Spring. It bounces on springs.

The lull of winter is gone, and we are left chasing the boing of spring.  Before soccer and baseball start, we are wrapping up gymnastics, Pinewood Derby for scouts, the Science Fair project, and a visit from Flat Stanley.  And learning the ins and outs of roasting a chicken.

Today's Hump Day Short is mostly in pictures of this surge to a warm spring.

The annual Pinewood Derby Car Build.  Other than the wet white space shuttle falling on the dark stained wood floor in the kitchen necessitating  moving like lightening to scrub up the acrylic white paint before it set -- all went well.  Great camaraderie between Bill and the boys.  And within the Pack:  Having won and gone to districts for two years, the boy that won in Will's den stepped down and let the 2nd place finisher go to districts.  Yes, the sweetness of that gesture made a few of us moms tear up.

Will completed his science fair project independently this year.  Just as well, I don't think the dining room table would have held me.  Actually, this is just the presentation preparation after the experiment: How much weight can eggs hold?  Four eggs didn't even crack under the weight of 25 pounds of books.

It's always a pleasure to have Flat Stanley visit us.  For some reason, teachers in Iowa include Flat Stanley books in their very early spring curriculum.  Nevertheless, Stanley and I made it to a beach and picked up some shells for my niece.  My fingers took longer than his to thaw.

Liam and I wrapped up a cool, windy, rainy spring afternoon with the preparation of a roast chicken.  That boy likes to cook!  I nearly killed the moment when I started in on a story about how we used to help Grandma butcher chickens.  He had chosen the word "butcher" for his vocabulary the week before.  The student dictionary's definition was something to the effect of  "to prepare meat and sell it."  I soon curbed my version.  Some day he'll read the real story.

(Have your read the real Fowl Story?)