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!

Quick Takes Friday: Saturday Edition

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday, even though it's Saturday. I'm late to the party this week.

~ 1 ~
Okay so I didn't get the job. I'm thinking 10+ years of retirement is a bit hard to come back from, no? I'm kinda sad, kinda relieved. "Back to Plan A," says Bill (which means he has to get a job!). Or perhaps God is grinning, because He knows that I'll be getting pregnant again any minute now. (Yikes!)

I'm debating my next move:
A) Apply for a different position I saw that seems even a bit more promising than the first,
B) Just keep waiting and trusting, cooking and cleaning,
C) Homeschool KLD and JPD next year, or
D) Take a nap.

Any advice?

~ 2 ~
Yesterday and today we're having a big garage sale. We cleaned out (and now to organize what's left) tons and tons of stuff from our basement and all our closets, which was a horribly painful process but--can't believe I'm saying this after how I felt on Thursday night--totally worth it. This is our 4th time to do this, and every time it feels like my house went on a huge diet. I love how Flylady calls it S.T.U.F.F.--"Something That Undermines Family Fun." So true!

~ 3 ~
I've never lived anywhere else where Garage Saling is such a big deal. It's such an interesting sociological phenomena, I think. So much great stuff--and total junk--changing hands! It's fun--I always meet some new neighbors, and now when I drive around town I can think "my old college desk lives in that house" or "I wonder how the people in this house are enjoying our old kitchen table?" Only in America, no doubt! :)

~ 4 ~
This weekend WWD has a basketball tournament that involves 3 separate 2-hour round-trip drives (one for a game last night at 10 p.m.!!!). MRD also has a soccer tournament with 3 games in 2 days, but much closer to home (and today she's even going with a friend which calms things down quite a bit). Man oh man, am I ready for our spring sports to be over...then we can start going to swim meets at 7 a.m. every Saturday! The fun never ends, right?

~ 5 ~
I love April and May best of all. Although today we're having a ridiculously freezing and rainy day, the redbud trees and crabapples are blooming, there are tulips up everywhere, and the rhododendrons are just replacing the forsythias in everyone's yards. Glorious!

~ 6 ~
I so want to take the kids camping when school gets out--I hope we're able to get away for a few days. Camping is a big Wisconsin thing, much more so than in Texas. I'm not sure why that is...Bill claims that it's because Wisconsin is prettier (Blasphemy! I could hardly even type those words!) but I think it has more to do with climate. Texas is just so much hotter and buggier, and then there's that whole rattlesnake issue. Texas seems more about hunting and fishing (although Wisconsin certainly has those too in a big way) and water skiing, etc. Texas also has the beach...

~ 7 ~
Can I tell you how much I long for the beach? I do love Wisconsin, and we do have Lake Michigan, which has beautiful shoreline. But the seashore is a whole 'nother thing, and it's hard to get much farther away from the salty sea air than Wisconsin! Time for a road trip, for sure! (The camping trip is waaaay more likely I must say.)

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Now go see Jen for lots of great Quick Takes! Have a great week!

Quick Takes Friday

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday!

~ 1 ~
With the late Easter, WWD's two-week Easter break, and only 4 weeks to go, I have some serious senioritis, and I'm ready for school to be over. I can't wait to switch out of the schoolday routine (making lunches, helping with homework, driving all over the place) and into the summer routine (hanging out at the pool and more hanging out at the pool). I mean it--I am totally sick of school. I can only imagine how the kids must feel! :)

~ 2 ~
Speaking of driving all over the place, the girls now have soccer on Monday and Wednesday, running on Tuesday and Thursday, and gymnastics on Thursday and Friday. Seriously, I totally feel I spend hours and hours in the car every day. I think this is because I actually do spend hours and hours in the car every day. I need a better solution--audiobooks, or something, because I'm bored out of my mind and also quite tired of having MPD watching so many movies in the van.

The thing about audiobooks is that with so many different passengers in and out of the van at various times, I'm thinking that it would get really frustrating for people to try to keep up with the stories. (Not so for the movies, bc they're usually movies that only MPD cares about--Go Diego Go!--and they watch them in such endless loops that no one misses much anyway.

Got any advice for me on using car time more productively? The trips are actually pretty short--10-15 minutes each, round and round town, and I like to chat with the kids (not to mention being a safe driver), so talking on the phone isn't really a great option.

~ 3 ~
Was the Royal Wedding awesome or what? I wasn't particularly excited about it beforehand, but when we watched it last Friday night, I couldn't tear myself away from it. So magical--especially because the bride was just so unbelievably beautiful! That gorgeous carriage ride from Westminster Abbey through the spring-blooming streets to Buckingham Palace was the best part, I thought.

~ 4 ~
As a matter of fact, I think the last week of April is the absolute best time of the year for a wedding. Last Tuesday the 26th, Bill and I celebrated our 14th anniversary with lunch out (while WWD took great care of MPD for us--so great to have a big kid home on Spring Break!) and a movie. Happy Anniversary, Mr. Love of my Life! :)

~ 5 ~
We rarely go to movies, of course, but couldn't wait to see Atlas Shrugged after loving the book so much, like most people do. The book was one of those once-in-a-lifetime, you're-never-the-same-afterward great reads; I remember the dreamy time of reading it for the first time in 1993, when I was working on a rather intense project in Toronto that involved plenty of time back and forth on airplanes. Dagny Taggart was quite the inspiration for a career-minded girl like me, back in 1993.

But I'm not so sure quite what to think of the movie. I understand that it hasn't been getting great reviews, but I liked it because it was, so far, relatively true to the book, and there was plenty of fun eye candy with the main characters being so gorgeous and the stylized, historic/futuristic settings. But it also felt flat to me. I guess it's inevitable that any movie based on that majestic of a book would be disappointing. Most disappointing--that it ended so abruptly! I'd lost all sense of time and was completely unprepared for the end of Part 1. I almost wish I'd waited a few years for the box set so I could watch it all at once...nah, not really. I'll be lining up for the next part, no doubt.

