1. It is not too late to write my quick takes! We had a busy, fun week. My parents came up for a visit, which is pretty incredible in itself considering that my dad just had a major surgery after the most catastrophic thing a body can do to itself (aortal dissection). Most people do not even make it into surgery, let alone out of it… We are so thankful that we have however many more months and years with him on Earth, and I will cherish every moment that I get with him.
2. Friday, the 13th was my parents 34th wedding anniversary. M took this lovely shot of them while I was following F (19 months) down the path and keeping her our of streets.
Dad is still tired a lot, and we wonder if he will ever have the same energy that he had before, but then I know that this recovery cannot be rushed.
3. This has definitely been a very trying year for my mom and dad. Dad has been looking for a regular position since he lost what was his dream job when the website he worked for got shut down. Then he had his surgery. My mother has been tirelessly taking care of his health needs, working her job as a nurse, and starting up her prayer ministry for priests. She is truly and amazing woman, and we are all blessed by her in our lives. I pray that God blesses their marriage abundantly in the next year and beyond, and that Dad finds a new dream job for his last years of working.
4. M and I took our anniversary date on Tuesday (READ: FREE BABYSITTING), even though our six year anniversary was not until yesterday. We went to a Russian restaurant in St. Paul, and discovered that dill is a major Russian spice. M got his favorite martini with horseradish infused vodka and I went for a girly coconut-citrus flavored one.
My chicken kiev came with this little crown and dill garnish.
These chocolate truffles and butterfly cookie were soooo worth the price.
“Susanna, put away your embarrassing phone!” Yep, everyone else had a smart one. Hey, look, the moon!
Afterwards, we headed over to the St. Paul Saints baseball game, and watched a crushing, come from behind defeat. It was a lot of fun, and we are planning on taking the kids with us to a day game later this summer.
5. Our actual anniversary day, we celebrated by sleeping in until 7, letting my mom take the big kids to Mass while we ate a leisurely breakfast, doing chores. M cleaned out the garage and vacuumed out my van. We made a dinner of broiled kabobs (too rainy to grill) and the driest wine Trader Joe’s stocks.
6. Happy Father’s Day to my amazing husband, who does things like wash dishes and put kids down for naps, even though it is Father’s Day. He is even going to cook dinner on the grill tonight, during which we plan to leave him alone with his thoughts and his beer. Thank you dear for everything you do!
7. Last one, if you want to read something less academic by M, read him over on Public Discourse where he explains that “taking philosophy and theology as the foundation of our knowledge elevates and unifies scientific and humanistic inquiry.”
I have been making this yogurt since we lived in Buffalo, NY. I think I started when G was one, so maybe four years now. It saves money and is so much fresher tasting then store bought yogurt! After many different ways of straining and flavoring I have finally perfected my yogurt recipe/process. It is really about timing and waiting.
I start off around 4 pm with 8 cups of whole milk in my 6 quart crockpot slow cooker. I turn it on low and set a timer for two and a half hours. When the timer goes off, I simply turn off (and unplug for good measure) the crockpot, take my starter of a 6 oz plain Fage Greek yogurt out of the refrigerator, and set the timer for three more hours.
At 9:30 pm, I put the starter yogurt in a two cup measure and ladle a few scoops of warm milk in with the yogurt. After I “introduce” those live and active cultures to the milk and pour them all into the crockpot and wrap the whole thing up in two super warm blankets and put it in a cozy warm corner of the kitchen counter.
In the morning (around 7:30-8:30 am), I unwrap the crockpot, lay about 5 paper towels on top of the nice brand new yogurt, and put the whole thing in the refrigerator for the next 24 hours.
The next morning, I remove all the excess liquid that has been soaked into the paper towels and voila: 2 quarts of think, creamy, Greek yogurt.
Thick Greek Yogurt: 8 cups whole milk 6 oz. plain store bought Greek yogurt -Put milk in Crockpot on low for 2.5 hours. SET A TIMER! -When 2.5 hours are over turn Crockpot off, take starter out of refrigerator, and set another timer for 3 hours. -When three hours are over, mix starter and 1 cup of hot milk from Crockpot together and stir it all into Crockpot of milk. Wrap in lots of blankets and keep it away from drafts. Let it sit overnight. -In morning place about 5 paper towels on top of yogurt covering the whole surface and put in refrigerator. -In 24 hours, remove paper towels and put yogurt in storage containers.
