Cheating winter

I haven't blogged in a while -- sorry if you missed me (as if...). We have been busy playing outside. Yes, outside in late October/early November. Not only outside but outside without jackets and sometimes even in short sleeves! It is completely WRONG for there to be weather this warm in Michigan at this time of year, but we have been loving it.

I can't help but think -- with my typical Michigan weather cynicism -- that we will pay dearly for these warm days. It won't come in the form of a humongous winter snowstorm. No, the worst way we could pay (are you listening, Mother Nature?) would be to have freezing weather and snow in May. The springtime winter weather makes me particularly crazy, having grown up where winters were only three months long.

I have tried to put those negative thoughts out of my head, though, as the girls and I have enjoyed our last hurrah of swinging in the backyard, blowing bubbles, coloring with chalk and leisurely walking around the block. I list those things specifically so I can look back and read this in February, when I have completely forgotten what it's like to play outside in warm weather.

I am resolving right here not to dread the length of winter this year. I will let it happen as it may. You see these words. If you feel I violate my resolution anytime in the months to come, please call me out on it.

Here it comes

We were on vacation for the last week, savoring the beach in summertime. Alas, I know the summer days are numbered and winter death time is not too far away. I'm really trying not to think about it, but too many happenings are forcing me to.

My husband is lucky enough to be living his dream as a college professor. We enjoyed a ton of family time this summer between his working hard on his next publication, and he was around home most of the time. That ended yesterday when he had to go back for a very long day to be at orientation. We have definitely been spoiled for the past few months, but we all knew it had to end sometime.

At least I know this fall will be more fun than last fall when he was teaching night classes and I was at home all day and all evening by myself with a tiny baby and toddler. No night classes this year, for one, and the girls are older and consequently easier to handle as a "single parent." It's also actually fun now to spend time with the girls instead of struggling through every feeding and nap and so on. I'll leave that (self) analysis for another day.

My husband left in the morning yesterday before the girls got up, so they were both a bit confused about where he was for a good part of the day. In fact, little Peanut was absolutely convinced that my husband was behind the bathroom door. I closed the door so she wouldn't be tempted to play in the toilet -- which is a new favorite pastime -- and she kept walking up to the door and proclaiming, "Daddy!" Then she would knock and wait for a response. It was very funny, especially because I already tease L about how much time men spend in the bathroom -- now there's proof! It also was a bit sad because even when I convinced her that L wasn't in the bathroom and in fact wasn't anywhere to be found, she just started repeating, "I want Daddy." That was the first thing she said when she awoke from her afternoon nap.

I feel so overwhelmed by my to-do list now that we're back from this vacation. I now have to do all those nagging things I had blown off before we left town, plus I have a ton to get ready for the fall and the impending winter doom. Both girls are almost bursting out of their summer clothes, so I need to sort and wash fall clothes, get coats and winter gear organized, clean my house, oh and I definitely need to start catching up on all the shows stored in my DVR from last week!

I guess it's time to quit blogging and maybe get something accomplished during this naptime. I think the DVR is the way to go.