Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

I’ve said before that fall is my favorite season, and I stand by that – but there’s something magical about the transition to fall from summer. The evenings are cooler but the days are still warm and sunny. There is just enough light in the evenings for family time. Gone are the crazy summer thunderstorms, but it still rains often enough that it’s not too hot. I’ve always enjoyed the change, but it’s even more magical with kids. As a family with two working parents, our weekend time is precious. We use those hours to get all our weekend errands done, but it’s important to us to have spontaneous family time as well. It’s challenging, but now that the weather is cooling down, we can have impromptu family dates to the playground to just be together and enjoy this stage in our lives.

I feel like Abbie grew exponentially this summer. Dresses that hit below her knees in May are now hitting above her knees. Her preschool program has already taught her so much – academically, socially, developmentally, and more. She randomly starts singing songs she learned at school. When we ask her what she did at school, her answer is, “Everything!” This summer completely opened my eyes to how fast she’s going to grow and learn these next few years. I always knew it would go fast, but I feel like the school years are going to go even faster than the baby and toddler years did.

Ella is just blossoming into the sweetest little girl and is slowly losing the “baby-ness” about her. She’ wants to walk so badly and keep up with Abbie. She eats almost everything we give her and sits happily in her high chair at meals – as long as we’re right there with her. She’s a total mama’s girl, but learning that most of the snacks and silliness come from her daddy. Her hair is getting long and she’s rapidly outgrowing all her clothes, so it’s a good thing I have a stash of bows and big sister’s hand-me-downs ready to go for her.

On top of it all, watching my girls grow in their relationship as sisters has been the most amazing part of it all. We worked hard last year to keep Abbie involved in my pregnancy, and she’s been involved with Ella from day one. Now that Ella is getting more and more interactive, Abbie asks to play with her, shares her snacks, and is even excited at the thought of one day sharing a room (but she’s four so of course that could change). I always knew giving Abbie a sibling was the greatest gift we could give her, but these girls just prove it to me more and more every day.

As we head into my favorite season, of routines, birthdays, and holidays – I am just so thankful for this little family of mine.