Days with Rosie and Gabey

Time spent at home with Rosie and Gabriel is a joy. I love our weekly routines, and occasionally happening in on a sweet moment between the two of them. Rose is at an age when she's putting her thoughts to words, and the outcome is often hysterical and precious. I try to write down her Rosie-isms when they come. There's been a lot of questions about sin, heaven, hell, the devil and Jesus lately (you know, light topics). After one such discussion she was alone, playing with her toys, and I heard her whispering to herself, "Jesus, please forgive us our sins, and the resurrection of our bodies..."

Another day:
Rose: "You know, Santa, Jesus and Rocky remind me of friends."
Me: "Hm, what do you mean?"
Rose: "You know, they seem like they would be friends."

It's actually not off the wall that for Rose, Rocky's status is up there with Jesus. David went through a season of asking to play "Training Montage" from Rocky IV over and over and over. I got a lot of questions like "Is Rocky good?" "Why is he good?" "Why is Drago bad?" "Are the devil and Drago bad?" You can see the progression of reasoning...

Rose helps me reign in Gabriel, who rolls and scoots everywhere now.

"Mom, can you take over?"

A bike ride with friends on a warm day.

Real food for real babies, Mom.

Spring goodness

The young'uns at our monthly St. Elizabeth and Zechariah meeting.

Heard from another room: "I'm keeping the baby bird warm. David, get in your egg!" Came in to find this.

This artiste at work. She's very meticulous.

Seedlings! We've got pumpkins, basil, sunflowers, and sugar snap peas.

Enjoying a warm spring day with the crocuses, violas, daffodils and hyacinths.

Our new plates. Can anyone figure out what "TTSTUS" means? Hint: think back to our wedding.

Hooray for spring weather! Yeah, I know, it's supposed to snow on Sunday, but I'm going to focus on the positive. It's been fun to watch this season descend on a new house and neighborhood.  A couple days ago Teresa happened upon a huge flock of deer in our back yard at dusk. They stared at us with their big doe eyes as if to say "What are YOU doing here?" The kids were thrilled. I saw walking tick hosts... will invest in some Deet I think.

We made these pretzels at our monthly Girls' Club meeting yesterday, and they were quite a hit. I highly recommend them as a fun baking activity for Lent (did you know pretzels are Lenten?). We're gearing up for Holy Week, and asking for special prayers for Hilary on Tuesday when she'll be getting bone grafted from her lower jaw to her upper jaw. Sometimes life and the liturgical year seem to link up, don't they? You're an amazing example of toughness, Hilary.

Big feast day tomorrow- St. Joseph is a powerful advocate, if you haven't tapped his goodness yet. He's done huge favors for this family. A happy St. Joseph's Day and Holy Week!

Seen and heard

The knight and his princess.

This sword may appear bent, but dragons are no match for it.

Even knights need a snack break.

One of Teresa's many lovely creations from around the house.

David and Rose are adorable playmates these days. Watching them together frequently makes me laugh, and I wish I took the time to write down every funny exchange.  A recent one I happened to record:

David, playing with Rose, with great sadness: "I'm lost for my mother! I just got out of her tummy today, and she got away." You gotta watch those new mothers, they're tricky.

David, Rose and I go to a children's holy hour every Friday. I try to draw their attention to the fact that Jesus is physically there with us. This past Friday was no different. Me: "Rose, did you say hi to Jesus yet? He's right there, looking at you." Rose: "Because I'm so beautiful?" Indeed.

Snow is again falling heavily outside the window, and I hear we're in for 4-6 inches and an additional inch of ice overnight. Frankie and Teresa are at Grandmommy and Pop-pop's house with the cousins, no doubt enjoying the snow day. Not sure about Grandmommy and Pop-pop :) Will call you soon about when we can retrieve them! Hope everyone had a cheery Valentine's Day. 

This and that

This, after Frankie reported one night at dinner that a certain Noah (there are many in her class) lied to the teacher about Frankie misbehaving. I would be cautious believing it, but for other Noah stories I've heard, and Frankie's general veracity about such things. Not sure if Frankie put Teresa up to this devious errand, or if Teresa conceived it herself...

Pirouetting in  her First Communion dress, for size.

First meeting of Families of Bethany at our parish (probably 30 children running around the house not included in the picture). Looking forward to more- a great group of families helping each other grow in holiness.

Someone had the courtesy to pull Our Lady up to the table for a muffin.

Gearing up for another snowstorm, complete with days off school. I've lost count how many days they've missed, but it's rather obscene.

A shout out to my dad (and Natalie in attendance) as he heads a big conference tonight- good luck!

Pictures worth a thousand words

These signs appeared on the bunk beds the other night. They pretty much sum up their authors. Frankie, our organized manang, employs neat, sterile writing that compliments the message: a new household rule. Teresa, our zany one with the wild side, uses flowery handwriting to let everyone know: party in Teresa's bed.