It seems impossible that June is almost halfway over. We wait and wait for summer to arrive and it goes by so fast that we barely have time to enjoy the warm sunshine. The girls will be spending a lot of quality time with Daddy this summer as his work schedule is flexible enough to not require day care. There are days that I wish that the tables were turned and I had the flexible schedule. Then there are days that the girls are acting like sisters and cannot stand to be around each other. Those are the days I happily skip off to work or class.

Here's hoping that the summer slows down a little and that we all have time to enjoy our friends and families, bbqs, smores, guacamole and salsa dinners, fireworks, cold beer, parades, fireflies, sun tea, garden fresh tomatoes, sweet corn, homemade ice cream, and picnics.

Rommel update

Here is a list of non-dog food items the 95 pound pup has eaten in the past 4 months or so. Rommel is quite adept at tearing open ziplocs, plastic sacks and tupperwear-style containers. The vet is convinced he's part German Shepard, based on his coloring, long nose and apparently he doesn't walk like a Lab. He's 47 inches long from the tip of his nose to the base of his tail and will be 1 at the end of July.


tomato
package of hot dog buns, minus the plastic
flarp -- pink stuff found in the Target dollar bins, minus the container
6 chocolate chip cookies
4 blueberry muffins, minus the ziploc
3 raw marinating pork chops
carpet - just a couple inches worth
2 pair of underwear, one at a time
protective cover from a wii remote


Here are a couple pictures of the big lug. Notice how he likes to hang out near the spot where he tore up the carpet.

Our girls' birthdays are two weeks apart and this year we are throwing a party. Unusual because there are 32 people in our combined families - yes, that's just grandparents, one great-grandma, siblings, spouses and grandkids - and the last few years we have just had the grandparents over for dinner. This year we were crazy enought to throw an actual party.

The girls are really excited, they see most of their cousins pretty routinely and it's always fun to get everyone together. We own a total of 10 chairs and a couch so the party will be at one of the city parks. I think this will work out well, plenty of space and the grandkids can play on the playground equipment. We have invited everyone for lunch and cake though we're not exactly sure what's on the menu. Katie & Gretchen picked out hula paper plates and napkins which I though was hilarious given their cake demands.

Two things are definitely set - one 2 layer devils food cake with a Batgirl symbol, and one 9x13 white cake with a Supergirl symbol. This fascination with comics is not my fault. I'm not really sure that I want to encourage it with the cakes but it appears that I have no choice - no flowers this year, no hot pink cupcakes, not even a green Incredible Hulk chocolate chip cake.

Now the research starts, finding a good picture of each symbol, figuring out how the heck to map them out on the cakes. Batgirl seems pretty straightforward, Supergirl, not so much. I did just learn something from www.wilton.com - for black frosting start with chocolate frosting so you use less of the icing coloring and don't get a gross aftertaste. I'll make sure to post pictures of the finished product, even if they don't turn out that great.

Something has been not right with the universe lately. Natural and man-made disasters seem to pop up on a weekly basis. Maybe one more earthquake or volcanic eruption will provide a jump start to get everything back on track. Maybe this spring rain we have had more than enough of lately will wash everything clean, let us all start anew.

If there is anything to learn from the local, national, and family events of late it is that we should all be taking a little more time, making a little more effort. Slow down. Reflect. Spend meaningful time with your children, your spouses, your family and friends. Those e-mails and the stack of research will be there waiting for me at work tomorrow – they are tragedy proof.

Before going to bed at night I wander around the house, look out the windows, check the locks, fold the last of the laundry, set the coffee pot for the morning, give it all a good once-over before turning out the lights. Somehow I stopped walking into the girls’ rooms to check on them before going to bed, started to just peek in from the doorways. I’m not sure why, maybe I felt too busy, didn’t want to bother them, thought they were too grown up.

Don’t get me wrong, we have an elaborate bed-time ritual complete with face washing, teeth brushing, hair brushing, bed straightening, room pick-up, closing curtains, lights off, lamps on, one book to Gretchen, a quick chat with Katie, a hug and kiss from both.

This is the routine for them, checking on the girls before I went to bed was just for me. I know they are in their beds, I can see them from the doorway; see them when I reach in to turn off the lamp. At some point I got out of the habit of reaching out to touch them, brush the hair from their faces, pick up the bear that lost its spot on the bed, take in the beauty of a sleeping child.

