It's spring!...kind of

I love spring! It's my favorite time of year. For one thing, I HATE wearing real shoes, so as soon as it even pretends to be warm, I start wearing my flip-flops. I just have to remember to paint my toenails. I also love to watch everything grow and come back to life. Our grass is all green and we actually have flowers coming up in our flower beds. How they survived the neglect of the last lady living here is beyond me. The other thing that survived her neglect is all the BUGS! They've been freely and happily roaming our house for the past couple of years, and seem to think they should be free to do so now, too. When Caleb woke up this morning, there were "Five Million" ants swarming our kitchen floor. You can't blame them for coming in. Kylie and Ethan drop enough food on the floor to feed more than 5 million ants. No matter how many times I sweep and mop, more crumbs always appear. So we're now in an all out war with ants. And weeds - which survive with no prompting whatsoever. I decided if people were smart, we'd just purposely grow weeds in our yards instead of grass. It doesn't matter if they have water or good dirt. It doesn't matter how many times you spray them. We raked up a bunch of bare spots in our back yard, and planted grass seeds. Guess what grew? That's right. Lots and lots of weeds. The grass is finally starting to grow, but the weeds definitely have a head start.
The other way people can tell it's spring is that my kids are covered in dirt ALL the time. They both LOVE to be outside. Kylie brings me her shoes all the time and asks "Go? Go?" She's still not all the way steady on her feet, so her knees and hands are always covered in dirt. Then, she tries to clean her hands by wiping them on her head. Don't ask me why. The other night we ran out the door to Sam's for some desperately needed groceries. I didn't pay much attention to how my kids looked til we got in the store. Kylie found this other little girl - 16 months old just like her - walking around the store. This little girl looked perfect. First of all, she had HAIR! Enough to put in pigtails. Then, she had perfect clothes on - jeans, a white shirt (that was actully still white!), an adorable pink sweater, and shoes (of course we forgot Kylie's shoes at home). I was complaining to Caleb about how our daughter looked like an orphan child standing on the street corner begging for food. And he said, "Well, that little girl looked just like her mom. Her mom had lots of makeup on and was perfectly dressed, too". I thought, does that mean I look like Kylie?? Scary!
Anyway, so I'm excited it's spring. I've pretty much given up on clean kids or a clean house. Weeds are just a reality in our yard. But, I'm thankful - for a place that my kids can play outside, for a home to call our own (even if alot of work does come with it), and for my garage door opener (which Caleb put up last night).
Totally off subject, as we drove to Sam's that night, we passed a pond - it would probably be called a puddle in New Orleans or Bellingham. Ethan looked out the window, saw it, and gasped "It's the ocean, Mommy!" His voice was full of such wonder, awe, and excitement. That's the beauty of spring.
Now that I've written this, I remember the weather forcast for the rest of the week. After today in the 70's, highs in the 40's and 50's the rest of the week.
Oh well. That's life in Nebraska.