Beautiful Spring Day

SO THANKFUL FOR SPRING!

It's been a long, hard, snowy winter here in Minnesota and there's only so much a girl can take of snow and ice.  Also, I'm a big ol' wimp when it comes to cold.  I don't like being cold one little bit, so it says a lot that I was outdoors with no coat/jacket/hoody this afternoon.  It was a gorgeous day, I believe it was almost 60 degrees today?

The funny thing about this time of year though is that I still need to bundle up the kids during morning outdoor time because it was only about 30-40 degrees, but this afternoon we were playing coatless!

First of all, during naptime I opened the front door to hook the dog up outside and what was standing across the street, on the grass?  a bald eagle!  I've never seen one so close in the wild!  Right away it flew away and I was able to really get a good look at those magnificent feathers and that huge regal body!  I watched it fly to a tall tree down the street where it perched for a minute and then flew off.  I really wish this had happened when the kids were awake so they may have caught a glimpse of it before it was gone.  They would have loved that since we've been following two bald eagle families via Eagle Cams online. Links to those cameras can be found here and here.

This afternoon we played outside from 3:00 - 4:00, playing in the sandbox, hitting the wiffle ball off the tee, driving little cars around the yard, hopscotch on the patio, pulling some buckets and balls out of the shed, swinging, running, and enjoying the warmth.  Little Man had a great time running up and down the hill, especially since the last time there was no snow on the ground he was much less steady on his feet.  My daycare girl returned to her love of collecting things outdoors such as rocks, sticks, and now pinecones.  Babydoll and my daycare boy built an amazing sandcastle and re-learned how to hold a bat. 

I woke the baby up from her nap shortly before Sweet Pea got home from school and we all went on a walk down the nature trail.  We were able to get pretty close to the geese who were particularly fun to watch in the ponds today.  Because all the wetland plants and trees haven't sprouted up yet the kids could see all the geese and ducks in the ponds!  We found old cattails and played with those on our walk and after we got back home.

When we got home we played in the front yard collecting pinecones and turning eachother into geese with our magic wands until the daycare kids were picked up and my kids and I went in to start dinner.  After dinner SP went to play practice, LM went outside in the backyard to play, BD started a movie, and I bounced between the two of them. 

It was a wonderful day, I am so excited that Spring has finally arrived (for now anyway ;o) !

It's Snowing!

As I begin typing this, it's naptime on Friday, and the snow is falling.  Watching it fall from my living room couch, it looks beautiful.  I'm sure the people who will be driving home in it in a couple hours will think otherwise.  I'm also sure Spencer, who will have to shovel it (alone, because I can't breath well right now) will think otherwise.  But the kids? They love it!

Snow means sledding,

Eating freshly fallen snow,

snow angels,

snow balls, snow forts, snow men, and stomping through the fresh powder in big snow boots and snow pants!

Little Man has had mixed feelings so far this year.  The first time it snowed this year he was soooo excited!  He saw his sisters getting ready to go out and started bringing Spencer every article of clothing he could find until he got his snow suit and boots on.

He got out there and was kind of in shock for a little while.  he walked through it for a few minutes and then got frustrated by his inability to move and started crying. 



That first time it really snowed this year the whole family was outside.  we were shoveling and playing and moving stuff in the garage around so I could park my car in it.  Because we were all outside, Little Man was kind of stuck out there with us.  It wasn't very cold that day so we made him just "suffer" through it while we got the stuff done that we needed to do.  After a while of whining and crying and falling down a lot, he started getting into it more and ventured off to play in the snow! 



Now when the kids get ready to go out he starts asking, "dide? dide? dide?" and runs to get his boots and snowsuit!  He falls down a lot, and can't get up by himself - which really ticks him off - but he's enjoying the winter! 



Now if I can just get the temps to stay high enough to let him go out there every day!

After the Storm

A few weeks ago, or several weeks ago, I've lost track, we had a storm.  That evening I was on a conference call with the Sound of Music producer, set designer, and my fellow paint manager when the storms started rolling in, the clouds got dark and creepy, and then the sirens started going off.  After finishing up our business (while simultaneously moving our family members to a safe location and watching the weather warnings) the kids and I cozied up for a little storm-time fun. 

We prayed that we would stay safe and that all our friends and family would stay safe, and that the storm wouldn't break our house.  Sweet Pea amended the prayer because she figured if the house broke we'd build a bigger house... I hope there isn't insurance fraud in her future! 

Spencer was in WI that night for Rockfest, so it was just me and the kids in the basement.  Since Sweet Pea and I had been obsessing working on The Sound of Music the first thing that popped into my head to do during a scary storm was to sing!  Now in the movie version Maria sings "My Favorite Things" with the kids when the storm comes, but in the stage version they sing "The Lonely Goatherd"... we sang both. :o)

When the storm passed I put the kids back to bed and went outside to take pictures.  The sky had turned from funnel clouds to this...

I just stood there and kept taking pictures, the colors were changing so fast and it was so beautiful.  I wish the pictures looked as good as it did in person!  It was a beautiful end to a pretty severe storm!