Ahhh, spring

March in Michigan is such a tricky time.  Today it was 65 and sunny, tomorrow it will be cool and rainy, and next week we are to expect snow.  Some will say that spring was teasing us with just a glimpse today, and that she will leave us next week for winter's return, but I disagree; I think she's in on it, she and winter, the lion and the lamb.  We always have at least one month when spring-like days are interspersed with snowfall and bone-chilling weeks.  Yep, I'm sure she's in on it.  And I've always hated warm day teasers because the return to the biting cold and snow is always so much harder as the year wears on, but things are different now.  Now I have a toddler and I have learned how to get the better of fickle tempers - Ignore the bad and take advantage of the good.  So today, on upswing number one (65 and sunny, remember?) we took a long walk, revisited our tree stump and counted its rings (still the same number), tested tree age based on how hard they were to hug (i.e. trunk size), ate lunch on the porch (our first picnic of the year), listened to and watched for birds (they're not very shy about visiting the feeders), and even made use of our ride-on toys (and by our I mean Calvin's, of course).  Yes, I guess I will take spring any way I can get it.

There are more pictures in the March 2009 album.

Playing house

She balances the check book and cares for the baby, he cooks and cleans the kitchen.  It's a match made in heaven.

Shoes

Learning to put them on got a lot easier with the introduction of velcro, but you still have to get them on the right feet all by yourself.  Or not.

Ahhhh, all that bakery goodness

Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday. Call it what you will, the subtitle for today is a day of fried bakery goodness. In years past we have done our requisite paczki purchasing at the location of greatest convenience (read: the nearest grocery store), and we enjoyed them plenty. Ahhh, but we were so deprived. This year, in a show of loyalty and appreciation, I pre-ordered a half dozen paczki from the Dexter Bakery (for those of you who don't know, Calvin and I visit the bakery every Thursday for a weekly pretzel treat, and are on a very friendly first name basis with many of the bakery personnel).  We were rewarded with a taste of heaven itself.  Far from the pre-produced, dried out blobs of fat sitting on shelves at the grocery store, the box that I was handed at our local bakery was still actually warm; not only had they baked all night, but they were keeping at it during the day to provide customers with the freshest product possible. It helps to know people, too - since we didn't come in to pick up our pre-order "early enough" in the day, they replaced the tasties with fresh ones when we got there.  Oooooooooh.

The three of us split one traditional custard paczki after dinner.  It was Calvin's inaugural paczki experience and he savored his third of the delectable with a relish that ended in an only moderately messy face (after all, it does a lot more good to the taste buds than the skin).  And, in case you are keeping count, I fully intended to share those six calorie fests outside our immediate family, and I did. I gave a raspberry one to my mom.

Junk foods

It's been almost a week and I feel I must say something, but there really isn't much to say.  We're battling a mixture of excitement and disappointment over our most recent snow storm; we love snow, but now that we've had a taste of spring the frigid weather is harder to take.  But life goes on - swim lessons, music class, church, work, play, sleep.  I don't mean for that to sound like boredom, because every day has its unique excitement stemming directly from life with an active toddler.  I realize that soon I will have to forego that moniker for the far less cuddly and far less mom-needy term "little boy" and as each day passes he loses a little more of his baby face and gains another inch of childish wisdom.  While playing a choosing game with Jon last weekend he was offered an imaginary choice between sausage and doughnuts, to which he replied "oh, daddy, doughnuts are junk food."  Right you are, little boy, right you are (though that doesn't stop Jon and myself from enjoying such delicacies from the Dexter Bakery once a week - yum).  His favorite new activity?  Milking the cow from his barn then using his tractor and train to deliver the milk to his farm house.  Hopefully I'll catch that on digi-film some time this week.  Today, though, how about this one?

*This is an unedited picture.  He really is that color.