I like to serve the yogurt with a teaspoon of homemade jam. We also serve it with falafel or fajitas as a substitute for sour cream. 🙂
Notes: Some Facebook commenters have suggested to ways of thickening the yogurt without “straining”. 1) Add two tablespoons of gelatin in with the starter. or 2) Adding 1/3 c. dry milk powder at the beginning.
1. We have a walking one year old! F at 17 months has been our latest walker so far. She is a bit of a perfectionist, I think, and did not want to commit to walking until she was sure she could do it completely. She is now walking about 95% of the time, a huge difference from about 2% of the time. It is pretty cute to see her stand up, get set to waddle, and walk with her elbows at her side and her hands sticking out to each side with her fingers spread wide. It does make life a little more complicated since she wants to spend every second she is awake “‘side” in the backyard waddling around after her sisters. When she is not out with them, she stands on the kitchen nook bench and watches longingly. Occassionally, while watching she will get down and go to the door demanding, “Socks! Shoes! ‘Side!” And becomes angry when she is refused.
2. Last night F woke up around 1:30am with an awful cough, wheezy breath, and a hot little body. I nursed her and put her back to bed only for her to wake up again 30 minutes later. The poor girl was so sad and could not even say words without talking. We decided to give her some pain relief and I finally got her comfortable after nursing again. She slept until 8am, but was still coughing ans wheezing, so we skipped gym co-op and went up to the doctor instead. I am maybe a little over cautious when it comes to breathing issues, but we do have a family history of asthma on both sides, and L has already had episodes. By the time we saw the doctor she was acting a lot better and did not cough for him once. He said it would be okay to nebulize her until the wheezing goes away even though her lungs sounded clear. I do wonder if maybe she is developing seasonal allergies, and they were triggered by the crunchy leaf bath she received from L in the backyard yesterday.
3. To encourage the big girls in our outing to the doctor this morning, I promised them fried cheese curds from Culvers, if they were good. There is a Culvers just past the highway we take home from the doctor, and since we realized that they have this delectable wonder of a food, it has always been in the back of my mind. We might have to make it a tradition. First of all, they are meatless, so they are okay on Friday. Second, they are cheese not potato, so healthier because of protein. I can’t believe I never stopped there while pregnant with F. I just always went to Burger King across the way for fries and a milkshake. Now it is Culvers all the way. Thirdly, a large is just the right size for the girls and I to split, and once they cool a little bit they squeak! I am going to try using my HSA card next time, because I am pretty sure the necessary stop at Culvers is a medical expense that counts towards our deductible. Just saying…
4. The best fried cheese curds we have ever had are not from Culvers or the State Fair, but from a family restaurant in Albert Lea, MN called The Trumbles. They have typical family restaurant fair and quality, but when we saw the cheese curds on the menu, we knew that they would be done to perfection. And they were. We have stopped there twice on our way home from St. Louis, but usually we just stop at a Culvers 30 minutes from Minnesota, because it makes a perfect second and only stop in the 8 1/2 hour drive. If we waited for Albert Lea, we would have to make three stops.
5. Today at lunch, L (3) told me her understanding of Hell and Purgatory:
L: “If you are just a little bit bad and a little bit good, when you die, you go to Purgatory for a time out, and then you go to Heaven. If you are really bad, when you die, you go to Hell and stay there forever!” Me: “That’s right. Where did you learn that?” L: “G told me!” G (5 and in a matter of fact tone): “Daddy told me all about Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory last summer.”
6. For those of you not in Minnesota, I just want to let you know that, while we have snow on the ground in some places still, Wednesday was sunny with a high of 75! It was glorious. Next week does not promise to be as warm, but anything about 30 is okay with me! Above 40 is even better, and I dare not hope too much for 50s, since this is April in Minnesota after all. M is going to build a garden box this weekend, and we might get some things in the ground next week. And since F is finally walking and loves to run around the yard, I can spend a good amount of time gardening.
St. Gemma in her final resting place in the Sanctuary of St. Gemma in Lucca, Italy. M took this photo when we stopped in Lucca for a couple of hours.
