7 quick takes

1 - I haven't really felt like my marriage is "dancing in minefields" but I like the analogy nonetheless.  I think this song is beautiful.

2 - Speaking of marriage - in the five years that I've been hitched to Travis we have both gained a lot of weight.  I won't tell you how much but my awesome cooking and four babies in four years have not been good for our waistlines.  We are finally doing something about it.  Travis bought the Insanity videos and I started Weight Watchers.  I feel stupid even mentioning it but I'm sincerely hoping that by next summer I will look a lot more like this:

Yes, I want to be thin again.  With naturally curly hair again.  Eating a Belgian waffle in Belgium again.

3 - Did you hear the good news about Hallie and Dan Lord?  Dan, whom you may know as Mr. Betty Beguiles, has been named the new editor for Catholic Exchange!  Congratulations are definitely in order, so CONGRATULATIONS!  Bloggers I love such as Patrick Madrid, House Unseen's Dwija, and Clan Donaldson's Cari write at Catholic Exchange, which features all kinds of great content.  I'm super excited for Dan and his family.

Also, right now Catholic Exchange is in the midst of their summer fundraising.  Why not drop by and donate a little bit of money to make sure this great site is able to keep up the good work?

4 - Here is an example of why I do not do ecological breastfeeding:  Last night Teresa slept from 9:30pm until 7:30am.  That means I got to sleep through the night, too.  THANK YOU, JESUS!!!!

5 - Today I will get my hair cut.  And I want my bangs to look like this:

I don't know if this will work on me because of my longer hair but I'm liking the short bang look.  Here's hoping it looks cute!

6 - I am super excited to say that this July my friend Sr. MN will be professing final vows with the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, aka the Nashville Dominicans.  Sister was my best friend in college and it was a lot of fun to watch her revert to her Catholic faith, fall in love with Christ, discern religious life, and have to learn how to sew.  (She was horrible at sewing but every nun needs to know how to do it I guess.  It's a habit thing, I think.)  I have been a horrible pen pal with her, and each child makes me even worse, but I love her and have such wonderful memories of eating ice cream, singing along to Keith Urban's Blue Jean Song, and watching her play laser tag. 

We're not sure if the whole family can go or not.  I really want her to meet my kids but a seven hour drive and a night in a hotel room followed by good behavior at a long Mass sounds like a disaster for my family of six.  There's also the fact that we really can't afford to pay for any of this.  I tried thinking of ways to raise money for it.  I could bake pies, do a garage sale, clean people's homes, or be really tacky and ask for cash for my birthday.  I could probably whip together a yard sale, right?  And sell some fruit pies at the sale? 

Or we could win the lottery.

7 - Our 12 year old neighbor boy was visiting while the kids and I were playing outside yesterday.  He looked at Teresa and said, "I think she looks like you."

"Oh yeah?  Thanks."

"Yeah; you have the same red dots on your face."

Awesome.  My precious daughter and I look alike because we both have acne.

Here's hoping everyone has a great weekend!  Head over to Jen's for more Quick Takes! 

Let's all drink a beer.  It's only 5 points. ;)