Seasons.

Tis the Season - for another Guest Blogger!
Thank you to Carolyn for this very amusing contribution.
It's always good to know that I'm not the only mother who LOVES the school year.
I think she may have a million dollar business idea with her unique take on an Advent Calendar.
Enjoy.........


Where I grew up in New Jersey, spring was heralded by crocuses poking through the last snowfall. Raising my kids in California, visual cues from nature don’t change much seasonally, and springtime just means a last chance to mend our tardy ways and get to school on time. Tip: keeping essentials like shoes, coats, medication, etc. in the car at all times helps reduce the need to double back home.

Summer and the living is easier. Frequent trips to the pool assure that the kids are regularly cleaned. Popcorn and watermelon is a valid dinner option. Schedules are packed with swimming, bike riding, camp, etc. At least that’s the deal on the first day of summer vacation, before the kids realize that just hanging out a home is a possibility. That’s when I start making a back-to-school advent calendar for myself.

I actually took the kids to the park this past fall to throw a football around – such a picturesque family scene! But around our house, fall days are mostly about trying to break the bad sleep/wake/tv habits of summer. For the kids too. On the fridge is a photo of the saddest looking children on the first day of school (the camera didn’t capture the relieved and giddy photographer).

Winter. That’s when my kids learn to pronounce Hammacher Schlemmer, and try to avoid clumsy hair trims before school holiday performances, because there’s no time to fit in a trip to the barber. My son knows when I say his bangs are looking like Eddie Munster’s that he should hide the scissors and run.

And though I always manage to take a holiday photo of all of us, and sometimes even buy holiday cards to accompany the photo, I never get to sending most of them.
With my good intentions in mind - I wish you peace in the coming year (a fight-free car trip with the kids totally counts).