I keep having to remind myself that really it isn't spring yet. Whenever I begin to get lulled by the beautiful sunshine and the fifty degree weather I have to remind myself of March 21st two years ago when we signed for this house in the middle of a snow storm and ended up stuck in Ann Arbor and staying with my parents. It was fun, but definitely a Michigan style spring. I am expecting at least one more of those episodes yet this year.

But still there are signs of spring all around us. At the library last Friday we were treated to a special "farm animals" story time, followed by a chance to touch and feed a variety of baby farm animals. What could possibly say spring more than bottle feeding a baby goat?

Maybe tiny peeping baby ducks?

How about maple syrup? On Saturday morning after swim class Jon took Calvin to a  special Parks and Rec presentation on maple syrup. Yummy. Calvin got a chance to crank the tap into the tree and also to taste some freshly made syrup.

Definitely signs of spring everywhere, even if we are in for at least one more snow.

On Sunday this past weekend I watched Jon dress the kid in his full winter regalia for a trip to the nearby sledding hills. They spent an hour out in the snow pretending to be Frog and Toad in the story "Winter", which mainly entailed Calvin falling off the sled repeatedly. When they came home and proceded to make a snwoman for an additional half hour, I knew the weather wasn't quite as "depth of winter" as it had been of late, but with March just a day away I wasn't about to get my hopes up for spring.

I still don't have any real hope for spring being "right around the corner" (that's more Frog and Toad, in case you're familiar), but when March arrived this year it brought with it sunshine and relative warmth. We have taken walks outside and enjoyed the sounds of birds playing in the yard. I guess it's time to get the summer feeders set up again so that our birds will be able to find us.

The snow is falling softly outside and looks almost magical in the street light on the corner. Coming in earlier from a quick romp in the snow with the dogs Jon offered that someone should move Christmas to February, and watching those big flakes floating down I know what he means; two snow storms and a week of almost continual snow makes this feel an awful lot like December. It's beautiful, and I'm enjoying it mostly because I know that March, and then April, is just around the corner.

Looking outside to see this same sight on Sunday night was a surprise to us; I hadn't checked the weather in a while—we'd just been enjoying the warmth and the sun—so the heavy snowflakes were a bit shocking. Jon's bosses called Monday morning to tell him not to brave the roads to come in (being able to work from home in the winter is a real benefit), so instead we went out to brave the heavy snow blanketing our driveway.

Calvin is a big help. He actually really loves to shovel, and will shovel everywhere he goes, he just doesn't walk in a straight line while he's at it and we end up with a labyrinth of snow trails.

A foot of snow isn't really all that much, but living on a cul de sac there aren't very many places to put it after it is shoveled off and we end up with snow mountains. I love the snow mountains; they make me feel like there is more snow than there really is.

Snow enjoyment is not limited to human activity; Moose may not like the snow much, but Ollie is true snow dog. Jon likes to throw snowballs for him to chase, which he does with much more enthusiasm than he has ever chased a tennis ball.

Snow angels in the embankment—much easier than on the ground. When I was little we had to get down on all fours, then flip over, getting snow up our sleaves, in our coats, and down our boots, in order to make the perfect angel, which we only did in order to take a rest on our two mile uphill walk to school, a trek we had to make even in the deepest snow storms you've ever seen. Really.

He's not buying it.

Obviously we didn't mind the shoveling. In fact, we enjoyed it so much it we did it twice—once in the morning and once in the afternoon (it was easier that way)—and the second time we also shoveled our neighbors' acreage. Sometimes having anything to do is a good thing, especially when it's something fun that is followed by hot chocolate.