"A Wink and a Smile"

I can hardly believe that it is already March 7th.   Where has the year gone already?   My only excuse for not comprehending the time, is that I have spent weekend after weekend at the pool watching my girls SWIM.  I had a brief rendezvous with the husband to MEXICO (I may share that soon) in January, but every other weekend in January, February, and up until now has been spent breathing in chlorinated air. This weekend, while it will be my first one spent at home, it will be yet ANOTHER swim meet for the daughter in the photos above.   She is attending a traveling sectional meet with other swimmers from the team.  For the first time she will get to swim the maximum # of entries allowed.  She has worked incredibly hard this season and her times in the pool show for it.  I am one proud mama! While the 15 year old will be swimming her heart out, I will be glued to the MEET MOBILE app allowing me to view the results of the swimming live....

Let me start off by saying that the only part of Halloween that I like is the dress up- take a picture part.  Is that horrible?  I don't really enjoy walking the neighborhood and knocking at strangers doors.  I don't even love the candy part.  Well maybe just the Reece's peanut butter cups.  I don't like the fact that my children will consume about 10+ pieces of candy in a sitting. I envision horrible results at the dentist.  I don't enjoy finding wrappers hidden in various parts of my house AFTER the whole treat part is done.  I don't like spending a lot on costumes, but I am proud when I can put together a costume on the cheap with some extra creativity.  I'm just hum-bug about the holiday. This year I had three of my girls going around the neighborhood.  My oldest (who did dress up) stayed home with about 10 other high school kids and gave out candy, had pizza/soda, chatted, and watched scary movies.  Daughter #2 went to another ne...

 It's crazy stuff I tell 'ya! Her age has suddenly caught me off guard. My once homeschooled daughter who NOW attends our local Catholic school is nearing HIGH SCHOOL ... we just did the Open House at our local girl's Catholic High School ((((SIGH)))) Somehow it doesn't seem right ...This girl is nearly my size and those FEET (or FINS, are passing me) She is beautiful and strong She is smart and funny She captures my heart ... so much of ME is in her I see WONDERFUL and GREAT things in her future ... Happy 14th to my {k}!

{k} and Bishop Anthony Taylor ... the mass was beautiful! {K} and her sponsor, Mrs. F. The poor woman had a huge cast on her right hand (neatly hidden here) . After mass and pictures, we headed out to dinner as a family (just immediate family) . My 13.5 looks quite the teenager ... striking that oh so familiar "teenage pose" God Bless {KE} "Joan of Arc"

Muse Definition of "Muse" in Language: as a noun: in ancient Greek mythology any of 9 daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne; protector of an art or science the source of an artist's inspiration; "Euterpe was his muse" as a verb: reflect deeply on a subject; "I mulled over the events of the afternoon"; "philosophers have speculated on the question of God for thousands of years"; "The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate" [synonyms: chew over , think over , meditate , ponder , excogitate , contemplate , muse, reflect , mull , mull over , ruminate , speculate ] I was a little embarrassed to note this week's theme for MCP Project 52 and realize that I didn't really have a clue as to what I could add to it (with a photograph). Not sure if it is noticeable, but I just love the photo that is on my iPad. It is actually a terrible quality picture that I played around with in Photoshop. It's grainy (due to lighting i...

In pictures of course ... Mommy and Daddy had to tag team today and split up. The 8 year old had a basketball game and the three older girls had a 3 day swim meet out of town. {b} did great at her first game. She was so excited. She did a little bit more running of the court and guarding than being aggressive with the ball (like she has in the past), but it was the first game in nearly a year AND with only 2 practices. Big girls are 3 hours away swimming their hearts out. They are also blowing their noses A LOT. Of course they have not been sick all winter, but they get sick after signing up, booking hotel, and paying for a meet. So far though ... GREAT SWIMS. I have a wonderful hubby who will do the travel without a bit of complaining. THIS IS LIFE for us ...

or rather we are observing DECOMPOSITION . MATERIALS: Everything (except a SODA bottle) we had on hand ... 2 liter soda bottle scissors pantyhose rubber band 2 cups of garden soil 1 cup of sand variety of organic material (leaves, grass, pine needles, twigs) inorganic material (plastic wrap, candy wrappers, and so on) 1 cup of water PROCEDURE: Basically we cut off the top of the water bottle, poured in the sand followed by the dirt, added half of the organic material then all of the inorganic material, and then the other half of the organic material. After this we added water, covered the bottle with pantyhose, put a rubber band around the bottle to secure and NOW WE WAIT AND OBSERVE. She loves SCIENCE!

When I started blogging this girl was 8 years old and she looked more like this ... Same dimples, same smile ... but, no more GAP (she's happy about that). Same sweet girl Same great helper Same little artist with her own style Same girl who loves to swim ... although she's a lot faster now. I could say so many wonderful things about this young lady (is that what you call a 13 year old?), but I'm sure you've read it all before. The only thing I would add is that I just hope that she stays so much of who she is because I LOVE HER SO! Happy 13th to my 2nd dear daughter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In early August 3 of my 5 girls participated in a kid's triathlon. The two older ones in the picture below participated last year, so this was TRI #2 for them! It was actually a really GOOD year for Miss {m} who placed 1st in the girls 10 year age group. This was a big improvement from last year when she had some troubles with transitions. This year ... she nailed that part of it. {k}, the 12.5 year old also placed 4th in the 13 year age group ... another improvement from last year. {b}, my just turned 8 year old did really well considering she biked and (partially) ran with her shoes NOT on in the back. I guess those no tie laces that we thought would help were too tight for her to get her feet in fast enough for her liking. I think it was halfway through her run that she decided she needed to really have her shoes on correctly. She placed 6th for her group. 350 participants ... MY GIRLS DID AWESOME! Just a few weeks ago we also came upon some bad news with our 17 month old ...

This past Thursday we started the day early ... getting the oldest off to high school first (she caught a ride) and then these 4 got their day started. This will be the only year that I will have 3 of my girls in the same school ... kindergarten, 3rd, and 5th grade. That big girl is my 7th grader who is taking on her 3rd year in homeschooling. Of course there had to be the obligatory first day of school pictures. These are just a few ... Off to school ... Mommy and {c} ... no tears. Aren't you proud! Already she has a big job ... Once those little girls were off to school, the 7th grader and I headed to PANERA for our back to school breakfast ... I couldn't help myself after the breakfast. I needed to stop HERE to take a few pictures ... just can't resist the dimples :) I'm feeling good about this year.

So it's been another week where I haven't checked in. Can I get by with the busy excuse? It is, however, the end of the school year and I KNOW some of you can relate to the chaos that comes with these days.As I recall (as much as my memory can), this past weekend was Mother's Day . For some moms that may mean a relaxing day ... one that may involve pampering or even a bit of solitude. I'm guessing that for most that would not be the case. It certainly wasn't for me. Who invented this holiday anyway? I spent my Mother's Day doing what I do most other days ... being a mom and watching my girls SWIM . Before we headed to day 3 of the swim meet, I MADE my girls take a picture with their MUTHA (that's my mom's NY accent). Some looked happy, but some looked like they were in a hurry to get to the swim meet. Anywhooooooooo, it is an okay picture with all of my babies. I really wanted to take a bunch of pictures at this swim meet, but like so many of th...