October is my Favorite Season

Okay, I know October is not a season. But fall has arrived here in our little corner of the Midwest. The funny thing about fall here is that at the end of September, you can spend a day at the zoo in your shorts and tee shirt (C got to help out at the Cheetah show and show how Cheetah adaptations work)...

 ...and then hit the middle of the week where you catch lizards at the bus stop in long sleeves and shorts (or short sleeves and pants, as One Ordinary Dad exhibits)...

 

...and then by the first weekend in October you are bundled up in hats and vests and sweatshirts in front of a roaring bonfire. 

 Don't mind B- he was making friends with some chickens at this past weekend's bonfire/hayride/fall gathering.

 The thing is, I lived with the seasons for my entire life. And I'm pretty sure I couldn't live without them. I love the way they force rhythms on our lives. I love the way that summer is busy and crazy and hot. I love how fall calms us down and prepares us to lie dormant for a while. I love winter and the way we seem to just rest more while the snow falls (don't get me wrong though...the winter blues do set in for a bit after the holidays, but that's what skiing and sledding and hot chocolate and the occasional escape to a warmer climate when we can afford it are for). And then spring comes, like it always does. We "wake up" from our hibernation and slowly start gearing up to run headfirst into summer.

The leaves are changing colors. The space heaters are on (we live in a small house, no need to turn on the heat just yet as temperature is still warm enough during the day). We have trips to pumpkin patches still to make. And the little one growing inside me still has just a smidge more baking to do. Sweaters and sweatshirts are replacing tees and tanks. The dark comes earlier. Costumes are being readied. Treats are being purchased. Parent-teacher conferences are taking place. Hot chocolate is replacing ice cream for dessert. Blankets are being pulled out on movie night.

And it's beautiful. Yes, October is my favorite season.

~One Ordinary Mom :-)

PS...Isn't my little cello player (in her fall sweats) adorable? She actually got moved up to the advanced class thanks to her experience playing violin last year and One Ordinary Dad's musical teachings (the man was a music major in college)...although I'm sure there is some natural talent involved too. Also, I'm not one to brag...advanced is just a fancy way of saying that she's going to move at an accelerated pace with some older kids since this is the first year cello has been offered in grades K-3. 

What We've Been Up To...

Last weekend we went up to the northeast corner of our state to visit my parents. I had last Friday off school and we pulled C out an hour early so that we could hit the road. First on our agenda, going to Aunt C's last Anchor Splash as a Delta Gamma. She graduates college in December.

 Saturday we felt up to hike at the beautiful waterfall near my parents' house. B wasn't quite feeling up to a smile.

 I am pretty sure both of my kids would've been up for tossing stones in the creek all afternoon.

 Three generations of beautiful felt up to taking a picture.

 After our hike, we made our annual trip to the farm stand and corn maze in the valley. B felt up to attempting to plank on a pumpkin.

 And later he felt up to showing off his big boy style.

 The rest of our time was spent enjoying a fire in my parents' fire place (oh how I wish our fireplace were operable again-- I'm sure it can be done, but it'll probably cost an arm and a leg), introducing One Ordinary Dad and my parents to the awesome-ness that is The Hunger Games movie, and relaxing. I'm about halfway through J.K. Rowling's newest (it's good, but it's definitely not Harry Potter, which it shouldn't be). Our drive home Sunday was uneventful.

Yesterday, we were up to an outing at a local farm with C's preschool class. It was a little cold and drizzly, but we enjoyed the hayride, decorations, and animals all the same. C's best buddy from school was there too. According to their teacher, they're like brother and sister-- they get on one another's nerves sometimes, but won't let anyone else mess with the other either. We spent the rest of the day in our jammies/sweats doing a whole lot of nothing.

 Lately, we've also been up to figuring out Halloween costumes. C has been insistent on being an Aye-Aye. Yeah, I had no clue what it was either. Luckily, when she saw the Super Mario costume at Target, she decided it would work, but not after first making sure that Target did not, in fact, have an Aye-Aye costume. C plays Super Mario 64 every time we're at my parents' house. That Nintendo 64 was the hit of Christmas my freshman year of high school.

 C was excited to wear her costume to HallZooWeen today. B made one adorable Dalmatian. 

I'm not sure what all we'll be up to this week, but I have started Christmas shopping, so I might be up for some more of that. What about you-- what have you been up to? What will you be up to this week?

~One Ordinary Mom

Turn on the Heat

We are continuing to enjoy fall here in the Midwest. The weather forecast shows that we won't be hitting 70 at all in the next week. We've enjoyed having our windows open and fresh air in our home for almost all of the last month. But now? Now, it's getting to the point where it's too chilly at night to leave the windows open. We've turned the heat on just in case the temperature really drops, but it hasn't actually "kicked on" yet.

 

The sun helps take the chill out of the air during the day, so we've spending quite a bit of time outside-- the time change is around the corner and we know it won't be long before it will be dark by dinner time.  

