up for her in her bedroom because the best TV watching - especially in the cold weather - is under the covers, don't you think?

Then, we all had dinner together in the formal dining room where she lives.  (Note - she doesn't actually LIVE in that dining room.  That would be weird.  Although the food is really good - so I can see the upside of that.)  It was a delicious dinner and a fun night.  Brian was VERY excited to go to Granny's - and even MORE thrilled when she handed him a loaf of pumpkin bread to take home that she had made just for him!  Brian loves her pumpkin bread.

Unfortunately, he hasn't had much of an appetite today.  My little guy woke up sick with a low grade fever.  And I'm not feeling so hot myself.  The two of us declared today pajama day and have spent our time painting, tinker-toying, reading and angry birding.  Oh, and napping.  Brian is currently on hour two of an obviously needed rest.  

I don't like that we're sick - but this super snuggly pajama day is just what my heart needed.