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

I can't say I love him as much as on our wedding day...

How's that for an anniversary declaration?  "Hey babe!  Happy anniversary!  I can't believe it has been four years... I absolutely do not love you as much as I did on our wedding day."

Well, anyone who knows Alex and me can figure out where this is going.  No, I most certainly do not love my husband less than I did when we said "I do" four amazing years ago.  But I don't love him "just as much" as I did on that day, either.  In fact, I find the "I'm just as much in love with you as I was back then" sentiment (taken literally) to be a profoundly sad one.  If I haven't learned to grow in my love for my husband in these last four years, then I have seriously been slacking.  I mean, it would take a conscious effort to not love him more as I've gotten to know him even better and have seen what an amazing husband and father he is.  I loved him an awful lot when he proposed to me with candles and music and roses and champagne.  I love him so much more as he's daily dying to self to care for a feisty toddler, an energetic preschooler, and an overly emotional pregnant wife!  And I trust that by the grace of the sacrament of our marriage I will continue to love him more and better until, God willing, we are perfectly united in loving God in heaven.

maybe a little ways to go before perfect union...

It reminds me of what St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13: "But when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away... For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood" (vv. 10 and 12).  The more I understand, and the more fully I am understood, the more I love.  When I married Alex I certainly knew enough to know I loved him; every day I learn a little bit more and love a little bit more.  I knew he would be a great father from watching him interact with his niece; now I marvel over and over at what an incredible father he is every time I see him interact with our boys.  And so on and so forth :)

Happy anniversary my love--here's to many more years of learning to love!

Mystery Ingredient Monday on a Thursday with a Theme... aka Deliciousness

Okay... are you ready for this?

So today's Theme Thursday is askew.  And I was wondering... how do I take a picture of my entire life right now?  'Cause I kind of feel like it's all askew.  But figuring out a single picture which would cleverly portray the ways in which I feel my like is a bit askew was taking too much time and effort, due in large part to aforementioned askewedness.  Askewity?  Whatevs.

So, I chucked that idea.  Moving along to dinner preparations, Alex and I made calzones, and Alex asked his dad for his super secret super amazing pizza sauce recipe.  Okay, so it's not necessarily super secret, but it's the type of recipe that never gets written down with any measurements or proportions, so that essentially amounts to secret in my book.

And guess what?  The pizza sauce has mustard in it.  (We're coming back to "askew," I promise).  Now, I didn't make any attempt at this week's Mystery Ingredient Monday mustard challenge because I don't like mustard.  And, askewity.  So when I saw that the pizza sauce had mustard in it I was soooo excited.  Yes, I know it's not Monday.  But the link-up is still open, and as far as I'm concerned that is essentially an invitation for late submissions.

So, I present to you mustard, askew, and deliciousness, all in one evening.

Look how he's holding the mustard bottle all askew--I didn't even tell him to do that!

Mmm...mustard (not).  So, the ingredients for the amazing pizza sauce (posted with permission, I promise) are:

• 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 medium can of Italian stewed tomatoes
• 1 small can of Italian tomato paste
• basil
• oregano
• Italian seasoning
• Worcestershire sauce
• yellow mustard
• fennel seed
• chopped garlic
• onion flakes

You'll have to figure out proportions on your own, I'm afraid.  I was in the garden picking basil while Alex got his instructions.  Sorry!  All I know is if you skimp on the oregano it will be too sweet.  And don't be stingy with the Worcestershire sauce either.

Also askew: Crane men and their sipping of Worcestershire sauce.  He is seriously taking a swig, not just posing.  A skewed taste if ever I've seen one.  Gross.

The end product (with sauce ever so precariously askew):  calzone recipe from last year's birthday present of The Best-Ever Good of Bread , with personalized fillings (mine had pepperoni, Italian sausage, green and red peppers, onion, mushrooms, Italian cheese blend, and fresh basil, topped with a rosemary garlic spice mix... are you hungry yet?).  I was so proud of myself--the calzone recipe was in the bread machine section of my book, and it turned out great made by hand.  The conversion wasn't actually all that much of an accomplishment--you just need to come up with the order of ingredients and steps yourself, which is pretty standard across bread recipes.  I was thrilled with how it turned out.  The crust was very light and slightly crisp and had a delicious olive oil taste.  The pizza sauce was the perfect accompaniment (not gonna lie--I can't taste the mustard which is probably why I like it).

So there you have it, folks: link-up-mash-up-deliciousness.  Check out the other (timelier) uses of mustard at Jessica's and the rest of the Theme Thursday gang at Cari's!

7 Quick Takes (vol. 31)

--- 1 ---

You know what is really good news for the end of the week?  Not losing your earnest money because the person who was supposed to sell you a house filed for bankruptcy and went to jail.  We're still feeling pretty bummed about not getting this house, but at least we're only out the money for the inspection and not another $2000.

--- 2 ---

Guess who turned 8 months old?  This guy!

Who? Me?

