Winter Can Be Good, Too

The fall season is one of my most favorite seasons of the year.  Alas, it is also the shortest.  This year, the trees have seemed more brilliant than years past.  Must it be our super dry weather?  Anyhow, I have decided that I need to work on a list of things to look forward to about winter because it is coming and I dread it.

• The holidays!!
• Two family birthdays to celebrate.
• Baking more often
• Crock pot meals
• No yard work
• Kids will shovel the snow for me. 
• No bugs.
• More time for reading. 
• Decaf coffee after dinner.
• Our annual winter hike at Lake Michigan
• My cats will suddenly like sitting on my lap. 
• Seasonal allergies will be gone.
• Get to wear comfy sweaters.
• Watching movies under cozy blankets 
• No humidity
• School is half way done. 
• Snow days!
• Sledding

I am sure that there are many more things to enjoy about winter, and I am going to keep on looking for them. Life is a gift.  I do not want to waste time dreading any of it. 

Fall Break 2015

For my birthday and our fall break, we headed up to see Grandma who lives in Northwestern Indiana.  We rented our favorite cabin and enjoyed some great walks, three apple orchards, an antique mall, and lots of family time. It is hard to believe that the next time we are up it will be winter, as we were blessed with wonderful weather, temperatures in the upper 70's even. Now it is time to finish the semester and prepare for the winter holiday season.  I will miss my lake!

21 Years

Newly engaged

New bike seat

Gifts

Sweetest cat ever 

Last week, we celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary.  We had to cancel our cabin plans, due to band. We ended up having a nice steak dinner just the two of us between band drop off and pick up times.  Jeff allowed me to get a new bike seat for our inside bike.  (Everyone has an inside bike, right?) It is going to help keep us active this winter.  Grace and Trevor completely cleaned the house while we were at dinner.  It was a great surprise.  They had also baked cookies and made us a card.  We are blessed to have such dear children.