How Matt Berninger from The National almost stepped on Beth

Alternate title:  How I turned out to be a worse mother than I thought

 The National just came to Merriweather, and since we had three tickets, and since Katie had come along for our pilgrimage to see Mumford and Sons, and since I never quite got around to having a birthday party for Beth, we figured it was the second-eldest's turn.

We had a great time, and Beth (who, if you recall, had one previous concert experience) thoroughly enjoyed herself.  Towards the end of the evening, the lead singer - as he often does- started weaving through the crowds.  In a moment of pure blind instinct, I realized that he was heading our way and I grabbed Beth by the scruff of her neck and propelled her through the crowd to get her a spot up front.  Thou Shalt not be Obnoxiously Pushy could reasonably be considered one of the guiding principles of my life,  but apparently my principles don't hold up to the temptation of standing kind of in the vicinity of a guy in a spotlight. 

Beth's view was mostly of his backside as he sung to the crowd in front of him, and even though he almost stepped on her as he turned back to the stage, and even though he almost hit her on the head with the mike when he dropped it, she was extremely excited.  As I stood on the sidelines watching her, it hit me that I had just shoved my kid into a screaming throng and then abandoned her there.  I was struck by two disparate thoughts:  #1- that I was so instinctively willing to do something (be obnoxiously pushy) for my child that I would never have done for myself, and #2- the fact that it didn't occur to me until it was too late that throwing my kid into a howling mob like her life depended on getting close to a Rock Star wasn't really the smartest thing to do.

Anyway, she not only survived to tell the tale, it was the highlight of her night.  We found this video on YouTube, much to Beth's delight.  You can see her around the 26 sec mark, lower left hand corner.  She's the really short person standing behind the singer.

One of the major benefits of having the older girls in school....

....is that the non sequiturs of Miss Lucy are easier to catch.

WARNING!  The second story in this post is pretty explicit.  I've actually put some thought into ways to clean it up, but there is no other way to convey the horror of that moment but to come out and say it.

1- Daddy's Girl

Not five minutes after the girls left on the bus this morning, Lucy sat down next to Ruth and I on the living room floor and said:

"So, Mommy, did you have to fight all the other girls so you could marry Daddy?"

"Fight the other girls?" I asked, not quite following.

"Yes," she said, "all the other girls wouldn't want to marry that other guy*, so did you fight them?"

I thought about it for a second, then answered,"Yes.  I had to fight all the other girls, and I won."

2- Thank God there were no men at the park!

Later that same morning, we were at the park when Lucy started digging through my diaper bag.
"Hey!" she yelled out, "You have jingle bells in here!"

I was blithely chatting with another mother and nodded in her general direction, not really paying attention, but she persisted.  "Try this!" she exclaimed, trying to get the attention of another little girl, "I can't get it to jingle."

I glanced at her, and then did an exact replica of a cartoon double-take.  I'm pretty sure my eyes literally bugged out of my head.  What Lucy was holding, what she had just unwrapped and taken out of my bag, what she was swinging wildly around and trying to give to other children was....a tampon.


3- Correct assessment of the situation

As we drove home, Lucy noticed a hitch-hiker on the side of the road.  "Is that a policeman?" she asked me, "Or just some random guy?"

* I don't know who "that other guy" is, but I'd be curious to meet him.

First day of school

Above:  our traditional "spa day" before the start of school.
Below:  the elementary girls waiting for the bus

We were beginning to think this day would never come, as school was canceled on Monday and then Tuesday.  I think the girls were a little more nervous than usual because of the delays, but they were ready and all set to go in record time and the morning went as smoothly as it could.  Now Lucy and I are just puttering around the house while Ruth naps and we await their return, to hear how it all went!

We're ready, just not sure what it is we're ready for...

