Actual Signs of Spring!!!

Carley dug out her flip-flops and we dusted the cobwebs off the bikes.

The dog and I enjoyed looking at our shadows in the afternoon sunshine.



                                Our front yard is beginning to have green buds amongst all the winter brown.

The last of the snow has melted and we really do have green grass underneath.  What a breath of fresh air spring is.  I think this is my absolute favorite time of year when everything is coming to life and the sun begins to shine after too many dark and snowy days.  I am coming alive!!!!

Ouch!!! She took one for the team!

We are so proud of her accomplishments, and when she told us she was going to be running hurdles and the long jump I was still happy, but YIKES!!!!  Each time she runs over a hurdle I hold my breath...and this is why.......................

They got the best of her today!  Luckily it was cold outside and she was wearing her sweatshirt or the rest of her would look the same as her face.  Tim called me in class tonight and said to stop by Target on my way home to get gauze pads and the biggest band-aids I could find.  I asked, "What did you do?"  Then he broke the news gently to me..."but she is OK!"  And of course she wants to be ready to run in this Saturday's track meet.  We will see!

My Girls...

They are only four years apart and sometimes they get along and sometimes they don't!

She is the comedian of the family along with her dad!

We are trying to be aggressive with her warts.  Despite the numerous laser and chemical treatments, we are not having much luck.  She is continuously happy and optimistic and looks like she is ready for the boxing ring everytime she comes home from the doctor's office.  What a trooper!

Finally...

This picture was taken last Saturday.  We were burried once again!  The kids and I went out exploring because we were sick and tired of being cooped up.  Needless to say we didn't last very long in this winter wonderland of ours.

But a miracle happened on Friday!!!  We haven't seen this miracle since January and it was a welcome sight.  The sun was shining for the first time in months, really, it has been months!!!  The blue sky does exist!!!  The temperature made it to the low 40's and I swear we feel like summer is here!  The trees look dead, but who blames them after such a harsh winter?

We even discovered our long lost driveway!

We do have grass!!!!  Spring might actually happen.  The kids and I are convinced the snow is finished for the season, but Tim keeps warning us not to get the sandals and shorts ready yet because it is only March and Old Man Winter is just teasing us!  We actually do like your teasing, please let it last a few weeks.......

So we pulled out the short-sleeved shirts and opened all the blinds to just eat that sunshine up!!! 

 Hurry Spring!

Tomorrow we are forecasted to make it into the 50's!  You just can't imagine the happiness in this corner of the world.  I'm planning my garden even though it is still under snow.

Crazed!

There isn't much I can say about this little ham-bone, her face says it all!

This is what my kids do for fun!

Someday our grass will be this green again.  Maybe it already is because the snow has been moisturizing it so much!  Needless to say, I am ready for spring.  Dallin and Carley and the dog were playing "king of the mountain" on snow mounds in our driveway today.  I can't find my camera cord or I would show you some of these funny pictures of the dog on top of the mounds and the kids looking up at him.  They keep life fun!

I Wonder...

The most wonderful lessons in a classroom come from those not even planned.  After graphing today's high temperature on our science graph, we made clouds out of shaving cream and Elmer's glue, it was FUN!  We made cirrus, cumulus, stratus, and cumulonimbus clouds, they turned out so beautiful!!!!  We were hanging them in the hallway and one of my students said out of the blue, "I wonder so many things Mrs. Busch."  "Like what Griffin?"  "I wonder what the longest word in the english language is."  "That's a really interesting wonder."  Another student that was in the hallway said, "I wonder how many languages there are in the world."  So I grabbed that and ran with it.........we all went back into the classroom after admiring our clouds and I asked more students what they wonder.  Hands flew into the air.  So.......we made an "I Wonder..." chart in our classroom.  I put little sticky notes out so students can write down their wonders, it is filled!!!  So this afternoon we traveled down to the computer lab and library and tried to answer some of those "I wonders...."  It was an amazing day!  I didn't lecture, but they were learning and reading, it was truly amazing.

The longest word in the english language as of this moment:  pneumonoultramicroscropicsilicvolcaroconiosis

"To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves."

Our Winter Wonderland!

Might as well get used to these winters and just face the fact that I am now a northern girl from the south.  My blood is very slowly becoming thicker!  These bitter wind chills and less than desirable driving conditions are WONDERFUL!  I love them!!!  This newest member of our family loves when we bundle up and come out to play with him in the snow.  It really is beautiful!  At least I have a warm home and I don't work far from our home on those terrible driving days!  Life is good!