What about you? Have you seen it? What did you think?

~ 6 ~
Actually, last weekend was a total emotional and sensory overload in many ways. As if Divine Mercy Sunday and JP2's beatification weren't exciting enough, there was the aforementioned Royal Wedding also, as well as the (pretty quiet this year) Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. And then, just when I was starting to relax, came the startling "We Got Osama Bin Laden" headline--how fortuitous for him, that he died on such a blessed day. But sheesh--with all this stuff going on, no wonder I haven't had much time to blog lately!

~ 7 ~
Speaking of St. Joseph the Worker, some interesting news is shaping up around here, that deserves a post of its own. Stay tuned for some news about our ch-ch-ch-changes!!

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Now go see Jen for lots of great Quick Takes!

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!

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!

Quick Takes Friday: In Like A Lamb

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday!

~ 1 ~
Whoa! Long time no blog! I must admit that I've been spending most of my free time (and then some, unfortunately) for the past couple of weeks Facebooking and obsessively following current events at our state capitol. It's like that expression about watching a car accident; I just can't look away. It's pretty wild down there, with news unfolding daily. Democracy--and lots of other crazy stuff--in action, I tell you. Tonight they've convinced all the round-the-clock hobos to sleep somewhere other than the capitol building, which is nice because apparently it is quite in need of a good cleaning in there.

~ 2 ~
You know, sometimes I think I can get just the tiniest glimpse of what it must have been like to live in our country in the mid-nineteenth century. I'm no civil-war historian, but I understand that neighbors and family members came out on opposing sides of the states' rights and slavery issues that divided the country, and even ended up shooting at each other as the war progressed.

To me, living in the early 21st century feels a bit like this. Sometimes in the past few years, my friends and neighbors' political views have really shocked me. I find it helpful to remind myself that none of this political stuff matters, really, in the big scheme of things. And by "big scheme of things," I mean eternity. Our individual souls matter. All the other stuff...not so much.

~ 3 ~
So another distraction from blogging recently has been The Hunger Games. When I heard the book's premise, I was curious, but not all that excited about it--sounded way too dark. It's dark, for sure, but OMG, it was so good! Now I'm on the waiting list to get Book 2 and 3 from the library (instead of click-click ordering them from Amazon and getting them by this weekend). Waiting is a great sacrifice, that's for sure! In fact, I'm not totally sure that I won't break down and click-click download the kindle-for-pc version of Book 2 tonight, and stay up all night reading it.

Anyone want to share their thoughts on the book, and whether it's appropriate for middle-schoolers? You may know that when it comes to my kids and media of all kinds, including books, I lean towards caution. I figure I can't go wrong with saving things (e.g., Harry Potter, Star Wars, what-have-you) for later, whereas I can go quite wrong with introducing things too early. (Example: 5-year-old JPD thinking Battlestar Galactica was real--yikes!!) Also, there are more great books than anyone can read in a lifetime, so there's no point in wasting time on non-great books. But I'm looking forward to talking about the Hunger Games with WWD! I told him not until high school; do you think I'm being too uptight?

~ 4 ~
So...in like a lamb...we've been having great weather this week. So I guess that means that we'll have huge snowstorms at the end of the month? We'll see, I suppose...either way, I'm so glad March is finally here! What a nice winter, and it went by so quickly this year.

~ 5 ~
After a few slow weeks due to winter colds (mine and MPDs), I'm back to a respectable workout schedule. It's a long road back to fitness after a few years of slacking, I tell you! Stay tuned for those "before-and-after" pictures...

~ 6 ~
We made an early Mardi Gras dinner last weekend...New Orleans Jambalaya. SO yummy! Here's the recipe if you want to check it out. Happy Mardi Gras!

~ 7 ~
Which means, of course, that Lent is finally here! I'm so excited for it this year; Lent has been so amazing the past couple of years that I'm really expecting great things. I'm giving up Facebook (whew!), desserts, sleeping in...we'll see which of those actually sticks. In any case, it's going to be great.

I think I like how much Easter has been jumping around--this year is really late--because it makes things just a bit different each year. In 2008, MPD's birthday on March 15 was just a few days before Easter, which was so perfect. (I've always wanted an Easter baby!) This year, Easter is over a month later, which makes a big difference in our Wisconsin spring weather! The girls will actually be able to wear summery dresses at Easter, which is unusual. (Attn Texas readers: Not that summery!). And after Easter, it will be almost summer. And that's all good, right?

Now go see Jen for everyone else's great Quick Takes posts!

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Moms

For Jen's Quick Takes Friday this week, my "quick takes" are from my vault of vast maternal experience and wisdom. I must clarify, of course, that I don't actually do any of these things myself. I'm just in awe of the moms I know who can actually pull off these amazing seven habits.

1. Wake. Up. Early.
Again and again, I discover that moms I admire rise quite early--long before the other members of their family. I don't know why the hours between 5 and 7 a.m. are more productive than those between 10 and midnight, but for some reason they must be. Maybe someday I'll wake up to see for myself.

2. Become Brutally Proficient at Throwing Things Away.
Stuff Management is a serious skill that is absolutely critical to managing a home well. Heck, they should offer a college degree in it, I think. Mail and paperwork, kids' artwork, hand-me-down clothing, school supplies, pantry and 'frig management--for me, anyway, this is going to take a lifetime of work and suffering to figure out. The master's degree in this field could be available for homeschoolers, for whom Stuff Management rises to a whole 'nother level.

3. Power Up.
Motherhood is exhausting and demanding, and it is vital that we do whatever it takes to keep our own energy up. I'm talking about sleep, exercise, and nutrition here. This is different for each of us, of course, but I can tell you that fat, lazy, and tired is no way to go through life.

