When I was a Child - Spring Edition

Well, it's time for the 4th and final installment of my "When I was a Child" post series.  It's been really fun to reflect back on my childhood memories.  I feel very fortunate to have so many wonderful memories!

Admittedly, spring has never been my favorite season, even as a child.  We have had a nice spring this year (for the most part) but we rarely get a true spring in Minnesota/North Dakota.  Despite our short/non-existent springs, I still have good memories, such as...

• Begging my dad to get our bikes out of storage when the weather turned nicer, and then riding up and down our long driveway!
• Celebrating Easter - from the Easter dresses/bonnets to Easter baskets to Easter mass and the dinner that followed - I loved it all!  
• Lilacs and Tulips blooming.  I remember being amazed by the fact that those tulips would just pop up on their own (and I'm still amazed by this).  We had a big lilac tree in our backyard and we'd usually bring in a bouquet to place in a vase.  I loved the smell of fresh lilac flowers!
• Those rare spring days when it was actually warm enough to wear shorts!
• Memorial Weekends spent at the lake.  The lake season always kicked off on Memorial Day weekend - and while my younger sister was usually the only one brave enough to get in the water (burr!), it was still fun being back by the lake.  
• Piano recital time!  I don't have the best memories of being in piano recitals (I thought they were stressful), but I loved having piano recitals when I taught piano in high school.  I was always so proud of how my students did. 

Did you like Spring as a child?  Do you like the season now?  If our spring weather was always like it's been this year, I would like this season way more!

When I was a Child - Winter Edition

Winter is quickly slipping away so it's time for another installment of "When I was a Child."  I have been putting this off because it really hasn't felt like winter - no complaints here!  I have experienced plenty of brutal winters in my life, I could use many more like this one....  Anyways, here is what thoughts of winters as a child conjure up...

When I was a Child...

• Christmas was the highlight of winter.  Decorating the tree with ornaments hung from fish hooks, arranging the crib scene (and re-arranging it and re-arranging it, which drove my mom nuts), and gathering around the advent wreath each night are some of my favorite memories.
• The Christmas season was full of baked goods and treats.  I helped put sprinkles on many, many sugar cookies and wrapped what felt like 1,000 caramels in small squares of cellophane.  
• There was always at least one snowday - possibly more!  Those days were spent reading and doing puzzles and bugging my older siblings!
• My older sister and I spent hours upon hours skating in our backyard.  We were so sure one or both of us were going to be the next Nancy Kerrigan (well, until she got clubbed by Tonya Harding someone.)  Besides skating we also went sledding and built forts and snowmen.  
• After playing outdoors for hours, my mom would often treat us to hot cocoa with a couple of mini marshmallows.
• I celebrated many great birthdays  My dad would usually go to work later so my mom and him could wake me up by singing happy birthday.  I got to pick what mom made for dinner (spaghetti pie was a popular choice of mine) and some years she'd get a ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. 

What winter childhood memories do you have?

When I was a Child - the Fall Edition

First things first, if you'd like to read about Julia Child night from my aunt's perspective, click over to her blog (yes, my aunt has a blog!  She's hip like that!) and check it out!  She included some fanstastic pictures!!

Remember when I did my summer "When I was a Child" post?  Well, it's time for the fall edition!!

When I was a child...

• We did not go to an apple orchard - instead we picked apples from the tree in our backyard!  Some years we would have boxes of Haralson apples.  Yum!
• The meals shifted from light summer fare to the comforting dishes of fall.  My favorite meal was pot roast with squash from our garden.  For dessert, my mom would often make apple crisps, using the apples from our tree!
• Friday nights were spent watching my brothers play football!  I must confess, I did not pay attention to the game at all.  Instead I socialized and enjoyed the hot cocoa and warm apple cider my mom would keep in the car for us! 
• Weekends were spent raking the leaves in our yard.  We have a huge yard, so most of the raking was done by our lawn mower, but us kids would help mom and dad rake up the leaves into bags. 
• We would carve pumpkins and roast the seeds.  Our pumpkins carving was far from sophisticated.  There were alot of triangle eyes and semi-circle mouths.  I see the pumpkins people carve these days and am blown away!
• As Thanksgiving would approach, the to do list seemed never ending!  We usually hosted my mom's side of the family each year and we would spend the weeks cleaning every single nook and cranny of our home.  I was kind of very snotty about it and whined a lot.  Now that I am an adult and have hosted others in my home, I understand why my mom worked so hard to get the house clean before the guests arrived.

This time I am going to switch it up and share what fall means to me now!

As an adult, fall is...

• Pumpkin spice latte season!  This is by far my most favorite seasonal drink!  I love buying one each Friday.
• A time when I consume a heck of a lot of honeycrisp apples!  I eat about one a day, sometimes more.  You all probably know this already, but in case you don't I will tell you once again that Honeycrisp apples were developed here in Minnesota! 
• Marathon and half-marathon season!  Both of my marathons and 2 of my half-marathons were ran in the fall!  My 3rd marathon will likely be ran next fall.  Fall is the time when all the sweat and hard work from summer training come to fruition - hopefully in the form of a PR!
• Football season.  I don't watch the game, but I do participate in a league at work where you pick one team each week that you think will win, and you can't pick the same team twice.  I am a competitive person, so this is a fun, competitive outlet for me!
• Skinny jeans, boots, and cardigans or sweaters!  I love the clothes associated with fall!
• My favorite season.  I love the cool, crisp temps.  I love the beauty of the changing leaves.  I love the different sunlight that we get during this time of year.  This year we have been blessed with beautiful weather!

What did fall mean to you as a child and what does it mean to you now?

When I was a Child - the Summer Edition

I don't know about you, but there is something about summer time that makes me nostalgic.  I am more apt to think of my time as a child - maybe because summers as child hold so many great memories.  So I got to thinking that it would be fun to do a seasonal post entitled, "When I was a Child" and I will reflect upon/share memories/highlights from my childhood!  You should play along, too!

When I was a child...

• My mom would slice up lots of cucumbers and tomatoes from our garden to serve at dinner and us kids would practically fight over who got the last tomato slice!  I miss the days of having fresh produce in my back yard. 
• I would anxiously await the weekend when our family would pack up the car and go to the lake.  We didn't have a cabin back then - instead we had a really small camper.  I don't know how all 7 of us fit in there, but we did.  It seemed like it would take FOREVER for my dad to get home from work on Friday night.  I think we must have drove our mom crazy on those afternoons!
• Most of my day was spent outside.  We'd run through the sprinkler or slide down the Crododile Mile (anyone remember that?).  It was very very rare to watch movies or tv or play video games. 
• I thought I was going to be a world class gymnast some day.  My older sister and I would spend hours practicing our round-offs and cartwheels.  I got to re-visit this passion when I showed my nephews how to do a cartwheel last year - which resulted in me spraining my ankel.  My body isn't quite as nimble as it used to be! 
• I would ride my banana seat bike down to my best friend's house.  We'd listen to New Kids on the Block and play barbies.
• I would devour books.  I read anything from Anne of Green Gables to Little House on the Prairie to Babysitters Club Books.  I especially loved the BSB Summer Specials because they were nice and thick! 

Life sure was simpler back then!  Not that I would want to go back, I definitely enjoy being an adult!

Your turn, when I was a child I...