Okay we’re going to ignore how tired Tom and I are and how never ending life seems, and pretend life is all candy corn and pumpkin spice instead, just like my coffee.
We’ve been indulging the kids and doing all the fall activities lately. We’ve made mummy brownies and bat cookies. We’ve painted decorations, carved pumpkins and made monsters with popsicle sticks, cotton ball ghosts and Halloween sand art crafts.
There haven’t been many food cravings lately, but there was one thing I was looking forward to. Strawberry season - specifically strawberry shortcake season! So I’d been watching my favorite small farm closely for news of their opening. And when it came, we just so happened to not have any plans. We had to go!
It’s definitely not the flashiest farm in the area, but that’s why I love it. I get too overwhelmed at the big places, especially with small children. This one opens early, has yummy food, and plenty of space to run around. It also has enough animals that it keeps the children happy. Remember that zoo trip we tried? It has nothing on farm animals!
Sometimes I forget it’s summer. I simultaneously think it’s still March and can’t believe it’s not September yet. Time is an odd thing now.
Of course it doesn’t always feel like summer, either. I’m certainly not doing or experiencing the things that usually mark summer for me. Even silly ones - commuting in the heat in long pants and arriving in the office all sweaty is a thing of the past. No longer am I getting into a hot car and burning my hands on the steering wheel and finding my water too hot to drink. I’m barely getting into the car at all.
It’s not easy in this new world. Everything stresses me out or makes me anxious. I’m constantly on edge and judging everyone I can see. I judge them for not wearing a mask, or not wearing it correctly, for getting too close to me or someone else, for touching something - it all stresses me out.
But at the same time, it’s hard to hide at home forever. It’s summer, which means it’s easy to get outside, and we all know that’s safer than being inside. And since I believe we’re going to be fighting this virus for a while, we might as well take advantage of being outside while we can. Otherwise I’m going to regret it when winter hits.
Sure, why not?
Right now nap schedules pretty much keep us home from 9am until 3pm. Which severely limits what we’re able to do or where we’re able to go on the weekends. It’s a lot of staying home, playing in the yard, or splitting up kids and leaving the house with just one at a time.
Which is fine. That’s the season we’re in, and I rank sleep as more important than almost everything else, so I don’t mind staying home. But every once in a while we want to do something special, and it takes a bit of creativity. Which is what we did last weekend.
Christmas is going to be interesting this year.
Well, in more ways than one. But let me back up - I’m actually talking decoration wise. And no, I don’t have my tress up (yet!). I did start pulling out my Halloween/Fall decorations, though. Not all of them, but a few pumpkins here and there. It didn’t take long for a certain tiny human to notice… and demand that he be allowed to carry them around everywhere!
E loves strawberries. He'll eat them for every meal, and never turns them down. He might like them more than watermelon even.
I like strawberries, but I love strawberry shortcake. I made some recently because I was craving it, and gave E a little bit, but mostly just strawberries. We'd long since finished off the biscuits and whipped cream when I decided I wanted more. I could bake some more biscuits and send Tom to the store.. or we could head to Parlee Farms and get it at the source!