Well, the first official sign of Spring has finally arrived. You can keep your groundhogs and the like, I'm talking about turning the trampoline out for full duty. It only took about fifteen minutes to strip away the tarp and insert the dozen or so support rods in the safety net and we were in business. Granted, the first and last jumping sessions required slippers, mitts, and jackets, but we were jumping nonetheless. This winter was a particularly long and potent one, and we will definitely still have snow on the ground this time next week when Spring Break starts, but we aren't going to let a little setback like that get us down. $10 bucks says it snows tomorrow.

One of the bigger highlights of the winter season was the kids both losing teeth like they're going out of style. Sammy lost his first one and Chloe lost her bazillionth, but the Tooth Fairy thankfully showed-up to purchase the reuse rights to the kids enamel. I say "thankfully" because in the past the Tooth Fairy has had trouble getting here on the first night that a tooth has been placed under a pillow. Word is it's because she hits the sauce pretty hard in between collection runs. I'm just saying.

The kids both got Nintendo DS's for Christmas so they were pretty excited. This move had the added benefit of keeping Sam occupied in the mornings when he wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and wants to get on with his life. We are usually good until about 7:30 a.m. now. Sam seems to be drawn to the action games like Pokemon Diamond Version and New Super Mario Bros., while Chloe seems to like the more imagination driven titles like Nintendogs and, rather fittingly, the Imagination series of games. Sadly, my Xbox 360 was nowhere to be seen under the tree on Christmas morn. Maybe next year.

More recently (as of today in fact), Chloe has become a certified babysitter, scoring a whopping 87% on her test at the end of her course. We're, of course, very proud of her, but this is just one more milestone in a seemingly endless procession of big events that keep pulling my little girl further from my protective parent arms and closer to the young woman she will one (not very distant) day become. Pride and sadness mix making me feel like I need a drink. I wonder if the Tooth Fairy is doing anything tonight...