Spending a bit of time with these goofballs while we were home was the best!

I’m usually amazed at just how fast the days and weeks go while we’re on harvest. Not so much right now.

I think it’s a combination of a couple of things. I think the #1 reason it’s dragging is the fact that most of the family unit is at home. Well…sort of. Jenna is busy with farm shows (Farm Progress in Decatur, IL right now) and won’t be “home, home” for a while yet. The rest of the family keeps me informed of what’s going on with Snapchat, Twitter and a text here and there. It isn’t the same as being there! I don’t care how wonderful Facetime is…it’s just not the same as being there.

Nora is growing at warp speed. She’s changing daily and is now crawling all over the place, pulling herself up on things & has her first tooth (this all happened since we left). I love getting the daily updates from Jamie…but it’s not the same as being there.

Taylor is busy doing whatever Taylor does. Right now, I think that is taking pictures (lots of pictures) and spending time with Colten. No one ever really knows what Taylor’s up to. 🙂

Callie’s daily happenings are shared once in a while – if asked. I miss being around her every day. I miss waking up and seeing her. I think about how different it will be this time next year and I don’t like it. I’ve been told kids are SUPPOSED to grow up and leave. I know this. I’ve been through it three times already. I just didn’t want it to come to an end. Not yet. Not already. What seemed like so far into the future has now become the present.

I GOT TO TAKE HER LAST FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL PICTURE!! I have never been able to take her first day of school picture since she started Jr. High.

Oh Wyatt! You’re such a nice boyfriend. He showed up early with a dozen of Krispy Kreme donuts for Cal on the first day of school. He’s in London now for a year. We’ll miss you, Wyatt!! But so proud of what you’re doing! Have a GREAT life adventure.

My kids have been a HUGE part of my life and who I am. For the past 30 years, I’ve enjoyed being a part of their lives and it just feels so weird to think they won’t be there like they have been. I’m thankful that I don’t have to worry about them when they leave. And I know they’ll come back. It’s just that when they walk out that door to spread their wings, it’s never the same. Ever.

Ok, so why did this past week seem to drag? I don’t know. On Saturday, I remember asking Jim if we’d been back to Colorado for just a week. He confirmed that it had been just a week. Felt like much longer. Maybe it was because we hadn’t been in the field. Maybe because I was just missing the rest of our family. Whatever it was, it was probably the longest week of the summer. Why can’t it feel like that when you want it to?

So let’s go back to that week the girls left Colorado and pick up where I left off.

We hung around Limon for a few more days and then headed back home for a week. I didn’t really want to go home because I knew it would be hard to leave again. And it was. Jim worked on the corn head. That was the reason for the trip back. He wanted to be ready for fall harvest at home when we left Colorado for the last time (after millet harvest). So, while he worked on that, I pulled weeds and played with kids.

The temperature at home wasn’t too bad. I was expecting unbearable heat and humidity. It was warm and I didn’t want to work outside much after 10:00 a.m. but it wasn’t bad. So, I set a goal of getting my yard cleaned before heading back to Colorado. I know it won’t stay as nice as it was when we left but it felt good to know it was done. The rain created lots and lots of weeds this year. It also killed many of my iris. Because of the weeds and the wet conditions, I found most of my iris had been reduced to rhizome skeletons. This breaks my heart. I had some really nice iris. But…weeds are gone – or at least they were a week ago.

A weed-free garden – for now.

When it got too hot, I headed to Jamie’s house. I had a couple of kiddos that needed some “Ga” time! (I hope they didn’t get tired of me being there.)

Eli lined up all his equipment and was counting them for me.

It was finger painting – or so they said.

Notice the toolbox? He was working on his truck as we were heading out the door to come back to CO.

Because we didn’t even have any salt and pepper in our “home, home”, we hung our hats at Mark and Candi’s house. This was perfect! They were on vacation for most of the time we were there and when they returned, we got to spend the evenings with them. That doesn’t EVER happen. I only get to see them for an hour or two once in a while. We spent the evening with them and woke up to see the girls off to school. The whole week at home was great. I just didn’t want to leave again.

This is “home, home” – Soybeans, corn, rolling hills and family.

But, leave we did.

The goodbye’s were just as hard as they were in June. Maybe worse because we didn’t have Taylor and Callie joining us. This will be a new adventure for the two of us. I hope the weather treats us nicely this go ’round!