Leaves

Dan and I moved into this house at the end of the summer. We live at the end of a dead end street amidst a beautiful forest. When we originally saw this house we fell in love with the yard and area. Green, green trees and lush forests backing up to a state park. We were excited to live in such a glorious place. Well, two months later we got our rude awakening to New England. The leaves started to fall off the trees and onto our yard. One day, as Maddie was napping, I headed out and started to rake leaves into a pile. My neighbor came out of his house and started laughing. He yelled at his wife to come and take a look. They both looked at me and started to laugh...a knee-slapping, whooping laughter. I started to sorta giggle a bit wondering what was so funny. "What?", I asked. My neighbor pointed up to the trees surrounding us. "do you see all those leaves?". "Yeah." They all still have to fall. A couple weeks later, when the leaves were as high as my mid-calf all over our lawn I noticed all our neighbors coming out with these super-duper leaf blowers and tractors and lawnmowers that mulch. For a few days the neighborhood was abuzz with motors and machines. Result: leaves gone. Dan and I worked every weekend for a month, raking leaves onto huge tarps and pulling the tarps into the forest and dumping leaves into huge mounds. It took FOREVER! It still takes forever.
Do I love New England in the fall...absolutely. It is the most gorgeous place on the planet. Do I love the mess it makes...I get anxiety everytime I see the first blushes of pink in the trees for I know what is coming.
Yesterday I went out and decided to blow the leaves off our driveway before the rain storm today. One thing led to another and I did the front lawn too. It took me 5 hours....sigh. I posted some pics...and yeah...notice how many more leaves are on the trees.

Over extended

So it is about this time of year when the consequences of your enthusiasm start to be felt.

At the end of August, after a summer of lazing around and waking up every morning to think, "What can I do today to have fun?", no dinners planned, hanging out in the bathing suit all day, .....we start to yearn for structure in our lives again. So I ask the kids, "what would you like to do this year?" "Soccer! Violin lessons! Swim team! Piano!" No mother wants to inhibit such talent desiring goals as these, so I exclaim back, OK! OK! OK!.

And now here we are in October and I am already feeling the burnout. How do I make dinner, get Katy and Cami to swim lessons, while getting Maddie to violin lessons, while feeding the baby?

It all came to a head in the swimming pool a couple days ago. I had picked up the girls directly from school and took them to their lessons. They were not happy with the swimsuits I had picked out for them. I somehow managed to wrangle them into the orange and yellow suits (not the pink ones I should have brought) and got them out to the pool deck. They both refuised to get into the water...it was too cold, they said. Cami was doubly worried because she had had immunizations and was petrified to get her bandaids wet...no matter how many times I had told her that there were no 'owwies' under the bandaids. Anyway, after crying and screaming (them not I), I marched them out of the pool, into the van and took them home. I sent them to their rooms and told them they were not allowed out the rest of the night. They both promptly feel asleep and slept until 7am the next morning.

All evening long I stewed about how bad a mom I was. Why could I not get my kids to do anything and why are they the most disobedient, grumpy kids in the world.

But the next day they woke up like nothing had happened and were total angels. I realized then we had all been exhausted. And I more than anyone has overextended herself. I remember doing this in high school. I would sign up for everything and anything and then collapse having not anything done well. Figuring out the best use of my time has always been a weakness. That choice between two (or three or ten) good things always bewilders me and I end up trying to do it all. It is the plight of the wannabe energetic.

So anyway, yesterday Cami asked me if she could go to dance class.....