It's Spring, Ya'll!

I love spring even though it toys with my heart. One day it's beautiful and there are buds and the tips of tulips all around, the next day it's frosty and muddy and dreary. But as a kid, a day would come when I'd get home from school and need to change my clothes because I was too warm and I'd go outside to jump rope or ride my bike and it just felt like spring. I could feel it in my lungs and heart. I haven't had that feeling yet, maybe because it's been so chilly, but it will come. Meanwhile, I'm pressing forward with a perfect brightness of hope and put away all the snow boots and snow pants and have plans to put the trampoline up before the month is out.

Last week Erica and James busily gathered rocks around the yard and gutter and put them in the big Tonka truck.

It was actually quite helpful and kept them busy for awhile. I don't know where the rocks came from.

So many things right with this picture.

Erica got sad watching me put the snow clothes in totes then out to the garage so she put on Sarah's hat to cling on to winter. I told her she could wear a snow hat any time she got sad about the snow being gone.

This was the only picture I took on St. Patrick's Day. I was doing dishes and looked down to see James getting warmed and soothed by the dishwasher.

He finally noticed me taking a picture of him. I usually run the dishwasher at night so I guess this was a rare treat.

 First day of Spring! We celebrated by going to IFA for some lawn fertilizer and watched the chicks.

 I forget how noisy they are! You can hear them as soon as you walk in the door.

 Erica wanted to take one home as a pet, especially after I told her they were only $3. I had to show her a picture on the cage of what they look like when they grow then she didn't want one.

 I was observing just last week that James doesn't really play with cars and Henry was obsessed at this age. Well a week later and that's all James wants to play with. He's got to have a car in each hand everywhere we go. He even says car now which makes it like his 7th word.(Hi, no, go, mama, cold, mine, and car--in that order. We can thank Erica for teaching him "mine".)

 I don't know where this painted rock came from but Erica loves it as it looks like the rock from Moana. She took this picture of it.

She was chatting a ton the other day, just saying hypothetical things and I was only half listening but even fully listening I have a hard time following her trains of thought. "Erica, I don't know what you're talking about."

"I don't know what I'm talking about."

Sarah has been training for the Hershey track meet next month. She told me to remind her to only eat 2 pieces of candy a day so she can "get fit." She then asked me how many yards around the house was. Yesterday, she and Nora were practicing the softball throw in the backyard.

 Nora has been an answer to Sarah's prayer for a good friend. She moved in down the street and is the sweetest and funniest thing. All my kids love her. Henry is even planning his birthday party in May around her. "We'll have my party at 12 o'clock because Nora says she eats lunch at 11:30 on Saturdays."

Marching through March and please help us settle a disagreement

I got Sarah a cookbook for Valentine's day and it is the gift that keeps on giving. She made strawberry shortcake for all of us.

They turned out really great. Justin helped her but he said he didn't have to help her too much. The recipes aren't simple but the directions are very thorough so she was able to follow along, no problem. I could hear Justin quizzing her on tablespoons vs. teaspoons.

Henry's best friend Myer came over to play one Saturday because his mom said she couldn't get anything done with him around. Lol. He lives a little far away for 1st graders to walk so it's a rare treat to have him over. They made "car tracks' with the blocks and asked me to judge whose was better.

 I had no idea what I was looking at so I declared a tie.
I serve with Myer's mom in YW and come to find out, Myer and Henry both consider Zoey their girlfriend. I'm beginning to think it's just a game or competition they play and that neither really love her, despite what Henry's journal says.

Furthermore, she lives like 5 houses away and he never asks to play with her. He does give her his candy though.

Back to the blocks. Pretty sure I schooled both of them next day with this awesome creation I made with every single block all while keeping James from toppling it over. These blocks are super fun.

We were stuck in the house building with blocks all day because this is what it looked like outside.

Nearly 10"

 Sure do love having to shovel before we can pull our cars in.

 You know it's deep when the rims get packed.

I want a high-five, brownie points, and a pat on the back for getting all my kids to church on time this day at 9 am by myself. Nay, we were early! Sacrament meeting was pretty empty and then the fire alarm went off right in the middle of the sacrament. The snow was still coming down pretty hard. Bishop declared a snow day and sent us home after the sacrament was over. (I felt bad for the people who walked in during his dismissal that had to turn around and go home again.) The fire alarm situation needed to be sorted about plus there may have been a concern we'd be snowed in by noon. He encouraged us to all go home and help shovel out our neighbors. I stayed inside with the littles while Justin and Sarah helped shovel like 10 driveways along with a band of neighbors. Henry got suited up under the guise of helping but I saw him in the backyard building a snow pile.

Speaking of Henry: The other morning I awoke to the sounds of Henry teasing and fighting with his sisters in the kitchen By the time I rolled out of bed, he had come upstairs to get dressed but heard James awake so went into his room and I hear him say so sweetly, "Good morning James, my little brother." Then he reads him story after story. I came in a few minutes later and thanked him for looking after James and asked him why he can't be nice to his sisters like he is to James. His answer, "Because James is cute."

He brings notes home all the time from his teacher or aides praising him for his helpfulness and cheery personality. I find these notes in his backpack while he's standing on the counter keeping Erica from getting a snack or while he's in time-out for hitting Sarah.

I'm sure hoping the novelty of this will wear off soon. Sarah taught James how to climb onto the chairs and I was so mad at her because he barely paused on the seat of the chair before he climbed onto the table.

 He's tumbled while climbing down a few times and it's hard to feel bad. I feel like telling him, "Either figure out how to get down or stop climbing up." Okay, I made have said it under my breath a couple of times. On the bright side, this forces me to keep my table cleaned off.

 Erica took this picture. I think she's anxious for the trampoline to go back up. Me too.

 James has been sick since Sunday. This was a rare moment yesterday when he was awake and not crying. He boohooed all day, even crying during his naps every so often. He had a fever and goopy eyes so I imagine his throat was bothering him too. Poor kid. He's doing better today but I noticed his drool had blood in it. His molar cutting through is making his gum bleed. This kid has had the worst teething time ever. I really think it's why he's been grumpy his whole life.

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Say this sentence. "We are eating caramel in the Arctic on a Wednesday in February."

How do you pronounce the following words?:

arctic
February
Wednesday
caramel

Do you say every single letter? Justin gives me a hard time because I don't say the first r in February. I don't think most people do. I also don't think he has any room to judge me since he (and everyone else) doesn't say Wednesday or caramel correctly. We don't say Wed-nes-day and caramel is just car-mul. I say February falls into this category of words that it's perfectly acceptable and normal to drop a letter. (And no one says arctic much anyway so I don't really know about that one. I only include it because I'm pretty sure I was in college before I even knew it was spelled with 2 c's.)

(I do want to mention that I say library correctly.)