Springing It

Daughter penned her first poem in bed last night:

Daeses [Daisies] blossim
I do not hear them.
They are sweet.
Boys rock
Somtimes.

**
She also requests: Mom, when [grandma next door] dies, can you and dad move there so me and my husband don't have to drive to see you?

I'm Back!

Did you miss me? Did the taxes (check); cleaned out the raised beds from last year (check); rescued daughter who had tripped backward over some yard obstacle (first frightening dash through the yard as son screamed Help! Help! ... not recommended); drove five hours to St. Louis for FAB agents day and spent time with three interesting agents and a mess o' interesting kidlit writers while family wandered the zoo in sudden inexplicably cold temps; survived long drive home on snow-covered I-44 while kids watched movies and occasionally announced they had waited until bladders were on Defcon 4 before sharing the info with us, the drivers.

I may actually be ready to go back to work tomorrow!

Much Like Our Tax Return

Our spring break hasn't even arrived yet, and it's been "spent" several times over. Somehow, without benefit of a warp in the space-time continuum, we are supposed to :

• Do our taxes (I know, I know);
• Go to Kansas City for writer's workhop (yay);
• Go to St. Louis for two nights for another writer's workshop (yay) this time taking the fam along to do zoo/museum/hotel pool/restaurant/arch things on the side;
• Hook up with family 1 for lazy afternoon of games, letting the kids play and generally run amok;
• Spend a day or two in PJs (because how else will we know it's a break?);
• Get one day at work each;
• Plant a garden;
• Paint the MIL's porch;
• Reorganize, declutter, and generally "spring clean" the joint;
• Take the kids bike riding...
  
  You get the idea. Daughter wrote her own list last night after baths. It said:
  
  Swimming.
  Snow cones [I wasn't going to tell her NOT to use the "w" now, was I?].
  Dentist.
  Remy's house.
  Biking.
  Gardening.
  
  I prefer her list. We still get a garden started, but no tax return to do, and we don't have to go to work at all.