Summer is Officially Here

The ice cream man has arrived in our neighborhood!

Predict the Weather

Why is is 80 degrees and sunny until the day after I take the storm windows out and put the screens in?

Please Vote!

No matter which candidate you are supporting, please exercise your right to vote today! 

Day 3 Looking Better

We got up, ate an on-the-go breakfast and made it to the free movie at the local theatre by 10 am. We saw "Everyone's Hero" which was very cute and had a nice message. P. was very excited, knew why we were there and watched the whole thing with hardly a snort in earshot. Very big developmental milestone there! (I was half expecting to have to leave early.) I was also reminded that a medium size drink at the movies is an XL super jumbo size everywhere else. We'll be drinking Hi-C forever. Both boys have read or done some other educational activity for at least 45 minutes. Half of dinner is in the crockpot (taco salad) and morning glory muffins have been baked and no one chopped off their fingers. We'll head to the pool in about 45 minutes... House still looks like crap, but hey, there's always tomorrow. Or September.

Summer Schedule

Last week I had a mini panic about the fact that summer vacation was practically upon us. I didn't want the boys to be parked in front of the tv or the computer for 2 months (though to be honest, for about 2 minutes I thought it sounded good and waaaay easy) so I came up with this little schedule for the days when P. is not in summer school and M. does not have any scheduled activity:

8:00ish: get up, have breakfast, get dressed -- no tv just like on school days (as opposed to Saturdays when I let them eat in front of it
9:00ish: go to the BAC with Mom & play while she works out
10:00ish: go on errands or fun place with Mom, maybe stop for a treat. If no errands then do art activity or baking or play outside.
11:30ish: lunch
12:00-3:00ish to keep out of the dangerous sun hours, alternate between computer time & tv time while Mom does housework, then do reading or other educational activity with Mom
3:00ish play outside or art or baking
4:00-5:00ish get ready for the pool and swim
6:00-7:00ish come home for dinner
8:00ish a bit more tv, computer, reading or trip with Dad for a treat if we didn't have one already
9:00ish bath & bed

Sounds pretty reasonable right?

Today is Day 2 of Summer Vacation and here's the schedule the boys came up with:

ReallyEarlyish: get up before the grownups and turn on tv or use the computer until grownups realize where you are and stumble downstairs in a panic. Cheerfully say you've eaten breakfast already and point to crumpled chip bags and pile of popsicle sticks.
11:00ish avoid getting dressed
12:00ish go in backyard wearing underwear minus sunscreen 1:00ish make messes with toys but don't actually play
1:30ish get in the car already so Mom stops yelling
3:00ish return from errands and eat crap in front of tv until
4:00ish go to the pool
6:oo-7:00ish avoid eating dinner. Beg for more tv & computer
9:00ish avoid going to bed. Say you're hungry.
10:00ish fight with each other and whine
11:00ish finally pass out

No exercise for Mom, no books have been read, and the house is filthy. I'm taking consolation in the fact that it is still only Day 2...

Squirrel Energy

Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that we don't live in rural Alaska any longer. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that there are 3 grocery stores and a warehouse club within 5 miles of our house -- no planes, ferries or excessive shipping costs involved. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that this is the end of February and stocking up for winter is almost at an end. Sometimes we remind ourselves of all these things and fail miserably. Which is why D. came home from BJ's with 32 bottles of juice.

I didn't see my shadow today...

because it's snowing. I've always wondered what all the fuss is about the Groundhog predicting an early spring or more winter. It's February 2, people! In six weeks it will be the middle of March and the first day of spring is March 21. So the way I calculate it, whether Phil sees his (her?) shadow or not, it's still gonna be winter for six more weeks. Right?

Autumn Has Arrived

How do you gauge the arrival of autumn? Back-to-school? Football? Halloween and Thanksgiving advertisements? Do you wait for the calendar's proclamation of "first day of"? Perhaps you check the trees for color changes or the temperatures for sweater weather.

Those are all good, but in our house (ok, it's really just me) this is how I know autumn has finally arrived. I did a little dance right there in Wegman's this morning. Happy happy happy. Since it's a seasonal item, I have this undeniable urge to stock up. What if they stop making it and I'm ciderless all winter? I did manage to stop myself at 3 boxes this week. D. even laughed when he helped me bring in the bags, "oh, it must be fall! You've got your fix again!" Sometimes it's those little things that make all the difference.

But I can't talk to you anymore because the microwave is beeping...

Halloween Comes Creeping

That most fun of kid-centered holidays is coming: Halloween. So my kids remind me every. single. day. When can we go look at costumes? When can we pick out candy? When can we have a party? When can we buy more decorations? When? When? When?

Here's what I love about Halloween:

• Taking M. & P. around the neighborhood trick or treating in a costume of my own. It's the next best thing to being a kid again.
• Running to the door to oooh & aaah over the fairy princesses, laugh at the clowns and shudder at the skeletons who shout "Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet." Oh no, wait, it's my brother who still says that.
• Deciding what to hand out. Should you choose something you like or dislike? This is based on whether you want to enjoy the leftovers or shun them entirely, and if it's the latter, how big a bag do you want to carry in to the office the next day? How much of it do you want your own kids to eat beforehand? How healthy a treat is too healthy? After all, you don't want your house to be avoided as word spreads that you're giving out veggies. (We got great reactions to the juice boxes we gave out a few years ago, so that's become our de facto treat. Yay, one more thing crossed off the to-do list!)
• Doing the candy check when we return home and bargaining over which bits my kids are willing to let me have.
• Silly games like bobbing for apples and biting the donut on a string.

Here's what I don't love about Halloween:

• The fact that stuff has been in the stores (and therefore on my kids' minds) since the end of August. We haven't got the budget for back-to-school and Halloween in the same month.
• I know the grocery stores are counting on the fact that whatever candy we buy now will be eaten and replaced many times over. I'm struggling to get to the gym on a regular basis to work off all the old fat I'm already carrying around. I want to save any new incoming fat for Christmas cookies, thankyouverymuch. I won't even mention the cavity M. just had filled.
• Why are all the boy costumes in my kids' size range scary, bloody, inappropriately not funny, or all three? Halloween is all about pretend and make-believe. I don't know about you, but I don't recall ever pretending to be an axe murderer, a corpse being eaten by rats or a fart meter. Sure, there are a few superheroes and Harry Potter is still popular, but you have to look really hard to find them. When I do finally consent to go costume shopping there's going to be at least one tantrum, I just know it. Personally, I'm going to push costumes like the ones appearing in Family Fun's latest issue or on their website.
• Ditto for the decorations. Do I really need window clings that look like bloody hand and footprints or a shuddering skeleton chained in a cage to have a Happy Halloween?

Happy New Year

Don't you think the new year should begin in September rather than January? I've always thought so.

September is the start of a new season, my very favorite: autumn. January is already the middle of cold winter, just when we're starting to long for it to be over. September is looking ahead to Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. January is tired out from all of those festivities. September is days still warm enough to spend outside and evenings full of sunlight; time to feel like celebrating. January is dark, cold, snowy and a longing to hibernate for awhile.

Maybe it's because my birthday is in September and the month is the start of a personal new year. Maybe it's because of back-to-school and starting a new grade, eager to learn new things. The possibility of all those unused notebooks and the promise in the big box of still-pointy and unbroken crayons. And let's not forget new shoes!

If Julius Caesar and Pope Gregory XIII can change the calendar, why can't I?