snow to spring

Well...Vermont obviously recognizes the coming of spring in a very different way my friends.  Today we are home and watching the snow fall...and fall...and fall.  By tomorrow there are estimates of 8-12 inches accumulation and I would say we are right on track for those numbers.  Needless to say we are taking advantage of the day to pull out some spring/easter decorations and spruce up the place.  I might even get around to taking down all the holiday cards today....

practicing our bean bag tossing skills

chick bean bags made by grammy last year (or maybe the year before?)

easter egg hunting has started

fresh snow

some of our favorite winter books we aren't ready to part with
and a few favorite spring books to get us ready for her coming

decorated blown eggs from last year

undecorated blown eggs from last year
i must have had some mama intuition because i'm not sure i'll have time to blow eggs this year!

i snuck away for a little felting craft
basically wrap a plastic easter egg in wool and felt with hot water & soap...
once it is dry I will carefully cut a small opening and hide a special easter surprise inside...

the kids loves throwing things...especially these blocks made by grammy!
Owen woke up with a low grade fever (hence the unzipped jammy look)
...most likely due to some molars pushing through!

Here we are

Our weekly dynamic has changed and weekends are now jam packed... Cleaning the house, piles of laundry, prepping food for the week, lots of catch up cuddle sessions and then everything else that gets left to the weekend.

This weekend there were:
Seedlings planted
A boy who can't stand still for a picture
Rolls baked (to accompany our home corned beef)
Cookies from friends
Beeswax candles and votives made
kombucha bottled and ready for carbonation!
Date night = me+Aaron+prosecco+pan brownies
Lots of silly kids

mud

stylin' as usual

sporting his new boots...

loving the slide

playing ball with dad

oops...ball under the car...

One thing is for sure...the days are getting warmer...and with all that melting snow means only one thing: mud...lots-o-mud.  Feeling my heart palpate just a bit with the thought of muddy shoes and dog paws I take a big deep breath and remind myself that mud means spring...and spring sounds so wonderful right now.  But I don't dare say more than that...or put my shovel away...because then we would obviously get whopped with some more snow.  

Rhode trip

The kids and I decided to head down to RI this past weekend while Aaron went to maine to help nana out. It was a short but sweet visit and we sure did enjoy seeing signs of spring. Daffodil and crocus were peaking out of soggy cold soil and the kids romped around...climbing rocks, building birds nests and feeding the chickens.

a long week

Tuesday morning, my first day of work, started with a rather interesting twist.  After Owen's morning nurse he threw up....little did we know that this would be the beginning of a week from hell (pardon my french).  Hoping for the best and that it was just an air bubble I kissed the fam goodbye and set out for my first day.  Just orientation things and such but still...a day at work...away from the kids.  It went well until I got the text that Owen had thrown up 3 more times.  As soon as I came home and picked him up he threw up all over me.....  I honestly don't remember how it all went down after that but Isabelle and Owen puked from Tuesday to Saturday (fingers crossed...no more puke!).  Aaron got it Wednesday night and I followed suit on Thursday night.  It was bad...REALLY bad (like lost 7 lbs in 2 days bad).  We suspect it was norovirus but didn't go to the doctors.  So what was supposed to be my first week of work ended up being drastically cut short...I hate to say it but this week...I'm seriously ready to start work...last week was exhausting.  As mentioned before I have a ton of mixed feeling about going back to work (especially full time)... my heart sinks when I think of Owen crying at daycare or Isabelle having a long day and just wanting to snuggle up and read.  These next few weeks will be hard on this mama....but I suppose the norovirus might have toughened me up a bit....

poor owen...
yes he is wearing sissy's old pink pom pom hat and we don't have mittens for the fella so we just tie rubber bands around the end of his snow suit....is it horrible that I can't stop laughing about this?

Isabelle super fashionable even in the snow...skirt on top of her make shift snow pants (big fleece pants...don't judge...it was a long week and snow pants were left at school)

miss adele...in her element...she is sooo canadian....

By Sunday we were out enjoying the snow... I was busy disinfecting the house...and we were all ready for some good old calorie filled cream cheese brownies.  Thank goodness this week is over and I hope this is it for big time bugs this year...

Glitter control

Isabelle whipped up some super simple valentines for her classmates by using some of her old watercolor paintings, glue and fairy dust! We sure love reusing old artwork for new artwork! The fairy dust (glitter) managed to make a real big mess but Isabelle informed me that the fairies would be by later to clean it up "they don't waste fairy dust mom". (so yes, I suppose I will be breaking out my wings and wand later...)

One more week

One more week as a professional stay at home mama. Here's the scoop... I got a job. A real full time job... (as a blabla research bla assistant blah) There are a lot of emotions swirling around my head. They can be summed up by these two faces:

I am super excited for the opportunity (depicted here by isabelle) and also super worried about the transition for my kids and me (depicted by the lovely owen).  After the new year I began exploring my options....either going back to school or getting a job.  And while the former is a bit of a dream right now the latter is the reality.  The stars aligned and the first job I applied for I got and am actually really looking forward to getting back into science and research (I say this now...being several years out of it).  The next few weeks will be full of lots of mama tears and a bit of hair pulling but we are all hoping this is going to work out.  Maybe even be able to finally tuck a few pennies away for my dream barn (sure yeah and a house...).