Big Brother Little Brother

MPD loves having his hero brother home for Spring Break!

Making bunny and chick cookies for Easter...



And coloring Easter eggs...

My dad was the oldest of four brothers, and his youngest brother is 9 years younger than my dad. My Uncle Andy--the youngest uncle--always says that, growing up, my dad was absolutely his hero. WWD is 9 years older than MPD too. Since I have only one younger brother myself, I can hardly even imagine how big WWD must seem to MPD, and JPD also. How cool to have such a giant, smart, basketball-and-football-playing, Mass-serving(!), brother! I'm so proud of my boys!

Quick Takes Friday: Out Like A Lion

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday!

~ 1 ~
Big big BIG news here at Chez D...MPD's potty training has been, so far, short and sweet! He turned 3, he donned the Bob-the-Builder big-boy underpants, and he hasn't looked back since. As of tonight, both #1 and #2 are strictly in the potty. Woo-hoo MPD!



But you know what this means, of course. I'm within spittin' distance of having a diaper-free household. I don't even know what to think about that. Maybe I should close this laptop right now and go try to get pregnant. On second thought...nah. I'll finish this post first, anyway. :)


~ 2 ~
MPD does sleep in my arms for most of every night still. He's abandoned his crib and happily gets tucked into his bottom bunk bed each evening, then after a couple of hours of alternately playing with JPD, fighting with JPD, sneaking into his sisters' room and making them fuss, and scurrying up and down the stairs and getting re-sent up to bed, he falls asleep with me if he can. Otherwise he always finds his way to my bed before morning. I love it. I know that in the blink of an eye, he'll stop doing this, so I just enjoy having a little snuggler in the crook of my elbow while it lasts. (Bill is more skeptical, however.)

~ 3 ~
This week has been Spring Break for the middle 3 kids around here. I have loved having them home, and especially loved not driving them up to school every morning. I do miss homeschooling, and I would so love to do it again. Who knows, maybe we will again someday. But in any case, this week has been relaxed and fun, despite some very cold and rainy weather! Stay tuned for photos of some of our adventures! :)

~ 4 ~
I'm so proud of MRD! One day this week she went to school with WWD for a middle school "shadow" day, and now she's more excited than ever about her new school for next year. Also, she took the placement tests for her 6th grade classes. Apparently she aced the math test and tested out of 6th and 7th grade math, so she'll be in pre-algebra next year. Go MRD!

~ 5 ~
Lent so far...awesome as ever. It feels quiet this year--no big dramatic giving up of Diet Coke, nothing too newsworthy--just peace. Some things have surprised me--I didn't deliberately give up Facebook or blogging or computer time, but I haven't been too interested in it lately. Same with waking up early--I've been a bit sick and other things (see #2 above--haha!) that have prompted me to just naturally go to bed early and get up early, in spite of myself, which is another thing I really wanted to do this Lent. It really does feel like God is driving and I'm just along for the ride, which is perfect.

~ 6 ~
Bill's job search is going fine; thanks for asking! Nothing much to report on that front. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us next. :) In the meantime, Bill has replaced most of the ceiling light fixtures in our house this week and they look so awesome and updated! I don't have before-and-after pictures (darn!) but you can use your imagination...before=80's brass / after=aged bronze with frosted glass. Very nice.

~ 7 ~
Happy Feast Day of the Annunciation!
I love the Annunciation. It is so sweet and joyful to think about blessed Mary saying her "yes" to the Angel Gabriel, without understanding, without knowing what would happen next, without reservations. Just "yes" to God's will. What an inspiration! And now...Christmas in 9 months! :)
I like this artist's non-traditional take on the Annunciation, don't you?

Happy Spring! Now go back over to Jen's for more great Quick Takes!

MPD is 3!

Our two-year-old has left the building! :)
We held our traditional family Chuck-E-Cheese celebration tonight (strategically early on a Tuesday evening), and MPD had a blast.He's very big and proud to be three, and he loved his special day. (If you look closely, you can see Grandma in the background in this one!)

I'm not sure what to do now that my baby is THREE!

All my babies are growing up so fast!

Happy Birthday, dearest MPD! Thanks for keeping the rest of us from growing up too fast!

Superbowl Heaven

Could anything be better than being a 12-year-old boy in Wisconsin this week?Only being an almost-6-year-old boy in Wisconsin.

Or perhaps being an almost-3-year-old boy in Wisconsin who's pretty sure his oldest brother *is* one of the Packers...