4. Put On Your Own Oxygen Mask First.
When you stumble in the door with a carload of kids and groceries, with everybody starving, whining, and exhausted, it's okay to take a little bathroom break for yourself before trying to make lunch for the masses. Or make coffee in the morning before starting your little sweeties' breakfast. You may have heard that parenting is a marathon, not a sprint. This is true. Take a water break, for goodness' sake!

5. Know Thyself.
Over the decade-and-change that I've been a mom, I've spent a lot of energy trying on different hats and running around doing crazy stuff that doesn't work for me. (Come to think of it, I've done that my whole life, but I digress...) Try your best not to do this. You are the heart of your family, just the way you are. Just be you.

6. Stay Loose.
Over and over again, when I get everything figured out around here (yeah, right), somebody changes schools, or has a birthday, or stops taking naps, or decides she doesn't like wearing dresses every day, or develops an extreme aversion to Cream of Wheat, which was his favorite breakfast last month. It's a moving target, apparently. Successful moms seem to be prepared for this, and even recognize that it's a good thing--which, of course, it is.

7. No Do-Overs Allowed.
It's a scary thought, but we only get one shot at this. Also, we get no guarantee of tomorrow. Have you ever heard anyone say they were surprised at how slowly their kids grew up? Time is precious. Do absolutely everything you can to squeeze every last drop of life out of...life.

Now go on over to Conversion Diary for everyone else's great Quick Takes posts!

Quick Takes Friday

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday!

~ 1 ~
Just getting through January, here at Chez D. Does everyone always feel that way in January? Just getting through it. Our one big bright spot is MRD's 11th birthday, coming up at the end of the month.

~ 2 ~
This week I have been knocked out with the flu and slept for, like, three days now. I am so thankful that my wonderful BILL has taken over pretty much everything around here so that I can sleep! This flu (sinus infection? whatever!) has been weird because the first symptom was that I woke up on Monday with hugely puffy, swollen eyes, before I even felt sick. Never had that before!

~ 3 ~

Recently overheard at our house (about 9,746 times):

"MPD, time to put on your boots!" (or any other request or comment directed at our sassy little love bug)

"No, no. Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!"

This was very cute, like, the first 30 or 40 times he said it.

~ 4 ~
WWD is going winter camping this weekend with his Scout troop. Although there will be cabins, the boys have the option of digging snow caves to sleep in. Guess which one WWD's going to choose? Of course--snow cave. His mom just hopes that someone makes him wear a hat, because if it's up to him, as I hear daily..."Oh, mom, I don't need a coat/gloves/earband! It's no big deal!" Brrrr!

~ 5 ~
This was a great week to be sick with the flu. FREEZING here. And I didn't have to go outside at all for 3 whole days. Did I mention how much I love my husband?

~ 6 ~
Anyone else out there ever feel like they just can NOT go on another minute? You know...overwhelmed with life and want to run away? Me too. I'm just saying. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

~ 7 ~
And on a lighter note...
Have you seen this commercial with the Geico woodchucks?
We love it! We can't stop calling JPD and MPD our "woodchucks." It's just a little too close to home, for sure!

Happy January, everyone!!
And go see Jen for everyone else's great Quick Takes posts!

Quick Takes--New Year's Edition

Ringing in 2011 with a few miscellaneous quick takes...

1. Today is 1-1-11. Pretty cool, huh? Looking forward to 11-11-11 also, of course.

2. Last night we had fun celebrating New Year's Eve with treats and root beer floats. See...

3. I was thinking about making new year's resolutions, and a couple of things came to mind. Imagine my dismay when I checked out my resolutions from 2010, and they turned out to be the exact same things I was thinking about for 2011. #@&%*$(#!! Whatever. New Year's resolutions are stupid, right?

4. This week the kids and I have been geeking out just a bit and having a sci-fi film festival, watching Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, a moonwalk documentary, and, tonight, Star Trek. Back in the day, I was a bit of a sci-fi fan; it was one of my favorite short-story genres to write in, even. (What a little nerd I was!) We had fun watching the movies. The only problem was Battlestar Galactica, which I should have previewed. WAY too racy for my sweeties, in my opinion, and a bit too scary for JPD. Especially since he was quite surprised afterwards when I clarified that the movie was not true! Yikes! No, JPD, evil robot people with blinking red uni-eyes are not trying to destroy mankind! The next morning, he watched the moonwalk documentary three times in a row in the van, and I think we both felt much better.

5. Anyone else get a Swiffer duster from their husband for Christmas? No kidding! Come on...you know you're jealous!

6. The little boys and I have been swimming most days this week at the health club. Fun fun fun. :) And Mommy got some workouts in too!

7. I love the week between Christmas and New Year's; it is always so peaceful and relaxed. I must say that we've been eating, drinking, and even sleeping a lot. Most of the snow has melted from our two days of warm weather; now it's freezing again (and I mean Wisconsin freezing!). I'm sad that vacation is over, but I've also had enough of all this slacking. I'm ready for the new year to begin! I can't even imagine what we'll be up to this time next year. Really...could be anything. Will Bill find a job? (Will he try?) Or will I? Will we move? Will we have another baby? Will we have a great sadness, such as we had in 2010 several times over? Will we manage to do something cool (like have a grownup-only getaway, maybe, for a night or a weekend) for Bill's 50th birthday next fall? All I can say is...stay tuned!

+JMJ+ Thy Will Be Done!!! +JMJ+

Quick Takes Friday

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday!
It turns out that this week's Takes are not really all so Quick. Some are actually quite long. Sorry!

~ 1 ~
I have no idea what to get my husband for Christmas. I never have any ideas. He is the most frugal person in the universe, never buys anything for himself, and regularly returns the gifts I choose (even an IPod, a while back). I'm resorting to the strategy of giving him several gifts that are so small, they are not worth the trouble of returning. Sad, isn't it?