7. Finally, I want to wish you all a happy Feast of St. Gemma Galgani. She is my Confirmation saint, and had a really intense life in sickness and in prayer. Here is an account of her last months of life during which she experienced the Passion on Good Friday with Jesus and passed away on Holy Saturday. To celebrate I made some hot cross buns, using this delicious recipe:
An authentically Catholic fish fry. Photo by MBK. Since we moved to Minnesota, my family and I have been meeting a lot of converts, many of them my husband’s colleague at the Catholic university where he is a professor. It seems that more of them than not are converts. The other day a distinguished colleague asked my husband, “You are a cradle Catholic, aren’t you?” After my husband assured him that he was, his friend said decidedly, “Then it is in your bones.” Every year I live, I realize more and more how Catholicism really is “in my bones.” There is something about being Catholic from infancy that takes over one’s whole life, and the further one is from one’s conversion to the faith the more time the Catholic sense has had to set in.
One of our convert friends, Brantley Milligan, wrote a piece for Alethia about 4 Things that Catholics do that Rightly Scandalize non-Catholics. It seemed to me that his first point on how Catholics don’t talk enough about Jesus missed something genuine about Catholicism. Mr. Milligan says that, “Even among otherwise faithful Catholics, it sometimes seems we can spend a lot of time talking about the Church, the clergy, the Pope, the Mass, moral teachings, the Sacraments, and yes, Mary and the saints – all important things – but hardly ever mention Jesus.” I would disagree and say that by talking about these things, Catholics really are talking about Jesus.
At a recent play date with other Catholic moms, they singled me out as the only non-convert in the group. For a moment I agreed and then I looked at the eight children playing in the yard, and said, “Actually, the kids and I have you converts out numbered!” It seems that this depth of Catholicism is not limited to cradle Catholic. The convert Walker Percy got it in his novel Love in the Ruins:
“The best of times were after mass on summer evenings when Samantha and I would walk home in the violet dusk, we having received Communion and I rejoicing afterwards, caring nought for my fellow Catholics but only for myself and Samantha and Christ swallowed, remembering what he promised me for eating him, that I would have life in me, and I did, feeling so good that I’d sing and cut the fool all the way home like King David before the Ark. Once home, light up the charcoal briquets out under the TV transmitter, which lofted its red light next to Venus like a ruby and a diamond in the plum velvet sky. Snug down Samantha with the Wonderful World of Color in the den (the picture better than life, having traveled only one hundred feet straight down), back to the briquets, take four, five, six long pulls from the quart of Early Times, shout with joy for the beauty of the world…”
It is about the Sacraments. Growing up in the historically Catholic St. Louis, attending college in Steubenville, and living four years in culturally Catholic Buffalo, NY, one realizes that all Catholics know that being Catholic really is about “getting our Sacraments.” From the Christmas and Easter Catholics to the Daily Mass goers, everyone knows that the Sacraments are central to being Catholic. Some Catholics settled for the Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, First Communion, First Reconciliation.
After that, they think you are set if you make it to Mass on Christmas and Easter. I am not sure if they acknowledge their Easter Duty of receiving communion once a year or going to confession, but they get the basics. And then they come back to Church again for their Catholic wedding. Then we have the Catholics who realize that those few Sacraments are not enough, horrible sinners that they are. They confess weekly, receive daily, and still hope to see everyone in purgatory. Either way, Sacraments are central. Every cradle Catholic knows that.
And the ones who sit back and think about them, actually realize that the Sacraments really are an encounter with God. Jesus Christ, Himself, gave them to us, so that we could have life in us, His life in us. So, all of the focus on the Sacraments is actually about Jesus, and not just Him, the whole Trinity. All the focus on the Sacraments is really a focus on Jesus, but you have to get to catechism class if you want to know that. What non-Catholics don’t understand about us Catholics is that all these seemingly excess things in our faith are really about being with Jesus. If they don’t believe that the Eucharist is actually Jesus Christ, that the priest we confess to is in persona Christi, and that the pope is the Vicar of Christ, then they are going to think we never think about Jesus.
Another part of Catholicism that gets into ones bones is devotion to Mary and the Saints. We have been reading the lives of the saints to our children from the very beginning, and now whenever they hear about a martyr, they grin at each other at the thought of a martyr and ask, “But how did she die?” Then later, we hear them playing games about being martyred, going to heaven, and appearing as St. So-and-so. Or they play that Mary appeared to them. The stories of the Saints and Mary’s apparitions are the kind that stick in the heads of children, and they are fascinated. They want to be saints as well, and adult Catholics often lose sight of the focus on sainthood. But sainthood really is about being with God forever in Heaven.
