Mystery Photos

#1:

#2:

Should I be alarmed...

...that my sweet 5-year-old daughter finds this utterly, gut-laughter-inducing, rotf hilarious?

The latest Ohio trip

Next stop in our "way belated Pickles vacation posts" journey is another trip to Steubenville, Ohio. This was a doubly fun trip, since it was a) Homecoming weekend at the Alma Mater, which coincides with b) the annual Franciscan festival, plus there was c) a new cousin's baptism, which involved d) a mini family reunion!

Once again we opted for our ingenious idea (well, I'm sure it's not original to us) of leaving early in the morning and arriving around lunch-time. This gives us plenty of recoup- and play time in the afternoon (as well as time to wash the carseat of a certain person who had to go to the bathroom RIGHT NOW when we were in the middle of nowhere).

Miriam and Edy were once again happily reunited, with Katie playing tag-along as usual.

All the other fun stuff aside, I think the girls would have been perfectly happy doing this all weekend -- coloring under the trees (and playing hide-and-seek) (and drawing with chalk) (and going to the playground across the street) (etc.).

Edy looking glamorous and medieval.

Ahhh, the requisite face-painting.



Does it really count as a proper fair if you don't have flowers, hearts, stars, or some combinations thereof painted on your face?

And of course, the whole reason we were there in the first place...

our new cousin Lucy's baptism!

Unfortunately, our camera wasn't behaving itself, or else it was out of memory, (or OUR memories weren't working very well) so we weren't able to get any other good pics of the weekend. It was a real cousin fest, with Mrs. Pickles' cousins and their families. For dinner at Aunt Terri's house there were 8 people age 5 and under, including a walking 10-month-old. We also got to see freshman Aunt Katie in her dorm room, but that picture came out all grainy. :(

Yet another great family weekend! The trip back was eventful, unfortunately -- about 1 hour into the trip Katie had a spectacular diaper disaster which necessitated hosing her off at a gas station in the boondocks with icy cold water, and merited another trip to the washer for the carseat. But what's a little extra laundry on a great trip like that? :)

Lest you think I've been blowing you all off

This is just a sample of what my month has looked like. I've written down more since this picture was taken.

"Paul" means babysitting and school, using up the hours 8-3. So everything written on Paul days is done in the afternoon and/or evening.

Now you understand why this blog has been so low on my list of priorities. :)

(calendar, which I lurve, is from Flylady.net. The little squares on those church calendars just don't cut it anymore)

Quotable Quotes

CL, all dressed up in something pink and frilly: "I call myself 'Thinderella-Theeping Beauty-Fairy Pintheth'!"
A couple days later: "I'm not 'Thinderella-Theeping Beauty-Fairy Pintheth'. Now I'm 'Ariel-Thinderella'."
[...Have we mentioned that Katie's really into the princess thing?]

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ME: "Mommy, don't be mean or I'll bishk you with a fish!"
[someone's been reading lots of Dr. Seuss lately...]

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CL: "I want [insert completely irrational, unattainable 3yo wish here]!"
ME: "I hear someone whining...."
CL: "That's me!"

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ME: "Oh, that was a long, long, long, long, long time ago -- last week."

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CL, as she's turning away from me in her bed at naptime: "I don't want to smell your stinky face."
[I know I should have been insulted, but the way she said it was SOOOO cute!]

Halfway There!!

I recently passed the 20-week mark. Of course, 2 of those weeks I wasn't even pregnant, so this week is the REAL halfway-done (half-baked?) point.



22 weeks (why, of course my body looks this good too!). Other highlights from this stage: the baby is swallowing now, which means: hiccups! I think I've actually felt them a couple times already.

The girls are getting really excited. The kicks are getting stronger -- they're at the point where I can SEE them now. Of course, we've got a case of the fetus who cried wolf, so the girls haven't felt much lately. But we've been talking a lot about the baby, and what it's going to be like when it's born, and how they're BOTH going to be big sisters and good helpers (RIGHT?).

