Katie used some of her savings to buy a new book bag at Target. It’s a satchel-style over the shoulder bag and the strap is long enough that she wears it across her body rather than over one shoulder. This morning she bounced out of the car - excited for a field trip today and the 3rd grade concert tonight – wearing khaki capri pants, a robin’s egg blue hooded sweatshirt and her new pink paisley bag. This past winter was long and harsh with lots of trudging through snow and carefully walking up the sidewalk to school. Usually we park pretty close to the door where she enters the school, it was a beautiful morning and she got out of the car and walked further than usual. Today she was head-up, bright-eyed and ready to go, she looked like springtime.

Watching her walk up the sidewalk to school, mid-stride she glanced over her left shoulder, brown hair shining in the sun, flashed me a million dollar smile and waved. I had one of those split second moments when you realize how much your child has grown and are truly thankful for how great they have turned out.

Gretchen brought be back to reality, down off the cloud I was floating on, when she said from the backseat, “Look how big my nose has growed!” I looked back at her to see that she has curled up her finger and put it the shadow of her profile on the car door – making her nose look like the old lady/witch from Snow White. “Oh my, it’s huge!” I say and she bursts into giggles, immediately followed by her typical nonstop chatter.

I sit here tonight dumbfounded at how quiet it is in the house. It has been a rowdy week around here, the girls were on spring break and we weren't sticking quite as close to bed time as usual. This was kind of hard on me, not getting my relative quiet time before heading to bed in the evening, and I was the only one getting up at the same time everyday. It will even out again in the next few days as we get back to our normal routine.

After the girls went to bed a couple of hours ago, Erik and I played Mario Bros. on the Wii and then I made it through 2/3 of my Evidence take home mid-term test before stopping for the night. Rommel has been wound up and has just now collapsed in a 90 pound pile on the couch.

Although we got quite a bit more snow than was called for last night, apparently it's the first day of spring. This weekend I have put off the regular Saturday housework in favor of some fun stuff. I took Friday off of work to spend the last day of spring break with the girls, thankfully they slept in a bit for me. We had a play date with my friend Angie and her wonderful boys - her almost 2 year old snuggled up to me and spread my shirt and chest with slobbery cookie crumbs. Note to self - don't wear a v-neck t-shirt if taking cookies to Angie's house because you definitely intend to get some love from the G-man. :-) It's so nice to be able to sit, chat and have a cup or two of tea while they play quietly, or not so quietly, but really play well together.

We have been to Hy-Vee, Walmart, Target, O'Reilly's and Toys R Us in just the last 48 hours. Katie scored her early birthday present in a new bike and Gretchen was really pumped to pick out paint for the custom paint job Erik will give her new (Katie's old) bike. After being sure for the last couple of days that she wanted a purple bike, she picked out sparkly royal blue and silver colors. Today we had my niece's bridal shower followed by picking out library books and a very short nap for me. I didn't mean to nap, we read the library books and "The Big, Big World" was on - they have the best nap time voices and I just couldn't help myself. Thankfully, the grating voices of "Dragontales" woke me up or I would have slept through dinner.

Tomorrow I'll have to settle down and do the usual weekend stuff and cram it all into one day. Clean the floors and bathrooms, plan out a few meals for the upcoming days and work in a few loads of laundry, well maybe more like half a dozen or so. Oh, and finish that Evidence mid-term. It's nearly midnight and with all of that work ahead of me tomorrow I had better get to bed. Goodnight.

This weekend it was so nice to take off the plastic, open the windows and do a little spring cleaning. The sunlight a warm sparkle to stream through and light up the house. It feels good to get some fresh air in the bedrooms, though it may be causing a little bit too deep of sleep - Gretchen just fell out of bed.

I wanted to pass along a really great window cleaner recipe that my mother-in-law found somewhere. I was a little worried about pouring ammonia into alcohol, but there wasn't a cloud of toxic fumes or anything. Happy spring!

Window cleaner

1/2 cup ammonia
1 pint alcohol

Pour ammonia and alcohol into an empty (clean) gallon size milk jug then fill the rest of the way with water. Pour into spray bottle.

Part of the beauty of music is that regardless of the intended message of the artist, you can put your own spin on a song when it strikes a chord. You are free to find meaning where it may not have been intended or apply a phrase to your life or current situation.

She said I don’t mind if you don’t mind. I don’t shine if you don’t shine. Put your back on me. Put your back on me.

I don’t know what The Killers mean by these lyrics or even what the song is called – it’s all over the airwaves right now. To me it just means that what makes you happy, makes me happy and I’m here to support you.

Hey soul sister, I don’t want to miss a single thing you do tonight.

