We first went in 2007: a Girl, a camera, wonderful afternoon light, and lots of time.

The next year, we took a photo that was a personal favorite picture for a very long time — still is, in fact. Our first year in the pumpkin patch and the Girl was exceedingly playful. Giggles all afternoon.

The next year, it was the same. It was a photo shoot that almost shot itself: all I had to was point and shoot, literally. The Girl took care of all the rest. She was so easily excited, and almost everything thrilled her instantly and completely.

By 2010, she was a little lady. Photos were fine, but they had to be in some meaningful context. Gone were the days of, “Put her by that pumpkin” and clicking away. She wanted to help. She wanted to lift. She wanted to compose.

“I’ll just move this one over and then sit down…”

Today, though, she had competition. And while the Boy was an easy target — he can’t move, so there’s little choice; he can’t talk, so there are few protests — the Girl had other ideas.

The Boy was far too fascinated with the straw and hay to make much of a fuss about anything. The only trick was trying to get him to sit up long enough. Then we hit on the idea of holding him in such a way that the support was not immediately visible. Then we just gave up and shot.

We managed to talk the Girl into a few photos,

but she was far more interested in picking a pumpkin, and even more interested in hauling said pumpkin to the wheelbarrow.

And so I guess we’ll be recreating all the autumnal photo shoots with the Boy that we had with the Girl over the last few years. I can’t imagine more exciting prospects.