Winter's My Second Favorite Season

Fall's my favorite season, although nowadays, Fall gets really hectic with planning for all the holidays with the kids and the fact that my husband's, my, and both my brothers' birthdays happen during the Fall in addition to my husband's and my anniversary. So Fall's a bit of a whirlwind, which sometimes makes it so stressful that it's hard to appreciate it as much as I used to. When I was a child, I looked forward to the weather getting chillier and the days getting darker earlier - it made me feel cozy. I also liked all the upcoming holidays - I loved them all - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas.

Winter has always been my second favorite season because I really like colder weather. Now let me explain that I've grown up in Southern California so when I say the weather gets colder, I'm not talking about snow storms or below freezing temperature. I'm sure that would change things for me a bit. I'm talking about getting some rain, which I love! And temperatures in the 60's, maybe the 50's. You can start putting on sweaters, which is a treat in Southern California. Also, I get sick of all the sunshine. When you have sunshine most days of the year, it does really get boring. You start to crave the excitement of real weather.

Well we had a week of real weather last week. We actually had five straight days of rain, which I never remember happening in my 41 years of living here. Some of the days had heavy rain. We had a lot of flooding, to the point where we actually made the national news. We even had a couple of small tornadoes, which is unheard of. We saw a car that was stuck in a flooded street and there was an ambulance trying to figure out how to best get the trapped person out of the vehicle. We had a couple of neighbors whose backyards and garages flooded. We got lucky - we stayed dry.

I love the rain and so do my two sons. When it's raining hard, they love to run out into the rain and get sopping wet. I let them because it happens so infrequently. Then they come inside, strip and go straight into the shower to clean and warm up. Now my husband is even starting to have fun with the rain. He's always liked hot weather, not cold, because he grew up in Waukesha, WI and had to deal with freezing winters. But since the boys and me enjoy the rain so much, it's kind of rubbed off on him. Now he's saying he's looking forward to more rain and he's never said that before.

So now the forecast is saying clear weather until Thursday (about 5 days away). We'll get some logs ready because it's so fun to get a fire in the fireplace to feel extra cozy. I'll plan on making some kind of stew in the crockpot to go along with the cozy theme. If it's raining in the morning, we make our boys hot chocolate before school and they love it. We'll take advantage of all this right now, because in a couple of months it will go back to days on end of endless sunshine. I know that may sound like heaven to some, but really, it does get a bit boring.

The Party's Over

Geez, it's January 15th and I finally got a chance to get back onto my blog. First, we had the holidays and the boys were home from school and the hubby had days off work and we were busy with activities and they all hogged the computer when we were home. Then, the boys go to a year-round school and they had three weeks off, instead of two, which most schools in the area got. So we went skiing the week of 1/4, when everyone had to go back to school and work. It was great because the slopes weren't very busy and we didn't have to pay increased holiday prices. In fact, we found a great mid-week deal at a resort which included lift tickets, breakfast and 50% off coupons for equipment rentals, so it was a steal. The day after we got back from vacation, the boys had the beginning of their winter football season. So we were on the field all day with both their practices and games, then there was a family party immediately after because my husband's aunt was in town for a week (from Wisconsin). Then we had one day to get ready before the boys started school again and I really needed to unpack everything and get some laundry done. By the time the boys went back to school and I could reasonably get back on my blog, it was already 1/11.
However, my husband then accepted a layoff offer from his company. We're in the middle of a huge recession and my husband is currently unemployed (officially, I am too). So he's been home all week and on the computer constantly. He's getting in touch with a lot of current and former associates and has a pro-bono project he's doing with a former associate in the hopes of it turning into a paying gig. So I haven't had a chance to get onto my blog!! Sorry about that, although judging from the number of comments from previous blogs :( I'm not sure anyone has noticed. Well, now I'm going to try to get more followers so I don't feel like I'm just talking to myself. I'm still fairly new to this so I need to learn a lot as I go.
Ok - now to get back to the whole room-mom thing, things are quiet on this first week back from school. I just got back from volunteering in both kids' classes and there are no projects or parties to plan until Valentine's. Then we'll see how it goes because I'm sure their parties will happen on the same day. I'm looking forward to it, though, because Valentine's Day is just a fun, happy holiday. I love all the pink and red and chocolate and sweets and cards. So I'll be happy to run between the two classrooms (I presume). The week after, I've volunteered to chaperone a field trip for my younger son's class (3rd grade) and in March, I've volunteered to chaperone a field trip for my older son's class (5th grade).
March might get a bit crazy because I think both classes want to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and my younger son's birthday is the day before. I'm sure there will be a celebration for the extended family, one for his friends and a little class celebration (I'll probably bring in cupcakes or hand out goody bags). For St. Patrick's Day, because I'm Irish, I'll also have to make the obligatory corned beef and cabbage. Oh, by the way, did I also mention that it will be both our sons' last day of acting class? So we will be in both their classes to watch a performance (which probably means me at one class and my husband at the other unless he's gainfully employed by then, PLEASE!) And of course, since it's the day after my younger son's birthday, I'll need to bring treats in for his acting class. Yikes! March is going to kill me!! Oh and wait, on top of that, that week is conference week at school so the kids get out early all week and I'll have to set up a meeting with both teachers.
I really better take advantage of the downtime right now.