This time of year is always busy, but this year is crazier than ever.  On the one hand, I really want to take advantage of all the fun stuff going on around us, but at the same time, I resent it when life gets so busy you can’t catch your breath.  Weekends are flying by faster than weekdays lately.  Work is busy among piles of midterm grading, but it almost feels like the few hours I have at my quiet work desk are the only times I can focus and breathe a bit.

Jude started playing soccer this year, so that accounts for some of this. He LOVES it, and the fields are less than two miles from our house, so I obliged.  It is cute to watch, and I love seeing him get the hang of a real team sport and cheer on his teammates.  But this whole be at practice an hour a week and a game every weekend stage of parenthood is very new for us.  It’s like the second you stop potty training and dressing them and waking up at night, you reach a new kind of busy.  It’s not easier – or harder. Just different.

In addition to early morning soccer games, we’ve had fall fairs and pumpkin patches to enjoy.

Finally, our craziness is coming to a slower pace after this weekend closed with a preschool fall carnival and a neighborhood festival as well. The amount of face paint, cotton candy, bounce houses, and plastic prizes over the past few weeks might have lost its luster for me, but not for these two.

I’m looking forward the the revelry of Halloween, of course.  But I’m most looking forward to the slower pace of November.  The season is settling in, and even Georgia weather will resign itself to soup and sweaters in the next few weeks.  My favorite vegetables are in season and the calendar is fast approaching Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday.  I’m hoping I can work on a little more mindfulness in the weeks ahead.

Happy week to you and yours. Fall is in full swing.