But seriously--not to be too overly cynical here--most adults don't really need Christmas gifts, do they? Bill and I are always fixated on getting each other things we need--is this the right strategy? After all, there is an entire genre of retail establishments--Sharper Image, Brookstone, Hammacher Schlemmer, practically everything in that SkyMall magazine in your seatback pocket--that sell absolutely nothing that anyone would ever need. These stores exist, I believe, because no one really has any good idea what to get their husband for Christmas.

~ 2 ~
I keep re-learning the ever-shocking concept that when I eat healthy food, I feel good, and when I eat junk, I feel like junk. Amazing corollary, that. In the former category, I can't wait to try this recipe.

~ 3 ~
I think this is WWD's best school year ever. He loves school; he's appropriately challenged which in turn makes him highly motivated; he's having a great time with his friends; he's got great grades; and he's doing a really good job of managing his schoolwork independently, even with a really busy extracurricular schedule). I am so thrilled--this is finally, really, truly where WWD belongs. (For now, anyway.)

~ 4 ~
I realized all that stuff about WWD a week or so ago when I was in a conference with both of KLD's teachers, about her math. We were talking about the school's math curriculum, discussing how it transferred into middle school, and I was a bit embarrassed to admit that I hadn't laid eyes on one single scrap of math work from WWD this whole school year. He made an A, so I guess that's okay, right?

KLD, on the other hand, is slogging through the harrowing nightmare that is this 4th grade math curriculum. What a mess! The information seems to be presented in quite a roundabout way--several different methods to solve each type of problem, a requirement to "write to explain" in words how you got your answers, and lots and lots of estimating answers before working the actual problem.

The faculty assures us that this is the latest thinking in how to teach math, but all I see is my daughter, who has always loved math best of all, starting to struggle with it for the first time, and taking all evening to complete her homework because the book is so hard to follow.

I haven't made up my mind what to do about this--I can always just supplement her math at home with Singapore, but my real concern is that this gobbledygook math is going to ruin her math confidence and burn her out on math. In my own experience, this can be a big deal. I wish I could opt her out of the school math, and teach her at home. If the public schoolers can opt out of sex ed, don't you think I should be able to opt my daughter out of math? We'll see, I suppose. But in the meantime...got any advice?

~ 5 ~
My beautiful budding musicians have been filling my house--and the town, a little bit--with the sounds of Christmas! Yesterday morning was the school concert, featuring MRD on clarinet and both MRD and KLD on piano, along with their friends. Last weekend WWD joined them for was their quite-festive piano recital. And MRD both sang a solo and played her clarinet in the school Christmas pageant this week. I am so proud of their hard work on their music--and so glad that they are enjoying it so much!

~ 6 ~
On a much more somber note, as I'm sitting down to write my Christmas cards this year, I've realized that my list is shorter than last year by 4 people who have died in 2010. (That doesn't even include Bill's friend Jim, who died tragically in his forties last January.) Unbelievable. What a year--I suppose I'm ready to put 2010 in the past! May God bless our dear ones and grant them eternal rest.

~ 7 ~
You know what? Bill's job being eliminated last August was--no kidding--the best thing that could have happened. He is like a whole different person without that nasty job from H-E-doublehockeysticks, and now I have my husband back. He is (mostly) happy, relaxed, enjoying the kids, and we are having fun hanging out while the kids are at school. Too much fun...as in, we can't keep this up forever. At least one of us has got to start bringing in some cash pretty soon, methinks!

One more delicious week until Christmas!! Enjoy!!
And go see Jen for everyone else's great Quick Takes posts!

Quick Takes Friday

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday!

~ 1 ~
We've got snow! And lots more on the way, apparently. I am okay with this--even, possibly, happy about it.

~ 2 ~
We're going do our Christmas decorating this weekend. Thanksgiving weekend always seems a bit early, but if I don't do it then, it seems that December is half over before we get to do it. It is getting harder and harder to catch us all home at the same time these days. We got the tree last Friday night, and put it in a bucket of water in the garage where it promptly FROZE. So now it's in the first-floor bathroom shower, still in its bucket. Any minute now, we'll set it up in the living room for decorating tomorrow.

~ 3 ~
Today MPD and I will be heading to the middle kids' school for Mass and "Holiday Lunch." I always wonder: when they're having an actual Mass, and it is an actual Catholic school, why not just call it a Christmas lunch? I mean, seriously, people.

After lunch I'm going to bring all 3 kids home early so we can spend the afternoon baking cookies. What a rebel I am--teaching them to play hookey to do Christmas baking! Reminds me (okay, sort of) of when I skipped class in college to squeeze in a manicure before something-or-other. See--I've always been a total flake.

~ 4 ~
Last night Bill gave me my Christmas present early...a digital videocamera! Hooray!! Our previous one, weighing in at about 10 pounds, always dated us as the parents who had our first child (and therefore, first videocamera) in 1998. It is time for an upgrade, and we needed it early in order to film some cool stuff coming up in the next week or so around here. Stay tuned to see the cool stuff!!

(Disclaimer: I'm not in the mood to put family videos on this blog--but you'll see photos of the cool stuff, as always.)

~ 5 ~
What to make for Christmas dinner...turkey or roast beef? Turkey or roast beef? Thanksgiving is always turkey, of course, and around here, Easter is always ham. So I'm feeling like a bit of roast beast for Christmas, but it sure is hard not to have a do-over of that yummy Thanksgiving meal. We always have this dilemma. What's on the menu at your place--got any ideas to share?

~ 6 ~
Hey! I (finally) joined the health club! It's great to (finally) be working out again, and MPD really LOVES it there. (I'm thinking this will be his 'preschool'--oh the poor deprived 5th child!) BUT...between the new workout schedule and the unemployed husband, I am REALLY getting nothing done around here. I am behind on everything. Maybe it's just because of, you know, December.