Hey Soul Sister -- Train. My girls love this song and to me it’s that I don’t want to miss out on anything that they are doing – what they are up to, school, activities, friends. Growing up is hard and I’m trying my best to be there for them.

I swear I recognize your breath. Memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.

Elderly Woman behind the Counter -- Pearl Jam. One of my all-time favorite songs by one of my all-time favorite bands. You can identify pieces of what happened but time softens most memories – good or bad. You get back into the drivers’ seat after an accident, you have another baby, you remember a great night celebrating completion of final exams and that one awful roommate eventually disappears from the memory.

The space between the tears we cry is the laughter that keeps us coming back for more. … The space between the bullets in the firefight are where I’ll be hiding waiting for you.

The Space Between -- Dave Matthews Band. No new meaning in this one, that’s marriage, baby.

I could go on and on. What lyric have you fashioned into a new meaning and made your own?

February - good riddance!

2010 has started out pretty busy around here - I started on a new post to the blog 20 days ago and got distracted.

I am amazed and quite thankful that February is nearly over. Spring is almost here, at least we're down to weeks away instead of months away. I tossed the half-dead poinsettias and splurged on a $3 pot of pretty purple crocuses and as small as they are they brighten up the kitchen table. They are in the perfect spot to get a little morning sun which must have done the trick - when I left the house this morning there was one bloom and tonight I came home to three! Hopefully, I can keep the plant alive until it's time to plant bulbs.

Happy New Year!

It's not quite January but I'm ready to start 2010. It's not that 2009 wasn't a decent year, I'm just ready for spring and 2009 just won't get any warmer. Here's a quick recap of 2009 -- soccer, soccer and more soccer, a nice little family vacation, brought home Rommel (our puppy who is now 5 months old and weighs 50 pounds), three work trips for me to Phoenix, Boston and Atlanta, a motorcycle for Erik, and last but not least, a new nephew in December.

2010 will start out pretty busy and will likely stay busy all year. I have two classes starting the week of January 11th. The girls will start another round of activities before long. We plan to squeeze in a long weekend away with the girls and Erik and I hope to get away for our very own vacation.

Here are a few photos from Christmas.

The girls on Christmas Eve at the Faust House. I never realized how similar their smiles are.

Katie holding 11 day old Joe on Christmas Day. Joe is grandchild number ten for the King family so it was only fitting that he weighed ten pounds. :o)

Gretchen loves to play dress-up and was lucky that Grandma King found this beautiful dress.

New Pictures

Through the kitchen window, 15 inches of snow and lots of wind.

Katie being stylish.

Rommel.

Blond Ninja is her super hero name.

Our favorite coffee shop had a Toys for Tots event complete with Spider Man and Star Wars reinactors (see Princess Lea above Katie's head). The Marines in the background were real, not reinactors.

We are snowed in today, I think the official snowfall was around 15 inches and as far as I'm concerned that is enough to last all winter. It's funny, the wind has been so strong that we have 4-5 feet tall drifts in our yard and also patches where you can see the grass. It has been a pretty good day, the girls are getting along fabulously, I've been productive and managed to avoid the major shoveling. Somehow I have managed to not have snow boots - which makes the shovel avoiding pretty easy. They are on my to-buy list, as much as I would enjoy, it wouldn't be fair for me to not shovel all winter.

Next Wednesday is Katie's church Christmas program and this year each family has been asked to bring a dozen snacks. I made a half-batch of chocolate chip cookies and a dozen of those went in the freezer, the other dozen left out for us to eat. Half-batches of cookies are my absolute favorite, they don't take any time at all and as long as the original recipe includes an even number of eggs you can split it in half.

I also started on round three of Christmas baking - fudge and almond bark pretzels are in the freezer, dough for molasses ginger cookie is in the resting in the fridge. After dinner, I'll roll it out, cut into stars and bake. That's a new recipe so hopefully it turns out okay. The last round will be krumkake - a Swedish cookie Erik's Grandma Joy used to make. They require a special baking iron and turn out to be crispy cookies that are shaped into cones while they are warm and filled with whipped cream or fruit just before eating. As yummy as they are, I can't make the krumkake until about the 23rd - they do not freeze well.

Baking is about the only thing we're doing to prepare for Christmas and I'm really quite content with that. We are avoiding the stress of the puppy eating the tree by not putting it up and I'm not sure that I'll even send out cards. We did put lights on the bushes in front of the house and the advent calendar is up - and the days divvied up by the girls. Shopping is almost complete, just a few things left to gather. I'm hoping to spend lots of time with family and friends this holiday season, that's all I asked for from Santa.