And as I stare out my window all I can see are little pops of yellow all over my yard.

Even after mowing.

You see, I’ve recently realized that Spring dandelions are much smarter then Summer dandelions.

Summer dandelions stretch long and tall chasing the sun across the sky.

But Spring dandelions know better.

They stay low to the ground, hidden safely where the mower can’t reach.

But sadly, as they are the very first flower to pop up around here, they are no better off.

There are too many little boy hands,
scrambling around for every last one,
in hope of presenting the largest bunch.

And while dandelions aren’t exactly my favorite flower,
they can certainly be put to good use.

Especially in our nature journals:

There is nothing like a sunny afternoon spent making Dandelion paint.

I too, joined the fun.
painting dandelions with dandelion paint…

And immediately, the structured homeschooler in me thought,
“Yes! We could draw the different stages of a dandelion and color them in with different things we find around the yard.”

But then, I looked down at my little blond babies,
watching their yellow stained fingertips scribble away….

and I realized that today we were only meant
to do nothing more then paint the sun.

Here are some more dandelion activities to try this Spring!