Me and Mine in October // The Annual Pumpkin Patch Edition

October seems to have flown by in a flurry of activity - blink, and you'd have missed it. Life feels a little whirl-wind-ish at the moment, and I'm admittedly very ready for winter... A little hibernation, a little hunkering down and slowing the pace. Something in the autumn and winter seasons seem to enforce a little slowing down, and I, and all our little family, are very ready for that.

We finished off our final weekend of October by a tradition that is now part and parcel of our Autumn - a trip to the pumpkin patch.  A sea of orange and happy little children in welly boots stomping around. That is - other people's happy children! It started well, and very quickly I found myself being trailed around by a bunch of small grumpy people. Sometimes that happens, doesn't it? You build up this lovely idea of what a wonderful experience it will be in your head and the reality looks the exact opposite. We didn't stay overly long, and I was thankful I grabbed my photos before the grumps kicked in! Although afterwards I thought if is only taken some later I may have got some classic footage that would have made good wedding speech material!

To describe life with us at the moment in three words... I'd say happy, busy and LOUD. Oh my goodness... Four children is noisy! And I have found that each child seems to get progressively louder - goodness only knows how noisy Elias will be if he has to compete with this noisy little bunch. But if the loudness is happy I can bear it... I know one day I'll be pottering round a spotless, silent house and wishing these days back again!

These four... My little loves. I still find it fascinating to observe the different personalities, the varying interests and talents, the different outlooks and the web of dynamics. They are all about pairing off at the moment... Generally either the boys and the girls, or the odds and the evens, but the like a good shuffle round and the favourite make believe game is "Cats" at the moment. Honestly, I feel like I'm followed round by cats most of the day at the moment!

And this guy, he's honestly the best guy to do this crazy parenting thing with... Cos he loves a good chat and makes me laugh when I'm taking things overly seriously. And he is so, so good with them. And they love him ("because he buys us sweets and nice treats" - Ava) for a lot more reasons than that!

So here you have us... This tiny tribe of mine in October... An imperfect concoction which is an ever evolving, dynamic unit called family. And this little family of mine are the most precious people in the world to me...