Spring Has Sprung

The last of the snowmen has melted and Spring officially has arrived. I love the smell of Spring. Why is it that the only seasons that have a smell of any kind are Spring and Fall? I guess those are the seasons that have a prominent memory for me. Fall reminds me of going back to school, and the scents of Spring signal that school is almost over. (Personally, I love sniffin Spring.)



With the arrival of Spring comes Spring cleaning. We hauled out the rakes and the wheelbarrel today, and got some yard work done.




To my sisters: Does this remind you of our youthful days of spring clean up in our yard?



We have one particular home video of us girls helping Dad with the yardwork. Annie and I are pretty little. I would guess, I'm 2, and Annie's 4, which would put Trish and Krisy at 6 and 8. Hey! who needs hired help, or sons for that matter, when you've got us, Dad! There we all are sitting on the back of the trailer, which is attached to Dad's bright yellow John Deer lawnmower. Dad drove us all around the yard, and periodically made little "pick up sticks" stops. We'd hope off, grab some sticks, load them onto the trailer, and off we went again. Well, given me and Annie's ages, I don't think we were much help. We were just sitting on the back of the trailer like two little lumps. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum was Trish, a.k.a the Hulk. She was hefting enormous logs into the trailer like she was trying out for the "strongest man" contest. My favorite part of this home video is when the "mommy-cam" turns on dear, ole Krissy who is totally lazin around. Then, you can hear Dad's slightly, irritated voice in the background say, "Come on, Kris, get helping!" So, she turns around, bends over like she is the floppiest fish in the ocean, and picks up the tiniest, teeniest TWIG. (I mean it when I say a twig!) And then, with a very limp wrist, she hands it over to Tricia, who at this point has hauled an entire acre of logs into the trailer. -Oh we need to watch that one again. It makes me giggle just thinking about it.

And apparently someone in our family was taking notes during that particular scene in the home video...



We had to be careful not to step in any "steaming pebbles," if you know what I mean. I told you we've had a lot of deer around here....


When the work was done, we decided to have a race. The kids wanted to run and bike. The problem was, that Emma doesn't know how to ride a bike. So, Joel gave a quick little tutorial on "How to learn to ride a two-wheeler in less than 30 seconds."



She actually wasn't doing too bad. She took a major spill off her bike, but with all the determination in the world, she went and got right back on.



Of course, she had to catch Daddy first.



Obviously, Annie doesn't ride a bike either. She just rode like the wind on the ole chicken, having the time of her life.



But even that gets a little tiring after a while.



Now, it was time for our race to begin. When I said, "Go", they all took off like lightning.





And the winner was.....Matty! Mary was a close second. -I think running in her "crocs" may have hindered her a bit.




But around here, we're all winners! As a "wise ole owl" once said, "If we've all had fun, then we all won!"



And we all had fun!!!!