The sun is streaming into the dining room...

...filling my kitchen with golden light and casting dark shadows of the table and chairs across the warm floor where the girls keep snuggling up in sleeping bags, pretending to sleep. (It's almost nap time.)
Patches of grass are finally showing. The wind in the trees is almost as mesmerizing as the sunlight. And after the long weeks, months of snow and ice...this day feels like a gift, hope that spring is coming. It's friday and I'm home with my girls. That feels like a gift every week. And tonight, we'll celebrate Ryan's birthday with my family. I'm making his favorite oreo/ice cream trifle dessert. He doesn't know it, so hopefully he doesn't check my blog.

I've been avoiding this job of posting again. I've never let my blog go so silent for so long. But with each event that I haven't recorded...each set of pictures I haven't posted, my procrastinating tendency grows. The job seems more overwhelming as it grows. This is one of my many weaknesses. I can't just start something in the middle, even if it's the right/best thing to do. I keep waiting until that elusive time comes when I'll be able to get 'caught up' first. But here I am, in spite of my crazy sickness. Maybe I'll go back and fill in the blanks of December and January and early February. Or maybe I'll just start here and try again. Either way...coming back feels good.

Here are two smiles that are even brighter than the rare winter sun...