I'm still here!

No really, I am! I did so well keeping up with the things first quarter and then... is it too cliche to blame life? Four kids? Work deadlines? All of the above?

Regardless, here's a quick recap of the last four months!

John Paul turned two... and there will be another post with some pictures of that as soon as I find those pictures. Which isn't as easy a task as it would usually be, because...

Last month I bought a new laptop! My old HP laptop (you know, 3 1/2 years old--ancient) was functionally a small desktop, because the battery hasn't held a charge for the last two years. And Windows 10 scares me. And it was starting to occasionally get pretty hot with the fan getting really loud, which my last two laptops both did before they started overheating and shutting themselves off randomly. So I went over to the dark side converted and bought a MacBook Air and I am absolutely in love with it (but of course in a properly-ordered-attachments-we-love-people-and-use-things kind of way). My boss says that going from PC to Mac is like converting from Protestantism to Catholicism, so I guess I scored some extra points there. Never hurts to agree with the boss on those important issues, right? ;)

But anyway, my pictures are all still on my old laptop. I've been trying to move them to cloud storage and my HP has been pouting about being replaced (and thus totally justifying my decision) and making it an incredibly slow and frustrating process. So instead of any relevant pictures you get some gems from our recent visit to the Good Life.

these boys sure love trains

M showing off his notes at the zoo--he kept a list of all the animals he liked

Liam (finally) finished potty training. John Paul is starting to act interested and I'm torn between not wanting to miss the window that's right for him and far preferring the changing of diapers to the training of the toilet use.

reading to L & JP and cousin James--the boys bonded over trucks and trains during our time together

We had when felt like three months of back-to-back colds. Nothing very serious--just enough to disrupt everyone's sleep. Liam had croup twice. John Paul had several nights of not being able to sleep for more than an hour or two at a time because he was stuffed up. Colette was fussy and wanted to nurse all night every night. Etc. As if we weren't already exhausted, right?

sleepy girl

So it was all we could do to keep up with work and the basics. But everyone stayed fed, there was usually enough clean underwear to go around, and we made it. I had a couple writing deadlines this spring for projects that we exciting and challenging (I'll share more when they're published :)). I finished up my first year teaching the Catechism (first two sections of it) and my third year teaching Psalms/Wisdom Literature/John/Revelation. It was a really special year, because I got to finish out the four year program with the class I taught my (and their) first year.

M & L looking for fireflies (also affectionately known as "butt-lighters" in the Rappana household) before bedtime

places to go, things to do (trouble to find)

This summer (and fall, most likely) I have back-to-back writing projects--mostly Bible studies and sacrament prep materials--which is exciting but a little exhausting. You can check out the studies I've contributed to on the Augustine Institute's formed.org (I don't get an ongoing commission or royalties or anything--I'm just seriously excited about these resources!).

I'm also doing some extra teaching (second half of the Catechism) and information sessions for next year's classes this summer. Again, the extra work is super helpful (and summer is the time to do it--Alex gets to be the stay-at-home dad while I go off to teach a couple days a month), but I'm feeling a little stressed about it. There's just a lot going on, and all I want to do is go back to bed.

my loves

We ordered and moved (okay, Alex and the boys moved... okay, Alex moved) 7 tons of rock and dirt to do some landscaping in our backyard.

We (okay, Alex--but I helped a little) finished a million little and not-so-little projects around the house.

So yeah, I supposed you could say we've been keeping ourselves a bit busy this summer :)

all the cousins