a warm fall evening on a school night!

luci said the sun was in her eyes... look-no stigmata! before getting ready for school we were snuggling on the couch. i was telling her about Padre Pio and how he had the wounds of Christ. luci said... "i love Jesus too... will Daddy God give me owies?" she glanced briefly at her hand and jumped because there was red marker on her palm.
luci helps her brother stand on a pedestal like a cherub.
elijah stops playing to say hi to "simon inside". i can barely see him over the belly. lij likes to take his little cars and run them over our legs, calling them "bridges". when he rolls toward my tummy he says, "oh mommy! big big hill!"
luci in the "froggie house." there's a long path through the tall grass where you eventually end up in a wooden structure that helps you overlook the park and shoreline. i suspect it's a bird-watcher's paradise. swans everywhere. frogs chirping. despite the loveliness of the setting sun, luci was taken aback by the graffiti. "why did people do this, mommy?"
then there's g... "uh, mad, can you put down the camera and help luci? i think she's falling..." oh yeah. uh... whoops.

the last weekend of summer

friday
got off work at 5:15
yummy dinner by g
kite flying by the beach
saw an honest to goodness pirate ship
or schooner
either way it looked spooky and had 3 masts
then set sail rather quickly
dairy queen
bible studyin' via webcam!
some horsing around in the toy room
lites out










saturday
family up at 7am
rounded at hospital for an hour
while gary played with the kids in the toys room
everyone in the car!
drove around mullet lake and ate lunch
apple orchard...
picked wildflowers with luci and lij
lij insists on his own bouquet
lij pulled the wagon
bought golden crisp apples, a new favorite
silence on the way home as everyone ate an apple
tried to find our house from the other side of the river
found all the big pimped out houses we see from our yard
2.5 hour family nap
lij behaved at Mass!
figured out how to make acorn squash in the microwave
saved the seeds for a future pumpkin/squash/sunflower garden
gary puts more thought into a compost pile/bait option
yummy dinner
luci and daddy had a piano lesson
read with lij
made banana bread with luci
luci helped me wash dishes too
everyone stayed up past 'bedtime' for warm banana bread and milk
luci and i drew pictures of ladies wearing grecian dresses
lij hugs his 'brother simon'
nite nite










sunday
in pajamas until 1pm
luci plays dressup in ridiculously huge pink dress
lij wants the pink dress so he can be a 'princess'
g says no
g finds armor in garage
thus lij can be St. Michael
lij sheds it immediately
luci puts on armor and declares herself Joan of Arc
shopping with luci
mom neri's special meatloaf recipe for dinner
willy wonka and the chocolate factory
bathtime...
which means i start the shower
luci comes in 5 minutes later and hogs the hot water
then luci and lij switch places
lij stands on the shower seat and sings "behind the clouds..."
he looks just like a cherub
gary takes them out one at a time and lotions them up
lu hates it... "too sticky and lotion smells like barbie feet."
lij loves it
falling asleep to the real stars outside and the "myuu"
which means "moon", but lij pronounces it like the physics coefficient

The Brilliance of Uniforms

Lucia and I always used to fight about what she should wear for the day.
My choices were always based on:
a. weather
b. activity
c. color coordination

Her choices appeared to be based on:
a. what makes her look most like a polly pocket
b. color coordination - as in, every color in a rainbow
c. what would most certainly clash with both weather and activity.

Now she wears a navy and white uniform to school just about every day.
When I asked which navy jumper (of the 3-4 varieties we have) she wanted to wear this morning:

"You pick, daddy."

Brillant.

happy birthday garyg

we had a pretty laid back day. g didn't want to do much. he got up at 630am and started cleaning out the garage. then we had a huge breakfast, followed by a trip to the farmer's market. we love to reminisce, "what would be doing 10 years ago? hmmm... that would make us 24 and 25... maybe we shouldn't go there." i've been so conscientious (at least i think) to make sure he's okay. i mean, stay at home dad isn't as glamorous as a bunch of other titles. i was putting our clothes away when we moved in, and i saw his huge necktie collection. i keep wondering, maybe someday he'll wear them again? i'm not quite understanding this role that God has us in. i have to get out there and be brave/extroverted. i have to speak up in the OR. i really don't like blood but i'm afraid to admit it, because i'm supposed to be okay with it. then g, dynamic and charismatic, takes on elijah as a full-time job... which has actually done wonders for his vocabulary and behavior. for you to feast your eyes on... a 9 inch rock bass that he caught on his last cast that evening. he has a good story to go along with it... hopefully he will *cough* blog about it because it's pretty profound.

