The first daffodil's of the season

Here's a picture of the first daffodils I've seen this season.  They've appeared after an incredibly long cold spell and TWO snows.  The temp has been comfortable for only about a week, so they must have just recently shown up.  I think it's fitting I saw them today (3/7).

Health Goal #1…no soda

My first health goal for the year was to give up soda. I needed a starting point, so I decided to give up soda for Lent. "But, Susanne, you're not Catholic." Quite true, but I thought it would be a great time to start. I did well for a couple days, but this has been much harder than I thought. It's not the physical addiction that's been a problem. I would argue that I'm not addicted because I don't' drink that much soda, but…. The hard part for me as been the mental addiction: The habit of ordering a soda with my lunch or when I go out for dinner. It's second nature and I don't' think about it. Half-way through I realize "I'm not supposed to be drinking soda". Unless I'm focused and uberaware, I order it. So although I really WANT a soda around 2:00pm (*yawn*) giving up soda (although I haven't given it up yet since I've fallen off the wagon several times), hasn't been that difficult physically. it's the mental habit that I need to break. I did really well today. Tomorrow it starts over again.

Becoming Annie

Apparently Aunt Susanne is hard for an almost two year old to pronounce, so for many months, Sammy called me "uuuhhh". But then one day, many months ago, everything changed. We were in the dollar store, and I had my car keys hooked to my jeans. Sammy pointed to them and exclaimed "uuuhhh" because he wanted to hold the keys. When I asked what he wanted, he said "Annie's keys". My heart melted. I was no longer called by a generic sound that was also used for "yes," "what's that?" and "want that". I was separate and distinct from everything else in the word. I had been named. This is a picture that was taken a couple minutes before this fantastic moment. We had found some "rawr" hats that he absolutely loved...for 20 minutes (as soon as we were in the car, his attention was occupied on other things).  But when we were trying them on and giggling at how funny we looked in them, I took a picture of us so he could see himself in the hat.   And I'm so glad I did because now I have something to remember this day by.

"Um, sir? I don't think the camera is hidden anymore."

See more funny videos and Cute Animals Videos at Today's Big Thing.