The laundry is completely done (something I can almost never say.)  The pantry is full of crackers, tuna, and the makings for s'mores. The house is clean top to bottom, especially the tubs (in case we need to fill them with water.)  School supplies have been organized, labeled and are in backpacks and ready to go.  The freezer is full of water bottles, the phones have been charged, batteries are ready and candles are on the counter.

All of which means:  Irene is probably going to peter out before she reaches here.  We are so ready for the first day of school, though, I can't believe it.

Seven Quick Takes, before the storm

1- About the earthquake;  this may be something that is only understandable to my old Steubenville friends, but in retrospect I thought it was too funny not to share. When my bed began to shake, for a split second my first thought was Demons!?!  It wasn't until the whole room rumbled that I thought the until-now equally incomprehensible but less hysterical Earthquake!?!

2- My children were not afraid in the least.....until they heard me screaming for everyone to come downstairs.  Kids have an amazing ability to just accept things as they happen and not worry about them.  I, on the other hand, have watched too many apocalyptic movies for my own good.

3- I just turned 35!  Chris and the girls were unbelievably good to me this year:  Chris let me sleep in and had my favorite breakfast (bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon) ready for me, along with coffee from my favorite place.  Katie made a beautiful card and a big bunch of adorable earrings (her latest hobby), Claire and Abbie performed a comical song, Lucy did a dance ("I just made it up just now," she said , "And I didn't feel like making a card, okay?  I love you very, very much.") and Beth made a card that had me laughing for quite a while.  We went to a historic grain mill for a little tour, and we all really enjoyed it (along with the cornmeal cookies they gave us - surprisingly delicious!)  Then, later that night, Chris whipped up some swordfish and tomato-prosciutto bruschetta for dinner.  I have to love a man who can make a delicious bruschetta!!  All in all, it was a really great day and I went to sleep feeling very grateful for my wonderful family.  It was a good way to ring in 35 years of life! 

4- I have always thought of my age in terms of how it would sound were I killed in some manner that made the evening news.  When I turned 20, I remember thinking that I would probably make the shift from "a 19-year-old-girl was hit by a bus this morning," to "a 20-year-old-woman was stabbed to death at Dunkin' Donuts."  I think I have now passed the "what a tragedy!" phase and am somewhere between "oh, how sad" and "meh" depending on how the news story plays out.  I think I'll probably be in this category for a while, until I hit the "Whatever, she was probably going to die soon anyway" bracket.  Unless I die in Aruba, in which case how I look in a bikini would supersede how old I am.  (In other words, should I die in Aruba I will not be making the evening news.)

5- About Beth's card:  a few weeks ago she asked me if she could save some pistachio nut shells.  Beth has a bit of a problem with hoarding, so I said, "NO! Nuh-uh, no way!"  She actually already had an old stash of shells, and after realizing this I told her that unless she could think of a good use for them immediately, in the trash they would go.  She thought for a moment and then said, "I have a good use for them!"  Fast forward to yesterday morning, when I opened up her homemade birthday card to find.....pistachio nut shells glued on the inside. 

6- Ruth still refuses to say, "Mama."  She will mimic just about any sound you make to her (including a Donald Duck voice,) and I am pretty sure that she says "this" and "night-night."  Every time I try to get her to say "ma-ma-ma" though: nothing but laughs.  

7-I just had my first discussion with the doctor about the HPV shot for Katie.  I had all sorts of arguments prepared, but when the time came I ended up just saying, "No thanks."  At the end of the day I realized that there was no reason to justify the decision:  I felt confident in my judgment on this (and Katie and I did have a brief discussion about it) and I did not particularly care whether the doctor agreed with me or not.  (He is a lovely doctor and didn't push it.)  This is what I like best about being in my 30s - not caring so much about what other people think.  It's freeing, especially for someone chronically neurotic like myself.

Thanks to Jen at Conversion Diary for hosting Seven Quick Takes.  Now I'm off to make sure we have enough water and fireplace-cook-able foods in case of hurricane.  Good times!

