IN PREPARATION OF HALLOWEEN

It's that time of year.

One year Mr. Right and I went pumpkin picking with our really, really good friend the Laudies.

We didn't have kids back then.

Even if you're lucky enough to have good friends like the Laudies, it's still much funner with kids.

Almost every holiday is funner with kids.

They may not think it's fun, but you will.

We should give her a little credit.

We couldn't find a good ol' farm near us so we went to a local store.

If I was an authentic mommy this would have been a no-no, but I'm OK with artificiality.

For example:

Authentic homemade theatre with puppet shows? Maybe once a year.

Artificial but just as good: Mr. Roger's puppet shows...much more often, like when I want to read my book.

Authentic wholesome homemade applesauce harvested from our apple tree? Maybe if I get to those apples before the crows do.

Artificial but just as good: Half eaten energy bar found underneath the seat in the van...much more likely.

And I'm not the only mommy giving my kids artificial delight. As The Princess and The Pixie were climbing in and out of a giant pumpkin another mother came up to me and asked, "So are you here with the multiples?"

Being a mom of twins I've heard a lot, but I've never heard it put that way before.

"Uhm...yyyyeeeessss." I wasn't sure what I was agreeing to. Multiple what exactly?

Well what do you know? Parents of Multiples was meeting at the exact same store so they could spread the artificial pumpkin picking process to all their multiple offspring.

We quickly decided to leave, but not before I snapped a picture of multiple parents of multiples streaming in with their double-wides.

We had intentionally left our stroller in the van.

This way if one of the little bugs breaks something or starts screaming, we can pretend they don't belong to us. This is a convenient thing to do in public places and if you're dragging around a stroller you can't get away with it.

It is kind of artificial.

But I've already explained that about us.