What's the Little Man to Do?

I'm not sure what is going to become of Cooper David when he can no longer go out on the 4-wheeler and pick pumpkins with Dave, ride in the tractor out in the field, ride his bike up and down the driveway or work next to Dave for hours on end in the barn. When Dave puts his shoes on, that's Cooper's cue to get his on. Cooper knows that if Dave has his AgriGold shirt on, he can't leave with Daddy. But any other shirt, there is no discussing it or even asking. Cooper puts on his sweatshirt, his work shoes and his baseball hat. He patiently stands and waits by the door as Dave goes back through the house at least 3 times getting things he's forgotten. Cooper loves to work. And, when Dave's not home, he still goes out and finds work. One morning, I found him out on the John Deere tractor with one of the pumpkin wagons hooked to the back. He had driven down to the barn and filled the loader with gourds. He stopped every few minutes and moved the gourds from the loader to the wagon and back to the loader. This particular morning he drove the gourds around for an hour and a half. I guess Layla and I are just not as exciting as driving in circles with gourds.

**Exhale**

That's what I did tonight, as I snuggled into bed with the kids for movie night. Dave's on the road, so I decided it was a perfect night to get in jammies, pop some popcorn with a side of M&M's and just exhale. As we layed in bed, limbs all intertwined, I looked at my kid's sweet silhouettes and thanked God for a quiet moment. My heart swelled as I watched rough and tough Cooper reach over and pat Layla on the shoulder and wrap his little bare feet around hers.

We are heading into our last weekend of the season at The Pumpkin Ranch. We're running regular hours plus a night corn maze Friday and Saturday night. So our last weekend is going to be a fun and busy one. I've also heard talk from the company's president about picking and shipping a semi load of pumpkins to a cannery in Illinois. So, I think we maybe a little farther from being done that I thought! It's been a great season. Although I'm ready to give my kids my full attention again, I am going to miss it.

"Oh Toodles!"

The Pumpkin Ranch has given our family more adventures than I will ever be able to blog about. What crazy, busy, fun it has been! This past weekend was the Madison County Bridge Festival in WInterset, which brought us our busiest days yet. In preparation for this past weekend, we spent last week adding pumpkin launchers and hay rack rides...in addition to the normal weekend prep stuff.

As part of that prep, Dave got a very big truck stuck in mud. I had to get in the tractor to try pulling him out...didn't work (and no, I don't know how to drive a tractor). When a friend, with a larger tractor came, he tried. The kids and I were sitting in my truck, off to the side watching and praying. When the larger tractor still didn't work, I said, "Oh man, what are we going to do?"

Cooper answered by saying, "Call Oh Toodles." The he put his cupped hand up to the side of his mouth and yelled, "Oh Toodles, where are you?"

If you watch Mickey Mouse Club House, you get this. If not, Oh Toodles is who Mickey and the gang call if they need help figuring something out. Oh Toodles brings the gang 4 options of tools and they pick the one that is appropriate to solve their problem.

After our friend's tractor failed and I had to get back in ours, hook both tractors up and try again, I really was wishing I could just call Oh Toodles. Did I mention I don't know how to drive a tractor? But, two tractors was the key to success.

Never Keys

We had a busy day around The Pumpkin Ranch today. Tomorrow is our official open and there was a lot to do! Since we had over a week of rain before Friends and Family Day last weekend, we were barely ready. So this week was another big push to get all of the stuff done we wanted done, not just the stuff we needed to. So, I worked on displays, baked goods and 1000 little things. This meant the kids and I were outside most of the day.

Towards the end of the day, when we were all tired and were pushing hard to get the last of it all done, Dave jumped up in the tractor and....no keys. He jumped into another tractor and...no keys. "Cooper, where are the tractor keys?" Dave yelled and Cooper knew exactly where they were. He dropped one set down into the gear shaft and the other set he burried in rocks.

