Wild Spring And Charbroiled Chicken!

Well, the sun came out and people smiled. The cold wind died down and people got excited. The snow began to melt and people cheered... Yippee!!!

It began to look like Spring. It started to heat up like Spring. Neighbors put away their snow shovels and got out their lawn mowers just like it was Spring. (Not that they needed to, I think the sound of it is somewhat therapeutic from all the snow plows grinding down the roads!) The calendar said it was Spring I even pruned all my apple trees and ordered plenty of new trees because it was so 'Springy'.

Then, in a matter of minutes we went in reverse! A major snow storm hit ......What?! ....the sun went back behind the clouds... and people frowned. The cold wind started up ...and people became frustrated, the snow began to fall ....and people shook their heads. ..so, neighbors put away lawn mowers and drug out snow shovels... again. Oh, brother!

But, the calendar still says it's "Spring". Ah.... Spring in Idaho. The wild weather that can go from the above picture to the below picture in a matter of a few seconds...

Well, it is quite confusing and those not from here might just get a bit discouraged over the matter but we suggest a different approach... Enjoy it while it lasts! Yup, the minute to minute changes make it awfully exciting just looking out the window and seeing what the weather is bringing you! Once the weather throws a loop into your plans don't dispare, just go right ahead and take advantage of it! ;)

Maybe, you could build a Spring snowman...Granted, he might be a tad on the small side due to the limited supply of snow but hey, he's got a great story to tell... not many snowmen can say that they were born in the spring time :).















Or, maybe your the kind of person that goes bananas over a snowball fights.


You can produce some pretty funny faces on people when you stuff icy cold snow down their backs... Ya, putting snow down ones back can sure open the eyes to new possibilities. (Wow! With all these aging sags and bags I never knew I could open my eyes so wide!:))




For the one who put the snow there, well, it can sure make them smile from ear to ear to know that they woke another up with their untimely snowball.


But,



One word of caution....

A snowball down the back can sure cause a stir! Remember, retaliation is a 'given' so be sure to have good running shoes on and 'high-tail' it far away as fast as you can! Or, you just might find your self caught in your own snare! "Turn around is fair play" right?

Well, at least it is at our house!

Someone just might deposit that icy snowball right back down your own shirt. (Don't you just love honest reactions!) :)

Oh, the Joy!! Wild Spring is awesome!!!!









One more thing.....Never, ever have a snowball fight while trying to cook chicken. You'll end up with charbroiled chicken and a burned pan! Oh brother!


I should learn this, it's definitely not the first time... Oh well, at least we had some fun!!! Yippee :)

One cute little guy!

Ok, so I was photo tagged by Jen. Thank you sweet sister of mine:) She asked me to look into my 6th folder and 6th photo. I looked at it and it was a photo of a bunch of rocks. Well I didn't really have a story to go with 'rocks' so I put this one up.

Aust was such a cute little construction worker for Halloween one year. This was when he was about 18 months (I think? I know I should know but I don't have his picture marked so I'm not sure.) We were trick-or-treating and stopped by Stacy's. He looks quite stunned but that's only because he did not know what all the fuss was about and didn't even care about the holiday, nope, he just wanted to get in the house and see his Aunt Stacy! He has always had a special bond with her, he kind of adopted her at an early age as his second mother :)

He is so cute!! I am one lucky mom :)

Oh, just in case you were interested.... here's the bunch of 'rocks' too... :)

uh......mmmmm........well... what can I say? There rocks! :)



I tag:
1. Erica
2. Kim
3. Alise
4. Jillyn
5. Jessica A.
6. Mandijo

Competition and a good lesson learned - One happy scientist.

Austin qualified to compete in the Science Scholastic Bowl for all the fifth graders in his school on the 26 of February. This sweet child loves science, physics, geology etc. So, when he came home and told me that he qualified to compete I really wasn't surprised. He studied well and when it came time to compete I had no worries about his knowledge of the subjects, however, I was worried about one thing. This sweet boy loves people. That is not what actually worried me but the fact that he'd have to sit still for an hour and not even glance from side to side to smile at his friends worried me. He is the biggest social bug you've ever met. So, before it started he smiled, joked and chatted with all the other contestants, even though there were several large signs posted that said "NO TALKING PLEASE". Well, I wasn't worried because the competition hadn't started yet and I hoped that maybe this would help him to wind down and focus. I hoped... :)