Earthquake

Well, that was pretty scary.

I was in my room putting Ruth down for a nap when the bed began to rock slightly.  At first I just thought that the frame, which has needed tightening, was about to give up but then the whole house started to shake.

We're all fine.  My mom called to say they felt it in Pittsburgh, and the Lobers told Chris they felt it in Cleveland.  Crazy!  This was my first (and hopefully only) earthquake, and I have to say - the idea of living in California never seemed less appealing. 

We are trying something new...

Katie has been more and more interested in posting on my blog, so after some thought I've decided to give her a blog of her own.  I am going to keep a tight rein on who can view it (and what Katie can post), but any family or friends (so- if you are one of our 14 loyal readers, this means you!  You too, Natalie!) can get access to Katie's opinion on family, the world, and life in general.  Just email us at  rebecca mlinek at g mail dot com.  (take the spaces out etc.) and we'll grant you access to Katie's exclusive club.

Slice of Life

Summer is wonderful, but exhausting

I realize that I haven't updated this in a long time.  We have been very busy with swimming and making blanket forts and amassing vast fortunes in Lego Harry Potter.  We have been to beautiful and fun weddings, visited with family, hosted friends here, witnessed the miraculous resurrection of our beloved Dusty Camel, had playdates, had more playdates, gone to parties, picked insane amounts of fresh fruit and then feasted on pies, muffins, scones, jam and...fresh fruit.  We have gathered in the evenings to take in such classics as Rear Window (loved by all excepting Lucy, who spent the time playing behind the couch), Where the Wild Things Are (loved it), and Phineas and Ferb's 2D Adventure (also loved it- don't judge!) We have been reading, we have been lolling around the basement watching nothing in particular, we have been learning to sew and to make beaded jewelry.

We have been remembering Chris' Grandmother, Dora, who passed away last week and will be sorely missed.  She, along with my own Grandma Niccoli who passed away 18 years ago, exemplify for me what it means to be a loving and devoted wife.  

We have been chasing a wayward baby, trying to keep her from eating inedible objects (curse you, Squinkies!), from falling down stairs, from pulling chairs and cups and heavy books onto her head, from unplugging lamps and sticking her fingers into outlets, from eating bugs and licking pool water off the deck, from breaking computers and ripping artwork to shreds.  We have spent a lot of time chasing our wayward baby.

It has been a good summer thus far.  But busy in that way that makes it hard to explain, where days and weeks go by in a whirl of activity that, when it is over, makes you look back and think wait, what were we doing all that time?

Swimming and playing, goofing off and doing nothing at all:  we've been busy having summer.

Little Models: Part 1 (by Katie)

  The girls love it when I give them "makeovers". My little trick is using gel pens. Take a pink one and put it on your cheek then get rid of the lines and make it look like blush by rubbing it with a wet paper towel. For eyeshadow I do the same to their eyes except I don't rub a wet paper towel on it. It comes off super easy. Anyways, the girls got the idea to do modeling, where I am supposed to give them makeovers and take pictures of them in outfits I choose. Beth was at a friend's house and it ended up taking over 2 hours just to do Lucy and Claire, so I'll do Abbie and Beth another day. Lucy demanded that she gets pictures not only of her in two outfits, but in a costume as well. I gave Lucy purple "eyeshadow" for her green eyes (I love green eyes!) and actually, she looked natural with it, as in I didn't need to "get used to it". Here are Lucy pictures:

This was the only good picture of this pose, and its REALLY blurry.

I wish I knew how to turn pictures. *Sigghh...* Oh well.

I love this picture of Lucy. She really rocks Hello Kitty!

She made up this pose herself!

Notice that tuft of hair sticking out at the top of her head?

And do you remember when she cut off a bit of her hair?

We do sometimes have trouble hiding it.

