Baptism, Birthday, and meeting the Greats

It was a BIG week for our family.

On Sunday, Baby L was baptized! After church we met her Godparents and some other good friends for a picnic lunch to celebrate.









Then on Tuesday, September 1st, we celebrated her FIRST birthday! After the excitement of the weekend we kept it fairly quiet. Just our family, but quite a few presents. :)

Then this past weekend we went up to the Tennesee mountains to finally introduce Baby L to her Great Grandmother and Great Aunt and Uncle. We had a lovely afternoon at their mountain cabin hiking, riding the 4-wheeler, collecting rocks, dipping our toes in the creek, finding wildflowers, and rescuing a butterfly caught in a spider web.

So, it has been busy to say the least.

The year of the "Last Hurrah"!

Today, I kicked off the start of my last year before I hit 40...my "last hurrah!" LOL!

Erik and I got up early for a "coffee date". Here's a photo of me in our '69 Datsun convertible (a project car for hubby and the boys). Riding in this always makes an outing more fun!

We had a really relaxing breakfast together and it was such a nice start to my 39th birthday. When we got home the kids were anxious to give me my gift. They had all pitched in and bought me my first iPod. An 8GB Nano...I've been filling it up today with music and podcasts. Somehow my kids (who do not have iPods) all knew how to work it better than I did! It does make you feel old to hit the point when your kids have to help you with new technology. **Sigh.**

September is a busy month of celebrations:

Baby L's baptism,
Baby L's first birthday,
our 17th wedding anniversary,
and DS#2's 10th birthday.

Actually, those are all within the first 2 weeks of September!

There is one other event I'd like to tell you about: the second "Carnival of the Church Year" (for the Church Year season: Ordinary Time) which will be hosted here on Monday, September 21st, the Feast of St. Matthew the Evangelist. Mark your calendars and start getting your posts ready to share! Look for more information (and maybe some post ideas) coming in the next week.

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a warm kitchen can do wonders

"In the embracing light and warmth, warm and dry at last, with weary legs propped up in front of them, and a suggestive clink of plates being arranged on the table behind, it seemed to the storm-driven animals, now in safe anchorage, that the cold and trackless Wild Wood just left outside was miles and miles away, and all that they had suffered in it a half-forgotten dream."

p. 57, Chapter 4, The Wind in the Willows

Baby L says Daddy and Doggie

Well, you can't tell here, but usually WE can tell when she is saying "daddy" versus "doggie". These are her first words! At the very end you'll hear Erik say "SIT". I promise he's talking to the dog (who was trying to eat the camera right out of my hand) not Baby L!

Fourth of July!

Gathering up all the Stuff we needed to take with us for our Fourth of July swim and fireworks party was quite a task: pimento cheese, squash casserole, swim suits, towels, changes of clothes, diapers, bottles, toys, etc. There was one item I really didn't want to forget: a camera. It was Baby L's first Fourth and I wanted to get lots of photos for the scrapbook!

I wandered around the house muttering "camera, camera, camera" until I could get to the cabinet where we keep The Camera. Unfortunately, my mommy-brain was too easily distracted and we went off without it. Oh, the guilt!

Then my friend, Donna, came to my rescue! She had remembered her camera (she has more functioning brain cells than I, don't believe her when she tells you otherwise) and was kind enough to send me some of the photos she took (one of the wonderful joys of the digital age - instant photo sharing). So, thank you, Donna!

Poolside - relaxing in the afternoon shade.

Not so happy.

Happy! Baby L's first dip in the pool!


LadyBug (on the left) and her two girlfriends
enjoy snowcones




The boys (H, or StinkBug, on far left) enjoying snowcones in the hot tub!

Here's a man with a pyrotechnical problem.

Hey, look, it really goes up there!

Hope you had a wonderful Independence Day!!

when the literal loses its Truth

In a discussion of the Song of Solomon . . .

I read the end of Ephesians 5 as an example of what happens when you discover a metaphor so elusive you know it must be true. As you elaborate, and try to explain, you begin to stumble over words and their meanings. The literal takes hold, the unity and the beauty flee.

p. 110, Cloister Walk, Kathleen Norris

First Steps!

Yes, we have a baby walking at 9.5 months - that just makes me crazy, but I'm still encouraging her to keep practicing!

the less he said

. . . Later, I came to see that Mr. Dickens and Mr. Wordsworth were thinking of men like me when they wrote their words. But most of all, I believe that William Shakespeare was. Mind you, I cannot always make sense of what he says, but it will come.

It seems to me the less he said, the more beauty he made. Do you know what sentence of his I admire the most? It is 'The bright day is done, and we are for the dark.'

I wish I'd known those words on the day I watched those German troops land, plane-load after plane-load of them - and come off ships down in the harbor! All I could think of was damn them, damn them, over and over. If I could have thought the words 'the bright day is done and we are for the dark,' I'd have been consoled somehow and ready to go out and contend with circumstance - instead of my heart sinking to my shoes.

p. 63, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

That which demands my attention

What has been demanding my attention this week:

Three day Parent Practicum for Classical Conversations (down in Rock Hill, SC where you there?) I now know how my kids feel when I present them with an intimidating lesson only to have them complete it with a pleased smile and the comment, "Wow, that was fun!" We tried out some Logic excercises, which I was dreading, and found the challenge relaly enjoyable!

Mother in Law coming to meet Baby L for the first time tonight! Busy, busy cleaning the house and changing beds, making meals and cleaning bathrooms.

Speaking of Baby L - she took her first few STEPS last night! So a good deal of our cleaning time has been spent coaxing her into a few more steps . . . who can resist?

And finally, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, a delightful book on loan to me from Dear Neighbor (on loan to her from her mother). I'm on page 33 and thoroughly attached to Juliet Ashton!

I'm so behind on my blogging, but those cute little baby legs are far too distracting. . . . I hope my blog friends will forgive if I'm slow to respond to comments or get promised posts up. I know you will, right?

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civil-ization

Civilization has never been the product of armies and factories. It is the fruit of the always tenuous marriage of the farmer and the merchant.

Andrew Kern, Quiddity blog, May 10, 2009