Spring Fling

It seems that Mother Nature may have finally paid heed to all of the furious diatribes--I mean "gently-worded and ever-so-politely-offered...constructive suggestions"--and delivered us from Winter at last. (And can I just say: it's about time, Lady! With all due respect, of course...) In the past few days, we've gone straight from starved-for-Spring...to sneezy. That's right, it's one of the surest signs that the season of renewal has arrived--accompanied in our house by a sudden depletion of the tissue stash. Other harbingers of things to come:

--Coats, hats, and gloves have been washed and stored away. Okay, this doesn't really count, since my children never deign to wear anything heavier than a hoodie anyway, unless it's actually snowing...on their heads...at the time. And I defiantly laundered my outerwear several weeks ago, when it was still sub-freezing, and chose to suffer the chill and wind rather than bundle up again. Because extra layers are annoying. And I'm just that stubborn.

--Wildlife: birds merrily chirping outside my window. (Unnecessarily early in the morning, in my opinion, but what can you do?) Fox puppies cautiously emerging from their den, behind our property. Fawns delicately nibbling grass in the backyard (and eying the foxes suspiciously...ooh, a Battle for Lawn Supremacy could be brewing, right here on our own personal Nature Channel!)

--Soccer Saturdays have returned. Of course, it was 40 fun-loving degrees for Riley's morning game yesterday. (But I held firm and left my coat at home, yes sirree...and survived with only a long-sleeved athletic shirt...a sweatshirt...and a fleece sweater...) In fact, there's going to be a whole LOTTA kicking it up this season. This week alone, the schedule goes as follows: Monday, both boys practice with their rec-league teams; Tuesday, Derek has a game with his school team; Wednesday, Derek has practice with his school team; Thursday, both boys have rec-league practice; Friday, NOTHING (did you hear the implied "hallelujah"?); then games again on Saturday. Holy running-around-like-crazy-people, Batman, it's gonna be a frenetic...2 months!

--Bonus Outdoor Fun Time: so the boys played their little...patooties...off yesterday in their respective matches, and Husband and I both took advantage of the afternoon warming trend to go running. Needless to say, everyone woke up today with a case of tired legs. But the forecast was too favorable to waste the day admiring the sunshine from inside, so the Family Activities Board (a.k.a. "Mom and Dad"...but did you notice my acronym spells FAB? Yeah, that was on purpose. I might need a tee-shirt...where was I? Oh, right...) pitched the idea of a "nice, leisurely walk" to the constituents...I mean "sons". There was instantaneous groaning. And protesting. Even a bit of dramatic clutching of blankets, and declaring that they were "much too worn out to go". But, I promised them a paved, fairly flat trail...and lunch at the end...if they agreed to the plan. You guessed it, they perked right up at the mention of food. So we strolled, and chatted; and even though I still piled on three shirts against the somewhat-nippy breeze...at least my hands weren't numb? (I'll take it, for now!)

To sum up: we here at Team WestEnders are brimming with hope that this welcome trend continues, and that we can enjoy the fresh air, mild temperatures, and outside pursuits for some time to come...but we'll certainly try to remember to bring extra tissues along, just in case...