According to Alex

on our way to last weekend's soccer game date
Ash: Ooh! I could be following the Rapids on Instagram!

Alex: What? All I heard was crazy.

...

Alex:What are you smiling about?

Ash: It's just so fun to get to hold your hand. We never get to hold hands with each other any more. ... Hey, we could take off our rings and pretend we're just dating again!

Alex: We could. And then we could pretend to have a fight and break up. And you can find your own ride home.
fine, it was a silly idea--I wasn't serious anyway!








...
as I start to brush my teeth

Alex: So, I'll see you in half an hour?
I may brush longer than he does, but I don't brush that long

...
driving past the hospital where Liam and JP were delivered, which was under construction for some kind of expansion
Ash: I wonder if that's the expansion on the labor and delivery unit they were telling us about... regardless, those are some huge cranes
Alex: Thanks! I don't even work out.

...after playing a soccer game with some friends
Alex: I think I watch too much soccer and don't play enough. I argued with the ref about a call he made... against a player on the other team...

7 Quick Takes (vol. 38) -- Lots of Random, Lots of Pictures

--- 1 ---

Now? Is it finally Friday? Promise? It should have been Friday, like, three days ago. Such a long week. Wednesday especially was just... blech. No patience. Very little napping. Much neediness. So dramatic. Lots of crying.

And the boys had a rough day too.

So. Rather than recounting the Woe That Was the First Wednesday in October 2014, here are some completely random things from the last few weeks.

--- 2 ---

I think I've probably mentioned it before, but I'm only teaching one class for the Biblical School this year instead of three. This makes my weeks much less hectic, but it also means 1/3 of the income I had last school year. To make up for it I've been trying for the last few months to make some money by writing. I'm sure anyone who has done freelance anything will laugh, but I thought "Freelance Writer" had a kind of glamorous ring to it. Well. Since I wasn't willing to spend 30 hours a week writing content for sites that sell custom-crafted essays to students (I didn't know they even existed... I guess I shouldn't be surprised?) the endeavor wasn't proving to be terribly successful. I did feel that I finally mastered the (torturous) art of writing a cover letter, and I did land a couple small projects, but overall I was feeling fairly discouraged.

Then, totally out of the blue, I got an email asking if I was available to work on a Bible study project. I'll share more about it once the first one is published, but this was an absolute dream come true. So I've been super busy with that project for the last three weeks, and I have two more (probably crazy) weeks of work on it, then a break before expecting another load in a month or two. I'm thrilled. I'm also exhausted and kind of shell-shocked. I thought it would be no big deal to put in 20+ hours of work from home each week, but as if on cue the boys have adopted a totally staggered and shortened nap schedule, and night sleep--which wasn't great all summer--has totally fallen apart for JP. So... it's like college, but with fewer friends and more diapers.

Did that make sense? No? Hmmm... Maybe that actually demonstrates my point better than a well-constructed simile would.

--- 3 ---

Okay, #2 was not quick at all. In apology, here are totally unrelated pictures of the boys:

before loooooong overdue haircuts last week

being superheroes

obviously superheroes cannot stand still long enough to get a non-blurry pictures

--- 4 ---

Within 24 hours of receiving the aforementioned writing assignments, a friend emailed to say that her youngest son needed a couple more service hours for the summer, and would I like for him to come over and play with the boys for a while? Um, yes please! I'm not sure who was more thrilled with the arrangement, Michael or me. I'm hoping John enjoyed the adoring attention of two smaller boys even half as much as those two little boys enjoyed his company!

--- 5 ---

On the topic of being so blessed with generous friends, Alex often comes home from work with a few hand-me-downs from coworkers with older boys. We are so blessed with secondhand clothes, toys, etc., and I cannot even begin to describe how thankful I am for this. Anyway, within just a couple days Alex came home with a big box of clothes AND a big tub of Legos. Liam is thrilled with all his new dinosaur and truck shirts, I'm thrilled with a plethora of polo shirts for both boys, and Michael and Alex are both in heaven over their new Legos. We're just facing the challenge of finding a time and place for them to play with them without Liam putting them up his nose (he's just waiting for his chance, I know it) or JP eating them.

--- 6 ---

Because guess who is scooting/rolling all over the place? If there is a book, he will eat it. If there is a train, he will eat it. If there is half a string cheese left on the floor by a careless older brother, he will eat it (caught that one just in time yesterday). So. Much. Teething.

Curious George was rescued immediately after the taking of this picture. No irreparable damage was done.

--- 7 ---

And finally, I'm now on Instagram after reading this post from Kendra at Catholic All Year. So if you're on Instagram please let me know so I can follow you! Because I'm kind of really loving it, but it's really sad when I check it every 10 minutes and there isn't anything new...

