Enough WIWS; it's springtime!

 This was Monday when the temperatures "soared" into the double digits, by one degree.  It was so "hot" that Hannah insisted on putting up an umbrella to shield her delicate sock-clad feet from overheating.  Delicate creature, that one.

 Beach towels, crackers, juice and Bits'n'Bites were hauled out to the front porch where we lazed in the sun and tried to restore our Vitamin D tanks to full.  Joe enjoyed a moment as a smouldering six-year-old hunk.

 Oh my, it has been a long winter.  They say that this has been the worst winter in 30 years.  I don't know who they are, but I believe them.  When I was visiting Texas at Christmas time, I overheard my mother telling someone that winter is six months long where I live.  I scoffed and said, "More like four months."  How wrong was I.  However, all things are being made new; there is still a lot of snow to melt but the white stuff is slowly disappearing and the various shades of early-spring brown are starting to appear.

 It is difficult for Jacob to wear socks on the deepest of winter days; thus, once any warmth is felt, the socks come off for good.  (Until his father, who is mortally opposed to bare feet in any season other than summer, catches sight of Jacob's bare tootsies.)

 We were so filled with spring fever (like calves on spring pasture) that we bounced around our barnyard like madmen drunk on the first taste of new life.  Actually, we played Crazy Olympics for two hours straight.  This entailed the craziest of games:  like surfing that car (upon which Jacob is riding) down the driveway and back up again.  My muscles were so sore the next day that I thought I had come down with a flu.  Until this game I had never noticed that our driveway is on a slight incline on the way back up.

 I was so pathetic at most events that Ben said, "Mommy, I feel really bad for you.  You're really horrible at most of these races."

But then came pulling Sarah in the wagon from the garage to the turn in the drive and back.  The distance was so short that for once my height advantage over the kids was able to catapult me into first place.  Ben was only slightly less embarrassed.

 Isaac kept insisting on wearing my sunglasses whenever he spotted planes passing over.  By the time he had the glasses on, the planes had passed by.

Wonderful to see this guy so healthy:  we are coming on the one year anniversary of The Great Pneumonia Escapade.  My mind is only half convinced that it won't happen again; my mind still insists (in its less rational moments) that all childhood illnesses now end in, if not pneumonia, then definitely hospitalisation.  Hopefully April 13-17 will be far less traumatic this year.