Pumpkins for sale?

Last year mom gave us some perennials for the back yard. All but one (miraculously) made it back this year and Paige and I added some annuals to keep them company!

We also planted pumpkins, which has been very stressful for me. I feel like there is a lot of pressure for these little guys to grow, flower, and produce fruit....I'm having heart palpitations just thinking about it. BUT, we've set them up for success (I think). We planted them the right week, in the right soil/manure/compost slurry, on a hill, the recommended distance apart, with the right blend of starter fertilizer (high nitrogen now, high phosphorus later). I'm a little worried they might not get enough sun, so Mike has been instructed to do some tree trimming and I did come home from work to find them a bit wilty (perked up after I watered them)....so I need to make a plan for that. I also noticed a local critter had taken a few bites out of one of the leaves this morning :( What ev. I (apparently) can expect 1 to 2 pumpkins per vine...we've got 12 vines right now between our 3 seedlings sooooo.....yeah.....if we lose a vine or 2 or....6 we should still get something this fall....otherwise we'll be selling pumpkins out of the back of Mike's truck someplace.

I wish your computer monitor was scratch and sniff, because these smell amazing! *Please note they are on the opposite site of the yard that has the composted manure mixture.

The plants in the front are the pumpkins prior to planting. You can see the lilies in there too....pretty sad looking without the new stuff I think.

I had taken Paigey with me to Bachman's to get these sunflowers and marigolds. Truth be told, she didn't seem very interested in what I was doing. I was trying to talk to her about the different flower varieties, the difference between annuals and perennials etc. SHE however was looking for bugs to kill and puddles to walk in so she could make footprints. She also wanted to hang on the back of the cart while I sang the "super babies" song. Anyone who watches Dora should get that reference. ANYWAY....a couple of days later while we planted Paige (no joke) says to me "Are we going to water these marigolds?" I mean come ON! She remembers 'marigolds' from three days earlier when she didn't seem to be listening at all!?!

She's done this with a few other things too. I found out this week that I can't just say "look there's a birdie!" She informed me that we have red cardinals & we have robins & we have woodpeckers that go like this (and then she pecked the air with her face). I guess she was correcting something Papa said recently too and scolded him by saying "Actually Papa.." Maybe I'm biased, but this kid is a smart cookie. A few years ago I had a 7th grade student who tried to argue with me that a duck wasn't a bird....that a duck was just....a duck....never mind the beak....or feathers.

As adorable (and astonishing if I do say so myself) as it is to hear my (not even) 2 1/2 year old say these things, they come without a price. 1) She's not my BABY anymore...sniff...sniffle.... and 2) Her gem from last night was "I DON'T have a sassy mouth Mommy!"

Final note: As I post this I have only 7 more days with 7th graders & then the whole summer to stare at my pumpkins...er...play with my child....