"Sledding, Mama?"

That's what Sophie quizzically asked me as we looked out the window yesterday morning after she woke up.

Yes, Sophie, it looks like you can go sledding, doesn't it? Mama totally understand why you're so perplexed. We were just building sandcastles last weekend when it was 78F and now it's snowing. This is what we call a cruel joke. You thought winter was over, didn't you? So did Mama. Mother Nature is saying, Gotcha! She likes to toy with people's emotions like that. How are you supposed to learn about the seasons this way?...

Okay, I didn't really say that to her but you get the point. You think after being here for 8 years, we'd be used to this freaky excuse of a spring that Ann Arbor has by now. But no, every April, as if our memories were wiped clean of the disappointments of years past, it takes just one nice sunny weekend and we all foolishly believe again that winter is over, that we can finally put away our boots and down jackets, and bust out the flip flops and tank tops. And every year, we can almost always count on it to snow one more time before May arrives.

Just look- this is Sophie at daycare last week:

[Painting with fly swatters in the sun]

And this is her yesterday:

[Snowball fight in the middle of April anyone?]

I rest my case...