~ 7 ~
Speaking of December, I was so calm and organized a few weeks ago, that I was smugly thinking "Holiday stress? Not me, man." This week, that's all out the window. The real reason I'm taking the kids out of school early today is that I don't have time to drive back up there twice--for lunch and to pick them up 2 hours later. Practically every half-day block from now until December 24 has at least one thing scheduled in it--sometimes several things, and one thing that is an all-day basketball tournament over 3 hours away. Falalalalah-lalalalah. Most of it is really fun stuff, though--and just 2 more weeks until Christmas!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now go see Jen for more Quick Takes!

Quick Takes Friday

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday!

~ 1 ~
Most years, November's not my favorite month. Bare trees, the onset of biting cold, a few flurries, holiday stress looming ahead--no thanks. This year--totally different story. What a beautiful, peaceful couple of weeks this has been. And shorts! In November! What is this, Texas or something?!

~ 2 ~
What a contrast from last year, when right about now the new house was full of boxes and chaos from moving in, and the last thing I wanted to think about was cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I can't wait for Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas this year. We have no big plans; I'm just glad to get to have the holidays here in this house that I love so much.

~ 3 ~
I am always looking for quick to-go snacks and breakfasts for days when we're running off to sports, and I can't wait to try Jamie's recipe for oatmeal bars!

~ 4 ~
This fall, the girls have been knitting up a storm. That's right--knitting! They aren't getting any of that domesticity from me, that's for sure. I'm no knitter, at all, ever. The girls are doing a knitting club at the library, and they have learned so much there that MRD has completed a cute purse, and is close to finishing both a scarf and a hat. Wow! I'll post some pics of their creations soon.

~ 5 ~
Did I tell you that MPD has figured out how to escape from his crib? He's quite delighted about this, as you can imagine. Life as we know it around here will never be the same.

~ 6 ~
You know what? I've been under this foolish, naive impression that once we got everyone finished nursing and out of diapers (we're not there yet), things would get easier around here. Ha! Ha! Ha...
The teenage years are looming in a big way and clearly, nothing's getting easier anytime soon. For a while now I've been naively sticking my head in the sand about these upcoming teenage years ("not my kids"), but reality is raising its ugly face. I'm a bit overwhelmed about how hard it is to keep track of everyone's needs around here lately, and I feel spread way too thin.

~ 7 ~
How do I know that God is real? Simple. If He weren't, I'd be a puddle on the floor. See #6 above, of course. I'd never, ever make it through the day on my own, I promise.

Now go see Jen for more Quick Takes!

Quick Takes Friday

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for the 100th edition of Quick Takes Friday!

~ 1 ~
One of my favorite things about having Bill at home these days is that he really likes to cook. He doesn't really admit it--he likes to keep his options open, you know--but his actions speak plenty. He's always taking over the kitchen and making good stuff for us to eat. Lately he's been getting up and making extravagant breakfasts for the kids--huevos rancheros with bacon, sausage biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs--yum! We've even been a bit late getting to school on a couple of days, because these breakfasts do NOT fit smoothly into our morning routine--but you know what? I don't really care. I think it's worth it.

~ 2 ~
I got a new camera!! Finally--a fancy one--Canon digital SLR with a zoom lens for action shots of all the kids' sports. This blog will never be the same.

~ 3 ~
One night last week I got to go out (by myself!) to a class at our botanical gardens about how to properly prepare my perennials for winter. It was so cool. At this house, we have many more perennial gardens than we've had before; add that to being a non-native of Zone 4, and I'm pretty clueless. I loved the class, took pages of notes, and mostly just loved hanging out in the beautiful gardens that inspire me to make mine even prettier. Gardening is one of those things that I would really love to do, but which might not ever make it high enough up on my to-do list in this lifetime. At least, I like the idea of gardening--the reality is probably more muddy, buggy, and hot than I'm prepared to deal with.

~ 4 ~
Caution...TMI ahead...Since I turned 44 about a month ago, I have been having what I'm pretty sure are real-live hot flashes. No kidding. It's kinda weird, but no big deal. I guess this means I'm actually now a grownup? And maybe it's too late to learn NFP after all?

~ 5 ~
Sure, I miss Texas. But not this week. We've had an Indian Summer week--sparkling blue skies, brilliant yellow leaves spraying the street as I drive the kids to school, popping orange maple trees making my heart sing, geese flying here and there, daily high temps in the 70's. Every single day has been so breathtakingly beautiful, I just wish I could bottle it up against the looming specter of winter. Fall goes way too quickly.

~ 6 ~
My new favorite breakfast for busy mornings: Crock Pot Omelette Casserole. Eggs in the crock pot! It really works! This recipe makes quite a large volume--about twice what we need for our party of seven hearty breakfast eaters.

~ 7 ~
We're going camping! Everyone is so excited around here, it's out of control. Me too--I can't wait! Look for boatloads of pictures, coming soon!

Friday Quick Takes

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday.

~ 1 ~
The two new teachers at our elementary school look just like they could be 5th graders. I don't want to think too much about how old this makes me feel!

~ 2 ~
WWD has a Fantasy Football team this year. Finally. I think this is the reason he was born.

~ 3 ~
Another cool thing for WWD this week: He got a little job where he actually earned some money. He spent a couple of hours distributing flyers door-to-door for a family friend of ours who has a painting company. Pretty exciting start to his business career, I would say! We're expecting great things! :)

~ 4 ~

I just finished another new book: The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan. It was a birthday present from my best friend Ashley, and it was the absolute perfect end-of-summer read--quick, funny, thought-provoking. I wholeheartedly recommend it. It's about cancer, but it's not sad at all. It made me think a lot about my own parents, and kids, and it made me feel very grown-up.
Go read it, and I'd love to know what you think!