Adult Catholics are much more realistic about the possibility of going to Heaven on their own merits than children are. And that is why we are so thankful that Jesus gave St. Peter the keys of the kingdom and said: “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” This is where we get our theology of indulgences, which again is in our bones. The indulgences come from the treasury of the merits of Christ and of the saints, which is dispensed through the Church. Pope Clement VI explains it in his Jubilee Bull of 1343:
“This treasury Christ committed to the care of St. Peter, who holds the keys of heaven, and to his successors, his own vicars on earth who are to distribute it to the faithful for their own salvation… To the abundance of this treasury the merits of the Blessed Mother of God and of all the elect, from the first just person to the last, also contribute, as we know; nor is it at all diminished, first on account of the infinite merits of Christ, as already mentioned, and further because the more men are drawn to righteousness by having this treasury applied to them, so much the more does the store of those merits increase.”
Fortunately, for us less saintly folk, there are the Saints who contributed to the treasury of merits. Take my Confirmation saint, St. Gemma Galgani, whose historical feast day is tomorrow. She was a “little victim of divine love,” offering the sufferings of weekly stigmata and all the pains of the Passion for the conversion of sinners and saying this, “It is true Jesus, if I think of what I have gone through as a child, and now as a grown up girl, I see that I have always had crosses to bear; But oh! how wrong are those who say that suffering is a misfortune!” And even if the sufferings of saints like St. Gemma are not enough, we must remember that there are the infinite merits of Christ. One drop of his blood would have been enough to save us all, but he did so much more and the grace is still infinite. But then, we are also told from childhood to “offer it up,” and I am certain that the offerings of a small child also add to the treasury of merits. Maybe even the offerings of a lukewarm, adult Catholic are meritorious.
The longer one is Catholic, the more one is aware of one’s own sinfulness, and the more devoted to the Sacraments one becomes. That is why daily Mass is full of the oldest generations. I know many holy people, who go to daily Mass, and would never ever consider themselves to be holy. They see themselves as sinners, and that is a huge part of being Catholic. You know, the Catholic guilt. It is hard enough to rid oneself of one’s own sins without having to worry if praying the rosary, going to Mass, and having a Mary statue is going to scandalize the evangelicals. While we are one body, we are all different parts, and we cannot all be the perfectly understandable Catholic to those outside the Church.
When Catholicism is in your bones, you learn not to care if others are scandalized by particularly Catholic things you do. You know that you are focused on Jesus, you know that you are following the Church as best you can (or that you really could be doing better), and you know that you are a miserable sinner, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. I am so glad that that is back in the Confiteor of the New Mass, because the words and the chest beating actions capture a sense of Catholicism that modernity is trying to do away with.
The whole of The Four Men by Hilaire Belloc, in his self-deprecating way along with his love of his home, good food, and drink, embraces the Catholic sense that all creation has been redeemed. Belloc explains “that work is noble, and prayer is its equal, but that drinking good ale is a more renowned and glorious act that any other to which man can lend himself.” In his discussion of nature and life, one can see that Belloc had a Catholic worldview seeing sacramental value in everything. The cradle Catholic is familiar with the Friday Fish Fry, Bingo Night, Parish Festivals (or the Lawn Fete), and the eighth sacrament of coffee and donuts. And we must remember that the first fish fry was hosted by Jesus himself on the beach of the Sea of Tiberias over a fire of charcoal [briquets].
Now the thing about these particularly Catholic events is not that the food or the drink is particularly good, but that these things are what Catholics do. Further, they are done by the Body of Christ (and for the sake of raising funds). It is kind of fun to sit in an overcrowded hall with fellow Catholics and wait in a long line for a plate of greasy fish, macaroni, and coleslaw. These things, too, have been redeemed. We know that these events will never match the level of the Eucharistic banquet in its substance or that the mass produced food contributions of the Altar and Rosary society will meet the level of a five star restaurant, but the kids will have fun running around and might even eat the food and the adults will enjoy some lively conversation. These things are too about Jesus, even if He is not mentioned by name throughout the whole of the event.
The great thing about the Catholic Church is that we consist of everybody, as Robert P. George described over at First Things. The Church consists of a diversity of professions, ages, prayer, and people. We are not all going to be Saints, and I am not sure we need a reformation in the Church, but maybe we all need to plod along in our little Catholic lives and work on our own reformation of ourselves as we participate in the life of the Church.
