Spring is in the air

Just a reminder to anyone lucky enough to have a Rita's water ice close by...

Tomorrow is the first day of spring but more importantly it's free Rita's water ice day! Of course it's supposed to be the coldest day of the week, but the deMontaigne's will be there, freezing our butts off, getting our free water ice. And the fun thing is, we don't really like Rita's that much. We much prefer the italian water ice we can get year round at the pizza place down the street (and it's a closer walk). But free is free and we can't pass that up!

That's Ella getting all excited at the thought of free water ice. She's been bugging me to go to Rita's for weeks now. One day of warm weather and all of sudden she wants to get her swimming pool out and go to Rita's. The picture is right before going to church on Sunday all dressed up in the outfit that Matt picked out for her. I thought it was so cute I had to find an excuse to post it!

OK, now I need some input. It's almost Spring - so that gets me thinking about Spring cleaning! In theory I think it's a good idea. I imagine my house sparkling clean, smelling fresh with all the windows open and the stale air of winter being swept away by a spring breeze. The open window part is the most realistic thing. Sparkling clean, not so much. I have a hard enough time keeping up with regular straightening and laundry and cooking to think about deep cleaning. But it's something I've always wanted to do - and to do within a short period of time, not over a month or so.
So my questions are:

Do you spring clean?

When? How? What does is consist of? How long to do give yourself to do spring cleaning (a long day, a week?)? If you don't have time to really do a deep spring cleaning, what are some of the essential things you do do?

My problem probably lies in organizing and straightening - those two things seem to be my downfall and take up most of my time. I feel like most of my time is spent cleaning up the tornado left by my kids from mealtime and playtime. Now I have been getting Ella to help put her dishes away and help clean up toys, but it still doesn't change the fact that after I get everything put away I don't have time or energy to clean other than dusting or vacuuming (and not as often as I'd like either).

So share some secrets, tips, favorite cleaning product... whatever!

I'm thinking of asking some of my organizationally-gifted friends to maybe spend a day helping me go through some problem areas in the house. If I'm brave I'll post some before and after pictures. If you are one of those people blessed with organizational skills, please feel free to offer your services!!! In return I'm happy to cook you dinner, babysit your kids - whatever it takes!

Just some recent pictures of the kids!

Ella enjoying herself at a cooking birthday party. Happy 2nd Birthday Mackenzie!

Catherine enjoying herself outside on one of our nicer end of winter days.
Catherine holding her ears as Matt uses his band saw to cut something.

We've had some nice weather and are definitely ready for spring. On Wednesday it was 75 degrees and sunny out! It seems like a distant memory because we are currently in the midst of a ice/snow storm. Pretty yucky and messy out. Of course the deMontaigne's ventured out to Target this morning - we knew it was bad out because we were able to get a spot right up front .

It's been a long week. We all got sick at the end of last week and into the weekend. The yucky stomach flu kind. As I've noted before I hate this type of illness - it actually makes me feel very overwhelmed and depressed/anxious. I'm very glad it's passed, I just wish that I was able to deal with it better - its' part of life, but it's one part that I can't handle! Aside from all the seriously bad things that can happen like cancer and death and stuff. Not to make light of that - more to make fun of myself for freaking out about things that aren't a big deal in the big picture.

Well the kids are in bed and I think Matt and I are going to watch a movie - Casino Royale. Sorry for the rather dull post. Hopefully I'll come up with something more scintillating in the next few days!

I'm in my hometown of Clearfield for a few days, spending time with the kids visiting my parents. It's always a treat for them to visit Nama and Pap-Pap's house - filled with all of the toys I grew up playing with since my mom doesn't throw anything away. Currently she is bidding on Ebay for a vintage Fisher Price doll house family (from the 70's) so her set will be complete.

While we were here Ella got to go sled ridding for the first time down the little hill in my parent's back yard. She really loved and went up and down the hill for about a half hour straight. Catherine went to but didn't seem to enjoy it as much - she did look cute all bundled up though.

My mom got down a couple bins of old dress up clothes and costumes and Ella tried on everything! She rarely stands still long enough to get a good picture but I tried- I'll have to post some when I put them on my computer.

A few weeks ago Ella discovered a few of our old Disney movies - The Lion King (man the animation looks so old) and Toy Story and Toy Story 2. It's actually been fun watching these movies over and over and over again. It's a nice change from her previous favorite Madagascar, from which she was beginning to quote lines, such as "You're on the Jersey side of this cesspool." Seriously. After watching Toy Story 2 I heard her on one of her toy phones saying "hi big scary man, why'd you take Woody". So I do know that she's following the story even though some of the jokes are over her head. With the Lion King we have to fast forward 50% of it - Scar's Hitler inspired speech and the hyena's marching like Nazi's, Muffasa's death, the ending battle between Simba and Scar - actually makes for pretty short movie that way. But I swear when Simba climbs the mountain/rock to take his place as the rightful king I get tears in my eyes. I know it's sappy - but they just don't make 'em that way anymore.

I just saw that "they" are hoping to release Toy Story 3 in 2009. Wonder if they'll still have the original "cast"? Can't imagine anyone else doing the voice of Woody and Buzz.

We're heading back home tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing Matt and the result of his latest home improvement project - new windows! He put new windows in all our bedrooms (we had our main floor done a few years ago - he watched and learned and saved the money doing it himself this time around)! I am so excited at the thought of being able to open and close my windows on a whim. If you have old, practically painted shut, windows - you can relate to my excitement. We're also hoping it will cut down on the amount of stink bugs that get in our house. Matt is hopeful and I am skeptical because those things are persistent. I don't know if they are just in our area, but everyone with older house that aren't as air tight seem to get them.

Well if I try and type much more I'll probably end up not finishing this so I'll end here.....

Don't forget Daylight Savings Time this weekend!