After weeks of sub-freezing temperatures, we’ve begun to have periods of mild weather. We may have two or three days in a row or temperatures in the 50s, and if the sun also suns, it is quite wonderful. I like all the seasons, but especially, I like the turn of the seasons and enjoy the mild days of spring and autumn the best. If the dreariness of winter and the languidness of summer were but 4 or 5 weeks long, I would be most happy.

Last week, on a particularly bright day with the temperature around 56 or 57 degrees, my kids, “hot” in even their light fleece pullovers or sweatshirts, asked me if we could get out the kiddie pool later. Uh, letmethinkaboutthatforasecond, no. It’s not that warm, I told them. My sister, down in Alabama, is freezing with temps in the fifties.

Yes, warm weather will definitely be most welcome to our bundled bodies. And some green on the trees and ground will be a delight to our eyes (although I fear there is no hope for the mud that is now the backyard). It will be nice to open the windows, and wonderful to not spend more time dressing and undressing little ones than they are able to spend outdoors playing.

But I have some very practical reasons for needed the weather to turn soon. While sorting laundry, I espied another pair of Fritz’s pants with the knee completely shredded. I think he is now down to three pairs of pants, including his dress khakis for church which are about a half inch too short now. Jenny, I swear, grew three inches in February, and all her pants are pushing the boundaries of acceptable length (acceptable in a fashion sense, of course, but that really does matter, at least to me). And both Katie and Billy, for whom I struggled to find pants that would stay up around their skinny little waists back in September, can barely get those same pants buttoned (Katie’s pants are the adjustable waist kind, too).

I’ve written before about the pain that accompanies the “changing of the clothes” for five kids every season. I’ve managed to get it down to twice a year, because I happen to have an extra dresser that can store the heavier layers in the summer once spring’s final chill has passed and can hold the really bulky layers needed for winter while they are still enjoying the last warm days of fall. But that semi-annual headache is rapidly approaching. I’ve actually scheduled it for Holy Week, because we are heading to Florida for Easter – they have to have summer clothes. Perhaps, because it is the last hurrah of Lent, I will have the fortitude to slog through that dreaded task with good cheer and a happy heart.

I just hope the kids can make it the next month with what they’ve got. We’ll be quite the ragtag bunch by the end of the month.

And new this time: my friend Rachel has given me a definite works-for-her-answer as to how many outfit a kid needs. Rachel has six kids seven and under. She does laundry every day. She limits the kids to FOUR outfits each (obviously more for non-potty trained little ones). She never has difficulty finding soccer uniforms and socks on game day – with small laundry piles generated daily, she is always on top of it all. There is something to be said for this. And so, I will do my best to severely limit the number of t-shirts, shorts and sundresses that fill my washer. I’ll let you know how it goes.