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!)

A new addition (but not that kind)

We are excited to announce that last week we welcomed a new member into our family:

This addition has been a long time coming. For the last 3 1/2 years we've been driving a 2001 Sienna, which we bought (very, very) used when we realized there was no way we could fit three carseats in either our Mazda 5 or our Ford Focus. The Sienna served us well (even though the handle broke off the driver-side sliding door two months after we bought it, and it could therefore only be opened from the inside), but at 16 years old and practically 200,000 miles it was done. I was terrified to take it in for an oil change because at this point it's never *just* an oil change, and anything it needed beyond that would almost certainly be well above the worth of the car.

We knew this day was coming. Actually, we've know it was coming pretty much since we bought the Sienna. So we had been planning and saving what we could for a while. It was both exciting and terrifying--the first time either Alex or I had bought a new car. And now I don't want to drive it because WHAT IF IT GETS DIRTY?!?!

(As a child, I hid my Easter candy in my closet and saved it until was stale because I didn't want it to be gone... I'm sure that is in no way related to my current inclination to preserve the pristine new-ness of my new car.)

So. New car--it obviously has to be named. I mean, that is obvious, right? You guys all name your cars, right? Right?

My parents named our cars when I was growing up, and Dene' and I named the cars we shared in high school and college. We had:

Max the Honda Accord

me riding in Max, circa... 1989?
I guess taking pictures of the exterior of cars wasn't such a priority
back in the days of real film that you actually had to buy and then develop...

Clarabelle the Isuzu Trooper

L-R: the Christmas tree, Dad, Dene', and I

Not pictured: Izzy the Ford minivan (Windstar maybe? all I remember was that it was convenient for road trips but NOT COOL to drive in high school)


Touzalin the sporty little Honda Civic (my favorite)

Dene' and I, first day of my senior year of high school

feeling so grown up on our very own sisters-only road trip to the Black Hills the summer after my senior year of high school

Flint the Ford Focus

Dene' and I and our friend Ember drove 16 hours for a CFO camp in Ontario (and set up our tent all by ourselves! twice!)
and it's a good thing we did, because Ember just happened to meet her husband at that camp :)

And then finally I had a car that was all mine to name without consulting anyone else: Celebrin the Mazda 5.

all packed up and off to grad school

Yes, Celebrin (kel-EH-breen). If you're thinking, "Hmm, that sounds an awful lot like the Elvish word for 'silver'" then you would be absolutely right. Once it was all up to me I was naming my cars in Elvish. As one does.

Well, we never got around to naming the Sienna for some reason. But our new Odyssey absolutely needs a name, and clearly it needs to be in Elvish (I'm open to either Quenya or Sindarin, in case you were wondering). So I've been poring over the appendices in the Silmarillion and  Lord of the Rings in an attempt to find/construct the perfect name.

So after much deliberation and many moments of frustration when I realized that I had unwittingly blended Quenya and Sindarin elements to create a name (can't have that, precious!) we finally settled on a name. Alex fully approved of the endeavor and got a say in the final decision, but I want the record to show that he did mock me throughout the entire process.

We finally settled on Durandir (du-RAHN-deer), meaning "dusk-wanderer" in Sindarin. I preferred the high-elven word for dusk, lómë, but I couldn't make any combinations work to my satisfaction. The price of being a purist, I suppose. And Alex and I agreed that having some form of wander/journey in the name of our Odyssey was too clever to pass up.

 So, tell me! Do you name vehicles? What do you call them?

Daybook

I'm (delightfully) in between writing projects, and I want to take advantage of this little bit of breathing space to work on some better writing habits. As in, writing more. Any more, really. I love writing, but I've come to the point where I nearly always find it torturous to fill word counts and meet deadlines. I feel like I need to rediscover joy in writing, and this is a good place to do it :)

reading
I've decided that 2017 is going to be the year that I actually put into practice something I've heard many times (and truly believe to be true): if I want to be a better writer, then I need to be intentional about reading good writing.

Duh.

So rather than spending all of my available reading time on the quick-fix entertainment of whatever fantasy and science fiction I can get my hands on, I want to read truly good writing. Fortunately for me there's a fair bit of fantasy and science fiction that is very well-written (you had better believe I'll be rereading the Lord of the Rings for--ahem--professional development this year). But I'm also expanding out of my comfort zone and trying to read a wider variety of genres.

I (finally) signed up on Goodreads to keep a record of what I've read and what I want to read. Come find me and be my friend and give me recommendations!

