Pumpkins and Patience

On a windy Spring day, the twins helped Grandpa plant some pumpkins.

All summer long they excitedly checked the status of their pumpkins from the first sprout to the yellow blossoms to the small, green balls and finally, bright orange pumpkins! I know a lot of people use a garden to teach their children the value of patience; unfortunately, this was not the case with the twins. They wanted to pick and paint their pumpkins yesterday! It's hard to drive home the concept of waiting patiently to toddlers, especially in an era of Dora OnDemand and pre-made Rice Krispie Treats. I remember waiting all week to watch my favorite cartoon (The Smurfs!) on Saturday morning. Not so for this generation. Forget Generation X, Y, Z or whatever letter is supposed to define this age group. I am hereby dubbing them Generation NOW: Cohorts of Instant Gratification. But I digress. Back to the pumpkins. . .

A few days ago, on a nice Fall day, the harvest was finally ready.

Grandpa helped them pick their pumpkins and they took them back to our house.

This year I decided not to paint or carve the pumpkins. Instead I had a variety of craft supplies that they could simply stick on the pumpkins. We also spray painted a couple of little pumpkins black and used some pipe cleaner and googly eyes to turn them into spiders. It was a big hit!

Shhh. . .don't tell Makenzie but if you look in the background of that picture you can see that Lexi stole her sister's sippy cup and was helping herself to a drink while Kenzie was busy bedazzling her gourd. Once again I present to you Generation NOW.

If you visit our house, this boo-tiful array of pumpkins will greet you at our front door. The twins are quite proud of them and love showing them off!

Thanks, Grandpa!!