Okay ladies, your man might hold your purse while you try on clothes or tote the bags in the house after you've spent all evening grocery shopping but will he make three trips to the hayride trailer with an armload of pumpkins?

Mine will! And he'll even ignore all the stares too.

It was my birthday and all I wanted was a nice family trip to the pumpkin patch and that's what I got-complete with 11 pumpkins!

I know…I know. I've got a little obsession in the pumpkin area. I love them. Can't help it. And won't change.

Fall is my favorite time of year and this girl is smitten for a man with an armload of pumpkins and a truckload of corn stalks!

I think I'm even rubbing off on the little one. All the way up the road she was yelling, “We're going to the punkin' patch!” And I'd say, “Oh yes! And I'm so excited!”

From the time we got there, I was ready for the hayride but, of course, we had to take in all of the activities first.

The hayride was almost full and I knew by the crowd on there with us that none of the rest of the families were the “pumpkin crazy type.”

We surely were going to be the entertainment on this hayride, I thought.

“Look at those punkins mom!” she yelled as we came around one bend. She could see them dotting the ground up on top of the hill.

Yep, she takes after me, and dad was just along to do the heavy lifting.

I had my plan all ready in my head. I'd been rehearsing this all week.

“Don't go for the normal ones,” I'd thought earlier in the week.

As we rode the rest of the way to the spot, I told my pumpkin carrying man that I wanted all different types, shapes, and sizes.

There was fall decorating to do when we got home and I had to have enough pumpkins to carry it out.

“I see them! There they are,” said my mini-pumpkin picker as the tractor came to a stop.

Oh yes! It was time to pick pumpkins!

Once we had made the selections, we quickly realized that it was going to take more than just one trip to the hayride trailer to get all these pumpkins back.

It took three trips to load them all up!

On the first trip, Tessa said, “There goes my daddy with those punkins!”

And with each trip, my man and my pile of pumpkins gathered a few more stares. Most families had picked ONE big pumpkin. Some people just picked ONE small pumpkin! What was up with these people?

When I go to the pumpkin patch-I go for more than just one pumpkin, sure the price is a little hefty but come on, it's pumpkins!

Who wouldn't want 11?

I mean, I would have brought home 12 but in the midst of the stares I lost my concentration.

“Look at all these punkins!” laughed my mini-pumpkin picker when we climbed back on the trailer for our ride back.

We were no longer sitting close together-I mean we were separated by only a few pumpkins (one weighed over 40 pounds). People just counted and looked and whispered. I'm glad people were so proud of my choices. I think they are pretty good pumpkins too!

“You know you have too many pumpkins, Megan, when you have to wait for everyone to get off and hand them over the side,” said my pumpkin carrying man on the way home as he laughed and remembered the day. “Then you have to wheel them and there are so many one wheel almost goes flat!”

Yep, we wheeled our pumpkins out in a wheelbarrow!

Didn't see too many people doing that. Better yet, I didn't see anyone else doing that.

People must have thought that we came from a place that didn't have pumpkins, or that we'd never seen pumpkins before, and we were buying them for the whole neighborhood! I suggested as we were riding home.

The pumpkins were safe in the back of our car.

“We're taking these punkins home to our house,” said my mini-pumpkin lover. “We got to get these punkins home!”

There are some things that we hope our children will learn to love that we love as they grow up and this year, I think I've successfully taught my little one how to love a pumpkin.

So, if you haven't gone yet, you better get goin'. There's still plenty of time left and from my family to yours, Happy Pickin' at the pumpkin patch!