First day of Spring my butt...

So much for Spring arriving today, it's been cold and blowing with snow flakes flying around for good measure! I drove home from my night class in a blustery snow squall, the snowplows were out in force salting the roads and the wind is howling outside the windows as I type this! It seems to be the winter that isn't going anywhere fast! We started March Break off with a bang (or in roared the lion, as they say!) as a wicked winter storm blew in almost two weeks ago now burying many parts of Ontario and the Maritimes. As much as people in this part of the province thought we got "hammered", it was nothing compared to some of the pictures I saw from Ottawa and parts of the East coast. Mother Nature is, it would seem, rather cranky this year! You can blame it on me if you like, I really wanted to enjoy a proper winter for the first time in seven years and boy did I get one!!

The kids were back to school this week after their break but with Easter arriving so early this year, they were only back for four days and now they are off for another four! The good news is that it will be another 220 years before Easter is this early again. This weekend is all about the chocolate for us as we don't celebrate in the Christian manner, this "celebration" is definitely the hardest one for this aethiest to swallow...the arrival of the "zombie Jesus". 'Nuff said. ;o)

Love this!

So lots of chocolate it is and a good excuse to eat too much roasted meat and drink some wine! We will head to the cottage to watch our neighbours make maple syrup if all goes according to plan. I had a call from Carolyn and she told me they have tapped trees and collected some syrup already and plan to start boiling on Saturday! This will be great fun for the kids to watch...weather permitting! Tim, unfortunately, has to work on Monday so he'll stay here and at least that saves me having to take two cats along with four kids and one large dog in the car...we don't travel lightly around here! ;o) Thankfully a local fellow brought in his tractor and plowed out Dad's driveway which was, according to Carolyn, "waist deep" in snow after the last storm! I hope the road isn't too treacherous with all this thawing and freezing going on this week and now some rather blustery, snowy & chilly weather. Our big dump of snow has been slowly "shrinking" as we had some milder weather and a bit of rain this week. Gotta love Canada in March...haha!

Plowing - country style!

Mom & Dad send me regular informative and taunting emails from Thailand, apparently they are finding decision making very tough this time around...do they have the Thai or oil massage, spicy shrimp salad or glass noodle seafood salad for dinner, walk the beach in the morning or wait until the last afternoon...my heart bleeds for them. Grrrrrrrr. Sounds like they are having a blissful trip so far. Good on them. I guess. Meh.

March seems to be flying by and I would think that Spring really can't be that far away but one never knows...as much as the kids have enjoyed this winter I think they are ready for the snow to melt, the flowers to bloom and they have begun to talk about going back to the cottage for swimming, boating, etc. this summer. Sounds like a good plan to me!

Hope you had a nicer first day of Spring than we did in our little part of the world! Here's a few pictures from the last few weeks in the life of the clan.

Cheers for now, watching to see if that lamb appears at the end of the month,

Laura :o)

Our backyard after the big dump of snow! The fence between our property and the next door neighbour is buried and our BBQ has quite a hat! You can compare the pictures from the "January melt" pictures in an earlier post!
Poor Oscar was up to his chest in snow!
It's so rare that I get pictures of Connor, especially in action (haha) that I had to post a few of these! He went out to enjoy the snow and did so with a big smile on his face. :o)

Take THAT camera-Mom!
Gaaaahhh, walking in this stuff is tiring...
Must...crawl...to...safety...
This is kinda fun actually...
The snow was up to Mae's hips!
Helping Con with his fort
Cam gets in on the action..
Mae had a daytime riding lesson during the break so I, finally, managed to get a few pics of her riding at Dreamcrest on "Mr. Kilts"

Mae loves this boy...
Getting warmed up...
And jumping! Wheeeeeee!
Delsin was invited to his first birthday party, a friend from his class. He was the only boy invited to Ryanna's party so he felt pretty special. :o) The parents hired an exotic animal trainer/specialist and he brought a collection of creepy-crawlies for a "hands-on" experience for the kids. It was all very cool...except for the tarantula...blech! Delsin was very brave and touched or held the following: a very large millipede, a tarantula (EEK!), a boa constrictor, a huge toad, and an American alligator! He did, however, draw the line at the Madagascar hissing (huge) cockroaches...wonder why that could be? ;o)

This picture cracks me up...it was his reaction when the guy brought the cockroaches around and his party host was wearing 4 of them on her back, shoulders and chest! She later wore the tarantula on her head...fearless child!!
Getting up close and personal with a slithery friend, brave boy! This one is especially for you, Jan..hehehe.