She just had to be a ballerina :)

After an hour taking of pictures (Trust me, these are only 1/4 of her pictures. The others aren't so good.) Lucy had finally been convinced that she had taken enough, and I could do Claire. Of course, I thought this would be more fun until I realized that Claire will only wear like 5 shirts and has pretty much only dirty pants in her drawer. I had sooo much trouble choosing her outfits. I mean, look at this one:

A funky, modern short-sleeved shirt with a frilly bottom and hood...

with rolled up fuzzy winter pants?

It's all she would wear.

Well, the top is cute.

We really had fun with this outfit...

...a LOT of fun :P

Claire's kinda like me, we can't really smile on command.

It's a super cute picture though.

Time for the obligatory summertime pool video!

This time, though, it's choreographed! 

Something about the way Abbie waves her arms in this cracks me up every time I watch this video!

OBX Pictures (by Katie)

I finally got the pictures off my camera from our OBX trip during the first week of June. It really worked out for us because there was no school Monday due to Memorial day, and then school closed early due to heat Tuesday and Wednesday (so those were half days). Therefore, we only missed 3 days of school!!! My pictures weren't very good, so I'll show only the best ones.

This one is really blurry, but we would always watch the sunsets.

This one is also blurry, but it shows the left corner of our yard.

Beth and Claire by the 'canal', looking for crabs or wading in the murky water.

I love this pic of Abbie, who was too scared to come to the water's edge because of crabs.

Beth wanted to make it look like she was holding the lighthouse, but I didn't have enough time to do it

Lookin' for crabs.

The girls looking at a small crab that they (thankfully) weren't scared of.

Abbie and Lucy would totally be scared of this one.

When Ruth first saw the beach she was like, "Whoa!! Whoa!!"

This was my first attempt at a picture of Lucy (which cracks me up).

I gave up.

She doesn't even look human (or hoo-min as she would say)!

I also gave up because I was laughing too hard.

Somebody is very proud of herself for leaving the living room!

Horror upon horror upon horror

Remember when a certain member of this family did this awful thing?  And then remember when she did this other awful thing?  Remember, too, this weird episode?

Why is Lucy so feral?  We ask ourselves this all the time.  I don't know the answer.

Things have been on the upswing since she was potty-trained a year ago, and although I still haven't replaced the hall bathroom rug (she sometimes over-shoots her mark if you get my drift, something I was not formerly aware was even possible with girls) I was starting to think that it might soon be safe.  However...

Actually, let me back up.

I sometimes buy Nutella for the girls to have with their morning toast or bagels.  They love it, but it can get messy.  I can only take cleaning up so many chocolaty messes, so it isn't a regular pantry item.  When we do have it, though, I can count on finding chocolate handprints on the doors, streaks around the bathroom sink (where they go to wash their hands after breakfast), all over the counters, the table, the chairs....You name it.

Okay, so back to Miss Lucy.  Can you see where this is headed?

I noticed brown marks all over the shower curtain one morning, and since it was a Nutella day I made the obvious assumption.  I took the curtain down and washed it, and for a few weeks all was well.  Then more marks appeared.  It was another Nutella day, so this time I was lazier (knowing that we had a good three days left until the Nutella jar ran out) and didn't bother taking it down for a while.

Then it happened again.  Only this time, there was no Nutella in the house.  I had a moment of doubt, but then I told myself - the girls had chocolate muffins today, surely it was just melted chocolate chips! It was a busy day so I didn't take the curtain down until the next morning.

That very  morning, with the still-damp shower curtain hanging, it happened again.  This time, though, the door was not closed and I was within viewing range.

I am sure you can guess what I witnessed.    I would really rather not spell out what I saw, if that's alright.  I am surprised that my eyes weren't actually seared blind by the sight.  Let's just put it this way, for those who don't have kids, or for those who have managed to raise their kids with civility:  the shower curtain is right beside the toilet.  Directly opposite the toilet paper roll, easily accessed by anyone sitting on the throne looking for alternatives.