the rest are some shots from luci's first day of school. remember that evening we spent on the beach too... it scares me to think i can't totally shelter her anymore. i know she's going to be laughed at someday. more than once or twice. there was a girl barking at her on the playground. she kept telling luci to stop following her but luci persisted. i felt my eyes go red and my breathing quicken when i heard the story. "why did you keep following her, luci?!" "...because i was waiting for her to apologize... and even though she didn't, i still pray to Daddy God for her... and i forgive her." oh boy. then on the third day of school she was petrified to use the bathroom by herself. apparently a girl turned off the lights while they were at the school bathroom. this girl told the story of "bloody mary" in the mirror. do you remember the story, kind of a variant of candyman. say her name three times and she appears and murders your parents if you tell. AND she's bigger than God... gary and i are still walking her to the bathroom. sigh. it doesn't matter if we say St. Michael guards us. she'll make us leave the dinner table to take her to the potty. gary exclaimed, "St. Lucy, can you go in there and wipe her butt?!"



the one thing i especial-ly cherish... i get to bring luci to school more days than not. i make it a point not to talk on the phone or turn on the radio. we comment on the sunrise, the mist over the river. we look for deer. we avoid the big dog down the road that is never on a leash. we laugh about how lij has this weird prediliction for sniffing gary's sneakers. he lays prostrate in our foyer comparing old sneaker to new sneaker. but thursday and friday mornings are my favorite, because they have all school mass in the chapel, so i get to see my little duckling for an extra 45 minutes before i see patients in the office. she always looks so worried, as if i've left. then when we lock eyes she blows me a kiss. and i try not to be visibly misty-eyed.

the beach has become a part of us

we celebrated lucia's first day of school by going to the beach. again. the forecast said it would be the last good day of summer. "how about it?" i texted gary excitedly. "prrrrhaps," he texted back. i returned home promptly at 5:15pm to find yummy chicken, steaming rice, and everyone in flip flops and swimsuits. 92 degrees. mmmm.

lucia actually fell asleep on the way there. gary carried her to the shoreline, where she promptly jumped out of his arms and into the water. 7pm. the currents started to form those sand mounds again. no breeze. the water was so still, like liquid mercury. a friend handed luci the most beautiful green frog. it sat in her hand for at least 20 minutes. when it was time to go she set it down in the grass, but it didn't move. "tickle its butt," gary instructed. she did. it didn't budge. "no! we can't keep a frog!" he protested... probably from my inadvertent puppy dog eyes.

elijah was freaking out because the minnows kept coming to his baby toes. "FISH!!!" he shrieked, dancing in circles. "all you have to do is stomp and they'll go away!" luci fussed over him.

the night before luci's first day of kindergarten, she walked on her favorite powder sand with her daddy. i burned that into my memory as i choked back tears. there's my girl, i thought. i remember when she was only 8 weeks old. we were at eric and anna's wedding, and i was tearful, thinking of her wedding day someday. it really does go by in a blink. gary was feeling nostalgic too. he told me he said, "luci... your mommy and i are so proud of you..." after a few minutes of listening to him go on and on, luci said, "ok. daddy? can we build sandcastles?"

the sunset was breathtaking, for two nights in a row. "remember this, kids," i whispered... "thank you Daddy God for this beautiful day." "but mommy, you're not in any pictures!" they commented. yes i am. i took them, and that's special too.

tonite it rains. so we celebrate with a new concoction: elephant ears! because i love you guys, here's the recipe. buy pillsbury crescent roll dough. butter it up, dip it into hot oil and fry it up. take it out, butter it up more, roll it in a mixture of sugar and brown sugar. eat up.

She prayed that we would pray

This morning, my Grandma Lily died in Cebu City, Philippines.
Her passing officially begins the era of our family without living great grandparents.

Prior to her myriad medical conditions that restricted mobility,
she often attended daily Mass and gatherings for novenas to Our Lady.
Devotion to our Blessed Mother was a real slow cook for me -
it wasn't until I realized her role in presenting the Lord to us
that her importance in my faith life grew.

All along, Grandma Lily prayed to Our Lady
that someday we, too, would place her mantle upon us.
And now we have a Guadalupe statue in our living room.

Thank you, Grandma Lily.