I do not really have anything in particular to say, but I just need to do some writing. I have had a few deep thoughts in the past 36 hours, and even started a few posts in my head, but they are now all missing. It is funny how the daily care of a home, children, and husband can do that to you. I am also thinking about the mail box, because I heard the mailman come while I was getting the kids down for quiet time. I would check it, but yesterday a very excited three year old decided to check the mail and found it empty. I am going to save it for her.
I need to work on dinner a little bit this afternoon, because I have worked out a system of having the older two do a workout video with me on Wednesday afternoons while F is still napping. It has been working well, but that means dinner will need some prepping soon. We are having a mushroom, feta, and spinach quiche. I am pretty excited about it. I will let you know if it turns out as amazing as it sounds. The same three year old go very excited about the prospect of pie for dinner, when I answered inquiries into dinner’s contents. And speaking of food, I have some really yummy leak and potato soup sitting in jars in the refrigerator. I am going to resist it. Maybe we will eat it with lunch tomorrow. It was last night’s dinner with grilled cheese. Alright, enough about food.
We really need to get more planning into our gardening this year, but there is still snow covering our garden, plus where we plan on building a garden box. I really have no idea when planting is supposed to happen in Minnesota. Someone once told me that county’s have a publication that recommends when to plan what. Does anyone in Minnesota know where I can get my hands on some guidelines? That would be really nice. I actually just want a lesson in gardening or a great book to get me through the first summer.
It is supposed to snow tomorrow and Friday, so I think I am going to push back my outdoor Spring plans longer, and just do inside things. I have gotten pretty comfortable with our inside routine. Throwing outside into it all, just throws me off, especially for the non-walking 17 month old who wants to play. I am not going to let her scoot around the yard and ruin all of her pants. She will just have to learn to walk or stay inside and watch her big sisters play outside.
Our traditional Ash Wednesday and Good Friday dinner is Lentil Soup. The recipe is based off my mother’s lentil soup recipe, but based is a very loose term here. You see, my dad always declare, “It tastes different this time!”
Here is my adaption:
I had every intention of taking a nice photograph of a untouched bowl instead of these dregs…
Lentil Soup (serves 6ish)
In a soup pot melt:
-1 TB of butter
Saute until tender:
-2 sliced carrots -1 small onion
Add and cook for 1 minute:
-1 clove minced garlic
Add:
-6 cups of water -2 tspn of Vegetable boullion (or just use Vegetable stock) -1/2 lb of rinsed lentils -14 oz. can of diced tomatoes (or fresh equivalent) -1 1/2 tspns of salt -dash of pepper -1/2 tspn dried oregano -2 TB dry parsley
Bring to a boil and simmer until lentils and carrots are tender. Check seasonings and add:
First of all, if you follow me through facebook normally, and are not using Facebook during Lent, you can follow me in two ways, add me to your RSS feed or sign up to receive email updates!——> _____________________
I have a lovely view outside my front window.
To the left is the three month old snowman and to the right is the two month old snowwoman. They were once young and beautiful, and now they are shriveled heads. Their grotesque look makes me think that they are more appropriate for October along with the skeletons and goblins people put on their lawns, but then I think that maybe they area appropriate for now. Lent starts tomorrow, and if they were human persons and could go to church, they would get ashes and be reminded that they are dust. They are not dust, though some dirt has mingled with their once pure white snow. But they will return to the earth eventually. But how many snowmen survive all of Advent and make it to Lent?
Here in Minnesota we must persevere through the rest of this severe Winter, and join it to our Lenten penances. I was explaining to G (almost 5) this morning about what penances our family is doing for Lent together, and then suggested she might like to do something herself for Lent. She thought for a moment and said, “We should make a cheesecake!” I think maybe someone is not able to distinguish between feast day celebrations and penitential seasons. She also declared that she loves Ash Wednesday because she really likes getting ashes.
We Spencers had a Shrove Tuesday Feast of bacon, creamy potato “risotto”, and sauted strawberries baked in crepes with ice cream. Have a happy Fat Tuesday, and tighten your belts for the Lenten season!
No, that is not my sippy cup.
I need to figure out how to make my camera make food look as good as it tastes… Yes, yes, that is my wine…
Once upon a time my fiance made a batch of brownies. These were not just everyday brownies; they were a family recipe, from his future mother-in-law. He made them in his carpeted kitchen in a house he shared with two roommates in Steubenville, OH. He then submitted them to a baking contest judged by university professors. He won the prize in his category, and took me out for dinner with his gift card prize. The baking contest may have been a fundraiser for my household…
Last Friday was not planned for by a certain wife and mother. The kids had made their Valentine cards the previous week, and the house had since then been plagued by and purged of a stomach bug. I was scrambling Friday afternoon to celebrate my love for my family with something in addition to the pizza delivery.
