Christmas Newsletter 2017 - Year in Review

I asked Alex what I should include in our yearly family Christmas letter, and he suggested that I copy and paste last year's letter and just change the kids' ages. That would almost work--it's been a good and busy year, full of everyday struggles and God's graces, new every morning--but no major life changes (unless you count a new minivan and painting 1/3 of our house). And also no regular updates here on the blog (sorry! Instagram is just so much easier).

But here's a little bit about 2017...

Colette turned two in November. She loves being outside, taking care of her baby dolls, and playing trains with her brothers. She has become very good at dressing herself, and she will often disappear upstairs (whether or not the baby gate is in place) to change into her pajamas or put on a new pair of socks. 

Just this month she started climbing out of her crib every time we put her in it, so now she's in a toddler bed (much to my dismay--I was not ready for her to be escaping her crib!).

little miss independent

John Paul is three and a half. He is extremely friendly and always happy--except for when he's not. He reminds us all to laugh more, and sets a strong example with his own hearty guffaw. He also excels at providing opportunities for all of us to practice laughing.


His favorite color is green. When he grows up, he wants to be either a fire fighter or a zoo keeper.

Liam also has exceptional taste in costumes

Liam turned five in November. We started kindergarten at home this year, and he's loving it. He says his favorite parts are snacks and vacations (and he asks at least weekly when we can go on another road trip), but he also seems to enjoy reading and math.


He is our resident train expert, always ready to describe in detail the various trains he has seen in books or (better yet!) in person. 

Trains are proving to be a great motivation for school--he's always happy to sit quietly with pencil and paper so long as he can draw trains in the margins of his handwriting worksheet or Bible story illustration, and in addition to his name he can write many important words like "train" and "engine." He wants to be a--you guessed it--train engineer some day.

so proud of losing his first tooth in September

Michael will be seven in January. He would like you to know that he can run very fast and that his favorite subject is math (he's in 2nd grade). He still reads voraciously, and he is usually very willing to sit down and read a book or two to his siblings. His favorite books are Hardy Boys and the Magic Tree House books.

this was not staged!

He loves jokes and riddles, writing and illustrating stories, and building elaborate Lego and Lincoln Log houses.

He's not willing to commit himself to a particular career path at the time of this writing, but in recent weeks he's expressed plans to play for the Rockies and be a chef. 

mining engines in Lead, SD -- one of the highlights of the summer

We had a busy summer with multiple road trips to visit family and friends we don't see nearly often enough. In between trips we fulfilled our four-year-long dream of painting the entire first floor of our house (replacing yellow, brown, and green with grey). We almost finished it--we intended to completely redo the small bathroom on the main floor, but the end of summer and then a leaky toilet upstairs slowed us down. Family New Year's Resolution: finish all of the mostly-done projects both in- and outdoors!

Alex is still teaching Scripture to high school sophomores at Regis Jesuit Girls' Division. I continue to write for the Augustine Institute and teach for the Denver Catholic Biblical and Catechetical Schools. 

Homeschooling in addition to this craziness is made possible by the generous help of my parents, who are still living with us (much to our delight and relief!). 

We wish you all peace and joy in these seasons of Advent and Christmas, and God's abundant blessings in the New Year!

"Man’s Maker was made man that 
the Bread might be hungry, 
the Fountain thirst, 
the Light sleep, 
the Way be tired from the journey, 
the Truth might be accused by false witnesses, 
the Judge of the living and dead be judged by a mortal judge, 
Justice be sentenced by the unjust, 
the Teacher be beaten with whips, 
the Vine be crowned with thorns, 
the Foundation be suspended on wood, 
the Strength be made weak, 
the Healer be wounded, 
and that Life might die. 
Wake up, O human being! 
For it was for you that God was made man. 
Rise up and realize it was all for you." 
-St. Augustine

The Toddler and the Allium: A Parable

Well, we're already gearing up for our third week of school...

I don't know where the summer went. Wait, scratch that--I know exactly where it went. It went to North Dakota, then South Dakota, then South Dakota again, then Montana... with about a million hours spent on Wyoming highways. And to Home Depot a couple dozen times so we could paint most of the main floor of our house.

Regardless, it went too fast. And as I sit here wondering who put me in charge of the education of these four little goofballs and if it's May yet, I find myself praying for flexibility. No, not the do-the-splits kind--although I guess that would be pretty neat too--the resilience kind.

