My Sweet Girl

We were having fun this morning yelling, "Good-bye, Daddy!" at the top of our lungs as Cody biked off to work (we were in the house with the door shut, but it was fun, nonetheless), and Sophie said to me, "Mommy, I love being with you. You make me feel joyful." It's these moments that make parenting the very best job in the whole world!

Classic

Two responses to the question, "Hey ___, Let me take a picture of you!":

This is why they tell you to take candid pictures of children.

Just downloaded my pictures from when Emily visited a few weekends ago, and found this of J & H fascinated by William's toes:

Two other notes (well, okay, demands) while I'm on -

1. Reading Gilead by Marilynne Robinson & loving it. Outstanding. Marvelous. Read it!

2. This was my second attempt at granola bars this week, and oh my. Perfect combination of sweet and salty. Try it!

Mom's Visit

Emily, I love those photos! Thanks for posting them. Sophie and Benjamin are such big kids . . .sleepovers and movies!

Last weekend, David and I drove down to Baltimore to watch my dad play in the Senior Players Championship, and then brought my mom back to Pittsburgh with us. It was SO great to have her here!



She was so sweet and flexible to live with us through a typical week (work, school), and we also were able to see a little of Pittsburgh (tour of downtown, Phipps Conservatory, Tallis Scholars). She was a huge help with our house renovation, reorganizing my kitchen (I begged her), suggesting colors and solutions to big block glass windows, (she's sending some fabric she saved!), a hill of dead grass (cover it with ivy!), etc. We dropped here off at the airport this morning so she could join my dad in San Antonio.

Here's a couple of "before" photos--one of the big block glass in the dining room, one of the kitchen and one of our (mostly) finished bedroom.

Visiting

We've gotten to see some of our favorite people in the last few weeks.  Here are a couple shots from our whirlwind visits.

Sophie came to visit and met the famous "Little Mars".  (From left to right, Tori, Sophie, Benjamin, Charlotte, Mathias.)  Sophie was a big hit and friends were made all around.

Watching Lady and the Tramp while the grown-ups played games.  This sweet scene quickly devolved into bedding bedlam.

Not the best composition, but here's Will with Jackson and Harry during our 2-hour visit to Austin.  I am all the more resolved to plan an Austin extravaganza in the near future.

Finally, here's Will with his new friend, Everett Zachary.  Everett is 2 weeks old, Will is almost 5 months.

Name Game

While riding in the car the other day, Benjamin and I were discussing Sophie's new baby brother/sister.  Benjamin suggested that the new baby be named "Geography".  It has a certain ring to it... Cody and Keri, what do you think?

Cutisms of Late

Harry points at my moles and says, "bug"

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Jackson can't seem to get the order right when taking off, and cries, "Ready!, Go!, Set!"

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Harry, when he can't get our attention, firmly places both hands on our cheeks, and forcibly lines up our eyes with his own, then "speaks". He does the same when kissing - he wants to smack us right on the lips.

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Jackson, throughout the day, asks, "How was your day today, ____?", even if it's 5 minutes after we wake up.

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Jackson, when he's gotten injured or dirty (when he doesn't wail, which is more usual), picks himself up, brushes himself off, and declares, "That's part of hard work."

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During the summer I have an addiction to Sonic drinks, and while I can fool Harry by giving him water in a Sonic cup while enjoying my Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke, Jackson isn't so easy. So this summer I made a big deal out of "Chilly Waters" (i.e. ice water), a Special Drink Only at Sonic that you get on Really Hot Days. It's worked beautifully. Matthew recently reported, after driving through McDonalds and handing back waters, Jackson happily exclaiming, "Hey Daddy! We got Chilly Waters!" Matthew: "No, that's only at Sonic." Thanks, Babe.

On That Note...

(Of worthy causes for which to sacrifice...) We are now on Day 11 of "40 Days for Life." I hadn't heard anything about it until a Catholic friend alerted me to it last week. Check out the website at 40daysforlife.com and see if it's happening in your area and if you can get involved.

In Flagstaff, they are organizing round-the-clock prayer vigils at our local Planned Parenthood. I plan to sign up as soon as we get home on Monday, and I'm trying to get our church as well as others involved in our area. We have 29 days left! I really like what I've seen on the website so far as to their approach and philosophy. Let me know what you find out, and I'll let you know how it goes in Flag.

If you ever planned to donate

I'm sure you all know about the struggle to defend traditional marriage in California that's playing out right now. If you've thought that this is an issue generally that you want to get behind financially, I suggest you do it now. The way this goes in CA will have a tremendous impact on the rest of the country; supporting the cause later may not make much of a difference anyway if we lose there. I spoke with a friend the other day who works with a national marriage organization, and he told me that things are looking, at best, really tight. Public polls (he didn't say which ones) indicate that the constitutional amendment is significantly down, but the internal polling of both sides shows that things are neck and neck. The LDS church, however, (go Mormons!) has recently gotten really involved, and apparently, thousands of Mormons are volunteering to go door-to-door on the weekends. So, the marriage team is hopeful that this will make a significant impact. At any rate, the media campaign is cranking up now, with about 1 month until the vote. Now is a great time to donate. My friend recommends giving to the National Organization for Marriage. You can do so at http://www.nomcalifornia.org/. And for those motivated by efficiency, donating in this case both supports marriage AND fights judicial activism. If this amendment passes it will be a clear smack down of the unconscionably activist judiciary of California (Give me democracy, baby!). And that, my friends, is worth giving up lattes until 2030. -Matthew

The debate

Wow. When NBC says, thirty seconds after the debate is over, that the debate betwene Palin and Biden wasn't so important after all and would be forgotten in 24hours, you know she did well.