We’ve been getting our mint for our watermelon coolers from our friend’s backyard a few blocks away in recent weeks (though last Sunday’s Flea was probably the last week - the season is changing). It’s really fresh, grown without pesticides and has the most aromatic, minty scent ever. There was a little stowaway in last week’s batch, however - the tiniest little snail you’ve ever seen. Quite cute and inquisitive, the little guy moved rather fast (for a snail) and craned his neck and antennae every which way exploring the little bowl we placed him in. The girls were tickled by him and found him quite fascinating. Mia wanted to keep him for a pet, but we convinced her that he would probably be most happy outside.

It’s tax time. And this quarter I am writing a rather large check so it’s definitely hurting (so maybe iphones have to wait). On one hand it’s made me refocus on our budget, which I admit we drifted away from a bit this summer. On the other hand, it tells me we’ve beat the odds and done quite well this year. It seems so long ago, but I still remember the phone call back in February when Mark told me he had just lost his job - it was a new job and a chance to venture outside restaurant work for a bit (still food, however), but from the start it seemed like an impossible situation that fell flat even though we had high hopes. The sheer panic that set in was not a good feeling especially when I didn’t have a steady day job. I had the sinking feeling that it might finally be time for me to look for an office job after 5 years of avoiding it, mostly so we can have health insurance. I was loathe to even consider it, but you know, you gotta take one for the team.

Those who know me know that I am a worrier, but I also know how to motivate when I need to. After the initial panic subsided, we hatched a plan to start this business. It’s interesting to read back on this blog, particularly the very first post and one 2 months later (and it’s why we started this blog, to have a place to document and record the process). It’s been an eventful first 5-6 months of business and while we aren’t supporting ourselves yet through baked goods, we haven’t posted a loss either. I can say for a fact that it’s a lot of work for not so much money and while we are getting noticeably faster at baking and packaging, there are nights when I have to drag myself to wrap endless piles of brownies.

So it seems almost impossible that we’ve gotten by this year with even greater expenses in the way of preschool, health insurance and gas, but looking back at my invoices to prep for taxes, I realized that I have freelanced and earned way more than I ever have, almost double what I did 2 years ago, and it’s supporting our family. Luckily I have had a busy year without the usual nervewracking gaps in work.

We’re looking ahead to Fall and the holidays. We need to ramp up because while wholesaling has taken off (Everyman Espresso is already on their 3rd large order), our direct retail sales have been a bit slower which is nervewracking on its own (though I acknowledge that we came out of the gate with unusual good fortune). At the start of business, the owners at One Girl cookie gave us great advice that while there may be a lot of attention and excitement at the beginning, the challenge will be to keep the momentum going. We’ve found that to be quite true. I know we’re entering into a period where a lot of businesses give up and there are certainly days when it seems quite discouraging, but as long as I can keep supporting our family, we’ll continue to grow our little company and see where we can take it.

So this is life. While we don’t have schedules and routines and days can be quite chaotic at the switch, we do have flexibility and loads of time with the kids (maybe too much time, ha!). I’m not sure what the rest of the year will bring, or next year for that matter, but I can confidently say that Mark being let go of a not-so-ideal job situation was probably the best thing that’s happened to us in awhile.

It occurred to me when one reader left a comment that she didn’t realize that both Mark and I post on this blog that some of you may think that I do some of the cooking at our house. Make no mistake about it, but I don’t do any of the cooking. I used to cook and even really liked it at one point, but I haven’t made anything substantial other than throw together a breakfast or lunch for the girls in years. Mark does all the food shopping and cooking in the family. This division of labor progressed naturally when we had Mia - mark would cook and I would clean the house and it just stuck because we were each better and more efficient at our respective chores and the timing in our schedules just worked out that way. I also think back then when he switched working to mornings from late night dinner shifts I was a bit relieved that I didn’t have to cook dinner for myself after all those lonely nights alone. The switch also happened right around the time I got pregnant so I think he was more than happy to take care of all the meals when he was home since I had such a rough time with food. Habits just stick I suppose. We do, however, come up with flavors together for the business because much to Mark’s chagrin sometimes, I’m extremely critical when it comes to food, especially food that we have to stand behind.

There was one evening when I was thumbing through a magazine that a recipe caught my eye. It’s rare that we earmark recipes in magazines or that I bring one to his attention - often times he cooks without one - but it was a Moroccan style chicken stew with olives and preserved lemon from last months’ issue of Domino magazine that got me excited, particularly because Mia loves chicken and she loves olives. Mark cooked it up one evening (alas, without the preserved lemons), but it was rejected by both girls. Sometimes you just can’t win.

If last week was like summer trying to eek out one last fling with a slew of 90 degree days, then today felt like a turning of tides. It was cool enough to wear a little sweater and the light drizzle and absence of sun made it feel even chillier than that. A welcome change, I say, now that the pools are closed, the kids are back in school and trips for apple picking are being planned. We experienced unusually warm weather during last year’s apple picking outing and no matter what you say about enjoying the warm weather while it lasts, it just doesn’t feel right if you’re picking apples in 80 degree weather and you’re working up a hot sweat.