The allium kind.

We bought our house four years ago last month. When we moved in, the grass was alive and the trees were flourishing--and that was about it. We had no idea what the spring would bring in the yard and front flower/weed bed. That first spring in our house was a glorious surprise. The front bed exploded with flowers that looked exactly like big purple fireworks on a long, straight stem. Google informed me that they were alliums, and I loved them.

Last fall we had to dig up the whole front bed to replace the (non)retaining wall. I salvaged as many of the allium bulbs as I could, with every intention of replanting them. (Maybe I'll finally get around to it this fall... as of right now they're still sitting in a pot in the garage.)

I didn't take a picture of this year's May snow,
but I took a picture of Colette all bundled up to play in it.
She was not a fan.

But lo and behold! This spring up popped at least a dozen alliums. Despite the total upheaval of the retaining wall project, many of the bulbs survived and bloomed right on schedule. Which means, of course, right in time for our annual May blizzard.

That has been the story every spring. The alliums shoot up and blossom, and then we get a heavy spring snow.

But you know what? They don't care.


They bend and bow under the weight of the snow. All seems lost and frozen and destroyed. But then the snow melts, and they go on blooming. Sure, some of them are no longer exactly vertical, but they shrug off the snow and go on being glorious and lovely and springy.

one of my darling allium AFTER the snow melted

On the other side of the flexibility spectrum is Colette. For the last six or so months she has been quite... particular... at bedtime. Some nights more so, some nights less, but in general things have to be exactly right for her to settle down and go to sleep. And of course, the crucial details change from night to night--and sometimes in the middle of the bedtime routine.

Her water bottle must be placed just so.


She must have this blanket and not that one.

She wants a particular book, but she wants to turn the pages randomly back and forth.

The blanket must be covering her feet but not pulled tight around her.


She needs her doll. Her doll must fold her hands while we say prayers. I must acknowledge that her doll is praying with us.

She doesn't want me to pray.

She wants me to say prayers again.

She needs another drink of water.

mornings are rough when you fight bedtime
(it was milk, promise)

She wants me to sing songs. I start with whatever was her favorite last night, but no--she wants row row. So I start singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." She changes her mind and wants uppabove. But halfway through "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" she asks for moon.

You get the picture. I can't even learn and anticipate her demands because they're different every night. This has been going on in roughly the same form for almost a quarter of her life. It has made for many long, frustrating bedtimes. Of course I acquiesce to the little sleep-tyrant, because my mothering motto is "whatever it takes." And that is especially true when it comes to sleep!

After a month or so of the ridiculousness we did start pushing back, and she has gotten much better. She is slowly learning to adapt to conditions that are not exactly to her liking, my sweet, strong-willed little girl.

Colette's bedtime antics forced me to realize something: I am not an allium. I am very particular, strong-willed, totally arbitrary toddler who wants things HER WAY OR ELSE.

this is a perfect summary of her personality:
my fierce, sweet little warrior-princess

When the snow storms of life crush me (or, honestly, even just chill me a little), I don't wait them out patiently and spring back up as best I can to get on with blooming. I cry and scream and kick and yell "NO" and demand something different. Which works about as great for me with God as it does for Colette with me.

I am so far from weathering the storms of my life with consistent trust and patience. But this has been my prayer through the summer and especially now as we begin working our way through the school year. The first weeks have been crazy. Good, but so hard. And I'm already so tired. I feel like the smallest thing is enough to totally derail me--mentally and emotionally. But I know I just need to let go. Adapt. Adjust. Stop wishing it could be some other way right this moment. Be present.

So. Here's to trust, not tantrums--child-like, not childish. Lord, not my will, but yours.

St. Mark, pray for us!

Yesterday was the feast day of St. Mark the Evangelist.

Growing up, whenever I played "house" my imaginary husband was always named Mark. Unfortunately, he was always traveling for work. Apparently I could imagine my dolls were real, but I couldn't imagine an invisible husband to be present in the house.

Well, I like the name "Alex" much better than "Mark" now. And I'm really glad his job doesn't require constant travel.

But it's not Saint Mark's fault that my imaginary husband was never home! So in honor of his feast day, here's a brief introduction to who he was and why he wrote a gospel.

{7 quick takes} vol. 42 Food

Jumping back into the game after a looooooong hiatus with the quickest of quick takes. About food. Because I'm hungry. Although blogging about food on a Friday in Lent doesn't seem quite right... increased penance, maybe?

