Omnipresence Defined

A theology lesson taught by Catherine and Mary at lunch:

C: I know something about God, Mom.

Me: What do you know, Catherine?

C: God is bigger than this house.

Me: You're correct - God is bigger than the house.

C: And God is everywhere.

Me: That's correct also - you seem to know a lot.

C: He is in Daddy's computer and in our house and sitting at the table with us.

Me: Well, I don't know about the computer...

Mary: And he is in our car and in our chair.

C: And he is in our food and in our milk and in baby Michael!

M: Yeah, and he is in our food! And in our mouth-es!

C: And in our noses!

M: Yeah, our noses! He's in our noses!

It sounds like the makings of a worship song to me...

ps - Sorry about the lack of pictures lately. I'm trying to keep up but I'm starting to wonder if there are actually enough hours in the next two months to get everything done. Yikes.

The Patch

In the world of Catherine and Mary, there is one unit of measurement: the patch. They will offer to get me a new patch of wipes, or shout out that we need a new patch of toilet paper or tissues. They ask for a patch of grapes with lunch and open a new patch of cereal for breakfast. I used up the last of that patch of detergent after they helped me put a patch of laundry in the washer. Crayons, stickers, and paper all come in patches, as well as toothpaste, fluoride, and floss.

I just wanted to clear that up. People are mostly quite confused when they get a little lazy and just ask for a new patch.

Transplanting in Early Summer

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Well, it's official. Announcements, explanations and resignations have been made. The process of selling and buying real estate has begun. The kids are in the know.

The Cape Cod branch of this family tree is returning to its roots.

To say that I have mixed emotions about this is, well, entirely accurate. On one hand, our kids adore their grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, whom they see occasionally at best, and as our family has grown we have felt more and more the absence of these extended-family connections. I am excited about giving the kids the opportunity to build those relationships. Lots of family, friends old and new, and an amazing Church and new job for Michael all await in St. Louis. Returning home, as it were, will be a great thing for our family. Plus the move has provided me the opportunity to cut my job to part time, something I've been wanting to do for... oh... four years, one month and twenty-two days.

On the other hand, we have friends here (you know who you are) the likes of which one might only be blessed with once or twice in a lifetime, if lucky. Our kids have friends here who could easily remain their friends throughout their growing up years and beyond. We bought - and experimented with - our first house here. All three of our kids were born here (and have the "born at Cape Cod Hospital" onsies to prove it). Michael preached his first sermon to a smaller version of our current church, sitting in a semi-circle of living room chairs in front a window that looked out over a coastal cove. I'll never be a "local," but I did catch myself using (in a stream of thought, not out loud) the word "wicked" as a replacement for "very" (as in, "That was a wicked bad storm" or "This cupcake has wicked good frosting"). I love the Northeast. I love the Cape. I love our Cape Cod "family."

So is there any chance the entire St. Louis branch of the family wants to relocate to the Cape, and someone wants to initiate a chain of events that makes it cheap enough to live here that I don't have to keep a full time job?

Yeah, I guess I better get back to getting the house ready to sell. It goes on the market as soon as possible - we'll be starting the journey to St. Louis is just about eight weeks.

Sorry, I think I fainted there for a second. Painting party at my house?

Sunny California, Part III

Did I mention I'm home, and it's not sunny here? Not that I'm dwelling on it.

Our last day in Los Angeles we took in a couple tourist sites. Chris was our driver/tour guide.

It turns out he's been in the area for about a decade and knows his way around pretty well.

We walked around a Hollywood street where we looked at all the handprints in front of the Chinese theater and could see the Hollywood sign in the distance. I thought I should get some proof for Michael Jr that he had been there since he clearly won't remember any of it.

A side effect of our driving tour was a two hour nap for Michael Jr that finally put him in the California time zone (just in time to fly home).

In the afternoon we drove the PCH along the coast for a bit and had lunch at Malibu Seafood. Michael Jr ate all my scallops. After lunch we played at a park on the bluffs with the ocean below. It was a beautiful park on a beautiful day. Aunt Jena was nice enough to offer to take my camera for a while so I actually had a picture of something other than full frames of Michael. Now I have full frames of me + Michael and Grandma + Michael. :) (Thanks Jena - I really have almost no pictures of me and the kids except what you've taken!)

Case in point about only being able to buy giant sunglasses in LA.

Here is a random smattering of other pictures from throughout the trip.

For some reason I think this approach to going down stairs is the cutest thing ever.

I forgot that it's been a while since he's been to the beach - he was totally enthralled with the sand.

One night Sunny made us bulgogi (which I'm sure means "scrumptious meatiness" in English) with sticky rice and miso soup, the broth for which started off with a bunch of these little fishies...

swimming in a pot of water.

In case you're wondering, little fishies swimming in a pot of water = delicious soup.

Every time we played in the pool courtyard Michael would make several attempts at running toward the pool to see if he could make a splash before somebody stopped him. He was quite a bit more cautious when I actually sat him down next to Grandma to put his feet in the water.

Just another cute baby picture.

Sunny California, Part II

I'm home from California, and for the record, it is not sunny here.

The real reason for this trip to California was not Sunny, the star of our solar system, but Aunt Sunny and Aunt Sunny's baby belly. We all enjoyed a baby shower for Aunt Sunny on the patio of The Cheesecake Factory overlooking the marina. When I say "we", I mean about a dozen girls. Apparently there is a reason boys don't get involved in baby showers, and is it engrained in them quite early; Michael Jr did not enjoy a single second of his time there. Since holding a squirming, discontent, screaming, fidgety child is very near incompatible with holding a camera, I don't have any pictures of the shower, but I think Aunt Jena got some so hopefully we'll be abel to see them on her blog soon.

Since I don't have any pictures of the shower, here are a few of Aunt Sunny's baby belly:

Chris is surprised.

Sunny is the cutest.

Only about six more weeks to go!