Musical MRD

Recently MRD had an opportunity to play her clarinet with a large, multi-school band.There she is, front and center in the pink...
She observed how different her music sounded in a big concert, compared to her own school's band of 3! Was it ever!I am so excited about how much MRD loves her music. She is amazing, both on piano and clarinet.
And the concert was a toe-tapping good time, for sure!

MPD's Greatest Hits, Continued

Overheard today at lunch...

Bill: "MPD, how did you get so cute?"
MPD: "From Mommy."

Smart boy!

Duh, Mommy!

Now that school's under way, MPD and I are back to our long, glorious stroller walks, as often as we can get them. We live near some beautiful forest preserve/wetlands/pond areas, so there are lots of interesting things to discover when we're walking.

Wednesday morning we saw two Canada geese flying overhead.

"Look at those geese! Do you think they're going to land on the pond?" I asked. "No, it doesn't look like it. They're way up high. Where do you think they're going?"

MPD didn't hesitate before answering, "To the airport!"

Of course.

Ready Or Not...

First day of school!!
JPD and his new teacher...did I mention he's in KINDERGARTEN?!

The 5th Graders raising the flag...

Meanwhile, back at home, MPD was lonely and sad...NOT!

WWD, your turn will come next week!

My New Favorite Picture

worth at least a thousand words...

Swim Buddies

Reason #4,726 why I love having a (kinda) big family: Parent/Tot swim lessons can become Sister/Tot!
MRD has been doing lessons with MPD this session, and it's been even better than I expected. At first I felt a bit guilty with this setup, of course, because I'm really just being a slacker and not wanting to change into my swimsuit and get wet when we have so much else going on before and after the lessons. (Also this way I get 25 free minutes at the pool while all 3 of my lesson-takers have their swim lessons at the same time!)
But it turns out that MPD does much better with Sis than Mom--he's braver when there's no Mommy to cling to. Plus she's far more fun than I am!

Happiness Is...

...going out to lunch with Grandma, and watching the diggers and cement mixers from your window seat in the restaurant.
Pure bliss, I tell you!

MPD: "Mommy, Me hat! Me coat!"
(Translation..."Mommy, when I get big I'm going to be a construction guy who wears a cool hard hat and a neon yellow vest!")
Oh yeah, baby! :)

Field Trip to the Center of the Earth

We had a great end-of-school field trip wrapping up the kids' geology unit.Before going into the cave, the kids got to pan for 'gold' and gems in the sluice stream. I think they like this more than the actual cave.


I didn't get a lot of great pictures, because MPD and I (shrewdly) decided to forgo the tour of the cave. Instead we took our own field trip to the center of MPD's UNIVERSE...the school bus! What could be more exciting than that?!

He even got to "zoom zoom" it! Heaven!

Watch Out, JPD!!

MPD's working hard to be just like YOU!

Our Field Trip, by JPD

"Today Mom, MPD, and I went to the Veterans' Museum. It was so cool. We saw a parachute guy, a real helicopter with a soldier leaning out with his gun, an airplane painted with gills like a fish, a bi-plane, a tank, a cannon, cannonballs, a piece of the Berlin wall, army boots, a camouflage army uniform, Civil War stuff, a real periscope from a submarine, a model of an aircraft carrier with 17 planes on it, and an army jeep. The cannonballs were so heavy I could barely lift them but I am strong.

"When I grow up I want to be an army guy because I love the army so much. Because you can drive a plane and you get to paratroop. Army guys have to be brave and strong and always look out for bullets coming toward them.

"My Grandpa was a real airplane army guy pilot in World War II. His plane got shot down behind enemy lines in Germany. He hid and escaped in the woods. When I grow up I want to be a hero like him."







More from JPD (now on a roll after describing our field trip)...
"On the way home from the museum we saw a real jeep that was painted army color in the McDonald's parking lot [where Mommy was getting a Diet Coke--ed.]. Then we got home and I watched some movies of real paratroopers on Mommy's computer.

"I had a dream that I went into the army and then I trained by sliding on a hook off a giant building. Then I ran so fast because people were trying to kick me to make me run fast and then it was even worse--people were parachuting on me everywhere and I had to run away so fast!

"I had a dream that I went to the Veterans' Museum and I was a statue. I was hanging up on the ceiling because I was parachuting out of a helicopter and every night we ate at night because we had to stay up and be statues all day. Then there were hundreds of bad guys in the Veterans' Museum and all in the Capitol and even more all over the whole United States and the whole world. My friend Dillon and I killed them all and we became very famous."