Hot fun...

Today was yet another amazing spring day and the kids and I spent the afternoon at the park. It was so warm we were able to shed some layers and I even had to crack out the sunblock. The smell alone reminds me of summer and all the good stuff that comes with it. So, this Friday, looking forward to many more warm days, I was inspired to make this list.

Top 5 Things that Rock About Spring/Summer When You're a Stay at Home Mom

5. Fruits and veggies - I know, boring, but one of the best things about this season is the abundance of produce alleviating my cold weather guilt that the only fruits and veggies my kids will eat October through March is broccoli, carrots, bananas, apples and oranges. I wish I had the kind of children who loved spinach or brussell sprouts, but I think you need to have been the Dalai Lama in a past life to wind up with a kid like that. In summer, I can give them grapes (good ones, not nasty, sour, winter ones), peaches, plums, corn and enough watermelon that I worry about their digestive health (we found out watermelon has a laxative effect the hard way).

4. Picnic/barbecue dinners - My husband is definitely the cook in our family so the fact that I struggle to put something edible on the table every night is a testament to how much I love him. In the warm weather this becomes infinitely easier as I only need to throw some form of flesh on the grill to make him happy - "Meat gooood." Throw together some pasta salad and it's dinner. Also, any season that allows me to eat large quantities of hot dogs is OK in my book (which is really any season).

3. Minimal outerwear - Jean Shepard had it right in A Christmas Story - "Getting ready to go to school was like getting ready for extended deep-sea diving" - because that's exactly what it's like in the winter. The snow pants, parkas, boots, mittens and hats, all of which need to be put on and taken off each time you leave the house. Never mind the inevitable, "I have to pee!" after you've gotten a kid ready to head into the tundra despite the fact that you asked her eighty-five times while getting her bundled up. Spring and summer are a sweet respite from all of that and it's so nice to be able to get out the door in less than an hour in the morning.

2. No socks - Weird, I know, but since I am so laundry-challenged, socks are the last thing to get folded and returned to their drawers in this house. Every morning before school, October through April, you will find me in front of the dryer bent over a pile of clean laundry muttering curses under my breath as I search for three pairs of matching socks each one smaller than the next - seriously, baby socks are a cruel joke. So it is with great joy that I welcome the return of Crocs and sandal season. I will admit that I scoffed at Crocs last year and once I was forced to buy two pairs for a trip to Sesame Place because it was August and God forbid a shoe store carry summer shoes in August I became a zealous convert. Crocs rock.

1. ICE CREAM MAN!!!!! - No three words in the English language inspire such joy and fear at the same time - except maybe "I am pregnant", but I digress. This phrase has two implicit meanings to a child. One, "I love ice cream and I am so excited to have some!" Two, "What if he drives away before we catch him and all I am left with are his haunting music and diesel fumes to remind me of what could have been?" I remember this joy/terror combo as a kid, sprinting to raid my mother's laundromat change, so I am very sensitive to it as a parent. Nothing brings me more joy than when I can say, "Ice cream? You got it." It does not help my cause though that our local ice cream truck drives about a hundred miles an hour down our street and I'd have to be perched in our living room window waiting for him to make it with all three kids in tow. My daughters are very reasonable because they have accepted that we only get ice cream from the truck when daddy's home, and he's been stretching his hammies.

So, happy Friday to all. Of course now that it's the weekend, it's going to piss rain, but let's look forward to the warm days ahead. Although soon enough I'll be sick of the hot weather and I'll have to write my Things That Suck list - like sunblock. Trying to slather some on a three year old is harder than wrestling a greased pig.