October Journal | To The Pumpkin Patch(es)! Plus A Seasonal To-Do List & Things I've Loved Lately

I was barely aware pumpkin patches existed before becoming a parent and yet it’s my third year in a row of going and I don’t plan on breaking the tradition anytime soon. I know they are probably a bit cheesy and many of us could probably think of more appealing ways to spend an afternoon then in a muddy field with lots of other children, but this is one of those family activities that I can get on board with (soft play on the other hand…). It’s fresh air, it’s autumnal, it feels wholesome, there’s farm machinery for my tractor-loving child, and I usually find some kind of baked good. I’m here for it. This year, we ended up going twice: once to the MK one with friends of ours which really goes to town on the whole Halloween vibes and once to our local one which is smaller but cuter. Alfie absolutely loved sitting on tractors and putting pumpkins in the wheelbarrow (which we had to then surreptitiously empty when he wasn’t looking) and we even got him to wear his wellies which is one up from last year. 

Autumnal/Christmas to-do

This is hands down my favourite time of year and whilst I try not to put too much pressure on it because I don’t want to risk making it stressful, I do like to try and soak it up as much as possible. So I jotted down a few ideas in September of things to do/watch/eat to try and embrace everything cosy season.
 

Do: Hunt for conkers with Alfie. Visit a pumpkin patch. Make ginger cake and do sparklers in the garden for Bonfire night. Have an autumnal and/or Christmassy weekend away. Add a few Autumn touches around the house. Cosy up under a blanket with a book, candle burning and the Netflix fire in the background. Make a hot chocolate on a rainy Sunday afternoon (okay, every afternoon). Go out for a roast. Read spooky/Autumnal books. Try and see Wicked at the cinema. Get ahead on Christmas shopping, trying to shop local as much as possible. Decorate the house for Christmas as soon as I can persuade my husband it’s not ‘too early’. Buy some Christmas pjs. Go to a Christmas wreath workshop. See the cathedral all decorated for Christmas. Go to a Christmas light display. 

Watch: Bake Off, Shetland, Bad Sisters, series 2, The Holiday, Bridget Jones, The Polar Express (hoping to try this one with Alfie for the first time), Arthur Christmas, Love Actually. 

Make: Soup, fresh bread, practice Christmas dinners, cosy autumnal recipes; pies, stews etc, Christmas fettucine, camembert and cranberry toasties, milk buns for Boxing Day leftovers sandwiches, Christmas cookies, cinnamon buns.  

Twenty things I’ve loved lately 

Visting the new Dishoom in Cambridge; so good. 

Bridgerton series 3; that show is just joyful, ridiculous escapism and I’m here for it. 

A little day trip into London to meet my friend’s new baby. 

Alfie’s joy in conker hunting – we varnished all the ones he collected and put them in a big jar with some fairy lights, and it makes a cute autumnal decoration. 

An autumnal wreath on the door; yup I’m that person and I don’t even care. 

Killing half an hour by letting Alfie run amok in the toy shop. Easy pastime, great way to put together his birthday/Christmas list. 

Golden autumn leaves everywhere. Alfie scooping up big handfuls and throwing them above his head.
 

Baking diary milk and cinnamon cookies. 

Misty mornings with dewy spider webs in the trees. 

Baby kicks really starting to – excuse the pun – kick in.  

Alfie’s sheer joy in drinking hot chocolate.
 

As sad as it sounds, the absolute satisfaction of cleaning and tidying the house and sitting down with a candle burning, the Netflix fire on the telly and a freshly made hot chocolate. 

When your kid and one of your oldest friend’s kids start developing a cute little friendship. 

Alfie offering to ‘help’ grate the cheese, turning round to find him nibbling on an entire block of parmesan. 

Fenland sky sunsets. 

Pumpkins on doorsteps. 

Buying all of Alfie’s birthday/Christmas presents and briefly, just for a split second, feeling like I was vaguely on top of something. 

Alfie insisting on me putting my coat on because he didn’t want me to be cold. 

Buying an air fryer; the trend finally got me. 

Baby scan and little one being nice and healthy.