~ 5 ~
Whew! One school week down, and what--35 to go? So far, so good, for everyone. We haven't even been tardy to school at all this week; punctuality is my new thing (yeah right). But I'm already ready for next summer!

~ 6 ~
As of September 1, Bill is unemployed. He's glad to be leaving a very toxic company, but we don't know what's next. Not too sure if I'll be blogging much about this, actually. I have a very strong sense that we're atop the roller coaster's highest dropoff, holding on tight, unable to see the twists and turns ahead, and we're about to plunge down for a wild ride! God...Thy Will Be Done!

~ 7 ~
Labor Day weekend--no plans around here. I'm glad. We are, frankly, physically and emotionally exhausted from all the busy-ness and unexpected adventures this summer has had in store for us--most particularly, the two funerals. I think Bill and I are both just wishing the other one would take the kids on a fun all-day outing, to let the other parent zombie-out for the day. At least I know one of us is wishing for that!

Friday Quick Takes

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday.

~ 1 ~
Anyone else ready for their precious children to go back to school? I've never felt this way before, but I'm just hoping they can make it 10 more days without killing each other. It's downright dangerous at our house these days!

~ 2 ~
One evening this week we went to a new family picnic for WWD's middle/high school. I don't know who is more excited--WWD or his mom. What an amazing school this is--practically perfect in every way (at least it still seems so). Academic rigor, strong Catholicism, small classes, nice teachers--and because it's grade 6-12, plenty of kids who are bigger, older, and wiser than WWD. He's going to have such a great year I think.

~ 3 ~
Wondering how I'm doing with my Diet Coke addiction? Well, after quitting cold turkey, I felt great for about a month. On our road trip to Chicago I even got one and then threw it out--too gross, man. But lately I've been having one once in a while. Just--you know--occasionally. It's not like before I'm still in control. I can quit anytime I want to. Really.

~ 4 ~
Anybody else getting tired of having those Silly Bands all over their house?

~ 5 ~
Oh I am so loving the book I'm reading right now.
Here it is:
It's major excitement for me whenever a new book by Michael O'Brien comes out. He's a genius, according to me. I'm slowly making my way through reading his articles on his website, and they are so clever and so thought-provoking that they're like candy for my brain. Wait, no--not candy--that would be People Magazine or something--Michael O'Brien's work is more like fine dining for my brain.

I love historical fiction novels about First-Century Christianity. This one is by far my favorite. It is just delicious; I wish I weren't almost finished with it. I'm a little surprised that it's not more clearly Catholic--but on the other hand, maybe I've been Catholic for long enough now that I can't even tell anymore. Anyway, I highly recommend this amazing book, if you like that kind of thing.

~ 6 ~
This week I'm turning 44. That's all I'm going to say about that.

~ 7 ~
Please pray for Bill's Aunt, Mary Kawatzky, who had a severe stroke and passed away this week. Her funeral is Friday. May she rest in peace.

Friday Quick Takes

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday. This week my Quick Takes have a bit of a twist.

I'm pretty much of a Geek Mom when it comes to kids' media. Although we almost never watch TV and don't have a gaming system, we do enjoy movies and PC games. My Seven Quick Takes post this week is a peek at some of our most favorite and recommended electronic stuff:


~ 1 ~

The Eyewitness DVDs.
These are so great; we watch them all the time in the car.




~ 2 ~
Chessmaster. Part of the reason we don't have a gaming system is that I think we can easily spend plenty of screen-time just on a PC. My 4 oldest kids will play Chessmaster all day and as far as they're concerned, it is a video game.





~ 3 ~
Rosetta Stone.

Ditto my comments for #2. We're just getting into French on this one, and MRD, in particular, loves it. This one also gets extra points in our house because you actually get to wear a headset and talk to the computer. :)






~ 4 ~

Schoolhouse Rock! Of course! These are the best. The kids like them as much as I do, and we rock out in the van to them all the time.




~ 5 ~

Zoombinis PC game.This logic game is so much fun for all ages. We have an old version which worked well on my old laptop, but now it seems to be also working on our newer computer. It looks like there are some version-compatibility issues, so buy it carefully. But do buy it--it's full of fun, mind-bending puzzles.


~ 6 ~
The I Spy games.Fun, fun, fun, especially for younger pre-readers.





~ 7 ~
I can't get enough of all the great Catholic DVDs from Ignatius Press.
We own a few of these, and our parish has an awesome library with many others. The kids love watching the lives of the Saints, and I think movies are such a powerful way to learn about history. WWD and I especially love Steve Ray's Footprints of God series. Check it out!



See what I mean? I'm quite a geek. (Shhhh--my kids haven't figured it out yet!) Got any good recommendations to share?

Friday Quick Takes

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday.

This week's Quick Takes are some random thoughts from my quick trip to Houston earlier this week. Caution--I was feeling a bit snarkier than usual! :)

~ 1 ~
I’ve lived in the Midwest now for 15 years—long enough to think we have some pretty hot summers. But now I know that my memory of what real hot summers are like has faded. Or maybe it's just impossible to imagine that heat until you’re in it. See, Houston was a whole ‘nother level of hot. Blasting the car’s a/c at all times hot. Wondering whether my deodorant is working hot. Steam coming up off the freeway pavement hot. We don’t have that kind of hot in Wisconsin.

~ 2 ~
So these old women with tattoos liberally sprinkling their arms and legs; I just have to wonder. Did they get the tattoos recently, when they were already in their 60’s? Or did they get them decades ago, with no foresight whatsoever regarding how stupid they’d look when they got older? Either way, what were they thinking?

~ 3 ~
En route to Houston via Chicago via Charlotte (?? Yes, really) I had a last-row seat and listened to the two flight attendants discussing their vehicles of choice to own and to drive. As in, which model Mercedes vs. which model Lexus. Really? Really? Could Bill be in the wrong profession, perhaps?