Cooper saw the frustration in both of us as we worked to get the set out of the gear shaft and he kept daying, "Sowwy Dod. Doddy, Cooper sowwy." You just can't stay mad at that!

Of course, Cooper and I had a long talk about how he is NEVER, NEVER, NEVER to touch any keys.

Tonight, when I tucked him into bed his prayers were this.."Help doddy's twactor, Jay's twactor, Brad's twactor and the nevo, nevo, nevo keys. Aaaamen!"

Not quite sure he got what I was trying to tell him!

My Dream is to Be in Commercials

When I dropped Layla off at school yesterday she turned and said to me, "Mom, something great is going to happen today, I can just feel it in my bones!" And, when I picked her up, she said something great did happen, Abbie got to be the Top Banana. That's a 5 year old for you, they can always find something GREAT!

Today, while painting Layla's fingernails, I asked her if she thought something great was going to happen today. She replied, "Well, there is something really great that I want to happen today, it's my dream."

"Your dream?" I asked.

"Yes. My dream, but not like a dream you have a night, a dream like something you really want to do."

"Really?" I said. "What is your dream Layla?" I'm a little surprised by all of this. We've never really talked about our "dreams". We've talked about what she would like to do when she grows up, but never "dreams".

"Well mom, my dream is to be on a commercial and I know I will be someday."

"What will you be doing in the commercial?"

"I will be dancing. I don't know what I'll be selling, but I'll be dancing, mom."

All I Ever Needed to Know....

...I have learned from my children! Like the fact that when I get tired I talk in a mad voice, but it's a soft mad, so that doesn't really mean I'm mad. Layla informed me of this one today. Or that I now know what my stern look actually looks like because it is reflected back to me in my son's face. Or the fact that bajillion isn't really a number because there's no number in it. But, if you say 1 bajillion, then it's a number. Yup, they are a wealth of knowledge!

Today, I received two lessons from Layla. Not necessarily new lessons, but good reminders.

We were driving to school and Layla said to me, "Hey, mom! Did you know that Adam and Eve hid from God and so did Jonah?" She is studying Genesis at school and we just read a book about Jonah at the doctor's office this morning. I could tell by the way she said it, she had been mulling those stories over in her mind and had just had that revelation!

"Very good Layla," I said. "Do you remember why they hid from God?"

"Because they disobeyed God and were scared. But you can't hide from God. He always knows where we are and what we're doing."

"You're right honey," I said.

"But when we're sorry, God will always forgive us. He loves us that much! That is really cool stuff."

Yes, it is!!!

And tonight, when saying prayers together while I tucked her in, she reminded me of another important lesson. She prayed, "Thank you God, for giving us this whole earth. You told us in Genesis 1:1 that you created the heavens and the earth. And we love you for that God."

I was so moved as I listened to her pray scripture for the first time. Not just recite a memory verse, but pray it.

Hard Stop.... Soft Open

Dave and I planned a soft opening for The Pumpkin Ranch yesterday. The goal was to have friends and family out to show them the business, thank them for their help and support, and give us and our team a chance to work through our systems and training.

Throughout this whole process, we have been continually reminded of how good God is. He has supplied all the resources we've needed and has been in every detail. Praise Him!

I was blessed to speak at this on Friday night in St. Louis and doubly blessed to have Dave accompany me. We left St. Louis at 4:50am Saturday and were out in the barn at 12:30pm Saturday. There was NOTHING in place when we started, but by 10pm Saturday night, and with the amazing help of my mom, we were able to pull our retail space together. Then, with the help of pickers and staff on Sunday, we were able to get all of the details in place for our soft opening at 2pm, which was the hard stop to all work. We had a lot of fun and were even able to get aerial photos of the 5 acres corn maze.

We hope you all come and see us this year at The Pumpkin Ranch. Go to our website for more details www.thepumpkinranch.com. We are already scouting pumpkin patches across the country for ideas to add next year....so stay tuned!