The wild gander leads his flock through the cool night,Ya-honk! he says, and sounds it down to me like an invitation: The pert may suppose it meaningless, but I listen closer, I find its purpose and place up there toward the November sky.

--Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, 1855, I Celebrate Myself, Line 238

This coming weekend, Mia will officially be 2 years old. For two years she has grown and breathed and learned, each day changing my life a little more. Who could have known how amazing she would make things?!

Last year, her aunt Suzy came up with the idea of taking photos of Mia (then nearly one) in a pumpkin patch at a Methodist church near my parents' house in East Tyler. We agreed that Punkin Patch Photos (note the cute way I write "Punkin" for the less endearing "Pumpkin") would be great, and birthday party invitation history was made.

Here's a photos of her scarfing down pumkin-shaped/colored cake last year. This baby likes her cake!

Below is a photo of her in the patch last year, for comparison's sake.

This year, we decided an interesting sociological experiment would be to create a tradition of photographing Mia in that same pile of gourds each year to chronicle her growth and the hideous "pumpkin patch sprawl" that is taking over our fair city. Below are some of the best of our efforts (and by "our" I mean Suzy's, of course...)

Is this little girl growing up, or what?!

The best part is that Mia is super-good-natured. "Terrible 2" is beginning to show its head, but over all, she handles everything we throw at her with sweet grace.

I guess this means that birthday photos will be in the next post. I do have some great pictures from a weekend campout that Stacy and I went on with Sherry (a girl Stacy works with) and her husband Stacey (I was surrounded by Stacies!)--they'll show up soon enough.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIA!