Come on, Spring...

Jon had to work this weekend, so the kids and I were on our own. We mostly stayed home, though we had pizza Friday night. We finished watching the Planet Earth video collection that Mom and Dad let us borrow. And I packed away the last of the winter/snowman decor and set about making our house look more spring-like. Big weekend, huh?

At left, a brightened fireplace vignette includes Grandma's rose tea set and cuddly Valentine bears.

At right, my newly assembled bird collection.

After weeks of persistent cold chasing us inside, it's finally warming up around here. Actually, the last few days have been more windy and rainy than cold. Much of the snow has melted, and what's left is muddy and gray-looking, with a hard crust. We continue appreciating the cozy wood stove inside our four-season porch.

Usually on weekends Jon and the kids re-stock our supply of firewood for the house. This time I was called upon to help. The kids showed me how to use sleds to haul the wood from the big outdoor pile, and then carry it inside the greenhouse. We've found that the greenhouse, with its dry brick floor and protection from the elements, is a handy place to store dry firewood in the winter.

Emma showed me how Daddy gets our kindling. He pulls fallen branches up out of the snow and then snips them down into workable-sized twigs (using a big clipper). This type of kindling burns well.

I won't claim that there isn't ANY complaining about having to haul wood, but overall the kids seem to enjoy the activity (or at least take pride in the accomplishment when they've finished).

Meanwhile, lazy little Leila avoids all work. She likes to fall back on the excuse that she's a baby so can't walk or crawl yet. But she can scoot-! I don't see any reason why she shouldn't put on a little pair of baby work gloves and some overalls and start picking up sticks outside with the rest of us.

Hee hee.

Yesterday Leila and I visited Malia and Tammy in Eau Claire. I hadn't seen Malia in awhile so noticed right away how much she's grown. She's very independent and physically coordinated, and also a great talker, so seems more like three... but she's still only two.

She LOVES babies. Leila sat on the floor and Malia brought her toys and books to play with. We all fussed over Malia's new puppy, Daisy. What an adorable dog-! She's a tiny little fluff ball, but kind of nippy, so Tammy stowed her in the kennel while Leila was on the floor. Leila was very interested in her, though, and Tammy and I agreed that Grandpa Bud would love that little dog.

For those of you who haven't heard, we're planning on having Leila baptized in Cornell, at Jon's childhood church (just a block from his parents' house) on Easter Sunday. We've asked Laurie and Mark (Laurie's husband) to be godparents.

After our visit, we hurried back to Colfax to pick Emma up from Destination Imagination. I remember brother Bill used to be in that. From what I understand, the kids work together to make up a skit and perform for an audience. I have no idea what to expect... last week Emma told me that one of the other girls wrote a skit that features her in the starring role, and that she was going to sing "Amazing Grace". Yesterday, though, the teacher told me that Emma would be a mouse and needed to wear either all black, all gray, or all brown. And that I would need to make a pair of mouse ears.

So the final product should be interesting!

Thought I'd close with a picture from a few years ago-- Emma and Michael hamming it up, wearing each other's hats. What a pair, huh?