Spring again.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous early to mid March this year!  I love it when this season starts off so well.  It makes it easier to handle the occasional snowstorm--it warms up again so quickly!

Narcissus at my mom's.  We have yet to find deer-proof plants.  It is so depressing...

We took advantage of some awesome days to go outside and play.  Bean had her soccer ball and t-ball out already and so we took turns playing with each. 

Boy was set up on the lawn with a blanket and toys.  The jacket wasn't really necessary, but it was quicker (and easier) than sunblock.

Billy even partially joined us for the afternoon.

S also took advantage of the nice weather to run the chimney for our wood stove up the side of the house.  It might have been slightly windy on the day he capped it off.  I'm glad I wasn't there to watch.

*sidenote* S has (kindly) been remodeling my Aunt's condo to get it ready to sell, so he hasn't been home much--and the basement has kind of stayed (progress-wise) where it was 2 months ago.  But it's been nice for S to have something to do that isn't costing him anything.  It's also been nice to pad our savings a little bit.

Anyway, I should have known that another day like this was coming:

But with S's latest project done, we were ready--and eager--to build a fire in our new stove.  It was awesome.

You should have seen Boy's response to the flames.  Intense!  Another firefighter in my future?

Grandma Great

S's grandmother (i.e., Grandma Great) passed away earlier this month.  She was such a neat person and instantly made me feel welcome to the family the first time I met her several years ago.  I am grateful to have known her. 

Bean had the opportunity this last year and a half to go up and visit her on several occasions.  S's mom would go up and spend the afternoons/evening with Grandma Great so when she was tending Bean, she would take bring her along.  Bean has some very fond memories of visiting Grandma Great.  I am grateful for that as well.

This is the last picture I have of us together.  I was able to take Boy up shortly after he was born.  Grandma Great was so excited to see this little guy!  She lit up like I hadn't seen her in the past months.  I am grateful for that day that they were able to meet.

The funeral could not have been on a prettier day.  The temperatures were perfect and the sky was sunny.  It was perfect. 

At the church where the funeral was held, they had a blackboard out for people to write messages to Grandma Great.  Bean took full advantage of this.

When we first let Bean know that Grandma Great had passed away, her reaction was that she wanted to go see her and that new cousins would be there for her to play with.  Ironically, Grandma Great passed away one month and one day after my Aunt did (and, furthermore, on what would have been my Aunt's birthday.)  So I find it sort of interesting that Bean now associates funerals with cousins coming to visit and play with her.  This, too, ended up being a wonderful reunion of sorts.  I think it's exactly how Grandma Great would have wanted it.

Boy enjoying time with cousins M&K at the luncheon.

Afterwards, S suggested a spontaneous barbecue at his parents' house before he had to go to work.  Bean, Boy and I stayed well past dark (and their bedtimes) so that she could get maximum playtime in. 

Even then, it wasn't quite enough so a few days later she went with her cousins to the zoo.  I told my sister-in-law (who lives several thousand miles away) that I hope the next time we get together is for a wedding and not a funeral.

Spring Walk

Little miss Bean has been going a little stir-crazy lately (she must take after mom.)  We've all become a little tired of being cooped up all winter so, on the first real warm day this March, I told her that we could get her bike down in the garage and go for a walk after lunch.  I've never seen her finish eating so quickly!

There is a culdesac across the street for us which is perfectly flat and takes about 15 minutes to circle twice--faster if Bean isn't on her bike.  I put Boy in the stroller and we headed out.  There was still some melting snow that we had to watch out for, but otherwise it was a pleasant little walk.

She stopped to pick "flowers for our yard because we don't have any."  (It was really just grass.  Which we do have.  It was cute nonetheless.)

Poor Boy had the sun in his face half of the time, but he didn't seem to mind too much.

We're definately going to make this a repeat event as the days get warmer.

Fire Banquet

S's department held a firefighter's banquet a few weeks ago.  I was able to get the evening off of work and we found a babysitter for the kiddos.  It was classified as "formal."  I didn't exactly feel comfortable dusting off one of my more formal dresses, but it was still a great excuse to get semi-dressed up and wear high-heels.  And it was also a good excuse to drool over my husband wearing his class A uniform.

They had a nice dinner (cheesecake was involved) and then they had a nice awards ceremony.  It took me back to my school-days where I held my breath every time an award was announced--hoping it would be fore me (or in this case, S.)  Most of the awards were rank based, but maybe next year??

They had all of the firefighters gather on stage for a photo op.  S said that this represented about 90% turn-out.

Then they added the new guys in (they don't have their class A uniforms yet.)

Then S got together with his crew for a picture. 

We had taken the kids to S's parents with the idea that they would go to bed there...so we didn't really have a reason to rush home after the banquet was over.  The obvious thing to do was go bowling (after we changed our clothes, of course.)

I sucked it up, as usual.  But S bowled probably the best game in his life!

The second game was worse, even though I got 2 strikes.  This is pretty typical...the best game I've ever bowled was left handed when I broke my right arm.

Afterwards we headed to our local favorite: Leatherby's.  S got his usual Brownie Sundae and I got my usual small Caramel Sundae.  It was such a fun evening and I told S that I really hope this becomes an annual thing.  I might even splurge and buy a little black dress.

Growing up, Valentines Day meant that a fun Valentines treat would either mysteriously be left on our front porch or on my dinner plate.  I decided it would be nice to carry on the tradition with my own family.  Considering that Bean is in the middle of a major "stranger danger" phase, I opted to just leave our Valentines treats on dinner plates this year. 

The best part was that she was playing right next to me the whole time I was getting dinner on.  Talk about major stealth action!  When she saw her new little friend waiting for her, she still became shy at first, but she quickly warmed up to the idea:  "DADDY!  Look what's on my PLATE!!"  In fact dragon is now her new best friend.  Until Easter.