howdy spring time!

I am mucho excited that spring time has finally deigned to make an appearance in the Chicagoland area. It was like 75 degrees out yesterday! I wasn't just being delusional, like I get when the temp climbs to 35--it was for serious warm! Beautiful. And the several days beforehand were likewise gorgeous. I went bike riding for the first time this year, for about an hour or so which was wholly as satisfying as I thought it would be. Then all the cool kids went rollerblading after meeting for a good hour, hour and a half.

I declare, spring time is my absolute favourite. You can smell things growing--not in a gross way or anything of course. But that sort of rainy, but sunny smell...if they could bottle that... I just love so much about March, April, May. I love that sort of chilliness in the morning that's more refreshing than cold, and that wet smell in the air, and the little pokey plants coming up. And how could I forget the wittle baby animals running around everywhere? I promise you, I still get as excited to see a baby bunny in the yard as I did when I was five years old. My nannied kids are like, okay, we get it, there's a squirrel on the back porch. Grow up. I point out every single critter that comes near the house with a ridiculous amount of awe. I made a three year old watch a hawk on the swing set for like 15 minutes. And are my kiddies in for a treat now that it's spring and animals are coming back! : )

I'm really excited too, because I'm planning on working on a garden in our yard! Wow. We usually get plots across town, but it costs money, they're kind of far, and people can steal your veggies. So I thought with a bit of trepidation about getting a garden started in the backyard with all my favorites--zucchini, squash, tomatoes, beans, peas, leeks(!)--and was like, oh no, how am I going to figure all this out? And then our Better Homes and (wait for it) Gardens (!) came in the mail with a big ol' article on how to do little box gardens in the backyard. So exciting. So I have a bunch of seed packets, and some little planters for an herb garden, so I can finally use the fresh seasoning my recipes call for. God is amazing, that we can just stick some seeds into the ground, and proceed to watch them grow into plants that produce fruit to nourish us. And fruit that's tasty, notwithstanding!

The only wrench in my spring loving this week was that two of the kiddies had the flu. : ( Us poor lot, we were stuck inside mostly. It was just the respiratory type of flu, so no vomit, praise the Lord. I had my first experience being vomited on a few weeks ago, when my neighbour's whole family got the stomach flu, and I babysat while parent and child alike puked everywhere. Not so fun. So yesterday, I worked all day, because my two (T-10 and E-7) school-bound kiddies were instead home-bound with fevers and coughs and runny noses and the like. The poor dears had no energy to argue all day long, and were so good all day, it was pitiful. I mean, they're never bad per se, but they can get touchy with each other, and do little things like sneaking extra candy at snack time, that kind of thing. But all their energy was spent using the clicker to pick the next recorded episode of Full House (everywhere you look, everywhere is a heart, is a heart...). It was cute, but I was sad for them and for me that they felt so bad and that we couldn't enjoy the bee-yoo-tiful weather. Normally on such a nice day we'd spend the whole afternoon at a playground, or getting ice cream or some such fun, but not so that day. So we left only to go pick H up from preschool, and she and I played outside for a little bit in the afternoon. E was still home from school today with her dad, so I had the day off, but hopefully she's feeling better, and everyone's on the upswing. Thankfully my mom gave me my flu shot (at the dinner table no less, haha) so I don't feel susceptible, but it's miserable to see little kids sick, even if they're slightly easier to manage in such a state. : )

Anyhow, it's off to bed I go, in case I get a call in the morning saying E is still too sick for school, and that I need to go stay with her. Otherwise, it's off to bed I go, so I can force myself into getting some bodily work done in the morning. Yoga? Running? Weights? I'm so ambitious, and yet so seldom do I follow through. Ugh. Good night to all anyway!

an update.

and how are you all on this fine friday morning? i apologize to the three of you who "read" (scroll through when you have five seconds to wait for another page to load) this sorry attempt at a blog, however, i have this thing where i like to hibernate in february. the end of winter is sometimes the hardest for me. me--when will it ever end? february--soon, but not now. but now, friends, it is MARCH! the month where i hope and pray spring will stay, but without doubt, lets itself out. ... out a...door or something. it lets winter back in. this is stupid.

but seriously though, the past couple of days=bee-YOO-tiful! which is funny, because it was only like 52. i thought it was even beautiful yesterday, when it was about 44. oh, being from the midwest. or anywhere else normally cold in winter time. it was sooo beautiful that i was a nice nanny and took the kids for ice cream and to the park! i'm the best nanny ever, i know.

anyhow, a few (slightly) more exciting things going on right now for me, in case anyone may be interested (haha): numero uno (did you know, this is also italian for "number one," not just spanish? tuck that one away. it'll do you no good ever basically.) i'm looking at some new school prospects! picking on school stuff has been hard for me because, while i am a people person and all about social, emotional, human stuff, i don't want to be a teacher, and so i've struggled with the other viable options for people with these interests only. i know there's lots of good careers for people just like me, but no choice has ever really screamed, this is you! you'll love this! still nothing is really screaming that, but the Lord is opening up some doors for me to peek inside i think, and work some things out with Him as pertaining to my future schooling. pretty exciting.

also more than fairly sweet is, we're "planning," and by planning i mean we one time looked at some rental timeshares online, a little family reunion--my mom's sisters, her, and families--at myrtle beach! i've never been, but hear many good things. i like what i've seen of the carolinas thus far, which is not much. i stayed in lake junaluska one weekend, and then spent the night in some hotel in some part of a carolina, can't remember which, or what town, or anything. but it was nice! i'm praying this will work out; our family always has a lot of fun together, as long as we have time to break things down a little.

that's pretty much all. i'm reading a boatload of library books, my knitting eyes are getting bigger than my stomach, not to mention my "skill," and i am slowly but surely trying to get back into an exercise routine. we shall see! until next time...