The Violent Bear it Away

Overheard while playing with clay in the kitchen:
Lucy, "I need more red, Abbie.  I am making Jesus and it needs to be bloody because He is going to be dead."

Happy (Belated) Valentine's Day!

I never got around to posting yesterday because it ended up being a pretty busy day.  Chris gave me the most romantic gift he possibly could have after what feels like a month of being under house-arrest:  he came home early so that I could go spend a few hours alone at a coffee shop.  I took the laptop (so that I could work on a short story - it's about werewolves, very deep stuff) and - oh the bliss of time spent out of the house and in silence!!!  I couldn't have been happier.

Ruth did her best to help out with the Valentine's spirit by sleeping the entire time I was gone, so that Chris was able to get in a workout and reorganize his stash of beer in the basement.

The girls all enjoyed their V-day gifts (I found very cute and fancy-looking blank books, something we are all suckers for around here) and enjoyed their school parties, double-dosed because the CCD classes that night also had little celebrations.  Back at home we had grouper and lobster for dinner with Bailey's cheesecake for dessert.  (I overheard Beth and Katie talking:  "I don't ever drink alcohol but I know what it tastes like, since Mom and Dad are so obsessed with cooking with it!")  The girls drank chocolate milk out of their heart-shaped champagne glasses (which they loved - thanks, Mom!) and Chris and I had some of our favorite Molly Dooker wine and it was happiness and pink hearts all around.  We wound up the evening with a little Wipeout!, our favorite family show, and......it was just a great day.  I'm not sure how I lucked out like this, because I know without a doubt that I do not deserve to be this happy.

(This video is from a couple of days ago, because I didn't have the camera on when Ruth burst into hysterical laughter yesterday, but her sisters get belly-laughs like this just about every day and I think it illustrates pretty well what happy love looks like:)

 

The Quotable Beth

Beth:  Face it Mom, it's better for us to live in a trash heap, because then we know where everything is.

Today.....

T

...was American Explorers Day in the elementary school.  Can you guess #1-Who this is and #2 - Which explorer she is supposed to be?*

...Ruth rolled over for the second time!  Here's the video:

J

 

Saved

*Amerigo Vespucci

The promised baptism picture

Even though there wasn't a single picture with me in it that I liked, nevertheless here is Ruth on her baptism day!  And can I just point out what a thing of lovliness Ruth's Godmother (and my Goddaughter) is?  In every picture I looked at from that day, my first thought was always, "Wow, Annie looks so beautiful there!"

sickness, sorrow and despair

We have been sick for......I forget exactly how long.  A month?  A year?  Something like that.   It's amazing what being stuck in a house full of misery and germs can do for your sense of time, especially while dealing with very small children who have not learned yet that life is so much better when you puke in the bathroom, and not wherever you happen to be the moment the urge strikes you.

Also, someone should write a book detailing the range of agony that comes with being savagely sick yourself and having an infant to attend to.  It's only fair that prospective parents be warned about this, because it's a type of torture that you really can't imagine on your own.

Anyway, baptism pictures will be posted sooner or later.  And Happy Super Bowl, especially to my family who - I hope- are living it up today.  For us, we are lounging around in pajamas, deciding whose sheets should get top priority in the laundry, and trying not to heave at the thought of Super Bowl food.

Lucy, during the mass before Ruth's baptism

This was after the Consecration, before getting in line for Communion:

"Let's get this show on the road!  I am hungry and they said they have bread up there!"