Colors

Meghan has learned the name of her first color.

And it is pink.

We are really in for it with this girly girl.

: )

A thousand words

Last Friday, we actually were up to a little more than playing hookey. We went out with my friend, Therese, so she could take photos of the g irls in the lovely matching Christmas dresses my mother made for them. And of Meghan in what we call her "cherry blossom dress", which Mom made for her to wear for Easter.

Meghan is not quite 11 months old, but we wanted to catch the cherry blossoms for her one-year-old photos.

It was a bit too sunny that day, and Meghan was recovering from a cold. It was also nap time. But Therese handled the challenges of the light and the crabby baby and the clothing changes with grace. Best of all, she took beautiful photos of our beautiful daughters. Not that we're proud of them or anything. ;-)

If you are in Misawa and are looking for someone to capture your family on film, I highly recommend Therese. She is a true artist.

Take a peek at Therese's website: http://www.thereseannphotography.com/

If you'd like to see her photos of our daughters, scroll down to the lower left of the page, and click on the set of photos labeled "Sweet Sisters."

Thanks again, Therese. :-)

Saint Catherine of Siena

How to Do the Will of the Father

I don't see how you can have this sort of strength, a strength whose source is the gentle mother charity, unless you keep the eye of self-knowledge open always. Self-knowledge is the dwelling in which we discover our own lowliness, and this makes us humble. There we find the knowledge of God's goodness too, and in this light a warmth, a fire of love, is born in us--so gently that all bitterness becomes sweet, everything weak grows strong, and all the ice of selfish love melts away. Then we no longer love ourselves selfishly, but for God. And more, we pour out a river of tears and spread our loving desires out over all our sisters and brothers, loving them with a pure love, without self-interest. And we love God for God's sake, because he is supreme eternal Goodness, worthy of being loved...Let's not put off any longer our move into this holy dwelling of self-knowledge.

-St. Catherine of Siena

(Magnificat "Meditation of the Day" April 29, 2009)

Happy name day to two of my favorite Katherines: Mom and Katie!

More blossoms

Katie added these to the dining room table.

Lovely!

7 quick takes

1. I have succumbed to the pressure from my local and college friends to join Facebook. Maybe I'll be more successful at keeping up on Facebook than on Twitter. The whole thing seems a little high-school to me. Maybe because I only have 4 friends. Or maybe because I am suddenly keeping count of my friends. Very high school. In a Napoleon Dynamite sort of way. Or a Judy Gibbons sort of way. Or something.

2. On to things that matter: Meghan now has 8 teeth!

3. Patrick went to a high school basketball game today. I think it's the first time ever. Then he and his friends were planning to watch Jeeves and Wooster episode 1. I can't wait to hear what they think of it. We love them. (thanks to Dan and t for introducing us to them :-))

4. Matthew still calls his cousin Claire "Claire-y Dairy Strawberry" when he talks about her. That was a silly thing the kids called her for one day 2 years ago (the last time we saw the cousins). I'm not sure how to gently change his habit before we see the cousins again this summer. She definitely won't get it.

5. Dinner tonight is at the club. It's a holiday. And I'm still resting on my laurels from the delicious (if I do say so myself) cherry pie I baked yesterday. :-)

6. I finally emptied 2 months worth of photos and videos off my camera today. Let's see how long it takes me to do something with them on the blog.

7. Katie has been asking for a dollhouse, but we haven't gotten her one. So she and Joseph have taken matters into their own hands. They are building a doll house out of kleenex boxes. It's pretty amazing. Curtains, rugs, pictures on the walls cut from old calendars.

Autumn?

Last Tuesday, I took this photo in order to illustrate a post about how dreary our weather has been. I intended to whine tell you that we all just wanted to curl up on the couch with warm drinks and books while listening to the rain on the roof.


But I didn't get time to post Tuesday night (all that sitting on the couch just wears us out!) ;-)

And by Wednesday morning, the view out the dining room door was a bit different:



Suddenly, we weren't so much about sitting on the couch anymore.

