tales of a control freak

This past weekend Jason pushed me to my limits.  I mean, it was a real doozy, folks.  I’m a planner.  I like to have a plan.  Jason?  Not so much.   He doesn’t like to make decisions or to figure things out ahead of time.  Ever.  He likes to make his mind up on a whim with no regard for important things like having a clean house, warm clothing, snacks so we don’t get grumpy.  He’s been known to pack the boys into the car before we even know where we’re going.  This is maddening to me!   I’ll ask what we’re going to do and he casually says “oh, I dunno, let’s just get in and we’ll figure it out later.”  WHAT??!   Hanging out with some friends earlier this summer, we all rated our “ability to be spontaneous” and while Jason was easily an 8, I was, at best, a 2.   So last Saturday when he suggested we go to the pumpkin patch later that afternoon, I immediately said no, of course.  No way.  Without 2 days notice so I can figure out what we’ll need for the car ride, snacks for the long afternoon, coordinating clothing for optimal photo-ops, and printed directions?  I don’t think so.

While he continued to try to convince me, he casually asked if maybe we should carve some pumpkins with the boys.  I said no again.  I mean… right now?  It isn’t Halloween!   And the kitchen’s a mess!  If we need anything, it’s a clean work space, right?  And I hadn’t properly prepped the boys so they could be excited and eager and ready to go.  Did we even have any newspaper to lay down for all the pumpkin guts?  There wasn’t a fire going, a perfect Fall playlist piping, and seriously, people, the kitchen was trashed.  So while I worked myself into a proper fit, Jason just got the pumpkins, gathered the boys, grabbed the knife and commenced to carving.

I rallied, friends.  I totally rallied.  I grabbed the camera, scoured the web for instructions on roasting the pumpkin seeds and put on a pot of tea.  We even went to the pumpkin patch that afternoon and we had a grand time.  It wasn’t exactly how I would have done it.  Ok, not at ALL like I would have done it (wait ’til you see Isaiah’s shirt!).  But I’ve gotta say that it was a lot of fun.  And the boys really had a blast.   I nearly had an aneurysm but this is the way Jason and I have been rolling since day 1.  Sometimes we’ll have the planned outing, the yearly tradition, the coordinating outfits.  But, heaven help me, we also have a whole lot of spontaneity and rolling with the punches (you should see us when we travel!  not pretty) and somehow we’ve lived to tell.

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On Friday, the boys and I made apple cider.  You should have seen the cleanliness, the organization, the planning that went into it.

First the boys took the stickers off the apples.

Gryff spent a lot of time rolling his apples around in his little blue truck

Isaiah was in charge of washing the apples.  He got a TINY bit of water on an apple, rubbed it liked a genie and called it a day

Getting ready for me to start the juicer.

We ended up with WAY more juice than I anticipated.  Even the best laid plans…

Look how frothy it was!  Not sure if it was supposed to be that way but we rolled with it.  You know, cause I’m flexible like that.

While I worked on seasoning the cider, this happened.

Then Isaiah decided to be the dentist…

And then things got a little more invasive!

I seriously can’t believe Gryffin was able to have Isaiah on top of him for so long.  Little brother is h e a v y

For the record, the boys did not like the apple cider.

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And… on to the much less organized pumpkin carving

Gryffin wasn’t a fan of all the gooey mess at first.

He preferred to keep a safe distance

Isaiah had no such reservations

Our first attempt at roasted pumpkin seeds.  They were… ok.  Kinda hard to chew.

First order of business at the pumpkin patch was riding the animal train.

 

This picture doesn’t show it but Gryffin was completely pumped about this train.  He waved at everyone like a politician
and kept saying “Isn’t this the best train in all the land?”

Then on to the corn maze.

Trying to coerce Isaiah to pose for a family photo

This was as close as we’ve ever gotten.  We’ll take it!

Not in the orange and brown matchy-matchy Fall outfits I probably would have selected…

And… just, wow, that shirt… but they’re still pretty cute, no?

And finally selecting our pumpkins.   Isaiah was a machine in that pumpkin field.  Kid could not be slowed for anything.

We told him he had to be able to pick his pumpkin up.

With Isaiah plowing with abandon through the pumpkin patch, Gryffin was finally able to get some one-on-one time with Stella

Big brother’s got skills!

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We finished off the night with an impromptu and sorta disastrous dinner with the Hickorys at a noodle house in the ID.   Stella was up past bed time and super squiggly, Isaiah was COVERED with mud from the pumpkin patch, the boys spilled 2 waters and a soy sauce jar between them and I’m not sure any of the adults actually ate.    All in all, though, a good weekend, and I think my spontaneity score might just be pushing past 3, what with all my wild and fancy-free ways.