~ 4 ~
Overheard at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston: “Kashir Mohammed Makeer, please return to baggage claim for a lost item.” Not to sound like a country bumpkin or anything, but “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Wisconsin anymore!”

~ 5 ~
Even though I did quite enough travelling in my younger days to become quite cynical about it and quite happy to stay clear of airports, I do love them. Especially O’Hare, where at one time in my life I was pretty sure I spent more time than at any of the places I actually slept overnight. My imagination just goes hog-wild thinking about where all those airplanes are headed. I love seeing them all lined up circling the gates, headed for every corner of the globe. And the people! I love watching them and trying to guess where they’re going. I love seeing people in flip flops or even sporting leis, obviously just back from tropical vacations, standing right next to businesspeople in overcoats or people carrying ski jackets or people wearing saris or cowboy boots; young people, old people, bored people, excited people, people with little kids, people speaking various languages—talk about a global melting pot! I just love it. I used to think it would be really fun to work at the airport, like in customer service or something. I’m over that, but I do still love airports.

~ 6 ~
Does anyone ever get over being just a teeny bit afraid of flying? I’m a pretty sensible person, and I’ve flown hundreds of times (perhaps hundreds and hundreds—I’m not sure), including through turbulence so bad that I actually thought we had landed when we hadn’t. While coming into Chicago this week, my plane had an aborted landing where we got down just a few feet from the ground, ready to touch down, and then—oops—went quickly back up to retrace our circle out over the lakefront and around back to re-approach the runway. Jaded traveler that I am, I had an almost full-out panic attack over this. Sheer terror. The two chattering magpies sitting next to me weren’t worried; they’d flown many times before, they said. (Ha!) I just wanted them to shut the heck up as I feverishly prayed my Rosary.
Obviously, we made it—turns out it was nothing but an O’Hare traffic jam. But know what I mean? Don’t you just hate that whole sheer terror feeling?

~ 7 ~
It’s amazing how dressing up a little and making some sort of attempt to do something to make my hair resemble something attractive can make me feel happier, friendlier, more confident. Like a whole different person, in a way. Maybe I should try it again sometime.

Friday Quick Takes

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday.

~ 1 ~
First week of summer! Everyone home all week + all our friends still in school and no summer activities going yet = Family Togetherness Bliss. Right?

Right! It's been great having everyone home--we did a few little outings, swim team practice every day, one whole rainy day of total lounging, daily Mass a couple of sweet times, and...plenty of homeschooling! Really!

And I have to say, oh my goodness...how did I ever do this? It's so hard! Just kidding--sort of. I'm getting used to the higher level of general chaos around here again (so are JPD and MPD, which has been one of the hardest parts of this week), but it certainly is different from my relatively peaceful days with my two brown-eyed boys. Prayers and profound respect to all you full-time homeschoolers.

~ 2 ~

Want to know what we've been studying? This awesome literature/geography study. I highly recommend it. We are all loving it, and it's working well for our 6th, 5th, 3rd grader, and kindergartener too. Everyone loves it at their own level, which is so cool to see. We're reading Paddle to the Sea, which is exquisite, and working through the map that goes along with the book. JPD's busy making models of canoes, MPD's perfecting her beautiful map, KLD's in the process of re-starting her map right now, and WWD's gobbling up facts for his next go at the Geo-Bee.

Everyone's also working through their Singapore Math books, which we all seem to appreciate a bit more now that we haven't seen them in a year. It's interesting to see how Singapore meshes with the math curriculum they have in school; I'm hoping that between the two, they'll be well-prepared for middle school math.

~ 3 ~

Pray for my sweet friends who departed for China yesterday to meet the two precious children who they're adopting! It's such an exciting story! Read it and see if you can't help imagining being called to adopt a child--I know I've certainly been checking out the adoption agency website! (Don't get excited--we are old and tired and have no plans.)

~ 4 ~

So this week I've been big into reading the Nourishing Traditions cookbook that I referred to earlier this week. Fascinating, fascinating, fascinating. Please get it and tell me what you think. To me, the biggest deal has been learning about the nutritional value of real, raw milk--and conversely, the worthlessness and even toxicity of all the rest of the milk that I've been drinking all my life!

You'd think such healthful milk would be widely available in my area, where I drive by half a dozen or more dairy farms on the way to drop off the kids at school each morning. Well--not so fast--turns out it's actually illegal in my state. Here's a cool story about an independent farmer fighting back this week against Big Dairy. I like him already. (Did you know there was such a thing as Big Dairy? Of course there is.)

~ 5 ~


Lately Bill and I have figured out our two oldest sons. Perfectly. Here it is: WWD is my dad, and JPD is Bill's dad. I don't know why I never realized it before, but it's so right on I can't even believe it. And it helps me understand my sons so much better than ever! If you know my boys in real life, don't you agree?

~ 6 ~

I need ("need" as in "want") a new camera. One that can zoom far enough and with shutter speed fast enough to get good pictures at swim meets and football games. And one that's easy to use, even for a spaz like me who can barely focus my brain, much less a camera. Any advice? Anyone love/hate their camera?

~ 7 ~

We saw this on TV tonight (Rachel Maddow show--believe me, I did not have control of the remote!). Funny video about a current event that is beyond sad...

Friday Quick Takes

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday.

This week's Quick Takes involve me sharing my Mommy wisdom. Here are seven things I wish I could tell my 31-year-old self, when I embarked on my parenting journey.

~ 1 ~
Don't worry too much about any one phase the kids are going through. Nothing lasts more than three or four months anyway.

~ 2 ~
Less stuff. Really. Especially toys.

~ 3 ~
No TV. (We hardly watch TV at all.) No candy (except on special holidays). TV and candy are pretty much the same thing.

