A Fun Fall Weekend + Defining Fall Fun

Good morning and happy Monday! Our weekend did NOT get off to the best start but ended up being a good one. On Thursday morning, I commented to Phil (who was working from home) that we were all pretty healthy finally after a rough stretch of various viruses and cold bugs. An hour later he said - "I think I have a fever." Sure enough, he did and he continued to feel worse so he scheduled a covid test for 4 pm and I canceled the work happy hour at a coworker's house that I was very-much looking forward to!

So the kids were home with us on Friday while we waited for his covid test results. He wore a mask and tried to keep his distance from us/didn't pick up or touch either kid. I tried to work as much as I could but I was only able to monitor emails/do a few pressing tasks. We let Paul watch more TV than usual but I made sure to get out of the house with them in the morning for a walk.

Our double stroller days are very numbered. Paul does NOT like to be strapped in anymore. Womp womp. I convinced him to stay in the stroller for this 40 minute walk but it took a lot of negotiations.

Luckily I had picked up some cheap activities in the dollar aisle of Target last month. He LOVED working on these worksheet. He is so my child as I LOVED worksheets and workbooks when I was a kid.

After this quiet time/nap, I took him scooting so he could go see the dinosaur in our neighborhood. He had to get off the scooter and admire this for quite awhile. I thought inflatables were a little tacky before I had kids! We would never have one in our yard but Paul sure loves them! 

When we got back from scooting, Will joined us in the front yard for some leaf fun. Full disclosure - I did NOT dress him!! Phil put this yellow pj shirt and neon green short combo together!! Ha! William was not sure about the leaves at first but eventually came to enjoy them!

 

Luckily around dinner time, Phil's covid test came back negative. It was a HUGE relief. Had he been positive, he would have had to quarantine in the basement for 10 days and our kids would have been home during those 10 days. 

On Saturday morning, something magical happened - EVERYONE SLEPT UNTIL 7AM. I could not believe it when I looked at my watch when I woke up to Paul yelling for me! William slept until 7:15! It was so wonderful - and so needed!

When your parents both work in finance, a shirt like this is the perfect gift!

After lunch that day, we went to the park. Since Paul hates the stroller so much these days, we let him scoot to the park so we could just bring the single stroller. It's about 3/4 of a mile. He made it all the way there and about 1/2 of the way back before getting tired. I had anticipated that happening so had brought the ergo-style carrier so I popped Will in that and Paul got in the stroller. 

2nd time in the swing, first time he enjoyed it (he did not think much of it the first time we put him in a swing)

That afternoon we had more fun in the leaves. The weather was unseasonably warm here this weekend. Too warm in my opinion - upper 70s on Fri/Sat and pretty humid on Saturday. 

Sunday was more of the same - walks and time spent in the leaves. I also pulled out some puzzles Phil's mom had bought for Paul last year. He's old enough to do them on his own now. This was my favorite of the bunch! - it makes a twisty snake. 

So all in all, a fun family fall weekend. Which made me think about what "fall fun" means to us. Thanks to social media, I see a lot of pictures of trips to fall festivals, pumpkin patches, orchards, you name it. We have yet to do any of these things and I don't know when we will? Likely not until we are out of this 'little kid' stage of life. Sometimes I beat myself up a bit and think that I am not a 'fun mom.' But then I remind myself that I never did any of these things as a child either. Granted, we grew our own pumpkins and had 2 apple trees, so a visit to a pumpkin patch or orchard wasn't necessary for us. My fall memories include jumping in leaves, filling those pumpkin garbage bags with leaves (do they still make these??), carving pumpkins, roasting and eating pumpkin seeds and trick-or-treating. These are all things my kids will do - well besides the pumpkin leaf bags because we just put our leaves in yard bags. 

This is not to say that doing those things ISN'T fun - it's just not fun for us at this stage of life. I am mindful about doing things that are fun FOR US or MATTER TO US - not because everyone else is doing it and posting about it on social media. I try to keep this in mind with a lot of things. Kid bedrooms is another area where I do not really do much. Our kids rooms are so basic and not instagram-worthy! And that is FINE because neither kid really cares, nor do they spend time in their rooms right now. When they reach a stage of life where they hang out in their bedroom, I think I will put more effort into it. This weekend we ordered a bed frame for Paul's room and we purchased the frame we went with because it has built-in storage cubbies which will be useful in his bedroom, which is small and kind of oddly shaped. Is it the cutest bed ever? No. Is it functional? Absolutely and it's "cute enough."

It can be easy to fall into the trap of doing what others think is important but I try to make sure our time and effort is aligning with what we value and enjoy doing. But in the era of social media, this is something I need to repeatedly tell myself!

Just a little food for thought on your Monday morning!