What to do when the snow isn't stopping...

I am sure that March will not disappoint us in helping us climb upwards in the stats of snowiest winters on record. Instead of despairing, I've turned my mind to tomatoes, peas, carrots, basil, zucchini, and other crops that we will plant in the yard not too long from now. Spring will come, dammit, so I ordered me some seeds as an act of late-February hopefulness.

Red

The amaryllis bloomed about at week late for Valentine's Day this year, but the beautiful red arrived with yet another big snowstorm. I love red things in general, but I especially love them in February - a little passion after months of cold.

Brothers

Everyone was game to take pictures tonight (even the more surly of us) so I got to update the family portraits. I think of these guys as my little rock band.

A Little Bit of the Tiger Mother...

Me: "Ellis, You didn't follow instructions on your spelling homework. You were supposed to do at least ten sentences or write a paragraph. You only wrote six sentences."
Ellis: "But I used all the words."
Me: "It's a good thing to be smart, but you have to work hard, too. You have to follow instructions. Do you want to fix this with me tonight?"
Ellis: "No, I'll just turn it in like that."
Me: "Why? Because the quality of your work doesn't matter to you?"
Ells: "No I just think the instructions say something different."
Me: "Well, ask your teacher, and if it's not okay, bring it home again so we can fix it."
Charlie: (chiming up from the back seat) "Hey, Mom! I did my spelling homework all right!"
Ellis: "That's good, Charlie. Then Mom won't kill you."
(We all burst out laughing)