A couple of months ago, while at Home Depot, I saw some inexpensive seed kits. They came in an aluminum bucket and had the dirt, the seeds, and a couple of small digging tools. We had the choice of sunflowers or tomatoes, and we got one of each. I thought it would be a fun "project" for Alison and I. I put them into the coat closet until it was warm enough to be able to sit the buckets out on the deck. That time came last week. We dumped in the dirt, buried the seeds and tried to keep them watered but not drowned. Today, while trying to water but not drown, I noticed that we have sunflowers!! There are at least four little plants shooting up, maybe five. Nothing's happening in the tomato bucket yet, and I'm not sure whether they are going to make it or not, but we'll keep an eye on them. Alison is pretty excited about her new flowers. Heck, so am I. :)

A couple of days ago, Tuesday I think it was, I strapped Alison into her stroller and off we went for a walk. We did our old 2 mile circuit, and I think she talked the entire time. She might have stopped for a minute here and there, but I really think she talked almost nonstop for 40 minutes. Anyway, she spent much of the time pointing out various flowers. We saw crocuses, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, but the "flowers" she was most fascinated with? Dandelions. She thinks they are just the greatest thing. She picks them and brings them to me...."I brought you a flower mommy." And I'm a good mom. I thank her and then take it and put it in a glass of water.

Took Alison to the ped to get her MMR vaccine this morning. We did not get it at the recommended age, opting to wait until we absolutely had to -- meaning, for school, and I was planning to have her get it when I took her in for her physical for preschool. Well, we have mumps in our area (though not in our city), so I figured it would probably be a good idea to go ahead and get it done now instead of waiting until June, which is when her check-up is. The doctor gave me a hard time about not getting the stupid thing in the first place and the nurse gave me a hard time about wanting to get it now....."it says here that you refused this vaccine." "Yes..and..now..I..want..to..get..it." Maybe she doesn't watch the news.

Alison was not at all happy about getting a shot, but she recovered quickly after it was done. She screamed and carried on for about three minutes, until the nurse mentioned picking out a sucker and a sticker. But she still told me, several times, that she does not like "little pokes."

It's been a long time since I've acutally published something in this blog. I have started writing some things and saved them as drafts, but never got back to finish them up and publish.

Life has been kind of busy lately, I guess. My 3 year old has a very packed schedule these days....some might argue it's too packed for a 3 year old...though in reality, she hasn't picked up any new activities. The ones she's been in are just scheduled a little differently so it feels like there's more. How can one small child make me feel like I'm running in 10 different directions?

My brother and future sister-in-law's wedding shower was the first weekend of April, so Alison and I spent the weekend with my parents so we could attend. It was a bit of a challenge to keep a slightly hyper, slightly overtired 3 year old from tearing the room apart, but we managed and nothing got broken. :) Really, she wasn't that bad, and could have, in fact, been a lot worse. It had just been a long day, complicated by changing the clocks and being up early for church, where she had been pretty well behaved.....we've been practicing being in church so she can go to the wedding without being a disruption.

Somehow, Easter snuck up on me this year, even though I was well aware of when it was and that it was coming up. I raced around the whole week before trying to get this, that, and the other thing done before we headed back to my parents' for the weekend. Somehow, I managed to get everything done, and we even got to see the Easter Bunny, just before he had to go back to Bunnyland. We got a pretty good picture, too, even though you can see the guy's face through the mesh mouth.....just don't look too closely. :) I did some frantic shopping and came up with something new to wear, since I thought I deserved a new outfit, only to arrive at my parents' to find my mom had bought the same skirt! I don't know exactly what that says about her taste....or mine....but at least it was just her second choice outfit and not what she had really planned to wear to church.

So now we're settling in to our new schedule for the rest of the spring. The Saturday swimming classes were all full, so Alison is going on Tuesday mornings instead. By the time I get used to that, the class will be done. It did solve a problem for us though, because the last class of the session, and the one where they get to go down the water slide, would have been the same day as my brother's wedding if she was going on Saturdays so she now she won't have to miss it. However, the wedding is going to cause another conflict for her. It turns out that there is another dance recital at the end of this session.....and it will either be the night before the wedding or the afternoon after it. But it will all be all right because her teacher is going to have a special dress rehearsal that week, just for her. :)

A recent look at our calendar showed me that the soaring price of gas is going to put us in the poorhouse by the time we finish all our travel obligations this summer. I think we might be home for two, or maybe three, weekends between the Mother's Day and the middle of July. The killer is going to be our trip to Maine. I am really not looking forward to that trip.

The weather has finally started turning nice. We've had quite a few days with above average temperatures lately, which is nice for now, but I dread what that could mean for the summer. So we've been trying to have Alison outside as much as we can. We moved the flowebed to another place in the yard, so we've got a bare spot where we're attempting to grow grass and she's been "helping" keep the area watered. Gonna have to keep an eye on her because she can turn on the spigot by herself now. Kevin was going to take her for a trike ride around the block on Friday, and she made it as far as two houses away before she jumped off her trike and into their sprinkler. She was soaked, but thrilled. It also brought to my attention the fact I've got to work on a summer wardrobe for her. She can still get in to her shorts from last year, but I think she just a little too young for the Daisy Duke look.

And that's some of the view from here.