Quick trip to the Pumpkin Patch

As a mom, I've been trying to get better about not procrastinating. It's one of those habits that's manageable when you're single and even after you're married but once kids enter the picture it's brutal. Procrastinating goes hand-in-hand with always being late. And I'm ALWAYS late. I hate it, but I've come to accept that it's part of who I am.

So, I'm working on not procrastinating. As proof, I'll let you know that Will's Halloween costume has been ready for almost 3 weeks. In early September Will announced that he wanted to be a knight for Halloween. So, when I Googled "Knight costume kids size 4" the first thing that popped up was a pattern for a super-cute knight outfit. A quick call to Grandma and a shopping trip to get fabric and our personal seamstress is in full swing. Will's got his sword and costume(complete with gold boot covers for the full effect) and he's ready for Friday night.

Now comes the pumpkin. Timing the carving of the pumpkin stresses me out every year. Carve it too soon and it starts to curl up and look pitiful. Wait until the last minute and you're scrambling to finish it, eat supper and get the kids dressed and ready to go. I've considered just getting a plug-in pumpkin on more than one occasion. But I'm a stickler for the real thing (I feel the same way about Christmas trees too). Plus, as a kid my parents insisted we could only trick-or-treat at the houses with pumpkins. Keep in mind they're British so I think this might have been one of their "we-don't-know-what-the-real-protocol-is-so-we're-going-to-make-up-our-own-rules" moments. Regardless, it's ingrained in me now...we HAVE to have a pumpkin so the kids will come!

So, we headed to the local pumpkin patch on Tuesday afternoon to pick a pumpkin. There were slim pickings....but that's what you get for being a procrastinator. We got one that's half decent (at least it's not mushy yet). Now I need to get going on carving it!