Spring is here. This morning I heard the birds chirping and I felt like they were officially announcing the arrival of the season. For me, in the south, the temps are getting warmer, but there are still cool mornings and evenings where jackets are required. I can hardly believe Easter has already come and gone. Spring sports are cranking up and the end of school is approaching so I’m guessing spring fever is alive and well in most of your homes. I remember having spring fever as a kid. The excitement in the air at school when you know the teachers have no more content left to teach, you’ve taken all your tests and there’s nothing left but field days or movie days. Summer is right around the corner. I decided to try to get in a spring mood and chose to watch the movie Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire. You have to enjoy musicals and classic movies to appreciate this vintage film, but it’s so fun. It opens with the president of a fashion magazine deciding to ditch the latest issue in favor of painting the world pink. A bright rose pink, to be more specific. Any girl who claims to love fashion would love the scenes that follow with displays of bright pink dresses, hats, scarves, and even shoes and jewelry in true 1950’s coordinated style. The magazine staff set off to find the face of the new collection. Insert Audrey Hepburn and they’re off to Paris. Paris in the spring. Fred Astaire proceeds to photograph Audrey Hepburn in beautiful Parisian locations with some great comedy and charming musical numbers thrown in the mix. To me, the perfect spring scene is when they photograph on location at the Chateau de la Reine Blanche, Rue Etang, on the western tip of Etang de la Loge, a lake in Coye-la-Foret, a couple of miles south of Chantilly. I can’t pronounce any of that, but it’s lovely. The scene is picturesque complete with blooming spring flowers along the water’s edge and swans floating in the lake. Fred captures photos of Audrey wearing the wedding dress in the collection in front of the beautiful historic structure that I think I read was built around 1290. Really a fun film. The only thing weird about it is the title. As if anyone would say Audrey Hepburn had a funny face? Anyway, after I watched the movie, I felt like buying pink clothes, and planting a bunch of flowers while dancing and singing. Seems like I am now in the appropriate spring mood.
Spring Chicken
Considering the fact that I fell into the group that could appreciate this year’s Superbowl halftime show, I have accepted the fact that I am no longer young. Let’s not go so far as to say ‘old,’ though. Even though the phrase, “no spring chicken,” usually means someone who is no longer young, that isn’t the reason for the title of this section. It’s spring and that always means baby animals are popping out everywhere. One thing that might be fun for a weekend activity is to visit a local farm. We have several options around our community, and they are perfect for letting the kids run around and get some much-needed fresh air. At some of the farms, there are baby goats, pigs, cows, donkeys, and yes, new baby spring chickens. At one of our favorite farms, the kids can get feed cups and feed the animals. My little one still remembers the time a donkey took the whole feed cup out of his hand. I heard him talking with my sister about it while on vacation last year. He’s six now and that happened when he was around 3. That’s quite the grudge. There may be some unique career opportunities for him at this rate. We had our oldest son’s first birthday party at that same farm. Our first significant dad catch happened there. The birthday boy slipped right off the saddle during the pony ride, but dad caught him. Such a great place and we have great memories. A big part of spring fever is just being ready to get outside and enjoy the milder temperatures. Parks, sporting events, and just having the option again to play outside is a welcome relief after the cooped up feeling of the winter months. My boys kept asking me, “mom, can we go swimming?” You, know, because they’re boys and the 30-degree weather did not seem to put them off. I had to keep explaining that it was too cold to go swimming, but that springtime was coming, and now it’s here. A trip to a farm is a great spring activity if you have one nearby. Let the kids just run and run in the wide-open spaces until they fall down. Then tell them to get back up and keep running in true Little House on the Prairie opening credit style. I realize I just dated myself again, but like I said, I’m coming to terms with the fact that I’m no spring chicken. Now, get out there and see some baby goats!