I have heard of this thing happening before, but before it was always somebody else's kid.  I cannot believe that I made it through four girls only to get hammered like this with the fifth.  And I cannot believe that I ever thought a white shower curtain was a good idea.  Although, it does bleach well.  That's actually a pretty major plus, all things considered.

It all comes down to this:  this thought that I have so often, mostly in a joyful way, but sometimes...not so much:  I cannot believe that this is my life.

Seriously.  I cannot believe it.

Ruth, Our Little Turtle (a post by Katie)

   One day Ruth was just a helpless little  baby rolling around the floor and the next she was "flopping" everywhere.We have  to watch her very carefully now, because she can get anywhere now. I happened to have my ipod handy when Ruth sat up and, so very proudly, started clapping for herself. I didn't get her doing this in time, but I do have her crawling to me (also known as flopping to me, only to try and flop on me) and a snippet of her typical adventures on the floor. Here is our little turtle:

First things first: In which the recipe for a fulfilling life should include a steady diet of Mumford and Sons

We took Katie to her first concert this past Thursday, and it was memorable for a variety of reasons.
My in-laws very kindly (and bravely!) took on the task of watching all of their grandchildren (minus Katie, of course) at once so that we, Becky and Dante, and Andy could all make our pilgrimage together to see Mumford and Sons live.

Despite our best efforts, we barely managed to get even lawn seats for the show.  We showed up early in the hopes of snagging good spots in front, but suffice it to say that the only thing our earliness gained us was over an hour sitting in the back of the lawn in the sweltering heat.  It was the sort of heat that has rivers of sweat pouring down your back instantly.  In the ladies' restroom a toilet had broken and was gushing water all over the floor, and it was so hot that for a moment the thought of splashing in that water was actually appealing.

It all seemed worth it, though, when Matthew and the Atlas, the also-obsession-worthy opening band, walked on to the stage.  Almost immediately, though, a sudden rainstorm rose up and literally drowned them out.  It went from intense heat to pouring rain within minutes.  We wrapped Katie in the blankets we had brought to sit on, but even she was soaked to the bone.  Lightening was literally striking over our heads, hail was bouncing off our arms, and it was pure pandemonium in the crowd.

Some people were dancing in the rain, some were packing up their things and fleeing, some were rushing to huddle under the overhang of the concession stands.  We stood our ground until the lightening became a little too frightening, but once it became clear that there was no better option than standing in the open field, we returned to our place.  Once the second opening act (whose name I can't remember) came onstage, the rain had more or less petered out, but everyone on the lawn continued to be drenched the rest of the evening.

This is the only video I could find of the rain, and it doesn't really do it justice.  I didn't bring my camera or the Flip, which most likely saved me from breaking both.  As it was, Chris' wallet was so wet that it literally disintegrated in his pocket.

The grueling heat and the pounding rain were all worth it, though, when Mumford and Sons took the stage.  I was so glad for Katie, that her first concert was such a good one!

Mumford and Sons seems to be gaining in popularity with staggering speed, and I'm usually too much of a fan-boy at heart to be glad whenever something I like goes mainstream.  I'll tell you what, though, this band is so good that it strikes me as a positive sign about our culture in general that something like this (with lyrics that are so profound and so honestly yearning for truth that anyone who calls themselves a "Christian Artist" should hang their heads in shame) is appealing to people on a wide scale.  It bolsters my faith in humanity.  I'm not just saying that for effect, this band literally bolsters my faith in humanity.

I've had an app on my sidebar with some of their songs for over a year now, so if you haven't had a listen yet......well, what are you waiting for?  Also, here's a video of their closing song.  You're welcome.

I guess this was bound to happen one of these days...

