Spring!

What a weekend! Spring has sprung in Northern Minnesota and we had a great weather weekend. It was warm! It was sunny! It was muddy! On Saturday Little Man played outside almost all day in just a sweatshirt. Hubs studied outside. I went for a really long walk with Little Lady in the Bjorn and then sat on the deck soaking up the sun.

Sunday was much the same. We brought Little Lady to church for the first time. Hubs made us sit in the cry room just in case she started to tune it up. The family sitting right behind us had the *cutest* two year girl with Down syndrome. I stared. Rudely. I was a freaky stranger, smiling and crying, staring at this beautiful little girl who walked just like J, sat just like J, snuggled into her mommy's arms just like J snuggled into mine. It made me so happy and so sad at the same time. I missed him so much in that moment. It felt like it tore open the black hole in my chest and I was so overcome with grief that I thought I was going to vomit right there in the middle of mass. I cried. And sniffled. And choked back a few sobs. Good thing we were in the cry room. After the service I introduced myself to the dad so he would understand why there was crazy lady holding a newborn, crying and staring at his daughter. Going to church always brings out the best in me.

After church, the boys went ice fishing, which was a wet endeavor. The snow has almost all melted on the lake, but the ice is still about two feet thick, so there is almost a pond on top of the frozen lake. But is was warm and the boots did their job. Sunday night we had our neighbors over for pizza. I was scrambling a bit in the afternoon to get the dough going, clean the house, and deal with Little Lady, but it all worked out. I really wanted to make a chocolate lava cake, but Little Lady decided to power eat and I didn't have enough time to make the pizza sauce and the cake. My personal choice was for making the cake, but I figured our guests probably wouldn't want chocolate pizza for dinner...

I'm making a lava cake today.

Hmm, chocolate pizza...now the wheels are turning. I'll work on that one.

But back to that lava cake. The crusty, brownie-like exterior, the warm, gooey chocolate center. I'm starting to drool. It will be the perfect way to end a rainy Monday. I woke up this morning to feed Little Lady and thought I heard rain falling. It was such a nice sound. Rain. That means it is too warm to be snow. Spring. Ahhh. What a nice thought to start the morning.

And then I fell back asleep. And overslept the alarm. And barely had time to get Little Man up and dressed and out the door. And then I couldn't find the umbrella. And then I grabbed Little Man's snow pants and boots from the vents to get him ready. Sigh. Do you remember how I told you that fishing was a wet endeavor? And that it was really warm over the weekend? Yeah. Guess what? Boots and snow pants will only dry on the vents if the heat turns on! Sopping wet. Awesome.

Thank goodness I found the firefighter galoshes right next to the umbrella in the darkest corner of the mudroom in record time. We made it to the bus stop. Little Lady stayed dry. The snow pants got shoved into the backpack with stern reminders to hang them up at school so they dry before recess. He's gonna be soaked. At least I didn't accidentally put my cell phone in his coat pocket again this morning. That was Friday.

Happy Monday and Happy Spring!