It's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

God blessed us with an absolutely gorgeous day today!!!  The temperature was around 71 degrees.  The sun was shining.  There were a few clouds in the sky and there was a slight breeze.  After basketball games this morning, I made the kids go outside to play.  The last time they did that was when it snowed on January 10.  That day, we built a snowman and had a couple of snowball fights.  We all needed to be back outside again.  (All three kids were sick with a stomach virus for almost two weeks.  We really needed this!)  Mike and I opened all the windows in the house to air it out.  The kids rode their bikes in the backyard, painted, played on the playgym and clubhouse, played horseshoes and badminton, practiced getting baskets for their next basketball game, and leaf fished (fishing without a hook).  Quite a few times I had to deal with them not wanting to stay outside but after a while, they forgot about watching television and playing inside.

After playing for a while, Mike and Will started raking the leaves in the backyard.  All three kids had fun jumping in the huge pile of leaves then picked them up and putting them in bags.  Only a quarter of the backyard was done and we filled three 55-gallon yard bags and most of a 30-gallon yard bag.  This is after Mike raked up leaves this fall.

It is suppose to rain tomorrow and everyday through Wednesday.  The high tomorrow is supposed to be 55 degrees.  Mike said a chance of snow is predicted for Wednesday.  Only in the South can you have snow one weekend, sunshine and warm weather the next weekend, and snow predicted again the week after.  Gotta love it!!!

What is it about September?

Thinking over the last few years, I've noticed a pattern.  For the last four years, something happens to me during the month of September.  See if you notice a pattern:

*  September 2006 - while pregnant with Andrew, I tripped on my flip-flops and fell, skinning my knee and foot pretty bad.  About a week later, while walking back to the car after picking Nathan up from school, I stepped on a stick with one foot and jammed it into the other foot.

*  September 2007 - My right thumb and wrist hurt every time I tried to pick up Andrew (he was eight months old and HEAVY!).  Also, my joints hurt, starting with my wrist and working its way down the right side of my body.  Part of it (if not all) was from taking a multi-vitamin with iron.  The mystery pains finally ended over a year and a half later.

*  September 2009 - My feet started giving me trouble, especially when I started working out.  Come to find out, I had heel spurs in both heels.  They finally went away sometime in the Spring of 2010.

*  September 2010 - For the last few months, I noticed that my right knee hurt whenever I bent down on the floor to give the boys a bath.  I didn't think much about it because it didn't both me any other time. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed my knee seemed to hurt every time I bent it whether it was to sit down on the couch, getting up and down to get something from my lower cabinets, getting down onto the floor or getting up off the floor to play with the kids.  I haven't had it checked out yet (I'm kind of afraid) but wonder if it is an old injury acting up.  I'll go when it really starts bothering me. 

When I was 18, my friend Mark and I were involved in a car accident.  The car we were in started skidding on a wet street when Mark tried to stop at a red light.  I didn't have a seat belt on so I hit the dashboard with my knees, turning it inside out.  My family doctor at the time said I had a twisted knee cap.  It was fine but would probably give me trouble when I was older.  I'm wondering if that is what is going on.  

After the last few years, I am hesitant to see what the next few Septembers have to bring.