A Surprisingly Warm Day...

This morning, I stepped outside and was amazed: It smelled and felt like spring! You all know that "spring" smell, don't you? It's one of my favorite smells...like everything is alive again. Ethan even discovered some little green perennials peeking out of the soil where the snow melted away. I was so excited. And it actually got up to 60 degrees at one point. That's the warmest it's been in about five months. And even though it is still sloppy, wet and muddy outside, it was a treat. A heavy weight was lifted off my shoulders immediately as I realized that there is an end in sight to this miserable winter. I was hoping that all the snow would melt, but it didn't. It's raining tonight, though, so that might wipe out the rest (crossing fingers).

So, after a much needed workout at Curves this morning, I took the boys to a friend's birthday party at 11. I dropped them off and hung out with a couple of my girlfriends for two hours at the mall. We looked at clothes and ate lunch in the food court. I felt like a teenager all over again. Then I went to pick up the kids, only to find them wet and covered in mud, which is fine. I expected nothing less. It was a pirate themed party, so they all had these fake foam swords and bandannas wrapped around their heads. They were sword fighting outside in the snow. And they came home with a load of candy "loot" that they had found during their treasure hunt. They had such a good time, as did I.

This afternoon, Dustin worked on the cars, replacing all the old degraded tubing and hoses. And the kids went outside again when we got home from the party. They proceeded to run through all the puddles and completely soak their snow boots. (The last time they did that, it took a week for the boots to dry out...here we go again.) And I think I changed muddy pants at least three times today. But I didn't mind. I realized it's been ages since I posted any pictures, so I armed myself with the camera and went outside to capture all the excitement. Even the cats got in on the fun.

Tally cat.

Bubba ate tons of grass, which I will probably find puked up on the carpet later...

The kids found these toys in the backyard, which they promptly borrowed to use as snow and mud flingers.



Owen's favorite activity.

My handsome boy is getting so big.



Ethan the mud flinger.

Ethan hardly ever makes a "normal" face in pictures.

This is how our cars look most of the time...