it's tradition

at the end of each summer

our little family heads on over to our local fair

i take a photo of the girls against the "how tall are you?" stick 

to see how much they have grown from last summer

we ride some rides

we indulge in yummy (but not good for us) food

we ride some more rides

we eat some more not-good-for-us food

we pretty much just have a blast

and spend too many pennies doing it

but

it's tradition!

it's funny because when the girls were babies

my husband and i started to do traditions with the girls from our own childhoods

but we also started some of our own little family traditions like

going to the pumpkin patch, going to the fair, how we celebrate christmas etc

and now the girls are at the age where they ask

"mama, when are we going to the fair?"

"daddy, when are we going to the pumpkin patch?"

it's really rewarding to see the girls really truly enjoying and looking

forward to our little traditions

the search for the perfect pumpkin

fall has arrived in my little corner of the world

and every fall it's a family tradition to put on our gum boots

make our way over to our local pumpkin patch 

and hunt for the perfect pumpkin 

that will eventually be carved into a jack o'lantern

and every year, pia pretty much picks her pumpkin

within minutes of getting to the patch

and ever year, zoe will carefully pick up

at least a dozen pumpkins or more

carefully inspect it

put it back down and exclaim

"no, it's not the one..."

and carefully wander through the patch searching for 

the most perfect pumpkin

 until husband and i start saying things like

"zoe, pick a pumpkin now, or else we will pick it for you!"

haha! that usually gets her moving 

the next step is choosing a design to carve the pumpkins into

sometimes that takes even more time than actually choosing said pumpkin

oh, the patience us mama's need!

the quest for the perfect pumpkin

every year we make a trip to our local pumpkin patch

to find the perfect pumpkin

and every year

pia chooses the first pumpkin her eyes spy

and zoe will take her sweet time

slowly examining each pumpkin, choosing one

and then a few minutes later, trading it for another one

that is "better"

i love this stolen moment--my baby sister joined us this year 

this lovely white pumpkin came home with me

and finally after much deliberation and careful choosing

zoe chose this pumpkin--and i have to admit it was a pretty good lookin' pumpkin!

i must admit, it's not the easiest family outing

i remember one year, pia refused to walk back to the tractor

so my hubs had no choice but to carry her 

and i had to carry four very large, very heavy pumpkins

through mud and very tall, very prickly grass

all the while trying to coax zoe to continue walking and not to

swap her chosen pumpkin for one that was "better"

oh, and another year we got lost in the corn maze

the year before that zoe fell in mud

um... you get the idea?!

 but honestly, i wouldn't do it any other way

back to and first time to school celebration

this school year is extra special for our little family

it's the first year that both girls will be in school!

yup! pia will be in preschool and zoe will be in grade one!

in honour of this special occasion we have

been doing a daily countdown until the first day of school

and when there was only one more sleep before school

we had a special back to school and first time to school celebration

i told the girls that they could choose whatever they wanted for dinner

there were a few arguments back and forth but they finally settled on homemade burgers

i also bought some cupcakes from our favorite cupcakery

we had some apples... of course

and smarties... get it? smart-ies! haha!

and there was also fresh berry salad, potatoe wedges and raspberry lemonade

 

nothing fancy schmancy, but the girls loved it, which was all that counted

zoe wanted to save one of the apples to give to her teacher the next day

which i thought was super cute of her!

and then after dinner, we gave the girls each a chalkboard canvas that we had

made earlier in the week

and told them to draw a "self portrait"

here's what they came up with

i don't know if you can tell from the photo
but zoe is jumping rope and pia is flying a kite
i love how they drew themselves doing an activity

the hubs and i thought it would be neat to have them

draw a self portrait every year and see

how their drawings of themselves change from year to year

it was a simple celebration but the girls loved everything so much

it was so much fun, that it might just turn into another little family tradition!