Our First Day of Spring

It has been a difficult couple of months. First the girls were asking me for the longest time when it was going to be spring. I would tell them it doesn't "officially" start until March 20th and that always seemed such a long way off. Then March 20th came and went with not many signs of springtime. Nora was still bugging me about when it was going to be spring. I told her "technically" it IS spring, but things here in Michigan are a little different. After another 4" snowfall last week, I think most of us were just done with all of that white fluffy stuff. Today was the first official spring like day we have had. It was the FIRST time it has been above 50 degrees, it was warm, humid, and we were shedding our layers. The clincher on the day was that it was the first day our crocuses dared to open up and they are so cute. It is so much fun being in a new place and not knowing what is going to pop up. We have been pleasantly surprised. There are a ton of bulbs coming up and crocuses are one of my favorite, probably because they are usually the first.

Now don't get me wrong it wasn't like a Southern Utah spring day. We didn't ever see the sun, not even once. It was cloudy and rained a little too. We were just excited it was warm enough to melt most of the snow and allow us to shed our winter coats and go on a little walk.
This is what is left of Nora's snow cave. I don't think the girls are even sad that it is melting, they are so ready for the spring. After school today at the playground the kids were all playing like crazy. It was like they had been set free after months of imprisonment. Kind of reminded me of letting the horses out of the stalls at Dick's place and watch them romp and roll in the field.

EASTER SLEDDING

We woke up on Saturday to a pretty good snowfall and so I decided we needed to take this one last chance (hopefully it was our last big snowstorm) to take the girls sledding. They got to go sledding a bunch of times last year and decided that they liked it. This was the first time this year we were able to go. It was nice to actually do something fun as a family on a Saturday for once.
The hill was probably just the right size for little girls, a fairly good ride down but not so much they couldn't walk back up it again. Well most of the time, as you can see Nora having a hard time pulling herself up the hill with the sled.Myka did pretty good. It was pretty classic for a two year old, she liked it alright until she got sprayed in the face with powder when they were doing a train and then didn't want anything to do with it. We did get her back on a couple times after that and she was smiling at the bottom.
I think Nora got tired of dragging the sled around and decided to try out her snowsuit as a sled; she can stay in better control that way too. :-)
Kyla at the end of a great ride down head first. She was trying to figure out how she could get it going faster.Mommy and Myka getting ready for a ride.If you can't tell it says HAPPY EASTER in very larger letters across the field at the bottom of the hill. And that little spot in it is Nora putting on the finishing touches. She wanted to write something in the snow so Mommy helped her and it turned out all right. It was even untouched a half an hour later when we left. The girls all had a great time and were tuckered out when we got home.

Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo . . .

You can come too, too, too. Today as the first day of Spring Break we spent the day at the zoo and froze our fingers off. There were actually 5 of us moms and a herd of kids. We all had different schedules, so most of the other moms left around 1:00 p.m. Summer stayed almost to the end, but as you all know I am a die hard and have to try and squeeze as much in as possible. I thought that since we have a membership now it wouldn't be so bad. Actually, today I had a good reason. The girls have been saving up their allowance to buy some Build-a-Bear clothes and I found a guy on craigslist with some for a good price. He lives close to the zoo so I thought that this was a good opportunity. But he couldn't meet us till 5:30 when he got off work, so we were actually trying to stay at the zoo as long as possible. We had a lot of fun in the Amphibian house, the seals and polar bears, wolverines, bison, kangaroos, giraffes, zebras, African wild dogs, rhino, lemurs, snow monkeys, lions, tigers, red pandas, gorillas, chimpanzees, and at the end we spent a long time in the reptile house (my girls love that place) and a super quick walk through the penguinarium. It actually turned out to be a good day. I just wish I had brought gloves, our fingers and noses were freezing. For some reason I thought that after our warmer (almost 50) week last week, that it was going to keep on being warm and actually be spring, NOT. Oh wait, I forgot, I think it is supposed to snow tonight. The sad part is today was supposed to be the nicest day for being outside ALL WEEK. So much for "Spring" Break. Maybe they should wait and actually have Spring Break when it is Spring around here. Nora said she liked the Japanese Salamander the best, it came out of it's log and kind of stood up against the glass. We all enjoyed the Snow Monkeys. We stayed and watched them for a long time, they were really active. I wish we could have seen them get in their "hot tub" though. The sad news is that Daniel is sick and actually stayed home from work today. I honestly don't think that he has ever taken a sick day from work or school since we have been married. I am sure he has been sick a few times but it is definately a rare occurrence. We hope he gets over it soon (it is no fun having a sick Daddy), and doesn't share it with any of us (it is even worse having a sick mommy).

Shoveling Snow

I don't ever remember snow shoveling being such an event in our lives before. It is not that we have had a ton of snow this year, but probably a little more than I had expected. I think the big change is having a house of our own to take care of. We have been living in apartments/condos/rentals for so long, it has always been taken care of for us. It was amazing to me what a priority it became, when it snowed we had to shovel sometimes super early in the morning, sometimes late at night and sometimes having a great time with the girls. Kyla and Myka came out this day to help Daddy shovel snow. Kyla begged Daniel to bury her in the snow. And then Myka thought it looked like so much fun she had to try it to.

