Signs of Spring

As I started to write this, Mike started sneezing. There is no more telling sign of spring in our house than the sudden onset of all the allergies. In most of the people. I'll be over here - not sneezing, and being glared at by the rest.

It was the craziest winter. We had no snow through January. Got all.the.snow in February and early March.  At one point, had so much snow that we could barely sled. And then less than two weeks later, it was all gone. It's been very confusing - to the point that we basically don't know which coat to wear. I'm not putting the winter gear away yet. I fully believe there will be at least one more snowstorm before we officially bid winter farewell.

Last week, I was cleaning up dinner and watching the kids play outside. I said to Mike, "Quinn's putting on Ev's rollerblades." Mike asked if she was wearing pads or a helmet. She was not. Mike said, "I don't know that she can get up." I said, "I don't know that she can't." And with that, Mike headed outside to assess rookie rollerblader safety. I looked outside maybe three minutes later. Quinn was already 2/3 of the way down on the block on the blades. And Mike was in his roller blades playing roller hockey with Dec and Jonah in the driveway.

As we trudge through the latter part of winter, there are a lot of attitudes and requests to "watch a show" when we get home from school. For the past couple weeks, I can barely park the car before they dump their backpacks in the entry way, grab their bikes or scooters, and head off in search of friends and sunshine. I've ruined a lot of lives lately by calling them in for dinner. And not hearing everyone whine about being hungry while I'm standing in the kitchen making dinner has most definitely not ruined my life.

We got home mid-afternoon yesterday from spring break (more on that later). Mike used the lovely afternoon weather and extra time to start picking up the dog poop in the yard. The kids went out to help him (or play in the sandbox). And then they tricked him into putting up the trampoline. It's a little bit earlier than we usually get it out, but they were just so dang excited. There were a lot of neighbor kids who made their way to our yard last night. And Q and D headed out at 9:00 this morning when it was barely above freezing. They didn't last long ... but were back out several other times today as it warmed up.

So ... while we aren't convinced that winter is completely over, we will soak up every bit of this pre-spring weather. And I'll stock up on Kleenexes for the gang.