Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

We’ve had a great summer and it’s been a little bittersweet to see it wrapping up. You may have noticed that I took the month of August off from the blog. Partly to focus on the flower business during our busiest time, but also to enjoy the good weather with our girls. Ever since having children, I’ve become all too aware of how much time is flying by and the only way I’ve found to “slow it down” is to focus on the present. Shocking, right? 😉

I signed Lucy up for swimming lessons at the lake and it gave us good motivation to get our beach bags packed a couple times a week. While she worked on her back float with all the older kids, Rosie and I got to visit with our friends and the other babies. It brought back so many memories of my own childhood summers where my mom would do the same thing with us.

I’d still get a pang of guilt some mornings that I should be working on the never-ending flower business to-do list (filling orders, weeding the beds, chasing the chickens out of the sunflowers) My business partner (my mom ♥) really encouraged me to take the time to enjoy summer with my little ones.

The bonus was that after a fun morning at the beach, they’d both be exhausted and go down for naps as soon as we finished lunch. Then I’d race out to the field, with baby monitors in hand, and try to get as much done as I could before one of them was up again. It was a juggle to fit it all in most days, but worth it.

Despite such a slow start to the season, August proved to be one of our busiest months to date – with workshops, art installations, retails orders to fulfill, a friend’s wedding flowers, custom orders, and a day we opened up to the public. It was a whirlwind month! Now things are starting to wind down as we prepare ourselves for the potential to have frost at any time between now and when we wrap up for the season in mid-October.

Whenever Garrett was off, we tried to fit in some day trips as well. We went to the zoo, the local fair, my parents’ boat and my sister’s new house in the city. The girls had their first trip to the drive-in and the movie theatre as well, which as movie-lovers ourselves, is something we were both so excited to do.

This weekend we had the perfect end to summer. We worked on a few projects around the house, then had family come to visit for lunch on Sunday, followed by the annual family corn roast at my aunt and uncle’s cottage.

I look forward to it every year. It always signifies the end of summer and the start of a new season with a fresh slate.

Even though we don’t have kids heading off to school this year, I still love that fall feeling. The itch to get new pencils, to pull all the sweaters out of storage and move the big dutch oven out of the cupboard and onto its permanent, cold weather spot on the stovetop (for chili, soups, stews, etc.) So as much as I’m lamenting the end of summer, I’m also wanting to enjoy the present and all that fall has to offer. At the top of my list are walks though the woods, visits to the orchard, baking cookies and enjoying the cool breeze coming off the lake.

I’m also very happy to be back here in my little corner of the internet – ready to carve out some time to write and create. Nothing like taking a month off to make you realize how much you’ve missed something, right? October will mark TEN YEARS (!!) from when I started the blog (back when it was called “Small Home Big Start”). So much has happened since then and I’m always learning more about this evolving medium. My biggest obstacle these days is trying to figure out my writing groove while home with two kids.

Well, that’s enough rambling for one blog post. We had a great summer but I’m glad to be getting back into a routine as well. I hope you had a lovely time as well and are ready to rock the last four months of 2019 (how did that happen already?!?)

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