I whipped together the family favorite mint brownies, only to discover that I had no confectioner’s sugar. Thankfully, I was saved by a generous neighbor, and M arrived home to almost finished heart shaped brownies.
Pink mint is pretty weird to look at. I suppose I could have left it just white, since green is not really appropriate for St. Valentine’s Day, but with three little girls in the house I had to use pink.
I am not sure where my mom got the recipe, but she has been making them my whole life.
She sent a copy of this card to me after I asked her to send me the recipe, when M wanted to make them for the baking contest. I then took it and made it into an easy to follow set of charts. And here it is the recipe: Award Winning Mint Brownies or Chocolate Mint Layer Cookies:
·Grease 8×8 or 9×13 pan and set oven to 350° F. Set out icing butter to soften.
* Can use 2 oz. or 3 oz. of unsweetened chocolate depending on pan size instead of shortening and cocoa.
·Melt butter and shortening and add cocoa. ·Beat in eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. ·Stir in other ingredients. ·Bake for 25-30 minutes depending on pan size. ·After cools a bit out of oven, cool in the freezer or refrigerator to ready the brownies for the frosting.
·Using an electric mixer, whip together sugar and softened butter. ·Add milk little by little until a nice fluffy consistancy. ·Add the mint extract and whatever coloring or lack of coloring you desire. · Here I used a greased heart cookie cutter to make heart shaped brownies. Usually we just frost the brownies in the pan and cut them into squares. ·Spread frosting onto cool brownies, and then chill the brownies again until ready to add chocolate drizzle.
·Melt the butter and chocolate together, and add vanilla. (My sister and I discovered over Christmas that substituting chocolate chips for the baking chocolate can work for the drizzle.) ·Drizzle the mixture over the frosted brownies.
1. For all of you who have been asking, my dad is still in recovery mode from his emergency surgery. He is tired out very easily, and is still sleeping a lot. But that makes a lot of sense considering that he had his chest cut open, his aorta partially replaced, and was sewed back up just three weeks ago. He is getting physical therapy now, and I think it motivated by the thoughts of seeing grandchildren in March to keep on track. Thank you again for all of your prayers and support to my family. It is a great blessing to me to hear about friends who have been taking care of my parents when I live so far away.
2. I have been a little bummed about the Olympics this year. I don’t understand why publicly broadcasted things can only be seen when one has a TV with an antennae. When will stations just start having a live stream on their website? It makes total sense to me. If they have the commercials and everything, why can’t it be there? Further, I feel like the Olympics should be broadcasted more freely than normal TV. If it is this internationally unifying event, why leave out those cool enough to not have a TV.
3. I have been making soups this Winter from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.The one last week was garlic soup. It was a little strange. Basically I cooked whole garlic in water with salt, whole cloves, parsley, thyme, and pepper for 30 minutes and then strained it. Then I beat slowly into the soup egg yolks that had been beaten with oil. It is supposed to be really good for your health, but the cloves gave it a weird flavor. There is an alternative ending to the recipe without the egg yolks, but with potatoes and saffron. We are thinking we might like that better and still get the healthful benefits of the garlic.
4. Some of our friends spent all of January in Texas, and apparently their kids cannot handle being back in Minnesota because of the cold. However, I am really glad to have them back especially because my friend R is very encouraging of my writing. I make no promises, but I hope to be writing a lot more as long as we manage to have good conversation over children playing.
5. M has been extra busy these last two weeks, since his department has been interviewing for new hires. He has gone to dinner three times in the past two weeks and not gotten home until after 9pm. Once again, I am so thankful that I only have to manage bedtime alone on occasion and am in awe of parents who do it alone all the time.
6. G (4.5) and L (3) were competing today about who’s imagination was bigger. Arms outstretched, “My imagination is THIS BIG!” G said her’s has a billion pictures in it, and L retorted that her’s has 20. At least L can count to the number of pictures. And if you are wondering these are pictures of monsters. Some of them are good and some of them are bad, but the bad ones only cause nightmares when you are awake. They must have been having a lot of nightmares while they stayed up until 9:15pm tonight.
7. This kid won’t walk, but stairs are not a problem. 15 months today!
An authentically Catholic fish fry. Photo by MBK.