We watched him talk with every contestant. He was the only child that did this. Most of the others sat uncomfortably, even painfully anticipating and some even dreading the competition. I could tell by the frightened look on their faces. But when Aust made his way to them, joking and laughing and smiling he lightened their mood considerably and each one began to relax a bit. We saw the judges getting ready to start and now I started to worry because Aust was actually winding up and not down. He was just taking his seat when they stood up to give the instruction to the children that "under no circumstances is anyone to look at any of their neighbors or they would get disqualified and have to leave the competition." We knew that the judges were referring to cheating. Something I knew Austin would never do but would his bright and happy attitude of caring and love for his friends be confused for this in the judges eyes? They did not know him like we did. Then, as if on cue, Aust suddenly turned and gave the thumbs up sign to us and several of his of the other children competing in the Science Bowl, (the ones that would still look at him:)). He seemed completely oblivious to what the judges had said. I began to wonder if he had forgotten why he had come. He didn't look worried at all. He sat and smiled and waved. I fretted like any other mother would that he'd get disqualified...but I couldn't help admiring his happy attitude as I waved back to my favorite contestant.

Well, Terry and I both crossed our fingers and our toes. Not that he would win...that would be nice of course, but we just didn't want him disqualified for his friendly behavior! My goodness, it was touch and go there for a bit. I prayed really hard that he would remember what the judges had said about not looking around and then have the ability to follow it. He was sitting on the second row so there were others in front of him that he could see. Whenever someone took to long to put up their slate to answer we watched as Aust sat agonizing for them. At one point I was so worried that he might jump up to go help them. Through the entire 1st round we continued to pray for him to be able to focus on the judges.

After the 1st round half of the children were eliminated and I felt so bad for them. They had all done so well! Some were taking it really hard. I could see the sad look on his face, Aust didn't like to see them eliminated. While those who where eliminated were leaving we caught Aust's eye and tried to show in very specific hand signals that he should focus on the judges. He just smiled a huge smile and gave us the thumbs up. We didn't know if the message we sent him had even sunk in but half way through the second round I could tell that he was really trying to focus on the judges. He would carefully look up at the judges while he held up his slate with his answer on it and then back down to the floor. Whew! I began to relax. His answers were all correct and we knew that he'd go on to the third round but he didn't know that. He sat there at the end of the second round with something new on his face. Anxiety. After the previous round he'd experienced the reality that 'not all' are going to win. I was sad now, it was so different from before. I could see his serious little face as he watched more of his friends have to leave. His hairline damp from sweat.... When his number was called to stay for the finally round he audibly breathed a sigh of relief while rubbing his forhead. Now there were only three contestants and they all moved to the front row.

This final round would be different. They no longer needed slates to answer, instead they would have to stand in front of the judges and give an oral answer...the same answer from their study sheet. Pressure was building, everyone was silent and the judges made it clear that now they would give the hardest questions. I was sweating bullets. I had just wanted this to be a good experience for him, it hadn't even occured to me what it might be like if he made it to the third round. The first little boy answered his question without any problems. Now it was Austin's turn. His little body was stiff with tension and if they could, his sweet little eyes would have bored a hole right through those judges because he was focusing so deeply on them. The question was asked and almost before it was done, with a bolt of lightning he threw out his hand, pointed at the judges and answered them. They all smiled at his enthusiasim and that sort of lightened Aust up a bit. Another round of questions went by and one boy was eliminated. Now it was down to just Austin and a boy named Ginaree. Ginaree missed his question. He thought he was out but the judges said "Wait a minuet. We will see if Austin knows the answer. If not you are still in, but if he does, Austin wins." Austin stood with a very serious little face, took a deep breath and then gave the long answer. Perfectly I might add. And of course we clapped and clapped :). I think it was bittersweet for him. He had won but others had lost. Before he even came over to us he shook each of the boy's hands and told them several times "Good job!" and patted them on the back. Then he came over and said in a sigh of relief..."I didn't know I could do that!" We hugged and kissed that sweet boy and headed out to dinner to celebrate.

Through all this Austin learned alot more about his academic potential and I....well I learned alot more about his spiritual potential. In the beginning I had wondered if Austin really knew why he was there. The short answer is... He did. He knew what was important right from the start..."others". He won the Science Scholastic Bowl but it wasn't the highlight of the evening. The highlight was his sweet little spirit shinning with such kindness. The smiles and jokes that he shared with the others to help them relax under pressure. What a good example for his parents, his heart worn on his sleeve for his fellow competitors from the beginning to the end. Love ya son, you're such a good boy!