Okay, actually he turned 8 months a couple weeks ago, and I'm just that behind.  Good thing he's so easy going--I don't think he'll hold it against me.

He's sitting up by himself (with relatively little tipping over)--one of my favorite milestones.  A little over a week ago he suddenly decided he loves being fed, and started opening his mouth voluntarily and lunging for the spoon.  I almost cried with joy.  He's also getting much better at feeding himself, so we're doing lots of soft finger foods.  It looks like crawling is next on the agenda as he has started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking, all by himself, just in the last couple days.  But hey, maybe he'll surprise me and go back to being The Amazing Sleeping Wonder Baby first and sleep through the night consistently again (we had a stretch of a couple weeks back in May, and then... once, since then. blech).

--- 3 ---

Alex was running some errands before our latest trip while I stayed home and tried to get ahead on a project for work.  I asked him to pick up some more deodorant for me.  Like the dutiful, generous, attentive husband he is, he did (or maybe he just didn't want me to smell on vacation).  He got the right brand and the right variety, but while I usually go for "Active Clean" he picked up "Sexy Intrigue."  I asked him if it was a compliment, a hint, or just an innocent oversight, and he said that was the only scent they had.  I'm not sure I buy that answer.

--- 4 ---

Does anyone else feel slightly disoriented for a day or two when switching deodorants, or is it just me?

--- 5 ---

Michael's newest literary love is Calvin and Hobbes.  At first I was thrilled and thought it was just so cute that he wanted to sit and read it all on his own.  Then I caught sight of one where Calvin is climbing out the bathroom window instead of taking a bath like he's supposed to.  

Don't be getting any ideas, Buster.

the picture of innocence

--- 6 ---

If you're looking for something to do this week I'll be joining Jen for her blogging challenge: every day Monday-Sunday.  You totally should too.  (Dad and Dene', I am looking at you.)

--- 7 ---

Please keep Dwija and her family in your prayers as they grieve the loss of baby Nicholas.  I have no words.

Go see Jen and the rest for more Quick Takes!  
Happy Friday :)

Summer fun

We are thoroughly enjoying our summer vacation.  Here's some evidence (unfortunately not in time for last Thursday's theme of water... rats!):

Liam is not quite convinced he really wanted to wake up from his nap

handsome man

enjoying the pool together

Liam was very tolerant of Michael splashing and yelling

one and a half smiles on demand out of three... not too bad

nomming the seal

summer lovin'

According to Alex on a Theme Thursday

After a long absence I'm back to remembering that Thursday is THEME Thursday before waking up on Friday morning.  Woohoo!  Excited to once again be joining Cari and gang.

This week's theme is Fathers--and I don't know if there is anything I love taking a picture of more than my boys with their amazing father.  Pictures of my boys with their amazing grandfathers and great-grandfathers come in a close second.

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time: a 6 month old Michael with Alex, Alex's dad, and Alex's grandpa Charles.  Talk about a perfect picture for the theme of "fathers."

Be sure to check out the rest of the father pictures at Clan Donaldson!

And in honor of the father of my children, here are some recent gems.

"He sounds like a Chinese lounge singer!"  Upon observing his first born singing along to "Old McDonald Had a Farm."

When I admitted that eating chocolate chips by the handful(s) probably wasn't helping me lose the last of the baby weight: "You should put them in cookies.  Eggs, wheat, nutrition!"  (Yes, definite fans of Mr. Cosby in this household.)

With calm resignation as I was trying to relate something great I had read recently (a common occurrence): "I will never be able to keep your blogosphere community straight."  (I think it was his way of saying "You read way too many blogs and it's kind of ridiculous, but I love you anyway.")

"This is my pity face."  With an absolutely pitiless expression when I was complaining about something (something perfectly valid, of course).

Michael (from the other room): Mama? Help? Pease? A nammit (napkin)?
Me (while nursing Liam, to Alex): He's asking very nicely.  Would you please get him a napkin?
Alex: He's asking you.
Me: Oh, would you like to nurse the infant while I get the toddler a napkin?
Alex: Would you like to see me try?

Best Daddy ever!

Summer Flavors

Once upon a time I told myself "It's okay if you don't blog for a while... summer vacation is almost here and then you'll have all sorts of time to blog."  And then summer vacation got here and I used that time to drive to Nebraska.  And sleep.  And go for walks.  And visit friends.  And sleep some more.  And go to the zoo.  Etc.

BUT!  It is finally summer, hooray hooray!  And so yes, in theory (and hopefully in practice hereafter), I will be a little more consistent about blogging.

Also once upon a time, some people that I love very much wrote about the flavors of their past week.  I've been meaning to write this post for over a week and I have all the cute pictures to back it up, so thanks Dad and Dene' for loving me anyway even though I never blog with you on time ;)

What flavor has your week been?  Our past week weeks have tasted like SUMMER!  Oh I love summer.  Well, I love the idea of summer.  And I love early summer, when you get the occasional blazing day but there's still some cool weather to be had--and I don't feel like I'm going to die of heatstroke because I went for a walk later than 6:30am.  And how convenient--that's exactly the kind of summer we're having right now!

