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.

My Marching Warrior

Late September Already

September will be just a memory pretty soon.  In years past, I have been too eager for the coolness of fall, so I would almost wish September away, as it is still a very warm month.  Not this year!  I love September's warm days and cool nights.  Fall can wait. Well, not really, because it is now officially fall, but it still feels like summer.

Fall means band competitions every Saturday, all day long.  Home football games sprinkled here and there on Friday evenings.  Jeff and I are helping with preparing and serving the band kids lunch before their competitions. It is a good way to meet parents, too.  And only "mildly annoying" to our teen who likes not having us around all the time.  Haha.

Bike tours are big in the fall, too.  Jeff took the younger two kids on our favorite tour, but it was canceled after a delayed start because of rain.  Hopefully, the next one will be a go.  I have to skip the next one.  I fell and cannot ride for awhile.

Our garden boxes won't quit, despite being ignored.  Grace went out to pick a few cherry tomatoes and brought in a gigantic cucumber.  I promptly made refrigerator pickles, which my menfolk love.  It will probably be the last.  I said that a couple weeks ago, too.

We took Grace to Beef and Boards, a local dinner theater, for her belated 16th birthday present.  They serve a buffet dinner, which was lovely.  Then we saw the show, South Pacific.  Grandparents joined us, making the party extra special.

All too soon, we will have sweater weather.  The outdoor season will come to an end.  I like to think I will endure winter cheerfully, but it is always a struggle.


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Labor Day 2015 in Pictures

September Arrives

September has come in like a lion, with a full on heatwave and drought.  Thankfully, we can cool off inside our nice air conditioned house, what a luxury!  I am praying for rain, however.  Our world is quickly turning brown.

This week has been full.  We had lessons to make up from being off last Friday.  We have had our share of quizzes, tests, papers, projects, band rehearsals, and meetings. Friday is the next home game.  Yay!  Our musician has been asked to audition for two honor bands, one state, the other district, by the way.  (Hapy, happy!)

I think I am enjoying school a lot more this, our 4th week.  We are having successes and struggles, but they feel like growth, not something negative.   I am still vital to my kids' education in this setup.  Oh my, do they need my guidance!  But, I am more like their director, than teacher.  I like that.  I love how Grace can have a one on one with her Algebra teacher whenever it is needed.  I love how Trevor is doing more than the bare minimum to get by because he loves getting good grades.  

And, it really does not seem possible that it could be almost Labor Day weekend.