Here's what I've accomplished so far (full disclosure: several of these I started a long, long time ago and I was finally motivated to finish them so I could check them off a list. I love lists.):

The Blue Castle was amazing. I can't believe I've never read any L.M. Montgomery beyond the Anne books. I can't wait to read more of her novels now!

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was the January assignment for a book club I sorta/kinda joined (hey, yeah, I want to be in a book club! Wait, I'm busy... oh, was that tonight? Oops, was I supposed to read a specific book this month?). I had no expectations, but I wanted to be able to make the January meeting--and I really enjoyed it. Can't wait to discuss it with my book club ladies tomorrow night.

The Velvet Room was a recommendation from a friend with impeccable taste in books (thanks Megan!). I wish I would have found this book years ago--it would certainly have been a childhood favorite. Better late than never--it's on my long, long list for Colette some day.

I credit Not God's Type for inspiring me to want to work hard to become a better writer. Ordway's prose was elegant and lovely, and her story is simply amazing as well. 

And here's what I'm currently working on:

I'm reading The Green Ember to Michael for our school read-aloud, and we both love it. Unfortunately for me, he's often ready to be done after one chapter--and it takes all the self-control I can muster to not read ahead.

praying
For the intercession of Blessed Angela of Foligno, our family's patron saint for 2017. If you haven't already, check out Jen Fulwiler's patron saint generator--it's our favorite New Year's tradition.

listening

To Zoe Keating. I love cello as background music for reading or writing.

watching

Last Man Standing (on Netflix). Alex and thought the first season was hilarious, but so far we're not impressed with the second season.

family happenings

Alex and I celebrated our 7th anniversary. We had a delightful dinner & movie date. We're also trying to plan a weekend getaway up to Estes (where we honeymooned those many moons ago), but at this rate it's looking like it might be a 7 1/2 year anniversary present to ourselves this summer (all together now: better late than never!).

Colette is walking. She's not quite steady, but she's getting pretty good at it. She's 14 1/2 months now... the latest walker of the four of them, but the most adventurous. She also climbs everything. It's terrifying.

Michael turned 6 two weeks ago. I still can't believe it.

enjoying

Having a little space between writing projects. Long walks. Colette walking and starting to talk. Michael retelling Bible stories. Liam learning to read. John Paul sing songs. Reading as much as I can. Tea.

photo dump

merry Christmas from the Cranes!

cedar waxwing at my in-laws on Christmas day

danger girl

big boys (not pictured: Liam's helmet--but I promise he does have one!)

so big!

Daybook

Just popping in to say a quick hi and breaking all the blogger rules--no explanations, no promises, no pictures. Are there blogger rules? Like, you have to explain if you come back after a long/unexpected absence, and you have to set goals and tell the whole internet about them to keep you accountable (then offer more explanations when you fail to meet those goals anyway), and always post pictures because posts without pictures are boring and un-pinnable. Is "pinnable" a word? "Pinable"? There's another rule to break...

Whatevs. (And that IS apparently a word because "the computer guys" didn't put a squiggly red line under it, as Michael would say...)

I've missed blogging, but I didn't feel like I had much to say. Especially not after pushing through a rough couple of weeks to meet a deadline at the end of August, recovering for a month, then surviving (mostly, I'm not quite done) another crazy two weeks for the next project. Maybe I'll do a post about all those projects... next year...

But I was inspired and motivated by Bobby's  Weekly Writing in October link-up, especially when she suggested that if we needed something to get us started we could just go with a daybook kind of post. I can do that! I think I can I think I can I think I can... Chug chug chug, puff puff puff puff...

What, you don't randomly start reciting children's books in the middle of conversation?

So, with no further ado, currently I am:

reading
The Anne books, for the zillionth time. I'm on Anne of the Island and almost cried last night when Anne refused Gilbert's proposal. These are books that truly get better every single time, and I just have to read them in autumn. (Michael would tell me I don't "have to," I just really want to. He told me that the other day when I needed coffee. Good gracious.)

Also trying to read Augustine's Confessions. Because I'm ashamed I've never read the whole thing, and every time I read a passage from it for something else it is so beautiful and moving. I'm thinking this is one area where it's not really the thought that counts...

praying
This prayer from St. Augustine:

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. 

Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. 

Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy. 

Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. 

Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy. 

Amen.

And Psalm 131:

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,

my eyes are not raised too high;

I do not occupy myself with things

too great and too marvelous for me.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul,

like a child quieted at its mother's breast;

like a child that is quieted is my soul.

O Israel, hope in the Lord

from this time forth and for evermore.