This picture is of our first familly of snowmen in the backyard. Too bad we couldn't find more hats for the rest of them. I think the Dad looks great. I told Daniel we could use garbage can lids but it was getting late and cold.

Daddy Daughter Dance

While Lise was off to Chicago with some friends for the "Time Out for Women" conference, the rest of the family decided they needed to find something fun to do as well. Saturday March 1st also happened to be the annual Dearborn Daddy Daughter Dance. Therefore, Daniel had the privelage of getting himself and three little girls dressed up and their hair done for a night on the town.

The event was held in a fancy Ballroom at the performing arts center. The theme of the night was "Hollywood Starlets", so they gave all the girls a feather boa and a large plastic diamond ring. The party was complete with a large dance floor, professional DJ, professional photographers, pizza, lots of other junk food, a baloon drop, and lots of prize giveaways. At the end each girl received a little "Oscar" with "Daddy Daughter Dance 2008" engraved on it.

Needless to say, the girls had a ball taking turns dancing with Daddy and eating treats. They actually found about a dozen friends they knew and enjoyed visiting with them as well. It was quite the party, and by the end they were definitely ready to be done and go home. However, they will surely be hoping to go again next year and how could Daddy resist such an offer!

Spring Baby

I always thought that I could be considered as having a "springtime" birthday, although the Spring Equinox is 11 days after my birthday. I am used to having crocuses, daffodils, and sometimes even tulips blooming on my birthday. This year was a little different, being my first birthday in Michigan where the winters strecth on and linger. We had actually had school canceled for a "Snow Day" less than a week before my birthday, so there was plenty of it left by the time Tuesday came. We have a 3 1/2 foot hill of snow in our front yard where we have been shoveling off the drive way all winter. Now, a couple days after my birthday, it has started to warm up and most of the snow is melting. We actually may seem some green things coming out of the ground soon. I guess Daniel knew that I was missing the springtime flowers because he bought me a pot of daffodils and then took the girls out shopping that night and they each picked me out a plant. I got two african violets and an Easter Lily.

I was in charge of the Relief Society Birthday Enrichment Night that happened to fall right on March 11, so most of the day was spent getting ready for and participating in that. But it all went really well and was a big success, so it made me happy. They even all sung "Happy Birthday" to me as we ate cake. The girls were pretty disappointed that we didn't ever get to have my "birthday" as a family. For them you don't actually have a birthday unless you play games, open presents, sing happy birthday, blow out the candles, and eat cake. We are going to play some games and eat cupcakes tomorrow to satisfy them. Today is my present from Daniel-a whole day and a $100 to do whatever I like with. So I am spending it here updating my blog and I get to go to lunch with Birgitte and then run up to Costco. It just didn't sound like that much fun to go out shopping all alone. My Dad gave me some money to buy plants also. I was at Aldi this morning and scored these super healthy,bushy plants for $5 each!!! I hadn't actually decided if I was going to spend the money on plants since I had gotten some from my family, but I am such a sucker for a good deal I couldn't pass them up. Can I just say I love Aldi!All in all it was a great birthday, although I am not too excited to be 30, it just seems so old. Like I should be a grown-up or something.

SNOW DAY!!!

Before we moved to Michigan I didn't really know the meaning of a "Snow Day". It is kind of funny, we got just as much snow in Provo or growing up in Salt Lake, but somehow everyone seemed to find a way to function in it anyway. Out here if we get more than 3" there is a possibility of a "Snow Day" and if it is more than 5" it is pretty much guaranteed. Last week, on March 5, we were blessed with about 7" of snow overnight and the next day became a snow day to play in it; and play we did. My friend, Lindy, let us have her girls (Alyssa 12 and Katie 11) for the day. So it made it a lot more fun for my girls. We made a plan in the morning to go to the museum, then play in the snow, and then have craft time. Well, I decided I had to shovel the driveway before we could go to the museum and somehow that turned into 2 hours of playing in the snow, making snow caves, sledding hills, and a little shoveling too. Needless to say we never made it to the museum but got pretty worn out and had a lot of fun.The little blobs in the picture are: Alyssa pulling Myka on the sled, and Katie, Nora, and Kyla digging out their snow cave. The house looks great all covered in snow.

After 4 months of shoveling the driveway snow into a pile it is big enough to sled off of. Kyla and Myka preparing for take off.AND THEY ARE OFF I think they broke the speed record and went all the way to the sidewalk. We felt kind of bad, we didn't ever have a chance to take them sledding this year. Daniel took the girls sledding almost every week last year in Provo. I guess it is a little easier when there is a mountain in your backyard. It seemed like the snowstorms came at bad times when Daniel couldn't leave work or we had other events on the weekends. So this is their little bit of sledding for the year. Kyla still loves the speed and I am surprised that Myka liked it at all but she is getting a lot more daring. Nora did get on the sled and had a lot of fun but she wasn't begging to do it like the other girls.Nora spent most of her time digging out a snow cave, which got pretty big but then caved in a couple of times. This has been our third "Snow Day" this year, we even had a church snow day once. I don't really mind; I like the snow. I figure if it is going to be cold it might as well snow!