Summertime

As Jenny mentioned yesterday, we’ve finally gotten some warm weather around here. And by warm, I mean 90 degrees and humid, but hey, it’s Ohio and we can’t really expect moderate, enjoyable temperatures.

With the change in weather, we’ve been spending a lot of time outside, and during that time I’ve noticed something miraculous.

My kids can play together.

I don’t know how to describe what’s different about how they interact – it’s not like they haven’t gotten along before now, but something has definitely changed. With their four-year age gap, they’ve been in really different stages before, but now it’s like Sam’s suddenly caught up and they are acting like friends. It is so cute to watch – it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

You know what else I love about it? I can get stuff done! On Sunday, I took a run around the neighborhood and all the while, Kate and Sam were playing in a dirt pile. Each time I went by, I heard snippets of the conversation in their make-believe world. And Tuesday? I did yard work.

Speaking of doing yard work, it turns out that we had like a 10-foot WEED right by our front door, and no one bothered to tell us it was a weed. Last fall my grandma was helping me in my yard (yes I used an 85-year-old woman for manual labor, what’s your point?) and I said something about how I hated this pine tree thing and she said “Well people don’t usually plant that kind of tree, they just sort of pop up.” So I’m all “so what you’re saying is that this is a weed?” “Well yes.” So a big thank you to all of you who have entered our house in the past four years and have failed to mention the weed – someone tell me next time! I could have sworn it was always there, but I just looked at the pictures of our house right before we moved in and sure enough there is no giant weed. Apparently this thing randomly popped up and we didn’t even notice.

We even hung Christmas lights on the damn thing!

But now, thanks to Andy’s and my awesome lumber jack skills, it is gone!

I actually took pictures at each stage of the process because I was sure it was going to turn out to be a very bloggable experience and I wanted to have documentation to go along with the story of how I cut off my foot or how the tree/weed went smashing through Sam’s bedroom window, but miraculously the project didn’t end in disaster.

But where was I?

Oh, right – the point of my story is that while Andy and I were cutting down this monstrosity, our kids were entertaining each other in some other part of our yard. It was beautiful. The possibilities this situation puts before me is endless. I might finally be able to do crazy things like put out mulch and edge the sidewalk! Maybe then (especially since we no longer have a 10 foot weed) we won’t be the embarrassment of the block.

A girl can dream.