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).