Meghan's first snow

Although the warm drinks were still welcome when they came back inside.

Happy Misawa Autumn!

Oirase Gorge

A couple of Sundays ago, we took a little hike through part of the Oirase Gorge, a Japanese national park about an hour from our house. If we had only known how lovely it is, we would have made our way there long before now.


There was a lot of traffic. It seems to be the Skyline Drive of Japan.


But once we got off the road and onto the path, it was remarkably peaceful.


There was even some fall color.



All the kids enjoyed the hike,


even Meghan, who gazed in wonder at all those trees. She had been fussy when we took her out of the car, but as soon as we got on the path, the sound of the rushing water calmed her and she rode peacefully along in her carrier.


The path follows the river, which runs out of Lake Towada and down the gorge, which it has carved.




One of the things we have found unique to Japanese forest walks is the presence of bamboo among the ferns and other fauna.


There are many waterfalls along the gorge from small:





to tall:


Joseph had a wonderful time looking for places where animals might spend the winter. He's been reading about this in science.




He also noticed the plants growing on this floating log. It must have been stuck there for quite awhile.


And this beautiful fungi:



The kids always have fun when we go hiking as long as we fit the hike to their abilities. Matthew walked all on his own this time. He took a few breaks for fun, though.


At one point, Katie noticed that Matthew had his shoes on the wrong feet.

She and John got him all fixed up.


John and I both had our cameras, and he caught me doing what I usually do on family outings.


Patrick managed to find a few peaceful moments.


Matthew has a delightful way of finding enjoyment in everything he does.



We were charmed by the Totoro-like figures on the park signs.


Time to head home.


My favorite view:

Happy Hallowe'en

What fun we had this year! We have missed the Halloween/All Saints party we used to have every year in Yakima, so this year, with two other Catholic homeschooling families on base, we had a party. With popcorn balls, apples, donuts, cider,


an echo story, a Saint walk (like a cake walk but with Saints' names instead of numbers), find a Saint for your costume, and Saint tag.

Blessed Theresa of Calcutta

On Friday, the kids carved pumpkins while I made their costumes. Katie was able to supervise and did a lot of the carving. I helped out with the tricky bits.

Joseph had this design in mind when he picked out his pumpkin. "I need a tall, thin pumpkin, Mom," he said, although he wouldn't say why. Thankfully, we found just the right one at the commissary.

"I'd like a face," Matthew told Katie.

After carving, the kids put their costumes on and we headed over to the base for a quick dinner with John. Then we were off trick-or-treating among friends, neighbors, and the crowd of Japanese children who are invited to participate. Many organizations sponsor groups of children from the local community. The Navy unit where John works brings a group of children from a nearby orphanage each year. It's a bit crazy, but lots of fun.

Little John, Will Scarlet, and Robin Hood

Even when the kids don't choose Saint costumes for Halloween, they come up with Saints who are related to the costumes they choose. Katie found St. John the Evangelist (the beloved disciple) for Little John, who was Robin Hood's dearest follower. Matthew chose St. Martin de Porres, mostly because he likes the Glory Story, but Katie pointed out that St. Martin was a faithful friend of Jesus, like Will Scarlet was to Robin Hood. Joseph came up with St. Edmund Campion because he was a fugitive from the law in England as Robin Hood was. It's fun to think of these relationships between Saints and the costumes we choose. I hope it also keeps the true purpose of this holiday, the Eve of All Saints Day, at the forefront of our celebration.

This year, we even ran across the Hardy Boys during our trek around the base. I'll have to ask Patrick which Saint he thought of for Joe Hardy.

"For God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Christ."
2 Corinthians 4:6

Cheer!

Katie has been having fun cheerleading this fall.



It's funny. She's not very excited about the flag football games they cheer for.


She told me that she thinks practice is more fun than cheering for the games. ;-)


I wonder if it's because they don't cheer for a certain team all the time, just for whichever team is scheduled to play at the time they are cheering. Maybe it's more fun if you know the people on the team or it's your school team.