Is It Spring Yet?

I know the Groundhog saw his shadow and all that and we should be having six more weeks of winter. But I'm getting kind of tired of the cold weather. I generally love winter and prefer cool weather, but these last two winters have really been a pain. In December, lying around in sweats and warm socks is cozy and adorable, even. By February, it's just old and gross. I want my energy and will to get up and go back. When it's cold, all I want to do is sleep and wrap up in a blanket on the couch and watch TV and/or doze off. Consequently my house looks like wild animals have taken up residence.
Another bad thing about winters in NC is that the temperatures are so up-and-down. One day it's 65 degrees and the very next day it's 45 degrees. No joke. It's very hard to know what to send your children to school in unless you have the Weather Channel broadcast inside your head. I never know what the temperature will be like, so I always make them take a jacket and I have a "no shorts or capris past November" rule that I enforce. Skylar really tries to get by me on that one, and sometimes it's legitimately warm enough for shorts in winter around here, but I have to put my foot down. If I didn't, I would never be able to pack up out-of-season clothes and we would all have to double our dresser and closet space.
Skylar would wear shorts and a tank top and no socks or shoes every day of her life if allowed to. She should really live someplace tropical when she's an adult.
Topsy-turvy temps are bad for colds, too. Every single person in this house has been sick over the past several weeks. Bart had an ear infection; Lucy had a stomach virus on top of a sinus infection; George had fluid on the ear; Skylar had a fever and a nasty cough; I had a persistent sore throat and a slight fever and that stomach virus Lucy had. I suspect Drake may have had a little sinus infection, too, like Lucy, but he seems to be (possibly) getting better, though he still has a yucky cough.
Uggh.
Speaking of yucky, today at lunch, Drake called me a "yucky mom". He's been saying I'm a "mean mom" from time to time, if I happen to have to tell him "no" or reprimand him, but this one was out of the blue. I'm not sure what I did that struck him as "yucky". I guess I shouldn't take it too hard, considering it's coming from the boy who used to stick his finger in the toilet bowl and then lick it.
Now that's yucky.
Also at lunch today, Drake and I had a lightsaber duel with our soup spoons. Drake ate a ton of soup this way. We would duel for a minute, then take a break to let our lightsabers become spoons again while we ate. Then we were at it again. Drake is saying now that he wants to be a Jedi when he grows up, too, like Bart wants to be. He said he wants all of us to be Jedis, even Lucy, even our friends the Nicolaysens.
I love kids' imaginations. I can still remember the wonder and magic of my favorite TV shows and movies. There's nothing like playing dress-up and building forts with your siblings and friends. I just don't think there's anything in adulthood to compare with it.
Lightsaber spoon duels are pretty cool, too.