Springtime ramblings

It's spring!!! Well, just about. I guess the official first day of spring is March 20, but this is Texas after all. I'm so excited! I can't wait for sunshine - I know the sun's up there somewhere, hiding behind the clouds. It has to come out eventually, and when it does I might just break into song. It's been damp and dreary lately, so Madi and I still haven't gotten to go on our fabulous picnic yet, but we went shopping and picked out a basket, so it's going to happen. I think it'll look something like this:



Jane Austen-style picnics are the best. The above picture is from the Box Hill picnic scene in Emma. I just finished watching the Romola Garai version, which I thought was excellent - for any of you Austen fans, who might be interested.

Madi and I haven been on a bit of a fairy tale kick lately. We've read all but one of the stories in the fairy tale book I bought at Half Price Books, and I recently introduced Pat and Madi both to the show Once Upon a Time. Madi loves it! One of her favorite characters is the evil Rumpelstiltskin. She says "he's the kind of bad guy that you like." Every time she hears his creepy little laugh, she starts giggling.



We have grand plans of dressing up like princesses to go see the new Cinderella movie. I think Madi's already picked out her outfit.

My Prince Charming and I got to get all dressed up last weekend for a friend's wedding. He was one of the groomsmen, and I got to sit there and watch him be all handsome and remember our own wedding almost 3 years ago. Our anniversary is in 12 days! We're going on a getaway trip during Pat's spring break, but I have no idea where to. Apparently the plane tickets have already been purchased. I love romantic surprises!

Of course, there's been more puppy-holding in the past few weeks. When you can't play outside, you go to the pet store instead.

Yesterday, Madi and I started working on a scrapbook together. We'd been planning to all week, and she was so excited! She told my mom all about it the other day, and said "we're going to make a scrapbook all about ME!" I had actually started a book for Madi awhile ago that I was going to give her as a surprise, but when she asked me last week if we could make one, I decided she'd enjoy it a lot more if we did it together. It was so cute to see her meticulously pick out the pictures she wanted to use, and go through all the stickers and decide how to put her page together. I remember when I was little, how fun it was to look at all the pictures of me growing up. It's fun to see Madi enjoying that too. One of the most fun parts about parenting is watching your kid enjoy the things you loved when you were that age - whether it's scrapbooks, fairy tales, American Girl dolls, crafts, or playing outside in the dirt.

"If people did not love one another, I really don't see what use there would be in having any spring."

~Victor Hugo, Les Miserables