Spring?

I think it is safe to say that I have never wanted spring to come as badly as I have this winter. I thought last winter was long, but at least then Sophia still took two very long naps a day and I had lots of time on my hands to work on whatever projects I had going at the time.

This winter? Sophia naps once a day, and two hours is her usual max, two and a half if I am lucky. There has been lots of keeping busy and occupied . . . inside. It gets old fast, for mama and Snuggler. There is only so much you can do when one of you eats crayons and play dough like it's going out of style.

So spring really can't come soon enough. I even got inspired by late winter doldrums to start working on a "picnic quilt" that we can take to the beach, or just use outside on our lawn this summer. (Pictures to come, I am almost done!)

This week we have finally started to see signs of spring. I looked at the 10-day forecast yesterday, and today is actually supposed to be the coldest day with a high of 39, and all the rest should have a high in the 40's! That makes me super happy after all the bone-chillingly COLD days we have had this winter, sucking down up to 200 gallons of oil a month the past couple months to heat our little house!

Since the weekend Sophia has insisted on taking at least two walks a day outside, and she gets a little nature collection going with each outing. Yesterday we finally took the camera along to document our early spring nature walk.

Right by our front stoop, do you see what I see?

It is! Some sort of plant coming up out of the ground! I am obviously not a gardener, and in fact whatever that is must have gotten there accidentally, because I don't remember it being there last year. Although I could have missed/ignored it then, so who knows.

Taking a nature walk with Sophia is a long endeavor, not something to be embarked upon if you only have five minutes. There is lots of sitting on the sidewalk to investigate small pebbles, and if there is something she likes in particular (like the spot under one neighbor's tree where you can find lots of mini-pinecones), you will be in that spot for at least 10 minutes. Sometimes she will make like she is going to keep going, then turn around after a yard or so and go back to pick up more goodies. Then repeat x10.

She was not quite sure about the snow, but there was a little twig in there that was so tempting. What's a girl to do?!

Too cold for my little finger, guess it will not be coming home with us!

Sophia may collect as much as she can carry in her own two little hands, and here you can see just how much that is! She organized her little nature bits for quite a long time, and only attempted to eat one of the twigs twice.

Organizing your bits from outside is very serious business, as you can see. I am just wondering what we are going to start bringing inside as the snow melts in earnest; I had to talk her out of the nasty little bits of paper trash that we found here and there.

Spring has sprung in my opinion, and I am hurrying to finish my picnic quilt now. We'll start out using it to built forts inside (it's 8 feet square!) and move on to picnics and beach trips as soon as the weather allows. So if you come by the Libby house in a month or two, don't bother knocking on the door and going inside. I'm pretty sure we will be laying out in the yard, taking in the view, enjoying a yummy snack, and reading library books while we breathe in the fresh air.