{Recap} A Pumpkin-ing We'll Go

October has done me well. Every part of it. I've loved the weather, which is now cooling off nicely. I've loved the topics at toddler story time at our library- fall leaves, pumpkins, and today, spiders! I've loved the warmer clothes I get to wear- light sweaters, blazers, denim, booties. I've loved the chai flavor I've been adding to my dark roast in the mornings, and the extra cup it makes me drink. I've loved extending our daily mail runs by an extra 30 minutes, the weather just begging us to sit on the front porch, enjoy a snack, and roll the bubble-blowing toy lawn mower up and down the driveway. I've even loved the change of the light during the day. Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks the sunlight looks different in the fall? Lighter, cleaner, clearer, more golden, less brassy.

To top it all off, I just love our little town in the fall. Being in the piney hills of the Deep South, we don't see much colorful foilage, but our town is accented everywhere with Bradford Pears, which allllmost make up for the obscene amount of pine. We also have the best little pumpkin patch. Visiting the pumpkin patch is one of my very favorite fall activities. There's something about it. When you go, you know it's official. Autumn is official. The best season of the year has arrived. 

I had lofty plans of taking my girls to the pumpkin patch and having their pictures made in pretty smocked dresses and oversized bows {and I may still yet}, but instead I found myself with a long afternoon indoors stretched out before us and decided on a quick whim to pile them both in the car and go. Just go.

I threw their festive Halloween tees on, packed my camera, donned my sunglasses, and before you could say "Bob's your uncle" we were there. Right there in the midst of the pumpkin-y orange goodness of it all. Watching Maylin explore while tagging along behind with my camera strapped to my shouldern and Hartlie wrapped to my torso is something I always want to remember. The way Maylin's little legs ran and her little eyes roamed and her little hands patted. The constant stream of "conversation" she kept up. The way she looked over her shoulder and motioned for me to "come on." The little pumpkin she picked out to be all her own.

That sweet little pumpkin! I wish I could bottle her up and keep her forever like this. Young, childlike, innocent, filled with wonder. Maylin chose her own and I picked out a matching one for Hartlie. They're sitting on the top step of our front porch as I type, along with two pots of yellow mums.

I was just a tagalong. And I'm more than okay with that. My eyes drank her in. My boots clomped on the wooden boards of the sidewalk. Hartlie bounced her warm weight against my torso. Sunlight flirted between the leaves of overhanging trees. Pure bliss, I tell you.

Michael met us after work and I commisioned his help to pose the girls for a quick snap or two. Out of about a hundred outtakes, this is the only one that's not blurry, that's wail-free, and where both children are sitting up and not face deep in the hay.

Maylin's face! She's just not too sure. Hartlie, though. She's an easy crowd to please.

Then we told Maylin to give Hartlie a hug.

It's okay, May, breathing isn't that important.

Oh Hartlie. Such a good-tempered trooper, that one. Not even the slightest whine about it.

And this one! Hartlie's smile = 100% genuine. Maylin's, eh. Close enough! At least Hartlie's air passages aren't blocked here. But really, Maylin was truly being so sweet to sister. In this picture she's actually saying "awwwww" as she leans her head on top of Hartlie's. 

Daddy-daughter love. Heart. Melting.

I'm soaking October up, drinking it in to the very last delicious drop. October has always been my favorite, but it's even more so now that I'm living it with my two girls. 

Now, I'm off to cozy up with a warm blanket, a fresh-from-the-oven sugar cookie, and the best man a girl could want.

Happy Fall, y'all!