~ 4 ~
Set the breakfast table, unload the dishwasher, and lay out everyone's clothes the night before.

~ 5 ~
Resist the urge to sign them up for so many activities.

~ 6 ~
Homeschool from the beginning.

~ 7 ~
Relax. Don't over-analyze parenting. Don't fanatically read every parenting book you can find. Don't stress. Just love, enjoy, and cherish every minute with your sweet babies. Life is short.

And so are my Quick Takes this week! Hooray! :)

Friday Quick Takes

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday!

~ 1 ~
MPD Update: What a big talking boy he is! He has really had a huge burst of talking lately. He can say everyone's name, including his own; he says what he wants for lunch; he says two- and even three-word sentences such as "bike ride park" and even "Mommy, wheah ah ooooo?" He's also big-time into somersaulting, which he does over and over, anywhere and everywhere. He learned how at his little gym class, and couldn't even do it at all a couple of weeks ago. He is so proud of himself!

~ 2 ~

JPD Update: Lately he's into aircraft in a big way. We are reading about planes and spaceships, and building all kinds of planes and spaceships. We love this book, which has lots of good models to build. Lots of really interesting, cool stuff! (Remember that reading curriculum? Not much progress, at all. Oh well!)

He asked me what I wanted him to be when he grows up.

"A happy grownup man who loves and obeys God, which is of course the way to have a happy life." (or something like that)

"But Mommy, what do you want me to be?"

"Well, JPD, there are lots of great, very interesting things to be." Then I listed some. "What are you thinking you might like to be?"

"Mom, I want to design airplanes." (Not Batman--go figure!)

"Well, JPD, that's called an aerospace engineer, and we can start on that right away."

Go JPD!! :)

~ 3 ~
After three years of hardly ever working out and eating pretty much everything in sight, I have decided that enough is enough. My physical condition has officially hit bottom. So this week I went back to the health club. About time, right?

I've been thinking about my three years of sloth, which I blamed on homeschooling (no time to work out, of course) and nursing MPD (too hard to leave him, ever), and then, more recently, H1N1 (can't leave MPD in the germ room with all those other kids, right?). These are all good reasons, don't you think? So did I. Great rationalizations, to be sure. I even got to thinking that it was vain and selfish to spend all that time working out; how could I be so 'narcissistic' and still be a good Catholic mom?

What a rationalization that was. Being a good Catholic mom (whatever that is) does not require me to look like an overweight middle-aged shrew. Not only that, I need to be healthy, and be around, and provide a good example for my children's health habits. I need to do a much better job of tending my "temple of the holy spirit."

So it's back to the health club for me. I'm clawing my way back. Just wait and see. :)

~ 4 ~
I have started serving dinner quite early most days, right after school around 4 p.m. or so. I cannot overstate my enthusiasm for this strategy; it is awesome. The kids are starving when they get home and will eat almost anything I put in front of them. We sit down and eat while discussing their school day, then get the kitchen cleaned up before heading out to soccer or gymnastics or whatever the evening's extracurricular activities are for the day. When we get home around 7 or so, they have yogurt or a banana or something like that.

This is so great because I have discovered that even when I plan dinner later, if I don't have dinner pretty much ready to go before 3 p.m., it becomes almost impossible to get it on the table. I am so tired at that time of day anyway, and it's total chaos of course at that witching hour of the day with everyone doing homework on the counter and table while I'm trying to work, MPD clinging to my legs (he only ever does this when I'm trying to cook), and JPD running around the neighborhood making new friends with everyone he can find--half the time I end up saving whatever I started making for the following day, and just heating up a pizza.

Now if we can just get Bill home for dinner by 4, my plan will be perfect. (Not, of course, if doing so involves him getting laid off from his job...)

~ 5 ~
Four more weeks of school! Can't wait for summer! WWD is so excited for middle school, and so am I. And for summer--we got the kids' swim team suits ($$$) and signed them up for junior golf ($$$$$!) this week. I love all these fun sports they do, and can't imagine which one I'd omit, but we are seriously scrutinizing our extracurriculars and realizing that, uh, we are spending a bloody fortune on them. Not sure what else to say about this, except I do think that their college tuition is a higher priority than summer tennis lessons or day camp. Junior golf--well, that one may be a toss-up.

~ 6 ~
Hey, I just finished reading another great book: The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner.
The author, an NPR correspondent, travels around the world to a handful of fascinating countries, literally searching for happiness. He scrutinizes the world's statistically happiest places, which are those you'd expect--Switzerland, for one--and those you wouldn't, like Iceland. He also visits the unhappiest country--Moldova. His journeys give a great flavor for all these different countries, and he actually does come up with some pithy discoveries about what actually makes happiness.
An example of his conclusions:

"Money matters, but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important. So are friends. Envy is toxic. So is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude."

Of all the countries, my favorite for sure was India. But the one I'd actually most like to visit--not sure why this isn't India, but still--is Bhutan. Of course, I'm just hoping for a summer vacation to a campsite somewhere in Wisconsin, but I can always dream, right?

What I really want to know is how one would go about getting such an assignment: Writing a book about happiness that requires about a year of traveling the globe to try to find and analyze said happiness. Now that's what I want to do when I grow up.

~ 7 ~
Our plans for Mother's Day this year are very small. Most of all, I want to sleep. My mom's not into it much either; we went out to lunch one day this week and called it Mother's Day, and I'm going to decorate her patio with some hanging basket flowers and bring the kids for a visit or an outing of some sort. Did I mention that most of all, I want to sleep?
Happy Mother's Day to all of you too!

P.S. Did you notice that my 'Quick Takes' are so not quick that they are longer than some of my standalone blog posts? Perhaps I should stop saving up everything for Friday? :) But next week--I'm going to try for very, very quick Quick Takes. Stay tuned!