I have tons of stuff to update everyone on:
*how Chris' car died a sudden and violent death, de-railing our plans to buy a mega van
*how  Lucy gave herself a very unique haircut
*how I met up with my cousin and her husband and unthinkingly had them meet me at a place that was...ah, maybe a little too Baltimore 
*how our riding mower burst into flames (and how we met our local firefighters)
*the five million field trips, parties and concerts the girls have graced us with
*how we ran away from our troubles for one glorious week of relaxing and kayaking on the Outer Banks
*the end of my 18 year love affair with a pair of Birkenstocks, when they finally surrendered the ghost on the way to a Mumford and Sons concert.

Lots of stuff to talk about, and lots of videos and pictures to share (once I upload them.)  Right now, though, this is the story I am going to tell:

Today, Lucy stuck a cherry pit up her nose.

There was a moment when it was looking very, very bad.  Ruth had just woken up from a little nap on our blanket, the final tug-of-war between the school teams had just begun, and Lucy was crying frantically, frantically while the side of her nose bulged with a cherry pit that I could not see and was afraid to even try to extract.

It had taken a few minutes to even figure out what was going on;  peace and happiness were reigning one moment, and the next was chaos and Lucy began to scream that "this hurts!  This hurts!"  At first I thought she had been stung by a bee, but as I tried to calm her enough to ascertain the damage, it became clear that someone was really wrong - something unusual.  Finally, through heaving sobs, Lucy told me that there was a "cherry seed" in her nose.  And then I saw it - the bulge at the very top of her nasal passage, right by her eye.  I lifted her head back to see if I could see it in her nostril - no.  I gave a thought to my childhood friend Shannon, and tried to remember if it took actual surgery to remove carpet from her nose, or just a doctor's visit....A friend helpfully rushed to my aid and took charge of Ruth so that I could grab Lucy and run for the school nurse.

As we were nearing the door thankfully, miraculously, Lucy breathed down through her nose in such a way that the pit simply dropped right out and onto her hand.  She was still shaken, and for some reason began to cry again when I threw the #$*@ thing away, but I could handle that.  We made our way back to our blanket, and poor dazed Ruth, and spent what remained of the afternoon in a relief that was so palpable we no longer felt the heat.

She is doing just fine now, and even ate more cherries.  We've discussed heavily the need to keep the pits away from our noses and although the topic of cherries and nurses is likely to turn Lucy surly, I think we're all none the worse for wear.  What I find funny, after all that, is the fact that I did not see it coming.  I mean, who am I to think that I can breeze through six kids without a something-up-the-nose incident?  I do, at least, have enough sense to be grateful that it wasn't a worst-case-scenario-up-the-nose-incident.  Now that it is over, too, I can look forward to having one more bullet in the arsenal for when Lucy starts bringing boys around.  The boys you want sticking around are the ones who can stomach the thought of their beloved with a cherry pit stuck up her nose.

Help Me Save The Rainforest! (A post by Katie)

Every month I have to do a "Helping Our World" project where I have to do something that has a positive effect on our world. So, I've decided to put up my BCR (brief constructed response) I made back November about how we should save the rain forest. This was not hard at all, so don't worry:

"It is EXTREMELY important to save the rain forest. The tropical rain forest used to cover 14% of the earth's surface. Now, it only covers 6%! Over half of the rain forest has been destroyed! This is NOT good. More than 20% of the world's oxygen comes from the rain forest. We need oxygen to survive, so we need the rain forest. 137 plants, animal, and insect species are lost every day (update: that's 50,005 per year)! We should not kill all these plants, animals, and insects in ONE DAY, every day! There are 3,000 known plants that help treat cancer. 70% of these are found in the rain forest (update: that's 2,100/3,000 plants).Cancer is terrible, and we need these plants to fight it! 1 1/2 acres of the rain forest are destroyed EVERY SECOND (update-that's 200,000 acres everyday, and 780 miles every year)! We use many items from the tropical rain forest on a daily basis, such as banana,coffee beans,cocoa beans,rubber, alkaloids, digitalis, spices, etc. We need these things, as they are a part of our lives. If we destroy the rain forest, we will lose many things that are important in our lives."