Spring Forward
Since daylight savings is still something we observe, we, like most of the country lost an hour mid -March and now the days are lighter, longer. We were in Hawaii for spring break, and it was then that I learned that Hawaii does not, in fact, observe daylight savings time. That was interesting. The adjustment in daylight; however, comes in parallel with spring sports. Practices and games make for busier weeks that require a bit more organization, at least for me. Trying to figure out dinner when one child has a soccer game at 7pm and the other has baseball practice at 530pm is somewhat challenging. Another obvious challenge is that I want to see the game too so it isn’t feasible that I can wait to start dinner when we get home, unless we aim for sitting down to dinner at 9pm each night. I thought I would share some recipes that are good options when you need something quick to accommodate a similar schedule. Depending on when your child’s games are (or practice or dance recital), you can either prep ahead of time or throw it together quickly after getting home. Also, depending on the recipe, there may be certain steps you can get started on to save time even if you can’t complete the entire prep prior to heading out to watch your favorite little one do his or her thing. Personally, I am having a great time. I love that my boys are out there, running around, getting hot and sweaty and we’re up on our feet cheering for our team that has worked so hard. Perhaps on another day, if someone were to ask, “hey mom, did you make something for dinner?” there might have been some unsportsmanlike conduct, but not today. Today your answer can be, “Why yes, yes I did. We’re having fill-in-the-blank,” with one of the yummy options below. Here’s to you, oh Hazel of the Home Team. No one’s keeping score but I’m pretty sure you’re winning.
Crispy Chicken Burger– (for another option, cook breasts in air fryer for 18-20 minutes)
Pepperoni Pizza Grilled Cheese
Instant Pot Creamy Italian Sausage and Shells
Spring Cleaning
I get very excited thinking about how clean my home would be after a good, deep scrubbing, de-cluttering, and re-organization. The problem for me in the concept of spring cleaning is that it implies a seasonal treatment with extras not normally included in the regular weekly package. Why is that a problem? Well, I don’t know about you, but I barely have time for the regular tasks of running a home without the seasonal bonus package. By the time laundry, bathrooms, sheets, floors, dusting, and vacuuming are done, there doesn’t seem to be much time for taking it to the next level with baseboards, windows, and a whole host of other cleaning goals. One great option of course is to call in a cleaning service. I think it is worth it even if you only do it a couple of times a year. That is time saved and probably corners visited that you might have missed. However, when it comes to de-cluttering or reorganization, you will have to roll up your sleeves and participate in this part even if you hire the experts for the deep clean. After all, you know best what needs to stay and what needs to go and how to organize your space. I included a couple of links below to some articles related to this topic. The first one offers a spring-cleaning checklist broken down by room. I like this approach. Rome wasn’t built in a day or cleaned so let’s not try to bite this off in one weekend. Pace yourself. There are other things that need your attention too. I’m guessing, they’re short, smaller versions of you that are a big part of the reason your home needs cleaning in the first place. The second article includes some additional tips for hardwood floors. Whether you phone a friend (i.e. cleaning service) or grab some gloves and decide to tackle it yourself, it’s time to spring into action and shake the dust off. Literally.
Article: Spring Cleaning Checklist
Article: How to Clean and Maintain Hardwood Floors
Earth Day
This past Friday was Earth Day. Recently, we participated in a community workday through our church and we got to help pick up trash around a local school in addition to helping put together some Easter bags for children. We also put on our gloves and picked up around our yard and the surrounding area. The boys were amazed at the things they found and even pointed out that people were not taking care of the Earth when they left items like that just lying around. They’re right of course and a simple activity like picking up trash can help impress upon them that we all need to do our part. Even though Earth Day has officially come and gone, there are still plenty of activities to do with your kids that are educational, help enforce ways we can take care of the planet and of course, are just silly and fun. I have included links to 3 separate blog posts that provide some options, tips and even some more yummy recipes. Some of my personal favorites are the thank you notes we wrote to bats and the way I used some old trouser socks to transform my little boys into bees. Check out the first two posts below for plenty of Earth week and spring activities. The last post is more of a compilation of random mom tips I have accumulated that I thought would be useful to other moms. Travel tips, tangled hair, recipes and more. We got the chance to go skiing in Maine back in February, which I will be writing about in a future post. Beautiful snow-capped mountains followed by sunsets and sea turtles in Hawaii. Yep, Earth is worth seeing, studying, and preserving. What an amazing home we have!
I’m hoping Fred Astaire and farm animals have helped put a spring in your step. I don’t know about you but I’m thankful for warmer temperatures and more and more days where we all get to play outside. I can enjoy rushing off to games knowing I have a plan to feed my little ballers. Spring cleaning doesn’t seem so daunting a task with my room-by-room checklist. I plan on topping off my various activities with a spring playlist. Everything should have a corresponding soundtrack. Pick some of your favorite tunes and get moving. Put on some pink, grab your vacuum and tidy up your space in a way that would make Marie Kondo proud. It’s spring, 2022 and frankly I’m just glad the title of this post has nothing to do with covid. In the lyrics sung by Frank Sinatra, written by Oscar Hammerstein, if you feel
“as busy as a spider spinning daydreams
as giddy as a baby on a swing, …
It might as well be Spring!”
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