This Easter Season

 I spilled water on my laptop several weeks ago, and ever since then my mouse has taken on a life of its own. It's gotten better thankfully, enough to allow me a quick post spanning the last month or so.  So much to record!

Rose's 4th birthday! Princess Rosie awoke to balloons and nutella crepes (leftover from Easter, but she doesn't need to know that)

David decorated Rose's cake like a champ.

Daddy and Rose do a birthday craft. What a good daddy.

Lots of baking this month. David may have a future here.

Hilary and Natalie accompanied me (and a bulging baby Cook) to our school's annual auction. 

Yes, we bought a Deere. It takes Dave a little over an hour to do the whole lawn with this thing. David frequently sits on his lap on Cloud 9. 

It took about a month, but our neighborhood has been completely repaved, providing hours of entertainment for our little truck enthusiast.

Watching deer down in the gully behind our back yard. Our first spring has been magical: seeing what flowers pop out around the house has been fun. We've got mulberry trees, a gorgeous pink dogwood, forsythia, lilacs, Chinese snowball viburnum, and a crabapple to name a few specimens. 

Frankie huddles at one of her soccer games. She's done really well for her first stab at the sport- she's very good at hustling, and I think the coach appreciates that. They haven't won a game yet, but not for lack of trying! 

Celebrating a trifecta of occasions: Maria's Confirmation, Natalie's birthday, and Mother's Day. 

I'm 36 weeks today and very much looking forward to meeting our new little guy. He's like a perfect basketball sticking out in front of me- I don't recall such perfect rotundness with previous pregnancies. Dave and I were marveling yesterday at how God made the female body to house another human being...it really is awe-inspiring, especially when it hits me I have 4 more weeks of intense growth to go (can it be possible to expand more??).  In the meantime I hope to be able to do more frequent updates. Your prayers for a smooth and happy labor and delivery leading up to June 10th are much appreciated!

Preparing for Easter

We dyed our eggs on Wednesday and made matzo on Thursday in preparation for our Seder meal Holy Thursday night.  I should have taken a picture of the kitchen after four children were done making matzo... just think "flour explosion". I also wish I had taken a picture of the spread- it was delicious and meaningful, as always. This lamb recipe never disappoints. We were happy that our friends Michelle and Daniel Jacobeen, who we've asked to be Baby Cook's godparents, were able to join us this year (before Michelle rushed off to sing and direct music for the Holy Thursday service).

Our little guy had an adventure Good Friday, right after Lolo and Lola arrived. He fell off his bike and landed right on his little knee. Stitches were necessary. So thankful Dave was here to whisk him off immediately to our local Urgent Care. Of emergencies, it went as smoothly as it could have.

As you can see, he's no worse for wear, grinning in a new Easter suit compliments of Lolo and Lola. We're waiting for a call from Ralph Lauren's modeling department.

We've got huge forsythia bushes in our back yard- so lovely! Instead of fake ones I was able to use real branches for our Easter egg tree.

Counting down to the pinnacle of the liturgical year, only hours away, when Our Lord rises. So much hope with this feast, yet it's hope tempered by the realization that we're not there yet. Life's struggle continues. Tomorrow is a lovely foretaste, though, of that final repose with Christ that we all long for. A blessed Triduum and Easter to everyone!

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!

Beautiful sunny snow day

A wee eskimo emerges.

Fat cheeks come in handy in sub-zero weather.

The long, slow shoveling. Dave's fitbit had an impressive reading at the end of the day.

Taking a walk up the road to survey the neighborhood. 

Another cute little Inuit.

Inside the igloo!

A chipmunk popping out from his hole.

Just chillin' in the igloo, literally.

The storm has come, the storm has gone. We are now left with the wreckage, which takes the form of huge drifts and embankments that cut wide streets down to tiny arteries. Our 20 week sonogram was scheduled for this morning, but the doctor's office was closed, along with everything else in the D.C. metro area it seems. No school today or tomorrow. We're planning for a Wednesday sonogram re-schedule, so stay tuned!

Snow!

David testing out the head-flashlight the night the storm started. 

Late night snow fun.

Not good...after one afternoon of shoveling.

Waking up to an impressive winter wonderland...every child's dream, right?

Before...

...after. As I write, only the tip of her head is sticking out.

Snow fare.

Packing down the igloo before hollowing it out.

David with exuberance: "I slid into thorns Mommy!"

Saying good-bye to our neighbors who visited during the storm.

This igloo is 4 ft. high and 6 ft. in diameter...inside! Someone could live in this thing.


The snow is still coming down strong, and we have over two feet. The wind picked up today, making it much more of a "white-out" experience when you look out the window. All day we've watched deer down the gully in our back yard pawing out holes for themselves and sitting in them, poor things. They look like big dogs curled up down there. So thankful for no power outages and our cozy, warm house with big windows to see all the action. Hoping everyone's able to enjoy this epic storm!

This and that

Happy New Year! It's hard to believe we're well into January, with a snow storm looming around the corner. We celebrated Dave's 33rd birthday on the 14th, and continued the celebration over the weekend with a fun visit from Lolo and Lola and by seeing Star Wars up close. By up close I mean in the front row, looking directly up, because we managed to get there a little late and the theater was full except for the front row. I will say that since it was less of a visual experience I was forced to actually concentrate on the plot and scenes more than I would have. I would rate it a solid "good".

David got his first barbershop haircut. Dave said the woman not only shaved his little neck stubble with shaving cream and a flat-edged razor, but she also wrapped our little guy's head with a hot towel and massaged his neck. Oh to have been there. David seems only to remember that she gave him a mint.

In the kitchen, we've been having fun with Jeff and Kate's Christmas present: a sous-vide cooker and a vacuum sealer (see sous-vide carrots above). Thanks guys!

Off to read books to the littles. I'll post an update Monday when we find out the gender of baby Cook at my 20 week sonogram.  Any predictions? I can take bets...

A little family baking

Francesca finished her tennis season today with semi-finals and finals (in Reston, which is not close...not sure I'm on board with traveling for sports). I'm embarrassed to say I don't know who won of the teams. But she did great personally, winning two matches and losing one (to a couple girls who looked like 6th graders). Very promising foray onto the sports scene. We'll see if she sticks with it. 

Dave left for Chicago Wednesday for a Catholic Stewardship Conference. He got back today and we're all very happy and relieved to have him home to relieve the monotony of life with mommy safe and sound. Teresa and David were bent on a baking project yesterday to ease the boredom of Saturday without Daddy, so we made dinner rolls. The results were surprisingly bread-rolly, given all the handling.

Count-down to Halloween with the cousins!