They've been getting some practice in too. For example, Katie LOVES putting babies to bed.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

Exhibit D

And you've already seen her put my bridesmaid flowers to bed. This is just the briefest sampling of what we encounter all over the house every day.

She also enjoys putting Daddy to bed. She'll lay him out on a pillow and cover him with a blanket (usually using a baby blanket that maybe covers his upper arm), read a story to him (by sitting next to him, holding a book in her lap, and looking at the pictures silently), then sing a story and kiss him goodnight. Then in 30 seconds she'll wake him up and start all over. It's very cute. I wish I had a video to show you all.

Miriam is already an expert put-to-sleeper. Every once in a while she begs to put Paul (the boy I'm babysitting) down for his nap. She'll read to him, cover him up, and sing to him. The thing that amazes me is that he'll actually cooperate and go to sleep! It's been a big help these last few weeks, as Katie has been more emotionally needy and hands-on at nap time lately.

We went in for the 20-week ultrasound a little bit ago -- I'll post some highlights about that soon!

Sweet Home Alabama wedding

Today our pastor gave a homily about the Four Last Things (i.e., Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell), in which he spoke about heaven as the great wedding feast. He made the point that on the wedding day, the happiest person is the bride, since she's been planning this day since she was 8 years old. After Mass we were talking with him and Mr. Pickles said, "Father, I have a little correction for your homily." The priest looked a little concerned (since we had just been talking about Scott Hahn) and said, "Oh really?" Mr. Pickles replied, "Yes, girls don't start planning their weddings when they're eight -- they start when they're TWO. A few weeks ago Katie asked if she could have bubbles at her wedding." He just bust out laughing.

Obviously Amalia's wedding made a huge impression on the girls. I think the fact that Mommy was in the wedding made it even more interesting for them. As I mentioned before, the actual driving part went pretty well. We made the trip in two days, breaking it into very manageable 7-hour-ish segments.

Helping Daddy get the car ready for the trip.

Having fun with the hotel amenities. :)

Hm, wonder where the girls could be?

The Great Smokey Mountains of Tennessee -- aka the view from the balcony of our first hotel.

Much to everyone's sorrow, the hotel we were staying at in Birmingham had just closed their pool. So while I was having fun doing bridesmaidy stuff, Mr. Pickles took the girls to have fun at a Children's Museum instead.

They were fascinated by this giant marble-moving contraption. I think they would have stayed there all day if Mr. Pickles hadn't insisted that there was more fun stuff to do there.

...like play with water.

Hey, doesn't a ladybug have six legs?

Katie making a new friend.

And just because it's cool...

Hogwarts Castle!

All right, on to wedding pictures!

The flower girl, Anastasia, begged to be introduced to Miriam at the rehearsal dinner. The two girls hit it off immediately, with Katie playing tag-along as usual. Miriam still declares that Anastasia is her "best, best, best, best friend." (Edy, you must understand, is her "best, best, best, best cousin.")

During the bride's entrance procession, another bridesmaid and I couldn't keep a straight face. I glanced at the groom's mother, and saw that she was in tears -- I then noticed that she was looking at her son, the groom, who was in tears -- and HE was looking at his bride, who was in tears. I've never seen more bawling at a wedding! It was so sweet. You couldn't help but be happy for them.

The wedding was beautiful too. It's not every day you get to attend a wedding in a CATHEDRAL, in which the music is done by the Cathedral choir! It was glorious -- a real celebration and foretaste of the Wedding of the Lamb.

The bridal party afterwards. Quite a good-looking crew, aren't we?

Katie putting on the charm. Do you like my black widow shoes? :)

Speaking of the happiness of the bride on her wedding day...
What did it matter that the caterer was being a pain? What did it matter that 3 days before the wedding all their phones died? You need only look at her radiant face to see what really matters on the wedding day. "He's mine!"

