Reuniting with an Old and Dear Friend

Fall has finally arrived here in Illinois. Oh yes. It is here.


And I'm thinking I may have been a bit hasty when I was complaining back on Monday that it was almost 90 degrees in October. I vaguely recall wishing it felt a bit more fall-ish around here because we looked down right ridiculous at the apple orchard in our summer clothes.

I also believe I said something about us not being able to go to the pumpkin patch for pumpkins until it cooled off and felt a little bit more like pumpkin season around here and not the 4th of July.

Well, Mother Nature, she heard me.

Cause we've lost 40 degrees here since Monday.


And so today, when my kids got home from school, they all came rushing in from the bus all rosy cheeked and excited and my son says to me, "Can we go and get our pumpkins now?"

And I said to him, "No, we are not going to get pumpkins this afternoon. It is way too cold out to go traipsing around in a pumpkin patch."

And that poor child of mine looked at me like I had just told him that it was actually too cold to go to the pumpkin patch.


Needless to say, I had some fences to mend with my children. After we had a snack and watched our required 30 minutes of The Suite Life of Zach and Cody, we got the homework done and the kids wanted to go outside and play.

Because apparently, they were not feeling quite as chilled as I was.

So they went out and played themselves a quick game of soccer and I watched them from the window. And when they came in their noses were running and their cheeks were cold. Which I was glad to see, because it further backed up my belief that it was cold out there.

And then, I heard my most favorite eight words of the cold weather season, "Mom, can you make us some hot cocoa?"

"Why yes, I surely can. I would love to."



Not words you here around this house every day.

So without further ado, I walked into the kitchen, dug deep into the back of a cabinet and pulled out my old, and best, cold weather accessory.




Yes ma'am. It was time to bring out the big gun. The Cocomotion. Otherwise known in my house as The Best Christmas Present I Have Ever Received.

Once you have your Swiss Miss made in a Cocomotion, you can never go back to microwaving a cup of water and trying to stir all that gritty mix in yourself. You can just never go back again.

So yes, the pumpkin patch was pretty much forgotten for today. Let's hope they don't ask again tomorrow, because I'm not sure what other appliances I can pull out to keep them happy.