Fall – The UnderToad

Embracing Fall

I think I’ve said this before. Summer is by far my favorite season. I like the summer minimalist wardrobe and everything that comes with it – less laundry and less time putting on shoes. I like hot weather. I like going to the pool and the long afternoon naps that follow.

Now that we live in our new neighborhood, I actually crave the relaxed schedule. There is something huge to be said for the fact that I looked forward to Fall Break this year – a full five days without school, and me with four children.

(I’m actually starting to understand why people choose to homeschool.)

I like long days, warm nights, sleeping in a little bit, and impromptu weekend gatherings around grills and coolers. I like eating mozzarella with tomatoes and basil from my garden and the abundance of cheap fresh fruit.

It is not by mistake, therefore, that I’ve chosen to live in a state with unusually long summers.

But it seems it is finally Fall in North Carolina. I only know this because every time I sign on to Pinterest lately, I’m scrolling through pages and pages of pumpkin recipes and crock pot pictures.

I can’t deny the mild excitement of wearing boots and sweaters again, even though the official warm-to-cold wardrobe switch in North Carolina is a six week tease. I also look forward to the time change, and putting my children to bed when it is actually dark outside.

I’m trying desperately to enjoy wrapping up my babes in layers and expecting the afternoon carline to be far too hot for tights, though the morning was far too cold for flip flops, and I’m soaking in as much beauty as Fall has to offer because I know that overnight and without warning, it will just be winter.

Maybe I will come up with a really great Halloween costume this year. Maybe John ~~and I~~ will get around to composting dead tomatoes and planting ~~our~~ my winter garden. Maybe I will finally teach Eliott how to really use her knitting loom. Maybe some of my pre-pregnancy jeans fit now. Maybe my children will like butternut squash soup this year.

Or maybe not.

But I will enjoy my coffee today for its warmth both physically and emotionally. I will try not to shudder as Christmas commercially pops up on TV and in stores. I will put away my beach reads and embrace some bubble bath reads. Oh yes. And I will put my garden tub to good use.

Carter, Confessions, Eliott

September October Blur

As September gave way to October, I found myself writing a check for preschool yesterday dated 11-1-11.

What?!

Where is the Fall going? (Actually, my mother is probably wondering the same thing, as I believe I’ve spoken to her on the phone a total of one hour plus six minutes since my sister’s wedding four weeks ago.) And the truth is, I have no idea, except to say that my 2011 Things To Do list is finally dwindling, and not a moment too soon, by my calculations.

Eliott’s and my teeth have been cleaned, professionally, I got a flu shot, found a potential future baby doctor, made and then rescheduled an appointment for this year, and continue to nurse two children through colds which seem to be lasting forever. I have shopped for, ordered, sent, and continue to seek perfect baby shower gifts for the endless number of close friends having babies in 2012. I have fought baby fever, lost, and priced maternity insurance for the upcoming year as well as the potential total cost for that plus pregnancy and delivery as a result. (I have discussed figures with my husband who assures me the only way we can have a baby in 2012 is if I get a job or win a minivan on The Price Is Right.)

I am caught up on the first two seasons of Dawson’s Creek and have come to the conclusion that my fashion choices in high school and the first couple years of college, though exactly as bad as I remember them, were actually completely appropriate and I dare suggest, hip. I have started reading three books, and have three angry Public Library emails in my inbox demanding the return of at least two of them. Also, I read an entire textbook on the Old Testament. Then I edited, updated, and otherwise creatively contributed to lesson plans for a new edition of the teacher’s manual…for teaching the entire Old Testament. A book I am far less familiar with than, say, To Kill a Mockingbird.

So forgive my absence from book club, my spotty attendance at Tuesday morning church social/study hour, my no’s to the last three pre-school birthday party invitations, and the fact that we have enough pork roast in the freezer to last us the next seventeen days, but we’re totally out of butter and eggs. I’m functioning on lists. But the checking-off of items is happening in no particular order.

To recap the past month, I offer a few pictures, taken in rare moments of mental clarity (or not) by my trusty iPhone. (And to think I ever debated the move to a smartphone. Hah.)

photo(5) — Eliott got her ears pierced. This about sums it up.

photo(8) — Eliott had RARE moments of helpfulness.

photo(6) — Halloween went about like this.

photo(7) — They became cuter with the prospect of actual candy (and yes, there were outfit changes).

Confessions, Eliott

Things To Do

Despite the fact that Labor Day was two weekends ago and all the public pools are closed, ladies in North Carolina are still wearing white and the weather is still set to summer. Today in the car Eliott asked, “Mommy, when does school get over?” I’m thinking, kid, today was your third day, what’s wrong with you? In reality, she was trying to get a mental grasp on the meaning of seasons.

From different half-hearted Mommy answers to any number of her one billion questions, she seems to understand that school starts in the Fall, that Fall means the leaves fall from the trees, and that she should be able to wear certain clothes that she’s been waiting to wear. What she doesn’t understand is how the trees still haven’t gotten the message to drop their leaves, nor why it is still “too hot for tights today.”

I’ve given up on the long answer to things, as I’ve discovered my children will pretty much decide to understand anything they’ve made up their mind to be interested in, and, well, they take a lot more at face value than most give them credit for. As a result, Eliott has now added “global warming” to her vocabulary list and has resigned herself to waiting until Mommy says it’s okay to wear tights to school.

Yesterday, when her teacher informed me that she had “forgotten to put on panties” under her dress, I had to bite my tongue from admitting that this probably wasn’t an accident. For the entire drive home, Eliott kept asking, “But why do I have to wear underwear? It’s hot outside. I want to be liberating. I like no underwear. It feels good. Why do we have to wear underwear, Mommy?” At a loss, I finally just told her, “Because Eve ate the apple, and you know what, underwear is the least of your worries.”

I too seem to be a little out of sorts with the delay in seasonal change, despite the change in our schedules. I can’t seem to get a grasp on my things to do list nor how to make the best use of my pre-school mornings. Though I complained about our summer schedule (or lack there of), summer has lasted so long that my body refuses to get into the mode of Fall.

I was recently recruited by a former colleague to assist in a Bible curriculum development project for Christian Schools International. Basically, we’re updating the textbook and teacher manual for a new edition and must be finished by December 15th. (Correction: she is updating the text; I am acting as a sounding board, idea machine, and big picture editor.) The task is by no means daunting, and I certainly have more than enough time to devote ten hours of my week to actual paid work, but somehow, every time I sit down at my computer to do what I normally do very well, I find myself immediately plagued by a mental list of hundreds of other things I need to do. I keep adding to my ever growing list of books to read, and requesting them at the library. As emails pour in announcing my holds are ready for pick up, I’m wondering when I’m going to have time to sit down and pleasure read.

I need to find a dentist and make appointments for the entire family.

I need to find myself a new doctor, and have my annual physical.

I need to go get my license renewed which expired on my birthday, a month ago.

I pulled about 4 years worth of children’s clothes from Eliott’s closet which need to be organized, priced, and tagged for a consignment sale next week.

I’m going to two weddings in the next month, one of which I have actual wedding party duties to attend to. I was chosen to host a house party for the same weekend as that wedding and am wondering exactly where I can fit Johnsonville Italian Sausage into the schedule.

So here I sit, rereading my Suburban Mom List of Negligibly Important Things To Do, and because it is only 3:30 and dinner is already planned, I think I’m actually just going to go take a nap. Why? Because it is close to 90 degrees outside, and my body can’t help but believe it is still summer time.