Please Go Away Winter

I'm seriously hoping this is our last round of winter colds. It started with Grace and ends with me. Luke has been miserable and his face is one, continuous, crusty mess. He's seriously cranky in the morning and so am I with these swollen glands so we make a great pair. . .

The mornings are still cold but I know soon--please God PLEASE-they will be warm and we'll head outside. By lunchtime we do have some outside time and Grace is thrilled to see the bulbs starting to stick their little heads up. I'm reminded that the first time we saw our house it was around this time of year and the bulbs were out. It's a nice memory and still very, very clear.

St. Patrick's Day and Easter are quickly coming. I struggle to explain both of them to Grace. The idea that we might share an Irish heritage is a little difficult to explain to a 3 year old. And she seems a little freaked out by a giant bunny bringing her candy while she sleeps. Honestly, so am I. Whenever I try and explain the Easter Bunny to her I laugh thinking of David Sedaris arguing with his French teacher over the Bunny. In France apparently a giant bell delivers the candy. Sedaris argues this is absurd. Who ever heard of a giant bell delivering candy? The reader is left to ponder the absurdity of all of it--in its totality.

The running has been going well and the baking and candy making even better. Both are hobbies I've been really enjoying. On Sunday I went for my longest run EVER-just under 8 miles and I really, really enjoyed puttering here, there, and just about everywhere without ever going too far from home for fear of not being able to make it back. My cold kept me from running yesterday but I have high hopes it will happen today.

I've been playing around with candy making. I got it into my head that I wanted to make candy bouquets for people as a kind of pick me up present. Tom had a good friend who had a terrible, terrible week so we sent her one. Another mom who I know through a mom's discussion board has a son (Nolan) who was born with a rare form of liver cancer. He's actually undergoing a liver transplant as I type this. The moms on our board started a fund raiser to help the Morrison's pay their bills and I contributed another candy bouquet. Here is the link to the online store if you'd like to help the Morrisons. Even with insurance, Nolan's medicines (which he'll need his entire life) will cost $500 a month: http://www.ForNolan.etsy.com
People seem to get a real quick out of them and I get a kick out of making people happy. Here is a pic of what they look like:

I also made a lemon poppy seed bread yesterday which is seriously good. I love breakfast breads because it's not unusual for me to miss breakfast and I can gobble a piece of bread down on the run. This weekend we're going to a St. Pat's party and I can't wait to make a Bailey's Cream Cake with some fancy mousse! I promise to post a picture!