Signs of Spring

Not much is new with the Knudsen's since my last post.  Since returning from our trip to Nashville we've settled back into our normal routine.  In these quieter moments it seems that life will continue on the same forever but after looking at the calendar yesterday it occurred to me that finals is less than seven weeks away and that a short time after that law school will be over and we will be moving on to another phase of life (and the possibility of another city, house, etc.).

So these quieter, everyday moments have taken on a new significance as we think of them more as events that we must cherish.

 

         One thing I love about Saint Louis is that winter comes late and leaves early.  A few days ago I caught a hint of that "fresh dirt" smell--you know, the one that triggers that desire in Iowans (and other sensitive people) to go out and buy things like seed packets and pretty new gardening gloves.  I resisted the urge (at least for now).  In case you were curious, my "garden" last year amounted to this: 

So needless to say I felt a little defeated.  Yes, that small red dot on that sad, shriveled plant is a tomato and no, this was not a miniature variety--at least it wasn't supposed to be.  I am not, shall we say, "gifted" at growing things.  I was able to distract myself from the temptation of buying spring plants, as with other bad decisions, by making food.  In this case, I turned to a package of frozen strawberries from my parent's garden last year.  They really do taste like spring, which is to say a little bit like dirt, which I like because that's how home grown strawberries should taste.  I was inspired to put spinach in this smoothie by a friend in Ames who made me one like it last summer, but admittedly hers was better and tasted more like strawberries and less like spinach.

In other news, my parents' chickens started laying eggs again (I hope you enjoy that last statement as much as I am).  Seriously though, this egg is lovely.  Laugh if you must, I get excited about beautiful eggs; I do!

 

It reminds me of this artist who started a blog called "A Painting A Day" and was seriously obsessed with breakfast for about 6 months. 

This one came with a surprise feather, so you know it's good. ;)

Sunday we went to our neighbors' house for dinner, though it would be more accurate to say we went downstairs, since we live in the same house.  We are super blessed to have such great neighbors living in such close quarters because there are about 1,000,000 ways that this arrangement could go wrong, but thankfully they are fantastic.  Anyway, they are great and as I was saying, they invited us to dinner.  I was supposed to bring dessert but since I didn't have time to go to the store and had so many eggs, I made cream puffs.  They are pretty easy if you haven't made them but require kind of a lot of equipment (why won't this picture center?  The mysteries of Blogger...).

What does your kitchen look like after making cream puffs in a hurry on a Sunday afternoon in a 1930's style kitchen with no counter space and a 7 month old?  This:

  

I'm not sure the pictures do justice to the mess, but hopefully you get the idea--things get a little crazy here people.  And now for some cute pictures of Evelyn.  Thanks Aunt Susan, Uncle Don, Benjamin, Julia, and Audrey for the cute knee high socks!  And thanks to Grandma K. for the fluffy rug, which is especially great now that crawling is in full swing.  As I was vacuuming this rug this week, I remembered how a few years ago I wanted a fluffy white dog to keep me company during law school.  I guess I got a fluffy white rug and a baby to keep me company instead, which I couldn't be happier about!  Just look at that face! 

Happy Spring!!!