my fishbowl

Lack of Blogging.....

I downgraded my typepad account to FREE, hence the change in the look of the blog. I have decided to stop feeling guilty about my lack of blogging. I just love Facebook so much more and it seems I don't have enough time to do both! So, for updates on what's going on please join us on Facebook!! Derk, the girls and I all have account.

Its been a topsy turvy two weeks since Molly's Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis but this picture makes it all worthwhile....we have our happy, healthy, Molly back!

Merry Christmas!

 

To all our friends and family, may you have a wonderful Christmas!

Sandy's Christmas Dress....

 

I am so not a believer in clothing for dogs....I was happy Sandy loved the cold weather and snow and didn't need a coat or sweater. BUT, when I saw these at Target the other day I couldn't resist buying our little yorkiepoo a Christmas dress of her own. It makes us  smile and we've needed something to smile about lately!!!

 

I Finally Broke Down...

and bought an Elf on the Shelf to kick off our December festivities :) It is truly amazing how much Sean has bought in to this! Almost too much...He wouldn't fall asleep last night because he wanted to check and see if "Jingle" had left for the North Pole yet.  Yes, we named him Jingle and we thought we were so clever until we went on line to register him and discovered it is the third most popular name! Only out ranked by Buddy and Elfie...I wish I had thought of Buddy. Happy December everyone!

 

The Chalkboard Wall in Action....

so far so good....the dustless chalk seems to work great! Yes, I did eventually reinstall the switchplates :)

We've moved on to another little decorating project in Grace's room...  

Sweet Shy Grace No Longer....

I guess it is time for me to wake up to the fact that Gracie is not my sweet, shy, quiet, little girl but a sweet, confident, outgoing almost teenager....This has become most evident in her start of SEVENTH grade. Last night while cheering at the football game she had no qualms about doing backhandsprings down the field in front of a packed stadium :)

 

 

That's her "flying" as they call it...night time football games make for so so pictures :)

 

Cheers!

 

Tae Kwon Do

Look who started tae kwon do today. It was rather intense too....for a 3 to 5 year old class anyway!!! He has asked to do this for so long. I finally signed him up :)

Long Over Due Swim Season Post

Molly, once again swam for our local park district's summer league swim team and she LOVED every minute of it! She also improved so much. It was the perfect season for building her confidence. It started off with her moving up to a more challenging practice group very early on and it just got better from there :)

Highlights of the season include:

Swimming her way on to the team's Conference Meet Freestyle Relay Team. Always a big honor in swimming to make the free relay :) Her team not only won, beating out 7 other teams, but set a team record in the process!

At the end of the year banquet, she was awarded the Otter of the Year Award for her age group. A BIG honor. A small portion of the award criteria is performance/improvement in the pool. The basis is more for recognizing team effort, team loyalty and overall character. I couldn't be more proud of her!

And last but not least, each season they have a family relay event at a home time trial meet. Non swim team members from your family may form a relay team and race against other family relay teams. Grace and Molly teamed up with two of our neighbors daughters to race. They won their heat and finished third overall. I was so excited and proud of Grace for taking this huge step out of her comfort zone to participate!

Next year we hope to get Sean on the team and swim all season!

 

Molly's number one fan :)