Top 20 Things I Learned on My Summer Vacation

1. Watch out for tornados (no kidding)!

2. Hiking in wet Tevas will give you a blister.

3. Getting a large group campsite is the way to go for our 3 tents and dining fly.

4. There actually are plenty of bugs already by the first week of June.

5. Daytime temps can get into the high 90s in Wisconsin in June.

6. Adding a wee bit of adventure helps even middle-schoolers love camping with the family. :)

7. Wisconsin is SO beautiful!

8. I love my sweeties!

9. After camping together for a week, there was a noticeable reduction in sibling fighting for the rest of June (no kidding!).

10. Fishing is harder than it looks.

11. Ugly orange life jackets are sometimes super cute.

12. Fishing poles work well as lightsabers.

13. WWD is a great Grillmaster!

14. The beach is bliss on a 90-degree day.

15. "Almost-level" ground for your tent site isn't.

16. One large jug of electric blue lemonade for Mom and Dad is not enough for 4 days.

17. Check the weather report one last time right before you leave.

18. Pudgie-pie irons are worth the investment. We love the double ones and recommend splurging on high quality. :)

19. Swarms of bug bites can scar your arms for the rest of the summer.

20. In spite of blistering heat, bugs feasting on us, a tornado passing through, and a damp, steamy tent, this family camping trip was really, really fun.

What a great start to a picture-perfect summer! I love my happy campers!!

Girls on the Run

MRD and KLD completed Girls on the Run this spring, and had a blast running with their friends. The culmination of the program was the girls all running in the Race for the Cure 5K, which was great.
I foresee lots more 5Ks in the future! :)

Gymnastics Girl's Big Sis

Go MRD go!

Gymnastics Girl

Loving my precious KLD! So proud of your hard work in gymnastics!

Kindergarten Star!

I had the privilege of spending a morning in class with JPD in May.



JPD, I am so proud of all your hard work this year in Kindergarten! You did it, my sweet little lover boy! And as you discovered early in the year, "Mom, I'm smart in school!" Yes you are, sweetie boy, for sure!

Celebrating the End of School

MRD and JPD, at least; KLD was running around with her friends and I couldn't catch her on film!! What a great end to a great year!

Tooth Fairy On Call

Look who lost his first tooth! Go JPD!
June 18, 2011

"This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" ~~~ The Apostles

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. Thanks be to God for his most precious gift of the Eucharist!

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you;
he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me.
This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever."
~ John 6:51-58

God Bless America!

End-of-School-Year Pageantry...

My Musical Maestro, MRD

These are from MRD's year-end concert, which may or may not be her last clarinet performance. She's traded in the clarinet for a summer trial with the violin, and I'm predicting great things with the strings!

Quick Takes Friday: Finally Summer!

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday.

~ 1 ~
Whoa! Long time no blog! Sorry...I've been brain dead and quite uninspired, too busy living life to take time to write about it. Plus, what I said in my prior post. I have about a million pictures to post from end-of-school stuff, and I promise to catch up with posting them soon, so stay tuned!

~ 2 ~
Tomorrow I have a phone interview for another job. To tell you the truth, this whole to-resume-career-or-not-to-resume-career situation has been so emotionally consuming over the past month or so, that it probably mostly explains my lack of blogging. Not getting the other job was a bit of a bummer, I suppose, and I've been rather fervently trying to discern what God's will for us might be. So often, the uncertainty is, itself, the cross we have to bear, right?

So now I think I've got my head wrapped around my fear, panic, uncertainty, frustration, etc., etc., etc., and I submitted my resume for another real-job position. Phone interview Friday morning--please pray for me!

UPDATE: Phone interview was fine; in-person interview coming soon. Stay tuned! :)

~ 3 ~
Oh my goodness I am reading the most wonderful book. It's In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden. It's dreamy, and now I'm totally fantasizing about being a cloistered Benedictine nun.

Here's a wee excerpt that I love, in the voice of main character Philippa Talbot:

"One of the good things about a Catholic church is that it isn't respectable. You can find anyone it, from duchesses to whores, from tramps to kings."

~ 4 ~
We did go camping last week, and it was fun. My dear husband worked his fingers to the bone to make it happen, and we almost have all the gear put away. It was quite a fun little kickoff to the summer. The kids had a blast despite two days with temps in the high 90s (What?), lots of bugs, and a tornado passing through the area! Lots of great pics coming soon, I promise!

~ 5 ~
Summer's off to a great start around here this week. Lots of swimming and sports all around. It has been so much fun hanging out at the pool this week and seeing all my pool-mom friends. Every summer I love seeing how much all the pool kids--many of whom we don't see often during the school year--have grown up!

~ 6 ~
Father's Day this weekend--guess where we'll be spending the day--at a basketball tourney with WWD! Now that's a happy Father's Day, don't you think?

~ 7 ~
That's all I got...Now go see Jen for lots of great Quick Takes! Have a great week!