Spring Fever

Alicia: "I think I'm getting spring fever."

Me: "Why do you say that?"

Alicia: "Because my nose has been running and my throat has been hurting and..."

Me: (giggling)

Alicia: What?

Me: "Spring fever" isn't a sickness! It just means you can't wait for spring.

Alicia: Oh. Well, I'm getting some sort of fever.

Me: Hay fever?

Alicia: Yeah


But she's got the actual spring fever too, just like the rest of us,
because our back yard looks like this:

And our front yard has huge piles of snow left over from snow blowing our wide driveway. Since weather is so capricious here, I tell my kids they can't wear shorts until the snow is gone from our yard.
Otherwise, they may end up in shorts during a freak blizzard.
It seems reasonable enough, right?
Not to them.
And to show their gratitude to me for protecting them from hypothermia,
they say things like, "you're ruining my life" and "what a stupid rule."

But at least it gives them a spring hobby:
shoveling the snow around so it will melt faster.