And although I've been thinking about this post for a while and planning it out in my head (i.e., fantasizing about food), I've been spending all my spare computer moments launching my new project (if you're interested, you can read about it here and visit it here). So I wasn't totally on my game to make sure I had pictures of each recipe, which I'm sure violates some major blogging law.

As you can see, I'm more than a little bit obsessed with Smitten Kitchen right now. I make no apologies.

So here are seven of my current favorites in the kitchen:

--- 1 ---

Okonomiyaki

Japanese cabbage & vegetable pancakes--delightful as a side dish, but absolute perfection for breakfast with a fried egg on top.

--- 2 ---

Roasted broccoli

I can't even put into words how much I love broccoli roasted in the oven. Toss with a little olive oil, spread it out on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and pepper (or whatever you would like), and throw it in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 450 (make sure it gets crispy--that's the key).

--- 3 ---

Tequila-lime slaw with cilantro

Loosely based off this recipe here. I don't really measure, so it turns out a little different each time. The fresh cilantro is worth the work, and if you don't have tequila then a splash of vinegar works just as well. If you use both red and green cabbage and add some carrot (I use a vegetable peeler to get long strips) then it is quite visually stunning as well as delicious. I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture the last time I made it!

--- 4 ---

Spaghetti pie 

Plain spaghetti noodles with nothing but parmesan cheese has always been one of my favorite things. This made me feel very grown up and accomplished, while still basically enjoying one of my favorite comfort foods. I used spinach (chopped, fresh) instead of broccoli rabe because I don't think I've ever even seen it at the store. It was everything I dreamed it would be (especially with broccoli on the side).

--- 5 ---

Peanut-lime chicken with noodles

I spent a three week "study abroad" (hey! let's get three credit hours for being tourists!) in Vietnam my senior year of college. It was incredible. So was the food. Oh my goodness the food. This reminds me a bit of that trip. Don't skip on the mint.

--- 6 ---

Naan

Bread is one of my love languages. This one is simple and satisfying. We use it for wraps (usually with barbeque) and then put honey on it for dessert. And then peanut butter on it in the morning for breakfast. I always make a double batch for us because if there are no leftovers I'll probably cry. But I just cook it on a hot griddle--I haven't tried the open flame technique.

--- 7 ---

Farro with tomato and basil

I had never even heard of farro (it's a variety of wheat) until I stumbled across this recipe on--you guessed it--Smitten Kitchen. I made it for the first time last summer when I actually had basil that I had grown in my own garden to put on top (all of you with chickens and ginormous gardens and stuff can just be quiet and let me bask in my tiny little agricultural accomplishments, mmkay?). I promptly fell in love. It wasn't quite enough for a main course for us, but we love it as a hearty side dish. I saute the onions first, because I had a bad experience once with some other recipe where everything was supposed to cook together and the onions came out super crunchy. And I'm very sparing with the crushed red pepper flakes because I'm a wimp. But I make up for it with extra basil and parmesan.

So there you go, seven quick current favorites. And now I'm hungrier than when I started. Dang it.

Linking up with Kelly for Seven Quick Takes!

New Beginnings

I'm excited--and somewhat trepidatious--to announce the commencement of a new project.

I'm starting a new blog.

Don't worry--I will most certainly be keeping this one. And I hope to be much better about posting pictures and stories of the kiddos--as well as other miscellany. Thanks to the encouragement of some friends and the guilty realization that my negligence has been seriously depriving friends and family of their regular dose of my crazy children, I have firmly resolved to post here more often. You know, more than quarterly.

But.

I have long felt torn between the desire to write more about Scripture and the faith and a certain hesitancy to try to mix my plain ol' mommy blog with more professional or academic pursuits. It just didn't seem to fit. A motherhood-inspired reflection on something faith-related, sure. A treatise on whether or not Moses actually wrote the Pentateuch, not so much. (Not that I will be writing any treatises, but you get the picture.)

In the past few weeks the desire to write more on Scripture and put it out on the interwebs has grown, and so I'm just jumping in. Because otherwise I will plan and dream for six months, and it will grow to something huge and glorious in my dreams (okay, it already has), and then I will talk myself out of actually moving forward.

So here we go.

I humbly invite you to join me in this adventure at Broad and Deep. (And any feedback in this new endeavor would be most appreciated!)