 

Interesting start to the week

Yesterday morning was not particularly rough or chaotic.  Mondays always stink, of course, and the girls were a little lethargic but otherwise it was a pretty standard morning.  I decided, sort of last minute, to add a decorative white chocolate swirl to the cookies Beth was taking in to school for her birthday, so I was a little behind on dressing Ruth, Lucy and myself, but that often happens for various reasons anyway.

When it came time to wait for the bus, I sat in the van with the door open, feeding Ruth a banana while Lucy played in the back seat.  Ruth was just wearing a t-shirt and diaper and Lucy was sporting a very old nightgown that is at least 3 sizes too big for her.  I was wearing my pjs as well, an old pair of pants littered with swiss cheese holes and a flimsy t-shirt with a collar that has been pulled down too many times to be public-appropriate but again - we were just sitting in the car, waiting for the bus.

When the bus finally came, it bombed by the house as if we'd never existed.  Beth, Claire and Abbie all immediately began to yell in panic, and then we heard the unmistakable sound of the bus coming to a sudden halt down the road.  I jumped out of the car and yelled, "Don't run out in the road!  Wait, wait!" to the girls, but they were all flailing and yelling themselves and they didn't hear me.  Before I could reach them (they were halfway down the driveway) they started to run - down the busy highway- towards the bus.

I charged after them, with Ruth dangling like a football in one arm and a banana in the other, trying to will the cars on the road to stop (why weren't the cars stopping?) with my mind.  The girls rounded the corner of our neighbors yard, still flailing and hopping around like puppies, and I yelled to them "Stay in the grass!  STAY IN THE GRASS!"

As I was rounding the corner myself, I heard a shriek of terror coming from our yard.  Poor Lucy didn't understand what was happening; all she knew was that we were sitting in the car one moment, running wild and screaming the next.  I looked around my neighbor's hedge to see Lucy, looking exactly like Newt from Aliens,

crying in terror and running directly for the road, where she must have assumed we'd gone.  "No, Lucy, stop, STOP!" I started to yell, torn between guiding the older girls along the road towards the bus (which, to be clear, was nowhere near our house) and turning back to bodily stop Lucy's panic-stricken progress towards the road.  In the end, realizing that traffic had finally, finally stopped for the bus, I shouted a last instruction to the older girls and then turned back to Lucy, who ran to my side, shaky and teary.  The older girls made it onto the bus without further incident, and as the bus door hissed shut and I breathed a sigh of relief it finally dawned on me what sort of picture we presented to the many, many cars who were now stopped on the road, giving them ample opportunity to take in the sight.

With as much dignity as I could, I got a firm grip on my banana, pulled Ruth's shirt down to cover her belly, put my arm around my little wild-child and, hoping against hope that the holes in my pants were not where I thought they were, turned my back to the gaping onlookers and returned home.

Magic Daddy

I've just hurt my leg exercising, so while I sit at the computer holding a squirmy baby and icing my calf I might as well put up a story on here that I've been meaning to tell.

On Good Friday, we were all in the car on the way to see Katie in our parish's Passion Play.  Lucy was in a talkative mode, so Chris was egging her on by asking her various random questions.

"Do you know what I do when I'm at work?" he asked her.

This has proven to be a nebulous concept for the girls over the years.  When Katie was in kindergarten she told her teacher that Chris was "kind of a nurse."  The other girls tend to just shrug and say, "he helps doctors somehow."

Lucy, however, did not hesitate.  In her decisive and prompt way she immediately answered, "You bring people back alive."

When people ask me if it bothers Chris that he doesn't have any sons, I always just shake my head.  They totally don't get it.  He may not have someone to arm wrestle, but he has six little girls who adore the ground he walks on.  He is absolutely and without rival their hero.

I mean, when I say they believe he can raise the dead, I am saying that quite literally.