A boy and his dog...

Awww... isn't this the cutest picture? William is wearing his rocket ship pj's and sitting with our dog Dipper. I asked him, "Is Dipper your friend?"
"No Mommy. She is not my friend! She is my BEST friend!" said William. Well, there you have it.

Fall is for pumpkins!!!

Okay, so after a long drought of writing, I have at last returned to my blog. We call summer our "busy season" because we are occupied for most of it. The roads are clear, so we frequently travel to Denver, or have visitors from there all summer long. In addition, this year, we went to Hawaii, and I decided to take up canning more aggressively than I did last year. So much to do, so little time.... But, despite it all, I have a small grocery store of canned fruits, jams, jellies, and pickles in my basement, a fading tan line from Hawaii, and a budding relationship between William and his extended family on both sides. All and all, a good summer. Now that fall is beginning in earnest, his small pumpkin obsession has begun to rear it's cute little head. We see pumpkins wherever we go. Pumpkins that William always wants to bring home with him. At last count, we have purchased 6 various sizes of pumpkins - a few of which went home with other people, because my son takes after his mommy. I have a habit of buying things for other people just because. There are worse habits I could have. The conversation over our last purchase went like this:

Me: Hey, it's hay!!

William: Hay? Yes it is hay. Very good mommy! Good Job!

Me: Thank you William.

William (after we see another stack of hay, I should mention we are picking up our CSA at a local seasonal produce stand): Hey, more hay!! Oooh, look mommy!! Pumpkins!!

Me: Pumpkins? Where? I don't see pumpkins (really I do, how can I not? They are everywhere!)

William: Yes you do see pumpkins... they are right there. Look! A baby pumpkin!!

Me: A baby pumpkin?

William: Yes, a baby pumpkin. Just like baby Cameron! This is the baby pumpkin, and this is the daddy pumpkin. (He now starts playing with the pumpkins, having them talk to each other).

Me: A baby pumpkin like Cameron? And another like his papa? How cute!

William: Mommy, we need to buy this for Cameron. And this one for his papa. Oooh, and I need to find a Mommy pumpkin.

Me: I don't think we need anymore pumpkins William.

William: Yes we do need more pumpkins. Please Mommy, can we buy these pumpkins for Cameron and his papa? Pretty please?

Who can resist that?! I mean, really, he looks at me with those big brown eyes, wanting to buy pumpkins for somebody other than himself. Besides, he asked nicely, and they were only 50 cents each. So we bought more pumpkins, and he did give them to Cameron and his papa when they came over. I think he got great joy out of giving them the pumpkins. It was the first thing he said when they walked through the door.