7 quick takes

1 - In high school our madrigals were awesome.  Especially when you factor in that our madrigal singers were football players and small town kids.  I was not a madrigal singer, which is part of the reason they were so good.  Anyways, one of the songs they sang every year was Riu Riu Chiu which is a Spanish madrigal about Christ's bith.  And here it's sung by The Monkees because I'm classy like that.

2 - Well, this morning we had another mouse on a trap.  This one was stuck on a sticky trap behind a bookcase.  I couldn't even look at it.  My 4 year old proudly, bravely got it out and took it to the back porch.  I know, I know, I'm ridiculous.

3 - We have good news in the Engstrom home!  For weeks Resa was not sleeping well at night.  It started when she was close to crawling and had a growth spurt.  She was nursing more to accomplish the growing and milestone.  And then she had a few days of bad naps which began a horrible cycle of not sleeping well during the day => not sleeping well during the night => not sleeping well during the day.  After two good days of good naps and a good night's sleep two nights ago she finally had a great night's sleep last night.  I'm hoping we are on the path to being rested again.

4 - Does anyone know if the second episode of Minor Revisions will be on YouTube?  I was so tired I fell asleep on the sofa shortly after Joe's hilarious story of throwing the potty over the fence.

5 - We have 3 great posts coming up to end the Advent series by 3 wonderful women.  Karen Edmisten is on deck, Kathryn Whitaker is in the hole, and Cynthia Schroeder is the last to bat.  I know the next few days will be crazy busy but I hope you still find time to stop in and read their articles.  They really are lovely. 

6 - On a related note - have you read Jen Sagel's post?  It's lovely.  My favorite part is this:
Quite frankly, our feeling of being prepared is not an indication of how we have grown spiritually (or helped our little ones to grow) during this time of Advent. I can say with certainty that I don’t feel holier than I did four weeks ago. But I can look back and say that I relied on the Lord more. 

7 - We had a little blizzard here yesterday, you know, after it was sunny and 50 degrees outside in the morning.  Now the windchill is single digits and my kids just want to go outside and play in the snow.  That's not gonna happen when it's this cold and they don't keep gloves on.  So it's time I get off the computer, turn off Netflix, and we go frost some cookies. 

This is where JF usually eats breakfast, sitting on the computer desk while I check email. 
Do you feel better about your mothering now?

L, my hero, and Ben, engrossed in Kipper.

Many thanks to superstar Jen for hosting!  Have a wonderful weekend, friends!