It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year . . .

This is the time of the year that I live for!! These last couple of days have been windy and chilly, with an occasional sprinkle of rain. The leaves are changing and houses are decorated for Halloween. Jim and I are letting the two younger guys miss school tomorrow so we can take a drive upstate to get our pumpkins. Connor doesn't want to miss football practice so he won't be joining us this year. There is a wonderful farm in Montgomery where the boys have all gone on field trips with school. I chaperoned with each of the classes and decided that we would make it our new family tradition after John died. John, the boys and I used to go to the wonderful little town of Sugarloaf every year to get our pumpkins, cider donuts, bales of hay and go out to lunch and do some shopping in the little shops that Sugarloaf is known for. I haven't been back there since John passed away. Too many memories. I think I could handle going there now. Maybe we'll take a ride before it gets too cold.

I know that a lot of people have a hard time when it starts to get dark early and the weather gets colder and they are forced to stay indoors a lot more often. I am the exact opposite. I love when it gets dark early and it gets cold and damp and dreary. Too many sunny days depress me. I love to be in my house hibernating. God knows there are a million and one things that I can be doing!! I cook more and I read more and this hibernation period I'm going to be doing a lot of painting and redecorating. We've been in this house for eight years and I really haven't changed many things other then painting a couple of times. It's definitely time for a change. Once football is over in a couple of weeks we only have Trevor playing basketball. One hour a week for practice and one hour a week for his game. Works for me!! I am not one of these mothers that has to have her kids doing a million different activities all the time. I listen to mothers complain how they have this child playing this sport and participating in that activity and another child involved in two or three different things and how they are constantly running them around from one place to the next without a break in between. I think it's very important for kids and parents to have "down time." There's nothing wrong with doing nothing once in a while. Don't you just love those Saturdays or Sundays when you get to stay in your jammies all day?!!? We all know that doesn't happen very often and you probably feel a little guilty for doing it but, as Martha Stewart says, "it's a good thing."

So as I type this I'm starting to smell the pork roast that's in the oven. The house is quiet because Connor is at football practice and Jim took Brendan to Trevor's game. The dogs are outside. Yes, I said dogs. We adopted a new dog a couple of weeks ago from our neighbor. His name is Sparky and he is six months old and is a cockapoo. Our neighbors paid $1000.00 for this dog and then realized that the dog was not condusive to their lifestyle. They are not home a lot of the time and it just wasn't fair to Sparky. I told them it could be an open adoption, meaning their children could come see him whenever they want to. They've been here once and it worked out well. I was worried about how Sparky would feel when he saw them again but it went well. He licked the kids and jumped on them and played with them for a while and, when they left, he went back to beating up Brady and chewing on his million and one toys we have for the two dogs. I felt bad that they spent all this money on the dog and then couldn't keep him but my neighbor was so happy that she was able to find a good home for him that the money wasn't an issue.

I wish everyone a happy and healthy fall. God bless.

Many blessings ~ Wendy