In like a (tired) lion (or, alternately, March Rocks...)

It's that time of year in Cleveland.  Having been teased by the promise of spring, we are now dismally resigned to the return of winter.  Resigned to our routine and the cold, we trudge on, holding fast to the little bits of extra light at the end of each day....

Ok, so its not really so bad as all that.  But our 75 degree wonderland is most certainly gone and the pace of daily life is most certainly not vacation-like, and I am most certainly rather tired just now.
I am also really hoping that last week's line of severe storms, Friday's small blizzard, and the plethora of meetings I've had to attend both before and after school qualifies as "in like a lion," and maybe the worst of March is already behind us.

Here's what we've been up to with our bits of extra light:

Enjoying Forest Hills Park in the spring...

My little family!  My heart!

 A fun President's Day at  Lake FarmPark...

I've been singing with a little church choir near us and Ivy has fallen in with a group of same aged kids at the church.  She also notes that she thinks the Bible stories they learn about in nursery/Sunday school are "kind of nice".  Well... her mother WAS a Bible Bowl champion so this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise...

 Here she is enjoying the Fat Tuesday-on-a-Sunday pancake breakfast.  Best thing about a church, right?  Communal food!

 More singing, another church...  a sublime winter concert at St. Stephen's with West Shore on the 26th.  Some of my favorite repertoire (Schubert's Mass, and lots of favorites from the Hymns. Folksongs and Spirituals collection) and such a wonderful, resonant, reverant space to sing it in!  I have most of the pieces memorized at this point so the whole experience just felt great-- I was in my best voice and able to really sink into and enjoy the music.  Days like this make all the Tuesday night drives so very worth it...

 In the midst of our "return to winter," there have been a few lovely days, too!  A couple of lake walks to add to my bank...

Celebrating Gram's birthday.  She doesn't like birthdays but we won't let her get off that easy.  :)

Rocks!  That's what else we've been up to.  Painting em, sealing em, getting friends together to paint them, and today, having a blast hiding them at Wade Oval.    We haven't found any more since our introductory rocks back at Brandywine falls, but no matter.  We've been having a great time.  Hoping to singlehandedly (single- family-ly??) get rock hunting to catch on in our area...

A few of our early works, in their local hiding spots last week....

Last night-- an impromptu girls night rock painting party....Nat was out of town and Jack at a sleepover... single parenting one child is a very *quiet* endeavor.  We needed company!  And had SO much fun creating with our friends....

Kids and I headed to Severance with Gram this afternoon for a wonderful performance of "The Firebird," complete with puppets, masked dancers, and some sublime instrumentation.  By the time the show ended, spring had returned to Cleveland, and so we went to enjoy it with everyone else over at the lagoon.

Jack, overtired from a sleepover last night, alternated between enjoying life and sitting and reading in various locations.  Just can't stop this kid from reading.   (I am OK with that.)

 What a great place, and a great day, for rock hiding!

 We had the joy of seeing one of our rocks get found!  This young lady had been checking out a rock on our first pass... and here she is just as we walked out of the lagoon-- running off with her find!  About half of the rocks we put out, were gone before we left the park. Hoping they brought some smiles (and that at least one of them will get posted!!)

Finally:  my funny little mammals.  What would we do without our pets?  They bring me so much joy.