Well, here's what we've got so far

Grandma time galore! These are from our trip to Minnesnowta in August.

The girls spent practically every waking moment outside...

...when they weren't taking advantage of Grandma's infinite patience for reading books to them.

Our cutie-pie.

Madeline spent a lot of time outdoors too. I can't believe how clean she looks in this picture. This was taken towards the beginning of the visit, before she went down the slide face-first about 1,007 times.

The girls with Uncle Dan.

Trying to find Uncle Dan's weak spot (or, tickling him with grass).

With some of the cousins (Bethany is very camera shy -- I think she was hiding behind a tree at this point). They had tons of fun on the cousins' swing set.

The two Catherines. Bethany's grandpa has a punt so he took everyone out for a spin on the lake. Gorgeous.

More to come whenever we can get them uploaded!

We are experiencing technical difniculties... please stand by...

Sorry for the delay in posting pictures, folks -- we're having issues transferring them from Mr. Pickles' computer onto ours. (stoopid security-obsessed tech demons at the Bureau) Meanwhile, here's another Miriam quote to hold you for a bit.

[Scene: Miriam has set up two couch pillows at the foot of a flight of stairs, and is jumping from an undisclosed height onto them, in an attempt, she claims, to fly. Mrs. P is working on the computer and sees out of the corner of her eye Miriam rocketing through the air]
Mrs. P: Miriam, please be careful -- I don't want you to get hurt.
Miriam: Why?
Mrs. P, always the optimist: Because if you fall too hard you'll hurt your back and then I'll have to take you to the hospital and you'll have to stay there for a long, long time until your back heals. [Wow! I never knew these little showers could be so dangerous!]
Miriam, quietly, after thinking a moment: Will I get in trouble and get a spank?
Mrs. P: Bwa ha ha ha haaa!! No, if you break your back I promise I won't spank you.

Quotable Quotes

Miriam: "Pink goes with EVERYTHING."
[yes, I guess that's true when you're a five-year-old girl...]

Katie, as we stepped outside for a walk: "Mmm, it smells like toothpaste out here!"

Miriam, at Mother Angelica's farm in Alabama: "That emu frowned at me."

Scene: driving away from aforesaid farm, singing "Old MacDonald"
Miriam: "Daddy, I don't know what animal to say next."
Mr. Pickles: "Emu."
Miriam: "Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O, and on that farm he had an emu, E-I-E-- emu?!?"

Miriam: "Mommy, I don't like to use that toothpaste because it makes my brain taste like O's."
[say what?]

Sneak Peek!

Just a little taste of what's to come...

Isn't she radiant?

Happy Feast Day Miriam!

Lord our God, when your Son was dying on the altar of the cross, he gave us as our mother the one he had chosen to be his own mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary; grant that we who call upon the holy name of Mary, our mother, with confidence in her protection may receive strength and comfort in all our needs.
(from the Mass for the Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

For those, like me, who are obsessed with etymologies, this is an interesting article about the meaning of the name "Mary". I had always heard it meant "bitterness," but this article concludes that it means really "the perfect one." Cool.

We're baaaaaack...

Going and Coming by Norman Rockwell

...And completely exhausted, as is to be expected. But we had a great trip. The drives went great -- it was so nice arriving at a destination at 3 -- with enough time to check in a hotel, unload the car, and swim in the pool before dinner. I highly recommend this to traveling families. :) We had a little schedule that we followed each driving day, so at least there was some semblance of a routine for the girls. We saw lots of neat places to stop on the way -- caverns, museums, Nascar racetracks (sorry, Dave, we forgot to get a postcard!), pit BBQ joints -- and only wish we had more time to spend! Hopefully in another couple years we can make the drive down again, and take the time to stop and check out every interesting little nook.

The wedding itself was just beautiful -- everybody cried buckets. We're so happy for Amalia and Daniel -- six years is a long time to wait to become man and wife. They were both radiant. Pictures coming soon!

So now, back to the grindstone! We just wish we could take a vacation to recover from our vacation.

The Eye of the Hurricane

We just got back from a great trip visiting family in Minnesoooota -- the girls had lots of great Grandma and cousin time! We'll post some pics later. And now we have just enough time to unpack, do laundry, and repack for our Big Car Trip Down South! Our Southern Belle Maid of Honor is herself getting married, and Mrs. Pickles is in the wedding party, so we're making the trip in the Big Blue. It's two days each way (if we were insane we theoretically could have made it in one, but we're not insane) so we're in for a lot of car time over the next week. But we're going to leave early in the morning, and stay at hotels with pools, so we should have some good down time at the end of each day.

The biggest stressor for me was whether my bridesmaid dress would still fit! I bought it as late as I possibly dared -- in July -- making sure it was still roomy. I tried it on last night, and the good news is I can still zip everything up! :) (Yeesh -- it's amazing how fast things pop out with subsequent pregnancies...) It fits like a glove and I can ALMOST breathe, as long as I don't run or bend over or anything that requires something besides standing and looking pretty. :) I also made dresses for the girls (matching white eyelet with purple ribbon laced thru) which they can't wait to wear. Once again, pictures to come!

We've got the car packed with snacks and books -- ooh, that reminds me, need to choose music! -- in the hopes that the girls will be sufficiently entertained. We ALMOST borrowed a DVD player, but since each day's trip shouldn't be that long (about 6 hours -- same as a Steubie trip) we decided to forgo the electronic babysitter. And when they're tired they'll both sleep in the car, thank heaven.

Oops, I hear meltdowns happening upstairs. Poor kids, we've been ignoring them all day while we packed & prepped. Gotta go. Wish us luck!

What I did this weekend

I went from this:


to this:


Yiiiiikes!

I went to the local Hair Butchery and donated a long chunk of hair to Locks of Love (that's the only reason I would ever grow it that long, or cut off so much at once!). This is the shortest my hair has ever been, since I was about 18 months, I think. I actually really, really like it this short! For once the stylist did a good job, even though she was very cavalier about snipping several more inches off! But it has lots of body this way and looks so healthy and cute and perky, that hopefully it will make up for my baggy eyes and green-around-the-gills look these days. :)

Miriam came to the salon with me and stood there looking cute while I got chopped. She thought the hair washing sinks were pretty funny. When I got home and showed the haircut to Katie, at first she looked at me with shock, like I was missing an eye or something, then kept walking around and around me, saying, "Mommy, your hair is SHORT!" Then she said, "Mommy, you need to cut MY hair too." Miriam, however, says she wants to grow her hair to the floor.

Two-Year-Old Piety

We actually made it to Mass this morning -- late, but we still made it! During the Consecration Katie said in a stage whisper, "Is dat Jesus' body now?" and then "Is dat Jesus' bwood now?" And whenever we genuflect when leaving the pew, she always blows Jesus a kiss, unprompted. It's always nice to know something is sinking in.

Ferocious Guard Rabbit

Based on my experience with female rabbits, I don't really find this surprising.