We are definitely in between seasons here. The stark contrasts feel hopeful. Change is happening, not just in the air, but on the ground. The snow is melting, in some places it is entirely gone. And, I think that frozen germs have come back to life and decided to take advantage of my family.
For the first time ( I think?) all three boys are really sick at the same time. All in the same stage of needy-ness for the most part. None of them can really do much for themselves right now. Andy is doing what he can, but it ain't much, poor guy. So, here I am writing this in absolute silence with the door open so that I can jump up and assist with any requests coming from the bedroom. The only bedroom that we all sleep in, except for Andy, who has decided to sleep on the couch.
Before everyone got really sick, we went on a few little walks outside, and actually we went on a short walk today while everyone was sick, but it didn't last long.
Asa pointed out that the bark-less part of this tree looks like pizza dough. I'd have to agree.
Axel ended up with a fever about six hours after this picture. I can see it in his eyes now, but it didn't occurred to me at the time that he looked any different. I was so elated that we were able to play outside without a layer of down, that I didn't notice. Although now he is doing the best out of the three. I think he really burned through it hard last night. He's over the hump.
The boys built these snow tunnels with Andy a few weeks back. They are still hanging on, as of a few days ago. I'm not a fan. I tend to get freaky and claustrophobic about snow tunnels. Asa so wants me to be fun about it and go through the tunnel, but I can't.
We uncovered this gross business in the Milk house. It had been left on the table after we harvested it in September probably. It used to be a zucchini, now it looks like an over sized dried date/turd.
Even though Asa felt pretty rotten, he was still wanting to make things. He watched movies most of the day, but took breaks to create his visions. He is a man of many visions. This guy is a knight. See his pencil sword? This kid can make anything out of paper, pencil, random objects and tape.
He decide early on today that he wanted to make a scarecrow. I knew it wouldn't be entirely painless, because it required walking around outside with two sick kids. But, actually it turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. Not a minute after we walked out the front door we heard a knocking/tapping coming from the bird house on our fence. And, out flew a Northern Flicker. Such a sign of Spring! Also, a Meadowlark has been waking me up every morning. It sits high up in the locust tree outside our bedroom window. Dang, I am so excited about these new sounds.
Here is the scarecrow Asa made, with a little help, but not much.
He looks more like a scary kid than a scarecrow. But, I think he is terrific. He intentionally made him look scary, and placed him in front of the house to scare off anything that might be needing some scaring.
It definitely felt like an extreme Spring kind of day. Blue skies, dark clouds, graupel, rain, blue skies, wind, more graupel. Kinda awesome if you ask me.
There was so much that went into today. But most of it was inside the four walls of our house, wishing we felt good enough to enjoy this crazy weather.