Mia was thrilled to be back in school yesterday. We’re glad to have some structure in our week too since I feel like we have NO structure in our lives because freelancing and the biz fluctuates so wildly from week to week. We find ourselves scrambling to trade off on childcare and rearrange schedules if something comes up unexpectedly, like a big wholesale order or if work gets piled on. In related news, I’m thinking of getting an iphone now that my contract with Sprint has ended. You know, because I don’t spend enough time on the computer already (I think I just need a really big belt clip so I can have it permanently attached to my hip). Avoiding any kind of wired mobile device was a lifestyle choice, but I don’t think I can avoid it anymore as it’s imperative for me to be able to answer emails for both businesses in a timely manner. Oh, and all the fun apps wouldn’t hurt either, hee hee. But crap! I can see it already - the iphone forever attached to my palm as I’m out at the playground with the girls, checking my email while I ignore them as Claudine wanders off by herself and Mia falls down from the monkey bars because they are unsupervised from an email-addicted mother who is supposed to be supervising them. Um, so should I get one?

Well, we’re back and survived it all. A very long car ride home that took all of 10 hours yesterday with 2 stops, the remnants of Hurricane Hannah who tore through Virginia as a Tropical Storm the day of the wedding, a family reunion, and Mia’s debut as a flower girl. She took the role very seriously, I’ll have you know, and you can tell that she was fully concentrating on her walk down the aisle as she took her time with very careful and deliberate steps. I was very relieved and impressed that she didn’t, you know, sashay, skip, or run down the aisle, or decide to break out into a silly pose or dance or camp it up mid-way in usual Mia-style. It was perfect actually (when we were able to catch her attention to start walking - let’s just say there was a bit of a pause when Mia should have been making her way down). Once up on the altar, she seemed to relax a bit, broke out into a big, long yawn that seemed to last 5 minutes, and then promptly turned to the Maid-of-Honor and asked “um, how long is this going to take?”. We ushered her down quickly after that.

The rest of the short ceremony was stressful as both girls got fidgety, Claudine in particular. The chapel seemed to echo every little peep that came out of her mouth and Mark was desperately trying to get out of the chapel, but the door was locked or stuck or something and he probably aged a few years trying to shush the girls up. Once over, Mia took a few more walks down the aisle (and finally did get to camp it out during photos). We opened the heavy chapel doors and saw that the sun had started to come out as Hannah quickly passed while we were inside, clearing the clouds away like some perfect movie timing.

While Mia was the pint-sized attraction at the ceremony, Claudine stole the show at the reception with her dancing. I have no idea where she learned any of her moves or what came over her, but if I can find the time to edit and upload the video clips to YouTube, I will. It really needs to be seen.

We’re on a trip right now, actually. In DC visiting Mia and Hoyun from Popgadget, but driving down to Virginia this morning for a family wedding. The kids are good, but there have been a lot of fighting over toys the last few weeks, which has been escalating, and hasn’t stopped on this trip. Schedules are out the window and they’re sleeping late (but still waking up at the same time!). Mia actually woke us all up at 6:30 yesterday morning. She didn’t come into the room, and she wasn’t loud, but I was awakened by the very LOUD crinkling of a candy wrapper that she was sneakily trying to open. She was trying to be very quiet about it but I knew exactly what she was doing. Mia’s going to be a flower girl at the wedding - her first time and I’m a little concerned that she’ll behave up on the altar because she has been such a hyper goofball lately. We’ll see….

Mia doesn’t go back to school till next monday, but I’m hearing and seeing all kinds of kids out our window, walking to school. We did go for a brief “back to school” party the other day and it was both bittersweet and a relief to walk inside the building again and see the little chairs and art supplies. A relief because, well, do you know how hard it is to play “Julie, the Cruise Director” every single day to keep kids occupied and happy? Bittersweet because the kids are getting bigger, obviously.

Mia’s school is featured in this month’s issue of Cookie Magazine, by the way, which reminds me that I still need to pick up a copy. NYC being the way it is, I feel like I need to start thinking about what I might do with Claudine next year. She is a late birthday girl, so it’s a bit tricky for preschool. I think I’ll put off thinking about it till later. Even though it’s after Labor Day and kids are in school, it still feels like summer. It’s hot.

I wish the weather would make up it’s mind sometimes. It’s hot, then cool, then hot again. It was quite cool in the morning yesterday because of cloud cover from some rain during the night. We decided to go to the pool anyway because it would be our last time this summer and when we got there, discovered that we had it all to ourselves. Not that we’ve ever been there when it’s been very crowded, but there was no one, except for the lifeguards. Pretty cool. We’ve come a long way since the beginning of the summer when C pretty much cried most of our time at the pool. Yesterday she just walked right in the water like it was nothing.

We’re getting ready for a little 4-day trip this week and we’re leaving Wednesday night - a meeting with friends in DC and a family wedding/reunion in Virginia on the weekend. I hear it’s going to be pretty damn hot further south this week. Oh, and we’re driving. Any tips for surviving in a car that long with kids? We’ve only done 1 long-ish drive once upstate, but that was when Claudine was a baby. Now we have the two of them yammering away in the back seat (by the way, Mia is the worst back seat driver, ever!!). The girls do really well in the car, but…6-7 hours? (shudder).