                                                      

And once it starts getting dark by dinner time, our evening walks will be accompanied by blankets, hot tea, and a flashlight. For now though, we're still enjoying those after-dinner sunsets. 

                                                       

Christmas is less than 3 months away too, which means we've started thinking about Christmas cards. I try to seize every moment for a family picture, trying to find the perfect one to go on the front of our card. I always like the front picture to be fairly recent (as opposed to using a picture taken last spring), because the kids change so fast. But since the last two years we've used the folded card style, we're always able to put a few pictures on the inside from earlier in the year. This morning presented one of those golden family-photo opportunities. I don't really try to coordinate outfits so much as colors-- so today we all had to have gray somewhere in our outfit. 

                                        

Our weather-beaten potting shed with the wheelbarrow leaning against it made a perfect backdrop. Last night's rain ensured perfect greenery.  

                                                   

It helps when the kids are in a good mood too. 

We know turning on the heat means winter is just around the corner, but I'm hoping we have a few more weeks where it's on "just in case" instead of "because it's freakin' cold outside and we need to turn it on."

What about you? Are you turning on the heat where you live?

~One Ordinary Mom :-)

                                                   

Fall

I love fall. I'm not going to lie. The cooler temperatures. The changing leaves. Sweaters. Boots. I love it all. But then again, there are things about every season that I love too. I think what I love most about fall, is that it's nature's way of preparing itself for the dormancy and chill of winter before the rebirth of spring. It makes me think about some of the things we do around here, in our own lives, to prepare for the cold months ahead. Things like staying outside as long as we can, keeping the windows open, canning spaghetti sauce from the last of the summer's tomatoes, adding more soups to our weekly menu, growing our lists of books to read and movies to watch when we can't go outside.

This fall has brought some change too (don't you love the leaves above on my neighbor's tree). C started preschool last week. It's her last year. She goes for a half day, every day. This means One Ordinary Dad and B get a lot of one-on-one time.

She is reading. She is starting to understand simple addition. She is learning so much. Like the leaves changing colors, my sweet girl is changing too and will this time next year, will be a kindergartener.

B is changing too. He talks. A lot. He tries so hard to repeat everything you say. He loves book like his sister. Unlike his sister, he is into everything. Every drawer and cabinet and shelf at his level has either been emptied or emptied and then refilled with things that won't hurt him-- plastic plates, strainers, the salad spinner, junk mail. More than just about anything, my boy loves to be outside.

One Ordinary Dad is settling back into the stay-at-home parent life again. He is also back working at the beer distributor where he worked last holiday season. At that point in our lives, we could only handle his working on a temporary basis as the hours were different and we felt like passing ships. Now, the hours are better, he gets to work at something he enjoys, and we get a little extra spending money.

Which means Mommy gets some solo time with the kiddos every evening. Which is why I haven't spent as much time online updating this blog, Facebook, etc. To be honest though, I feel like I'm kind of "over" social media right now. Not in a permanent way. But, I've been having more face to face conversations and long phone calls with friends. When One Ordinary Dad is home and the kids are in bed, we've been working our way through The West Wing on DVD (I think neither of us was mature enough to care about a TV drama when it was actually on TV-- that period of our lives was consumed by Survivor, Friends, American Idol, and Seinfeld). Or we talk. Or read (and we're geeks and read parts of books and articles aloud to one another when we find them entertaining or thought-provoking). We used to sit side by side, sort of watching TV, sort of scrolling through our phones. Not so much now. It was a change that happened subtly. And one we didn't even realize was happening until we talked about it today.

Yes, I'll still update here. Yes, I still manage to scroll through Facebook once a day or so. And yes, thanks to Google Reader and Flipboard, I'm staying current with all of your blogs. But my own updates here and elsewhere are sometimes spaced far apart, the space in between filled with dance class, and reading (to the kids and my own books for me), teaching, walking, running (I'm easing back in), yoga (I've got a pretty regular at-home practice going on right now in addition to my once a week class, coffee, and conversation. It's wonderful, friends.

And I'll come right out and say it-- while everything isn't sunshine and rainbows every day, we're just at a good place right now. The changes are doing us all some good, subtle though they mostly have been-- a book picked up one night and read by a 4 year old is 5 books she can read by the end of the week; a toddler vocabulary of 20 words expands to several dozen in a matter of weeks; the fall decorations are up in the house; the Halloween shirts for the kids are purchased; dance classes have started; we're preferring warm cookies to cold ice cream for dessert. We all feel well (despite the colds and allergies that crop up this time of year), we're blessed with rest each night, we're happy most days, and well, we're just plain happy with where God has us in this season of life right now.

Ummm...my boy LOVES that Mickey is on his shirt. :-) Yes, "Mickey" is one of his words.

So happy fall to you all. Enjoy the cooler weather. The changing leaves. And if fall brings a change or two to you, may it be a blessed one.

~One Ordinary Mom :-)