Brian left for a business trip in China a week ago on Monday and will be returning this coming Friday (11 days total). Before he left, knowing the weekend would be the hardest for me, he said, “take the boys to do something fun!”. We had a really busy Saturday filled with soccer games, a skating birthday party and some friends over for dinner. Sunday started off with a pancake breakfast fundraiser for the little boys’ preschool. After that, I suggested going apple picking at a near-by farm. The boys thought it was a great idea so we headed out, did the orchard (fun!) and then went across the street to the “pumpkin farm” side. Before leaving the farm and heading back home, we bought a big pumpkin to carve together. This was a compromise as Logan REALLY REALLY wanted his own pumpkin. I told him that I’m only 1 mommy and it’s too hard to carve three pumpkins by myself….(insert debate between me and Logan regarding 6-year-old’s and knife responsibilities). Finally, he agreed that one big pumpkin would be fine if they could each pick out a mini “decorative” pumpkin (insert debate about exploding them in the backyard and/or using small ones in his sling shot). All in all, the four of us were gone from the house for over 5 hours which was great and something we all needed – a little family time….even if it was without daddy :( When we got home, we made apple cider from some of our apples (yes we did!) and carved the pumpkin while dining on crackers, cheese and pepperoni for dinner.