Check out Jen and the rest for more Quick Takes

Boy Talk: Theology Lesson with Michael

After singing a new song while tucking him at nap time:

M: What was that song called?
Ash: "This Day God Gives Me"
M: Gives me what?
Ash: Well, God gives us everything we need, every day.
M: very emphatic and very concerned But, Mama! God doesn't have chicken nuggets!

I don't think he was entirely convinced when I explained that God provides what we need to make/buy chicken nuggets...

love the milk mustache, Mr. Michael

{p,h,f,r} A Taste of Contentment on the Threshold of Autumn

The other day I was... something. I don't remember exactly--frustrated, anxious, upset, disappointed, just plain tired. Probably all of the above. And I thought to myself, "I need more contentment in my life."

Almost as soon as that thought entered my mind I realized it was kind of ridiculous. I don't need more contentment, I just need to pay attention to what I already have. And you know what? It's working! When I start to feel frustrated and disappointed that my back and our budget and the sheer business of three such little boys kept us from accomplishing much (compared to our totally unrealistic dreams) in the yard this summer, I stop and focus on the things I love about our yard. There's a lot to love out there!

Same with the state of my house. When all I'm seeing is the dust and the pretzel crumbs and the toys everywhere, I focus on being thankful that we have so much space in which to gather dust and crumbs and ohsomany toys (and then I try to find a minute to grab the vacuum and make a mental note to get rid of some of those toys). 

Baby steps. I'm not very good at baby steps, but goodness knows I don't have the mental or emotional capacity for a complete attitude overhaul all at once (who can even do that, anyway?).

So to help I decided to (finally) link up with Like Mother, Like Daughter for {pretty, happy, funny, real}. Capturing contentment, right here at Crane Corner. Okay, less alliteration, more pictures.

{pretty}

So, that yard that hasn't been transformed into the perfectly manicured little retreat yet? Well, it still had a few very happy surprises for me as the summer winds down. I scattered many packets of wildflower seeds around the grotto in the spring, and some of them are finally blooming.

{happy}

I am so happy that it is (almost) fall. I love fall. But for some reason this season, more than any other, brings on an intense nostalgia. And it's usually an "I wish I were..." nostalgia, and not a "wasn't that nice" nostalgia, if that makes any sense. As much as I love fall, it can bring an added challenge to contentment. Oh hooray, another chance to grow in holiness (only sort of sarcastic).

{funny}

"Mama, look, I'm a robot!"

{real}

There has been a lot of this going on at our house lately (that would be Thomas on the laptop screen there). Usually it's Little Pim or Magic School Bus (60% of our preschool "curriculum" for the year, only sort of joking). Sometimes it's Thomas or Mighty Machines (and then oh! the excitement!).

Last week I got a very unexpected but very welcome and exciting writing project. It also ended up being much more challenging than I expected, and hugely time-consuming. Thus the extra screen time. And there will be more tomorrow, because I'm behind on the second part of the project.

Notes from the trenches: Spanish lessons, alligator games, and Bible stories with Michael

I've been meaning to blog forever... so much has been going on and I just couldn't manage to get around to it.

And then today I decided to totally redo the design. I wasn't pleased with the last version. I think this is my particular manifestation of the infamous Rappana rearranging gene. We'll see how long I keep this one...

Just a few brief stories, and then I really need to clean the kitchen. And I really need to get to bed before 11:30 tonight!

John Paul is enjoying the unadulterated adoration of his big brothers. Michael insists that we all call him "John PAOW," and Liam's pronunciation sounds mostly like "Pablo" these days. So Alex and I have generally taken to calling him Pablo.

I told Michael that JP's name in Spanish would be "Juan Pablo," and now he's very interested in everyone's Spanish names. He can also count to nine in Spanish, but he always skips siete, for some reason. Thank you, Little Pim.

Liam's current favorite game is talking about the alligators in the dining room (thank you Grandpa and Grandma for sparking his interest and telling us what alligators sound like). It goes something like this:
Liam (in a worried voice): Dators?
Ash: Are there alligators
Liam (still worried): Yeah
Ash: What do the alligators say?
Liam: RAWR
Ash: Oh dear!
Pablo: (laughs hysterically)
Liam (worried again): Yowd
Ash: Are they loud?
Liam: Yeah
repeat, multiple times per day

I love telling Michael Bible stories, and I love the questions and commentary he provides. Yesterday we were reading a children's book about the Last Supper, and it included the story of Peter walking on the water (because Jesus was sad and the Apostles were trying to cheer him up with stories about their time together). I was really trying to get Michael involved, so after I told him that Jesus could walk on water because he is God, I asked M if he could walk on water. "No!" he said, "I would sink and a shark would eat me! Or an alligator."

We are all about the aquatic predators in this house, apparently.

Okay, dishes are calling. Goodnight!