A couple of nights ago I broke the habit of not and walked into Katie’s room to check on her, brushed the hair back from her face with my hand and pulled the blankets up a bit. Gretchen was hanging halfway off of on her bed. I picked up her tiny sleeping body and put her back in the middle of the bed, pulling up the blankets, tucking her in again. How did I ever make it through the night without checking on them?

Recent recipe discussion with my Mother

Sitting down at my parent's dinner table.

Me: "When I make this it never turns out right."
Mom: "You must not be following the recipe."
Me: "Well no, because the recipe calls for diced tomatoes and I know that you use sauce and it calls for the rice to be added and cooked in the sauce not separately like you do since Dad won't eat rice."
Mom: "It doesn't call for diced tomatoes."
Me: "Yeah, I just read it the other night, I swear it says diced tomatoes, and green peppers and onions. It was really chunky when I made it."
Mom: "I'm sure it says sauce."

At this point, Mom gets up from the table mid-meal to retreive her copy of the same old cookbook we all have to reveiw for my obvious errors.

Mom: "Well, I guess it does call for diced tomatoes. ... And, well I don't add much for green peppers 'cause your Dad doesn't really like them in this, and well I switched from onions to the dehydrated ones 'cause you don't like onions. ... Oh, and I always made 'this recipe' with 2 pounds of ground beef 'cause there were so many of us."

Western Hash from the cookbook v. how Mom really makes it
1 pound ground beef v. 2 pounds ground beef (used to be 2 pounds when the kids all lived at home, now it's usually 1)
3 1/2 c. tomatoes v. 12-16 oz. Hunt's tomato sauce
1 c. chopped pepper v. 1/4 c. very finely chopped green pepper
1/2. chopped onion v. 2 T. dried minced onion
1/2 c. uncooked rice v. 2 cups rice cooked separately and one baked potato for Dad
The last four ingredients are actually the same: 1/2 t. salt, 1/2 t. basil, dash pepper, 1/2 pound Velveeta. And the directions - brown beef, drain fat, add rest of ingredients execept cheese and simmer for 25 minutes, top with cheese and heat until melted. Serve on top of rice or baked potato.

Mom: "Well I guess I have made a few changes over the years."
Me: "Yeah, I guess so."

We could have similar discussions on lasagne, meatballs, vegetable beef soup, spaghetti sauce, and numerous other recipes.

If I were a month I’d be September
If I were a day I’d be Friday
If I were a time of day I’d be 11:00pm
If I were a font I’d be Georgia
If I were a sea animal I’d be a starfish
If I were a direction I’d be East
If I were a piece of furniture I’d be a lawn chair
If I were a liquid I’d be water
If I were a gemstone I’d be a sapphire
If I were a tree I’d be a magnolia
If I were a tool I’d be a screwdriver
If I were a flower I’d be a white dahlia
If I were an element of weather I’d be sun
If I were a musical instrument I’d be a guitar
If I were a color I’d be brown
If I were an emotion I’d be a little worried
If I were a fruit I’d be a sweet dark cherry
If I were a sound I’d be laughter
If I were an element I’d be neon
If I were a car I’d be a reliable one
If I were a food I’d be a blonde brownie
If I were a place I’d be home
If I were a material I’d be cotton
If I were a taste I’d be cinnamon
If I were a scent I’d be lilac
If I were a body part I’d be a hand
If I were a song I’d be Oh Heavenly Day by Patti Griffin
If I were a bird I’d be a red winged black bird
If I were a gift I’d be homemade
If I were a city I’d be one nearby
If I were a door I’d be painted bright red
If I were a pair of shoes I’d be sensible ones
If I were a poem I’d be anonymous
So, what would you be?

Easter pictures

We had a busy Easter weekend, hopping here and there (haha!). Here are some pictures from the King gathering. While I did manage to show a couple people how the new camera works, I failed to take any pictures at the Faust haus. Next time, I promise!

My Dad and Mom.
My sister Julie and her family, Jamie, Ashley, Natalie, Ryan and Elizabeth with Julie in the back.

My brother Dan and his family, Sara, Paul and Charlie.

Erik, Gretchen, Katie and me.

Mom and Dad and all but three grandchildren. We were missing Violet, Jessica and Mr. Joseph was in the middle of a much needed nap. Notice that Dad cannot sit still and behave himself, he must tease a grandchild. Here they are, left to right, front to back: Ashley, Paul, Natalie, Katie, Gretchen, Grandma with Charlie, Emma, Grandpa, Elizabeth and Ryan.

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.