Game night with the cousins

The beginning of Notre Dame Game Night revelries. Sundaes Uncle Dave-style means ice cream in a pot, bowl, tupperware, or anything unconventional around the kitchen.

Pre-game Yahtzee.

This proves you can be a hipster in truck pjs. Go Irish!

Skerls and such

What better way to welcome a new day than with an early morning story from Grandmommy.

Lady and the Tramp (and Baby Dumbo, who is never more than five feet from his Mommy).

This afternoon around naptime, I heard Rose from the back yard calling me. It wasn't a cry of distress, so I took my time, finishing my lunch over my latest good read.  It must have been ten minutes before she came inside, still saying the same words: "Mommy! Skerl!" It didn't register until I put her down for her nap (and changed her damp shirt) that maybe I should go check the backyard. My stomach turned as I witnessed Rose's source of angst: in our little kiddie pool floated... a dead chipmunk (or "skerl" as Rose put it). Ewwww. Poor little guy. It took quelling everything in my nature to bury the dead little creature (Dave, you're off the hook- I know you're shocked). Rose watched as I buried him asking, "Where is it? He can't get out." Indeed. A word of warning to green-thumb Grandmommy: the grave is behind the azalea near the shed.

We're so enjoying this breezy autumnal weather. The girls continue to be enthusiastic about school (especially ice cream Wednesdays and pizza Fridays), and Frankie will go to her first birthday party of a classmate this weekend.  Dave will conduct an important townhall-style meeting (the first of its kind) at our parish this Friday night- so please keep that in your prayers. We're hoping it doesn't turn out like this. Dave, Hilary and I are excited to attend the diocesan Risk Jesus conference this Saturday where a wonderful blogger we follow will be speaking, along with a holy priest who's a family friend. Thanks, Grandmommy and Pop Pop, for watching the nine grandchildren while we're there. Happy Wednesday!

This month's recap

We could spot Rose a mile away walking around with this bubble umbrella at a little friend's birthday party.

David and Dave bond over a nap.

It's that time of year again. 3-0, baby. Go Irish!

Remember the Elmo incident last year? It is a thing of the past. David finds this costume and dons it on his own now. He just needed a year to mature into Elmo.

Our hopes for homegrown jack-o-lanterns were dashed after getting many, many stalks and flowers, but no pumpkins. Then one day late this summer... pop! This sweet little guy appears. He's such a character.

She's sweet, sharp, and she's not afraid to tell you what you should be doing. You're not a close friend or family member? Doesn't matter. Rose is rife with commands for all of humanity. She recently told a little boy at the park to stop being so loud, and she frequently approaches strangers with "What's your name?" or "Hi!".  She's our first choleric child....parenting advice welcome :)

School days

Mornings now start earlier for some... 

So excited to be a second grader!

Today is the second full day of school for the girls, and from what I observe, they're enjoying themselves. I expected them to come home yesterday and drop, given their inexperience with a full day of school away from home. To my surprise, they were full of energy and enthusiasm- no collapsing in a heap of existential tiredness for these girls. Frankie was singled out and rewarded on the first day for being an example of what it means to listen obediently to the teacher (no surprise there), and Teresa got a sticker for being a good listener (perhaps a little to my surprise :) ). We're already getting the daily dish of classroom drama (boys who won't behave, mainly), along with excited descriptions of Spanish and art classes, trips to the library, who they sat next to at lunch and who they played with at recess. I'm vicariously enjoying these early school days. Kindergarten and second grade do, after all, evoke happy memories for me, as hopefully they do for most of us? Here on the home-front, things are quiet and relaxed. When Rose takes a nap, David becomes my little buddy to rest, read and play. It seems we all couldn't be happier.

Birthday boy

Little guy turned 4 yesterday. We went to a fun park with a carousel, received delicious Georgetown cupcakes in the mail from Lolo and Lola, and capped off the day with some more yummy homemade confections. You only turn 4 once, right?

You'll notice someone lost another tooth, too. It was an exciting day all around.

The girls' visit to Cleveland

 Lolo and Lola graciously offered to take Frankie and Teresa back to Cleveland for a week and a half this month. Can you tell they've been having fun?

A day at the spa.

Playing dress-up in Lola's real gowns (can you tell they're in heaven?)...

Hmm...someone's a little too good at posing.

Two blushing brides...

...and just being glamorous (and patriotic).


In addition to getting cute summer cuts while there, each girl lost a tooth! I think it's safe to say this will have been a memorable trip. Thank you, Lolo and Lola!

Goings on

Fourth of July party with the Queen of Apostles St. Joseph's Group. Our pastor is doing pin the tail on the donkey...what a good sport he is :)

David belongs to a family of girls, no way around it.  I couldn't stop laughing when they came upstairs from our coat closet like this.

It's been an eventful month. Dave has formally changed jobs from the organization he began working for right out of college to our local parish, of all places! We've become close to our pastor, Fr. Leopoldo Vives, since he and two other Disciples of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary arrived at Queen of Apostles last year, and since Dave organized a ministry for fathers in the parish called the St. Joseph's Group. Fr. Leopoldo asked Dave to help out interviewing candidates for a new job opportunity at the parish. Everyone involved in the interview process soon discerned that really Dave was the ideal candidate for the job. After some quick and intense discernment, Dave and I both came to see the job as very attractive on many levels: it would employ everything Dave had learned at YLF and business school, it would be an eight minute commute from our house, the salary and benefits are more than what we previously had, and the girls would be able to attend the parish school in the fall at no cost to us. It was dawning on us that this unforeseen job offer was God's answer to years of earnest prayer. No doubt this new job will present its own challenges and crosses, but all in all it looks like a beautiful fit for now!

In the meantime, Frankie and Teresa are excited about the prospect of school this fall, and I'm looking forward to a break from the pressure of homeschool for a season. We may very well return to homeschooling, which in theory I find preferable, but life the past year provided some significant obstacles to what I consider ideal execution.  Thank goodness Frankie is such a bright self-starter; I know she absorbed much despite our very basic curriculum. 

We've put moving on hold for now, since Dave's new commute is simply too good to be true, but we've still got our eye out for a neighborhood where car windows remain intact (we like to dream big around here). Two nights ago, for the second time in a year, someone bashed in a window of our minivan. Despite six years sprinkled with arrests, theft and vandalism, we've decided to stay on our street for another year or so (yeah, we're tough). Nonetheless, feel free to share any news of houses for sale in the Annandale area!