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. 

Epic Summer Sunday #1

Today was amazing. And not just because C moved up to the kindergarten room at church (I may have teared up a little).

We really had no agenda once church was over, and the day was just so sunny, and I was just craving bacon...so we headed downtown to Crave.  We'd heard that they had a good brunch and we knew they had outdoor seating, so we figured we'd give it a try. Turns out that Sunday brunch is a tasty buffet with a lot to choose from and it includes a mimosa (for the grown-ups, obviously). Kids eat free-- bonus. We stuffed ourselves silly and then headed over to the Reds team shop.

C needed a new Reds shirt since she's outgrown her others and passed them on to her little brother. She chose a Votto shirt (a girl after my own heart...One Ordinary Dad got me an authentic Votto jersey for my birthday). B had fun playing with foam fingers.

Up next we headed to the park down at The Banks. When going to downtown parks, we generally prefer Washington Park, but we were already parked and decided to play at The Banks instead. Before we got much playing in, we thought it might be fun to rent a Surrey Bike and ride along the river. The day was absolutely gorgeous. One Ordinary Dad and I sure got a workout, but we enjoyed the view.

After an hour, we returned the bike and then finally got around to playing in the fountain and swinging on their big "porch swings" that overlook the river.

We ended our afternoon with some Orange Leaf fro-yo (Crave gave us coupons for 2 free ounces each).

It was a day well spent and we are all spent. I have 2 days left of school with my students and then a half day teacher work day on Wednesday.

And because I haven't mentioned it here yet, One Ordinary Dad went back to work in the non-profit world a couple of weeks ago. He likes his job so far. The kids have a babysitter coming to the house in this transition time, but C will be in all-day kindergarten next year, so with only one kiddo needing childcare, we knew it was time. We knew we couldn't move forward, pursuing some dreams of ours without a second income. God has blessed us immensely and we're excited to be in this new phase. I've never had both kids on my own all summer (One Ordinary Dad's previous position was reduced in June 2011, when B was a baby, so we've had lots of family time the last two summers with both of us at home). This will surely be a fun adventure!

~One Ordinary Mom

*Note: I am cautiously titling this post with the "#1" in the hopes that there are more epic summer Sundays in our future-- not necessarily doing the same things, but just enjoying things around our city that are new to us. :-)

Whew!

Has it really been almost a month since our last update?

Apparently it has been a month. We're alive and well and still missing our pets a little, but C is doing much better and the mercury is rising and we're in the home stretch of the school year. Baseball season will be starting soon (my personal favorite) and we have tickets to see The Lumineers in May (we really enjoy their music and attending concerts with One Ordinary Dad is one of my favorite things to do). 

Since our last update:

We celebrated Valentine's Day. B loved going to C's celebration at school and C loved sharing her love for her friends. One Ordinary Dad documented it all since Valentine's Day fell on a Thursday and I was up and at work during all of their "love"ly shenanigans.

We went to the northeast corner of the state over President's Day weekend. One Ordinary Dad and I spent a night away in the city, enjoying the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, dinner out, and a music festival (yes, in the middle of winter and yes, some of the venues were outdoors and yes, it was awesome)! Honeybucket was our favorite act of the night. It was also wonderful to sleep for 10 uninterrupted hours while the snow fell outside!

I knitted an infinity scarf-- not bad for my first attempt.

We got to enjoy Fun Fest at C's preschool (a late winter indoor carnival that is their major fundraiser for the year). 

We had a snow day! Finally. The last time I had a full day off of school was when I was pregnant with B. The snow hit us this past Wednesday and today it's pretty much melted. We might even hit 60 by Sunday!

And we finally got confirmation that C is in at the Creative and Performing Arts magnet school! We couldn't be more thrilled as we know it is the perfect place for our sweet C, who loves to dance, draw, sing, and perform. And so it means that the last few days have also been spent filling out oodles of kindergarten paperwork.

Spring is in the air. Easter decorations are out around the house.  And we're headed out to hike tomorrow.

 

With love and blessings to all of you patient readers out there, 

~One Ordinary Mom

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 :-)

                                                   

Dear Zoo

Dear Zoo,
It was a hot summer here, with most days at 90 or above. I'm not complaining, but it usually meant that we preferred the pool or air-conditioned venues like the museum over you.

 But lately, the weather has been a little cooler, sometimes not getting above 80. This week we even have some days where we won't reach 70. Bring it, fall. Apparently the cool temperature gave everyone the same idea, as the guy at the entrance told us at last count they had 9000 people there. It really didn't feel that crowded though.

 We started off with the train-- a favorite of C and B.

I know he's not smiling above, but B really does like the train. He looked like this before we boarded:

 

After that, we went to play with the Galapagos Turtles. B couldn't wait to see them and C thought it was cool that they were four years old, just like her.  

                                     

                                                      

A statue near the turtles shows how big they will be-- this is life-size, fully grown! That's a lot of turtle!
                                        
We stopped to see a few more favorites on our way to get some ice cream.

 

 

The new Cat Canyon is pretty cool. The kids both loved seeing the sleepy Snow Leopard.  

Finally, we headed to see the Lorikeets. Miss C has been a fan of these birds since we took a trip in June 2011 to the Pittsburgh Aviary and three of them landed on her arms. Because these birds don't have a scheduled feeding time, it's hit or miss if they'll actually eat the nectar in your cup. In Pittsburgh, they had special times that they could be fed, which meant they flocked to you. One did land on Mommy's shoulder and hung out on her back for a while. Another one thought B's finger was food. B didn't cry, but was definitely startled.

 

We missed you, zoo. And I'm sure we'll be back for more fun now that we don't have to sweat walking up and down your hills.

In other news, C starts her first full week of school this week. She's going for a half day, every day this year. Last week she had two partial days, but the full five days starts tomorrow. I still can't believe that next year she'll be in kindergarten.

~One Ordinary Mom