Cute patootie. I let her hold my flowers until she started using them as a broom to sweep the sidewalk in front of the cathedral.

Later on at the reception though, she very gently put them to bed.

The reception was a little rough on me at first -- I hadn't eaten a real meal all day, and for a mom in her first trimester, that's suicide. I was SOOOOO cranky! Once I finally got some food in me I felt better. The music was really loud, too, PLUS the cathedral bell ringers chose that afternoon to practice their change ringing, making it difficult to find someplace for quiet conversation. But they did have a live band which played AWESOME music.

The seating at the head table was different from any other wedding we'd been to, but I think I liked it this way better. Instead of the usual wedding party at the head table, it was all the bride's and groom's families. If you think about it, that really makes a lot more sense -- since it was a joining of two families. That way the rest of the bridal party could sit with their own families and friends, which I'm sure Mr. Pickles appreciated at this point, since he'd been in charge of the girls all day!

The wedding cake had little charms stuck in it, so all the single ladies got to pull one out. The tradition is that the girl who pulls out a little wedding ring will be the next to get married. Miriam pulled out a little cross.

And now to the whole point of having a wedding in the first place...

Dancing!!!


Miriam with some of her new friends. (There were lots of kids at the wedding -- one of the reasons it was so great!)

Yay! We like weddings! (sorry -- the person who took our picture had apparently forgotten how to use a viewfinder on a digital camera)

Well, since we were so close, we HAD to take the time to visit Mother Angelica's monastery, Our Lady of the Angels.

This is her "little farm chapel," the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament. We weren't able to take any pictures inside, but you can get a little peek here. It's one of the few places in the world where when you enter, you feel that you want to be a better human being. The last time we visited Amalia a few years back, we came here for Mass, shortly after the Shrine was completed. Amalia said that many of the workers and craftsman who built the shrine were brought from Italy, and when they finished the church they wept, mourning that they would have to go back to building office buildings, and would probably never again work on anything so beautiful. It is truly glorious inside.

Miriam really, really wanted to go inside this castle. Unfortunately, the only day we had free to visit was Sunday, so it was closed. :( Well, next time.

Even the DOORS were cool.


The Seven Joys of Mary

The Seven Sorrows of Mary

This is the emu that frowned at Miriam.

There was more to see at the Shrine, but we were tired and ready to go home!

Very belated post from our August MN trip

Here are the rest of the photo highlights from our trip to visit Grandma in Minnesota.

It's odd looking at this picture now -- everything is so lush! I just want to take my shoes off and go running barefoot through that grass. Right now everything here is drying out.

Recipe for child happiness: take one pool of water. Add bucket. Enjoy!

It's especially fun if you have ANOTHER pool to dump the water into.

Does this look familiar, Mom B?

How about this one?

She swung so high that one of us grownups had to hold the swingset secure so she didn't launch herself into the stratosphere.

While there, Mr. P's sister very thoughtfully threw us a baby shower. It felt odd receiving presents for a baby when I wasn't even showing yet (although I had the nausea to prove I was pregnant). But it was very sweet of her.

We received some great presents, among them a really nice lullaby CD.

It was fun (for me, anyway -- I think the men were a bit bored) poring over all the tiny baby clothes again.

Itty bitty baby socks!

As mentioned in a previous post, after the shower we went for a boat ride.

Katie in her life jacket. She actually enjoyed the boat ride. It was a bit chilly though.

Mug shot of two of my favorite people. :)

Miriam got to drive!! She thought that was pretty cool.

I think Katie was too shy to really enjoy the favor though.

Here's a lady just reclining in her kimono and moisturizing gloves...

Helping Grandma make popsicles!


Another day we went to a farmer's market where we found a booth selling:

...yes, you read it right, YAKdogs! They were actually really good. Kinda spicey, but very flavorful. The yak rancher was very enthusiastic, as you might expect from someone who does this sort of thing.

We love our Grandma Teresa!