Brotherly love...

"Moom!" Elsa huffed, clumping up the steps.

I looked up from my coffee and book. With a deep scowl on her face, my darling daughter came in the door. Pat, clump, pat, clump. One shoe on, the other in her hand. "What's up?" I asked.

"Oliver's just not supposed to do that," she moaned. "He took my shoe off."

"Hmm," said I, tying her shoe for her, "how 'bout that."

"...ANNND," her exasperation deepened, "he put a pine cone in my hood."

As I dug the offending pine cone out for her, I couldn't help chuckling. Oh, dear. How well I remember just this sort of pointless picking. Doing something for the simple joy of getting a rise out of the other. Such a fine example of sibling love.

"Here." Figuring the younger could use a little help, I handed her the pine cone. "Go throw it at him."

Her eyes sparkling, both feet clumping, she ran out the door with a giggle.

Revenge is sweet.

Whistling winter winds

Spring heard my plea and departed. I can't say that's really what I was going for at all, but welcome to MN in March. The wind has been whistling around our poor little house all day, rattling the windows and doors.

We even had a little thundersnow. I only heard it once; the kids stopped what they were doing, look around and went back to playing. I guess they figured they were hearing things. We might even get a couple inches. Pew.

I'll use the power of positive thinking.

Spring. It's spring.


Now, before I go stick my nose in a garden seed catalog, here's a story for the Aunts and uncs...

This afternoon, Oliver and Elsa were playing oh-so-nicely, when Elsa erupted into tears and started arguing, "but I don't WANNA..blahblahblah."

Since I was sitting there, I asked what the problem was.

Turns out the argument stemmed from this: Oliver was taking the train to visit Steve and Jess. Elsa didn't want to. SHE wanted the train to take her to visit Trina and Russ. And Oliver didn't WANT to, he was going to visit Steve and Jess. Et cetera.

Life was calm again once I suggested they could have two trains and each go where they wanted.

They enjoyed their trips.

Spring is...cruel?

Spring shouldn't be aloud to tease like this.

I wait patiently for the days to warm, the sun to shine, the snow to melt. For the beautiful soft spring days.

Then it finally does. I peer out the window at the thermometer, and upon seeing it hitting the 40 degree mark, cheer, "Alright! Time to go play outside!" Meanwhile, chuckling to myself. "Score. They should stay out a good LONG time today."

The ol' winter routine kicks into gear-it's not that warm, after all.
Snow pants.
"Mo-oom! Will you pull my pant leg down?"
Boots.
"Oh, wait did you go bathroom first?"
Off again.
On again.
One sleeve.
The other.
"Mom, I need HELP."
Hat.
Mittens.
Repeat.
Finally.Out the door.

A sigh. Quiet. Peace. Just me and the baby. Such a sweet hour. What to do first? Quick, wash the dishes, then coffee and a good book? Mmmm...

...twenty minutes later.

Thump, thump. Creeak.

"MOOM! can we come IN yet?"

"What? You just went out!" I grimace and frown. What about my coffee? My book?

The puddle around them on the floor grows as the chorus goes up: "But my mittens are soaking wet!"

"The snow pile is all hard and dirty!"

"My feet are COLD."

Harrumph. I change their mittens and send 'em packing.
For all of another 10 minutes or so.

Then, they've had enough. It's in the house. Off come the snowpantsbootshatsmittenscoats...onto the floor. In a sodden.heaping.muddy.drippy.needs to be disassembled to dry.mess.

It's okay, I tell myself. Spring is here (no more snow storms, please.) Soon it'll dry. I'll just take myself for a walk later. I wring out the clothes. Find places to dry.

My chance arrives, I pack the baby in the backpack throw on my tennies and head out the door. Gorgeous! Slip.
I can't believe how nice it is. Sluurrrp.
The wind smells like spring! Splash.
Squish.
Off, down the driveway, and along the road. Slurping and splashing. Muck. Everywhere. Deep breathing the fresh air; Spring, those gorgeous, soft days, for the moment, is teasing.

I'm not always quite sure, but I think I like it.

Wahoo for JSPhotography!

A while back, my friend Jennifer had the grand opening to her photography studio. Exciting!

She did a day full of mini-sessions, and I was lucky enough to win a free one. I clicked my heels, then plopped my three cuties (biased? no.) down in front of her camera for the second time.

I clicked my heels again the other day when the UPS guy dropped off my order. I'm loving my new decor:)

And my dear hubby was thrilled to update his wallet.

"I just have a big ol' smile on my face"

...said a bleary eyed Oliver upon waking on his fifth birthday.

And he did. A BIG ol' smile.

The smile continued all weekend, as we enjoyed days full of visiting, partying, saunaing, game playing and more visiting. My sibilings and I see each other infrequently, and I must say, I soaked up the time together.

My only complaint? It went by much to fast.

This morning I'm getting back into the swing of life...slowly, relaxing with coffee, snuggling my baby and reading my grinning five-year-old a book. The daughter is still sleeping...she must have partied hard this weekend.

I cleaned the top of the fridge!

That makes me ready for the weekend.

Because, you know, you're only ready for a busy weekend when the top of the fridge is clean.

It's our Christmas-get-together...in February. Except we're not really celebrating Christmas. We're just getting together. All my sibs from their various points on the globe-AK, CA, MA and Switzerland-via China, are coming home.

Cheers!

The real reason, Oliver will tell you, is for his 5th birthday. It's only TWO days away.

*ahem*
Siblings? He'll expect the same next year.
Just FYI.

More winter fun...

Temperatures have been absolute spring-like here the last week. The snow is shrinking before our eyes, and finally, and it was finally sticky enough to make a snowman. Rolling large balls of snow makes for a good workout. I had to call in the reinforcements from the sawmill to lift the balls for us... Eric and Frank lifting together seriously grunted. Ha. Oliver and Elsa's faces were shining with amazement at the "huge!" snowman..Good fun.

Other stuffs:

• Is there a limit to the number of questions a three year old can ask in a minute?
• If there is, I think Elsa is trying set a new record.
• Along with know-it-all-statements.
• I've started a new thing. I've been making a point to wash all the dishes right after every meal. It's usually so quick to do, so much easier than when there's a huge pile. I've been at it two or so weeks, and it has been great. With very limited counter space, it makes a huge difference; I don't not make something just because I'd have to wash dishes first.
• Plus, the rest of the house can be flying, but I feel good because I can tell myself, "at least the dishes are done."
• We made valentines for all Grandmas and Grandpas on Monday, then delivered them. I've been cutting construction paper hearts left and right since then.
• A very, very highly recommended book: Unbroken: A WWII story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. A biography of Louie Zampereini (if you're a MPR junky, you might have heard of it.) a WWII bombardier who ended up stranded on a raft in the Pacific for 47 days. He was picked up by the Japanese, and survived the POW camps. Amazing story, very well written book.
• Seriously. Read that book. It's good.
• Off now, to work. I get to renew my CPR certification before my shift. I wonder how much they've changed it this time...