Beautiful Music

This fall MRD is playing three (that's 3!!!) instruments: piano, clarinet, and violin. She likes piano best, last time I asked.

But she loves playing clarinet with the middle school honor band. Last week they had their fall concert, which was perfect!

She's in the middle front row...you can tell it's her by the beautiful sweet face! :)

We love you MRD!

Eat Our Bubbles!

Loving our swimmers!

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!

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!

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

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday!

~ 1 ~
These Wisconsin politics...man, you cannot make this stuff up. I thought we'd seen the last of the drama when the 14 senators-on-the-run came back from their flight to Illinois. But this Supreme Court election is a whole new chapter. Who ever heard of a Supreme Court race being so exciting and too close to call at midnight on election day? Now, after we thought the democrat (oh, right, it's a nonpartisan position--yeah right) won by 204 votes last night, 10K more votes showed up, which flipped the election back to the incumbent. I couldn't ask for a better government lesson for the kids than living in Wisconsin in 2011!

And I must share with you Bill's master creation election flyer:







~ 2 ~
Remember my bad experience back in January with discovering that I weighed 15 pounds more than I thought? Well, guess what...I lost at least 10 of them. (A few more than 10, but I'm not admitting those were ever really there.) Really! Go me! And that was before...

~ 3 ~
I started doing Atkins on April 1. I love Atkins. It's so easy. You do have to be really committed, which is why I've been putting it off for way too long. But I've been having all these awesome omelettes for breakfast and filets for dinner. Yum!

~ 4 ~
As if anything could be overshadowing our wild Wisconsin politics in the news, now we have an impending federal government shutdown. I think it's imperative that we take care of our armed forces, but apart from that, I say bring on the shutdown. I agree with this post from Pat Archbold, that so much of this is really all coming down to the defunding of Planned Parenthood. What surprises me is that so many people have the misperception that Planned Parenthood is actually good for women. Ugh.

~ 5 ~
The girls started a new program called Girls on the Run, which involves a group of about 20 girls meeting with coaches to practice running and play games and hear about self-esteem for girls and nutrition and stuff. I like the running part, and so do the girls, and I think they're having fun with their friends. So far, they're running about 2 miles at a time, which is awesome!

~ 6 ~
And just when we thought basketball was over...we decided to sign WWD up for summer AAU ball. It turns out that his would-be team is going to have a really amazing coach, and I'm super excited about this opportunity for WWD. Can't wait to see him play with a whole new team!

~ 7 ~
MPD's potty training is pretty much a done deal. We can even go out of the house now, and he'll go potty almost anywhere. I'm so glad I waited until he was 3 and really ready. It has been so easy (can't believe I'm saying that) and he is so proud of being a big boy! Maybe by child #5, I've got it all figured out. (ha!) But seriously--the best advice I've read on this--and I've read a lot over the years--is to regard potty training as similar to learning to walk. Don't get stressed when they fall down, don't argue with them about it or insist on anything, try not to cry when dealing with poopy underpants(!), just cheer for them and make sure they know how excited you are that they are growing up. It's a big achievement--his, not mine, of course! :)

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Happy Spring--it's finally here!
Do head over to Jen's place for more fun Quick Takes!

Soccer Girl

MRD has been playing indoor soccer this past couple of months, and she's having a blast.

Tonight she scored 3 goals in the game, which is a career record for her!

I like watching indoor soccer; the artificial turf makes it faster than outdoor grass, and the walls provide a barrier so the ball (almost) never goes out of bounds.

It's amazing how tough the girls are--they fight for the ball and slam up against the boards in a way that is reminiscent of hockey! But they're still girls--tonight one of MRD's teammates knocked an opponent over, then turned and apologized before going after the ball.

Here's MRD, kicking one of her goals tonight:

Go MRD go!

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!

There Could Never Be a More Beautiful You

Little girl almost-teen

I wish that you could see

That beauty is within your heart

And you were made with such care

your skin your body and your hair

Are perfect just the way they are

There could never be a more beautiful you

Don't buy the lies disguises and hoops they make you jump through

You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do

So there could never be a more beautiful you!

We love you, MRD!

Full song lyrics here.