That was fun...

Despite the snow and cold, the Easter Bunny still arrived with loot for everyone. There was ample shivering and shaking, but the girls will endure most anything for their weight in candy. And after the egg hunt, it was time for donning new Easter dresses--and a new bonnet for Bella. Easter is one of my favorite times of year because it's a reminder that spring is on its way, and there are dresses in countless shades of the season to remind us. Of course posing in those lovely dresses isn't nearly as much fun as twirling and engaging in general "princess-ness" so these are some of the best shots I could get.

My apologies for the odd layout of this post--I'm still learning. Which is also the reason I can only get select photos to upload while for others I simply get error messages. *#@*%!

Give Me A Break!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh... my Spring Break has finally arrived--accompanied by a snow advisory and the chance for up to ELEVEN inches of snow! The distance between this forecast and my desired forecast for spring break is nothing less than a black hole.

Easter Basket Goodies? Check.
Easter Dresses, Sweaters (*$#!*$#! weather!), and Bonnets? Check.
Appointments for Hair Cuts? Check.
Adequate Caffeine (form of: coffee)? Check.
Laundry Done? Errrrr....

There's nothing good about this Friday--it's laundry catch-up day, my least favorite day of the week. But in the spirit of positive thinking, counting your blessings, etc, here are some Good things about this Friday:

1. I'm at home with my girls.
2. I'm getting a fresh hair cut today, of which I am in desperate need.
3. I'm sitting here with a fresh cup of coffee, listening to the sounds of my girls playing house together downstairs--without crying, fighting, or shouting "MOM!!!!"
4. We had an all-out dance party this morning to the song, "There's No Monsters In My House!" by some old friends, The Gooby Band (album: Silly Songs for Serious People.)
5. My husband has been especially patient with me and my endeavor to learn guitar, so now I have more than a dozen songs in my "repertoire." I plan to play this afternoon.

Speaking of music, anyone who knows me and hubby knows we love music in all of its forms: cds, live shows, group performance, solo performance, improv, etc. So when trying to come up with a name for my blog, I starting hearing some of my favorite songs in my head. The one that stuck out was "Achin' To Be," a song by a now-defunct band from Minneapolis, The Replacements, from their album Don't Tell A Soul. I'm posting the lyrics because I think it's a beautiful song, and doesn't it express a universal truth? Everyone in this world simply Achin' To Be.

Well shes kind of like an artist
Sittin on the floor
Never finishes, she abandons
Never shows a soul
And shes kind of like a movie
Everyone rushes to see
And no one understands it
Sittin in their seats

She opens her mouth to speak and
What comes outs a mystery
Thought about, not understood
Shes achin to be

Well she dances alone in nightclubs
Every other day of the week
People look right through her
Baby doll, check your cheek
And shes kind of like a poet
Who finds it hard to speak
Poems come so slowly
Like the colors down a sheet

She opens her mouth to speak and
What comes outs a mystery
Thought about, not understood
Shes achin to be

Ive been achin for a while now, friend
Ive been achin hard for years

Well shes kind of like an artist
Who uses paints no more
You never show me what youre doing
Never show a soul

Well, I saw one of your pictures
There was nothin that I could see
If no ones on your canvas
Well, Im achin to be

She closes her mouth to speak and
Closes her eyes to see
Thought about and only loved

Shes achin to be
Just like me

On the brink...

Twenty-four hours from now I will officially be on SPRING BREAK! This is excellent news, of course, although I have stacks of papers that need critiquing before I'm truly free. (It's never a good sign when you're brewing a pot of full-strength coffee at 8pm.) But I can do this, right? There really is no alternative. Here's to tomorrow afternoon!

And so it begins...

Well, yes--the weekend. So it begins. But mostly I'm thinking of SPRING. The last two days have been in the 40s, and this rare treat has been lost on no one--especially my sweet girls. We've hauled out every ride-on toy packed away in our garage and have even gone so far as to dust off the lawn chairs. I know we have plenty of sub-zero temperatures and possibly even--gasp--snow still to come, but a bunch of girls can dream, can't we?

Something else is beginning as well... the days of my oldest being asked outside to play by neighbor kids. It was quite sweet tonight when our neighbor's 9 year old granddaughter came over to ask my daughter if she'd like to "scoot" on the parking lot. She was quite excited about the invitation, of course, although her little sister wasn't sure about the arrangement. How quickly my little girl is growing!

I'm off to a state tournament championship game tomorrow, which is always an exciting experience for a school. That means a weekend's worth of cleaning must be packed into just part of a day. Hmmmm.... we shall see how the house fares under that schedule. Prediction: not well.

A Queen and Her Castle

Due to a variety of circumstances surrounding my schedule and the schedule of Dear Hubby, after 8pm this evening I will find myself at home, alone. Just me. Well, me and my sweet Shih Tzu, but she's virtually no work at all and excellent at snuggling.



So the big question becomes What do I do? Go to bed early? Stay up late (and inevitably regret it in the morning)? I have to admit, I feel the pressure. What will I do with my one chance?? Because, let's be honest, who knows when this opportunity will present itself again. Clearly some big decisions have to be made, and I foresee myself snuggled in the recliner with my laptop at the ready and the radio turned up louder than usual. (I know. I'm fantastically wild.)



But the true reward will be tomorrow morning, when the only person I have to get ready is... (wait for it...) ME. No scrambling to get two little ones dressed, to brush hair (to mad protesting, always), to pack bags for school and the sitter's house, to pack my own bags up, to scrounge for my lunch. Instead I may be able to shower without a four year old at my feet, without trying to mediate fights from behind the shower curtain, and without rushing through the entire process because there's no other choice. Yes, tomorrow morning may be my greatest reward of all.

Into The Weekend...

I try hard not to tick off days until I reach the weekend because I figure I'm "wishing away" 70 percent of every week if I get caught up in that game. However, I do so look forward to my Friday evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays.

So what's on tap for this weekend?

1. Laundry: evil but ubiquitous
2. Correcting: I'd feel better about working through my last set of tests if I wasn't collecting a set of essays next week.
3. One-on-one with my youngest: my oldest is going on an adventure with Daddy to Chicago, so the "little one" (not really little, but I'm clinging to that label) and I will have some rare time alone together. I'm thinking shopping, snacking, and tickling.
4. Wilco: A friend and I are making a foolhardy trip to see my favorite band, Wilco. I may regret the trip on Monday morning (or afternoon....or even still on Tuesday...), but I plan to thoroughly enjoy it on Sunday.

May the minutes pass slowly!

Farewell, February

It's been a long winter. Exceptionally long. And of all the long winter months, February often feels like the longest despite the fact that, technically, it's the shortest. I'm a public school teacher in a district that apparently hates democracy and presidents, so we have no holidays off during the entire month. None. And spring break is still in the distant future. So the month of February typically slogs by, and I don't survive it as much as allow it to happen to me. February and I coexist, and when it's past I flip my calendar in relief.



But this year was a bit different. In fact, February and I got on quite well. And this can only be credited to one thing: the Wilco Residency. My husband and I were both fortunate enough to snag 5-day passes for it, and the anticipation of, participation in, and memory of the event made an otherwise intolerable month pass with relative ease.



Certainly the hours spent at the feet of the band were extraordinary, but the hours spent waiting in line and cavorting afterwards with fellow fans were just as exciting and entertaining. Reverberations from the stand in Chicago sustained me for the remainder of the month, and now I'm just a couple of weeks away from Spring Break.


So thanks, Wilco. See you in Iowa.