Ding dong, the snow is gone!

OK...mostly gone! Sunday was the big celebration day of the last of the front yard snow melting, and after some serious spreading out of the backyard snow piles, I would say that tomorrow at around 12:17pm (just a guess) will be the happy moment for the back yard as well!

We were just discussing the other day how it seemed like one day we thought winter was going to last forever, and then suddenly the snow was almost gone! It looks like we're going to have a fair bit of raking to do once the grass dries out (that's what happens when it snow so much in October!) but it's nice to be outside and enjoying the spring. I even spent some time turning over the dirt in my flower beds yesterday - with the sun on my back I was actually HOT! I need to get everything ready for flower planting when I can because I'm not going to have much time this year to get things in - I'm due eight days after the long weekend!

Choice is good...

But too much choice, not so much.

I just got back from the local grocery store on what I thought was a simple errand - buy a chocolate cake mix. Sounds simple. But when I got there, not only did I have to decide which brand of mix to purchase, but just in one brand, there were FIVE different types of chocolate cake mix! I had to pick between chocolate fudge, milk chocolate, devil's food chocolate, german chocolate, and chocolate chocolate chip.

Maybe it's so-called 'pregnant brain,' but I literally couldn't make a decision...I was frozen right there in the baking goods aisle of the Beaverlodge IGA, totally incapable of making this monumental choice.

In the end I shook myself out of my stupor and went with the german chocolate...because it's a black forest cake I'm making, and the Black Forest is in Germany, right? Oh, and then got home and realized the recipe actually called specifically for Devil's Food. Too bad - I'm not going back!

Home again, home again

Greg arrived back home safe and sound tonight around suppertime. His Mexico trip went very well and he's glad to be home after eating tacos for every meal at roadside restaurants.

And what delicacy did his loving wife prepare for the evening?

Chili. Which, when Gavin asked what it was, I was forced to admit is 'kind of like tacos without the shell.' Duh. ;)

My sweet boy

Gavin's been playing post office lately, making pictures or letters and then 'sending' them to the recipient by sealing them in an envelope and putting a one cent stamp on it (small price to pay, I think). Here's the letter he sent to me today - I was downstairs working and he was in his room having quiet time, so he had absolutely no help with this.

The translation, if you need it: "Dear Mommy I love you so much Next day you can play with me Love Gavin" (The picture of the flower is stationary, he didn't draw that!)

Awwww....

Going, going...

Slowly but surely, our many feet of snow are melting - maybe it really will be gone by Gavin's birthday after all! (I was convinced he'd be having a toboganning party in May!)

It seems like every day last week I could very obviously see the difference in the snow level, and by the end of the week, the increase in the visible grass every day! This week is supposed to be colder and rainy (why does the sun always disappear when Greg goes away - I need sunshine!) but I am feeling like spring is in the air finally!

It's hard to get perspective from a photo, but the snow pile at the bottom of the deck stairs is still about 3-4 feet tall, but that's still a lot of progress from being taller than Greg!

Greg and Gavin shovelling out the water from underneath the swingset...but no water in the house, thankfully!!

A boy and his...cat???

Gavin has mentioned a couple of times recently that he thinks we should have a pet. The other day at the dinner table he brought it up again, telling us that we don't have any pets and that we should get a dog. I launched into a long story about all the things you have to do with a dog (take him for a walk even if it's cold or rainy, clean up his business, etc, etc). When I was finished, he sat there and looked contemplative for a moment.

"What do you do with cats?" he wanted to know. :)

Little puddlejumpers

It's been nice and spring-like here lately (finally!) so we've been taking the kids out for walks (aka 'parents following the random wanderings of the children trying to keep everyone from getting run over'). Abby LOVES being outside - she runs right into the middle of the puddles and splashes away - even when she falls flat on her face in the middle of the puddle she only complains for a brief moment and then she's off and running again. Big brother is a little more...sensitive...about falling, so we've had to have some talks with him about how a little bit of water is not the end of the world!

Tales from Gavin's room...

Gavin and Abby were playing in his room when suddenly I heard a 'Mo-om, Abby's doing something bad!' (not at all uncommon). This time, I opened the door to see...

'COLOR FACE!' she said. Yes, yes you did honey. But of course I'll take the picture first, then we'll talk about it. :)

A starter home ain't what it used to be...

We have certainly been aware of how house prices have been rising lately, mainly through friends who have been either buying or selling in our area. We are so thankful for our house - we got into the market just before things started really rising around here, in addition to getting a good deal due to the fact that our house had been rented out for a few years and not maintained very well.

Just for fun I was looking around on MLS (the real estate listing website) to see what kind of houses were available in the area right now...I couldn't believe how high prices are! Based on my (admittedly amateur) assessment of other houses listed there, we would probably get well over twice what we paid for our house just under five years ago. That blows my mind - just seems like WAY too much money for a house! Oh, and down in Edmonton there's a lovely 'starter home' for $325,000, as well as a 'fixer upper' for $329,000. I just can't imagine. I feel like our mortgage payment takes up just enough of our budget as it is, and these days it doesn't look like you can buy even a mobile home for what our house cost. The market has to go down some time, doesn't it?