I just "discovered" this psalm and I am totally taken with it. Maybe because I feel like I'm almost never quieted and I am usually occupied with things too great (or at least too much!) for me.

listening

For Colette to wake up. Because teething. Ugh.

around the house

My parents moved in last week! Yes, moved in to stay. No, they're not in poor health (thanks be to God). Yes, we actually just all wanted to live in the same house. There's more to it than that--but it deserves its own post. You know, next year.

We put a lot of (pretty minor but very time consuming) work into the house and yard this summer getting ready for a refinance. And it totally paid off (hahaha, I'm so exhausted look how funny I am). But there's a lot more to do, starting with redoing the retaining wall along the garden/weed bed in front of the house--because the current wall is not doing a particularly good job at retaining and consequently the porch is sinking and starting to pull away from the house. No bueno. So that's next on the list, along with finishing (because planning totally means we've started, right?) the necessary remodeling to turn the basement into a bedroom and living room instead of one giant toy room.

watching

NCIS with Alex. We're almost caught up on Netflix (we took a semi-unintentional hiatus a couple years ago and fell off the wagon). This is some serious relationship-building stuff for us, because if it weren't for NCIS we would probably never have gotten married. Also deserving of its own post--I don't think I've ever told the story here. Man, these daybook things are fantastic for generating post ideas! But remember, no promises.

enjoying

October. It's my favorite. 

Watching Colette's personality and sense of humor continue to emerge. When she's really tired but happy she does this thing where she just shakes here back and forth until she starts leaning and wobbling all over the place. It's hilarious--until she smacks you in the nose with the back of her head.

Watching Michael learn and grow this past month of homeschooling. I love his curiosity (mostly), and watching his mind work is just a delight (mostly).

Listening to John Paul talk--he sounds so much older than 2 1/2. Last Thursday was a really rough morning, and at one point I had gathered all of the kids around me to try to hug all of them at once after having yelled at all of them for--I can't even remember. So rough. But I was crying and apologizing for yelling, and JP just looked at me and said "Is okay Mama. No woozles." Because apparently he thought I was crying because I was scared of the woozles.

Seeing Liam transition from toddler to big boy. He's almost four, so I guess he hasn't really been a toddler for almost a year. But suddenly he's seeming so old. He can be so sweet and so thoughtful, and also so mischievous and so creative. And his delight when he answers a question or sounds out a phonics exercise is the sweetest.

Dabbling in genealogy. So far I've traced ancestors back to Scotland in the early 1700s, Cape May, NJ in the early 1700s, and France and Switzerland in the early 1800s. And I'm pretty sure there's a direct line to William the Conqueror, because I remember reading some of the documents one of my uncles put together when I was in high school and then trying to impress some history-nerd friends with it. If I remember correctly they failed to be properly awed by my distinguished lineage.

And with that, I should probably do the dishes and fold some laundry* before bed. I mean, before Colette needs her 9pm snack, to be followed by her 10pm snack, to be followed by her 3am snack, to be followed by her 5am rise-and-shine routine. Or at least that's how it went last night...

*In the interest of full disclosure, I refused Alex's offer to clean the kitchen and won't let him help me fold the laundry, because those chores are my chance to watch Netflix and as long as there isn't an imminent deadline I would generally rather do them myself. They're almost as much of a luxury as a chore, however bizarre that may be.

Check out the other weekly writings at Revolution of Love, and I'll try to be back here before next Saturday--maybe even with pictures! (Oh wait, no promises!)

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

Michael's Birthday

My sweet, smart, handsome firstborn turned five in January--can you believe it? Facebook keeps prompting me to view my memories for each day and showing me pictures of little baby Michael the adorable never-sleeper. His baby pictures all look like Colette and his toddler pictures all look like John Paul, and now he and Liam look so much alike sometimes. It's crazy.

Michael loves reading. That may be the understatement of the year, but I don't quite know how to put into words his passion for books. He was wildly delighted to receive some more of his beloved Magic Tree House books for his birthday. And spent all of his Christmas and birthday money to buy more. Thanks to another birthday present he has also branched out in the Hardy Boys. (Any recommendations for chapter books appropriate for a 5 year old but still pleasantly challenging for this crazy precocious reader are most appreciated!)

Michael told me he wanted an ice cream cake for his birthday again this year. I said that was fine, but did he want to consider any other options? He asked for all his options and I listed off as many fun desserts and I could think of. He kept asking for more options, and when I finally ran out of ideas he told me that the only thing that sounded good was an ice cream cake--so ice cream cake we had.

This boy. He loves reading his books. He loves writing to-do lists and recipes and stories in notebooks. He loves trains just as much as ever. He adores his baby sister (and for a 5 year old he's pretty dang patient and gentle with his brothers too).