My summer flavors have been brauts and long island ice teas set to the back drop of bright flowers and little boys enjoying fresh air and sunshine and the sand box.

Liam's summer tastes like steak.  Literally.  His first experience with meat was definitely a hit (much more so than sweet potatoes or bananas... but I'm not at all surprised to have another little carnivore on my hands).

Michael's summer tastes like "lemon juice," but in a good way.  That's what he calls lemonade, and in typical Michael fashion he refuses to budge.  It probably also tastes like sunscreen and sand, but in toddler-land that might be a good thing too.

not pictured: trusty lemon juice

Alex's summer tastes like freedom and cookies.  Freedom from any cares and worries concerning grad school, and the cookies I baked to celebrate.

photo credit: Cici

A note on the cookies... chocolate chip were Alex's request (and my mom's amazing recipe, called Cowboy Cookies for some unknown reason--still unknown, because I keep forgetting to ask her) and the chocolate chocolate cookies were my latest cookie experiment: Nutella chocolate chip cookies, which I discovered on Ana's blog.  If you check out the recipe you may notice that my cookies look a little different than the promised finished product.  Okay, a lot different.  I'm blaming it on the altitude.  But they still tasted pretty amazing, so I'm calling the experiment a culinary, if not visual, success.

We are all thoroughly enjoying the many tastes of summer!!!

According to Alex

Obviously not terribly recent,
as it is obviously not winter.
Lest his reputation suffer--I think he
was just holding my drink for me, not
actually drinking something girly, blue
and fruit flavored.

Upon complaining about how very sore and exhausted I was from my workout and informing him that I was going to go hop in the shower: "I highly doubt you'll be doing much hopping."

His mocking response to me informing him that I couldn't relax because I didn't trust him not to tickle me: "Oh no, I'm looking at you with tickling eyes!"

Alex: "Are you sure?"  Me: "Yes."  Alex: "Positive?"  Me: "Yes."  Alex: "Encouraging? ... What?  Those two just seem to go together."

While walking through a house and discovering the sprinkler controls in plain sight in a basement bedroom painted neon green with bright pink flowers, "Of course.  If I were a little girl this is exactly what I would want in my bedroom.

Story Time (part 1)

One night when Michael asked for a Thomas story at bedtime, Daddy asked Michael to tell him a story instead.  I was in the glider nursing Liam, but that's a poor excuse for the fact that it didn't occur to me to grab the camera and catch this on film (chip? card? magical digital-ness?) until several minutes into the story. This is the rest of it.

My sincerest apologies to my parents (and everyone else who visits the blog primarily for tales, pictures and videos of my boys) for taking so long in posting this!  

(Yes, that's Liam's heavy breathing/light snoring as a lovely counterpart to Michael's story.)

According to Alex

In the tradition of some of my favorite bloggers (check out Simon Says and Mike Check), I present to you the first installment of According to Alex.  It will be short, because I get in trouble for staying up past bedtime to blog.

Both very excited about the photo op

"We have an interpretive dancer on our hands"  when Michael got a little too enthusiastic about the choir sing Go Make a Difference at the end of Mass yesterday.

"I feel like he's Protestant" when Michael interrupted our nightly Salve with "No Mar'.  Jejus.  Jejus" for the umpteenth night in a row.

More to come soon...

Michael's mad soccer skills

Last weekend we joined some AI friends for an incredibly fun pick-up soccer game.  And by "we" I mean, of course, that Alex joined the game, Michael went back and forth between playing with his trains, kicking an extra ball around, and trying to join in the game, and I chased M and cheered on Alex.  We had a blast.

We also discovered that M has some pretty impressive soccer skills (for a toddler).  He obviously gets his raw talent from his father--I played one season of soccer at some point in elementary school and scored exactly one goal.  But the more memorable part is that in his attempt to block my shot the goalie ended up sitting on my foot--and he was not exactly small for our age.

Enough about me and my non-soccer skills.  Of course I had neither the camera or the video camera at the game last weekend, but this afternoon we ventured up to the park equipped with soccer balls and cameras for a quick Team Crane practice.  Here are some (okay, quite a few) highlights:

My handsome soccer players

Working on technique

Kicking the ball is my FAVORITE!

RUNNING is my favorite!

M was quite impressed by Daddy's skills with the ball

Hustle? I'm too cute to hustle.

Future soccer star!

Yeah, I'm cute and I know it.

Having so much fun playing with Daddy...

But those soccer balls are tricksy--sometimes you go to
kick them and you end up on the ground.  What?!

By the time I broke out the video camera M was getting a little worn out (obviously we need some more strength and conditioning to build stamina).  His coordination seems to decrease exponentially as he gets tired, hence all the dives and his lack of interest in kicking the ball (he was dribbling very impressively earlier, I promise!).