The Shadow Knows

Happy Groundhog Day!

Well, I'm not sure it is happy...if you consider the fact that our ol' friend Punxsutawny Phil saw his shadow...again. Six more weeks of Winter. Boo! Not that it actually means anything. Phil isn't an actual meteorologist of any kind. He's a groundhog.

And last year? When he didn't see his shadow? And we were supposed to get an early Spring? Yeah. Totally botched that one up, huh, Phil?  *wink-grin*

Still, he is rather cute, isn't he?

We had a bit of mammal day confusion in our house today. Being somewhat colder than usual and with snow in the forecast, I overheard Ethan (6) say, "If only that beaver didn't see his shadow..."

Love the funny things that pop out of kids' mouths.

Here were several adorable cupcake ideas. There are SO many of them out there. If I were less busy more inspired, we would have made some of these:

Do you have any Groundhog Day traditions?

Wordless (mostly) Wednesday

It's coming....

Kicking into Spring

First day of Spring...and Edward's first Spring soccer game.

Stretching before the game

Ethan watches from up on high

His team won 3 to 2! Woo-hooooo!!

We followed our victorious game by helping out at our 4-H club's booth at the Pet Expo.



A beautiful -- and fun -- start to a new season of life...and soccer!

Wordless Wednesday

It's coming....

Spring Has Sprung!

Emily, April 2002

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

I feel like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. I want to bounce around on my tail, proclaiming the joy of Springtime's arrival. Of course, not having an actual tail would make that a bit difficult, but the sentiment is there, nonetheless.

Today is not a sunny, idyllic day with flowers in full bloom or birds singing their lungs out. Afterall, it's still March. But the day signifies that warmer weather is indeed coming...and the world will eventually burst forth in color...sooner rather than later.

That's all that really matters, right?

We want to see green grass and brightly-colored flowers and leaves on the trees.

I've always maintained that each season has its own beauty, but I think this past Winter brought a bit of contradiction to that. Was it the lack of snow? (No complaints here.) Or the general dismal weather and gray-brown world? (Sigh.)

Or maybe I just forgot to store up enough sunshine inside of me to get me through the cold, gray days.

Nevermind now.

Spring is here! And soon enough warm weather will be here to stay...along with the pollen. Hmm... I guess you have to take the good with the bad.

Speaking of Spring...

I had a sudden memory of Emily at age 2 or so.

We were visiting my sister, and she was showing Emily the flowers in her garden. Every time Emily smelled one, she sniffed loudly and said, "Ahhh."

No matter what it smelled like.

Gotta love that enthusiasm.