Photo Joe

When we're not watching the camera closely, these are the kinds of photos I find when I download them. Joe is getting better, I must say, but we still get an enormous amount of shots of our toy-strewn floors and cluttered cabinets.

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Notice the cool detail of the baby's reflection in the metal bowl.

How artistic!

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Caught a baby in the cabinet! We will be working with him on the intricate skill of keeping the camera cord out of the picture.

Lovely portrait of Luke

The Homily

Our Joe was something of a celebrity last weekend at our church. His little devotional smooch on Good Friday made the Sunday sermon! The priest said it was the most moving event of his Triduum when we talked to him after Mass. It really was very sweet and something I will never forget.

To listen to the homily, click here or on the title of this post. Select Fr. Peter Berger’s April 15th sermon from the drop down list under his name. Joe is only mentioned at the very beginning, but we are totally blessed with two great homilists at our parish, so you might want to listen to the rest of it, too!

A new father

This Saturday, Greg, my good friend from college was ordained. I’m so proud of him. He will make a fantastic priest. Plus, there’s noting like having friends in high places! Here’s a shot of him baptizing a new little Kloska baby when he had just been ordained a deacon in September. Fr. Greg and I met at the beginning of freshman year. He was also from KC and we had a lot of fun together skipping Philosophy class to watch bad TV and enjoying some cheap brew on the weekends. He also studied in Rome when I did so we traveled together over some weekends. He is great with languages, French, Italian, even German. It’s really ridiculous how quickly he could speak a new language. Anyway, he will probably end up teaching French at one of the schools that the CSC priests run – Notre Dame, University of Portland or Holy Cross.

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The world is a better place now with such a wonderful new priest! Click on the headline to learn more about the Holy Cross priests.

Spy's Demise

Our friends from Des Moines Vince and Melissa came to visit us this weekend! We were so excited to see them again and in total disbelief that it had been over a year and a half since we had last seen them.
.The four of us went out to dinner and then to the fun spy bar downtown. We haven’t been “out” like that in a long time. It was rough getting up with the kids at 7:00 the next morning, but it was totally worth it!

Joe: "Arggh! I'm a pirate!"

Libby is two!

Happy 2nd birthday to our precious
little goddaughter, Libby! Isn't she cute??

Prayers Please

My mom is having surgery this morning to take out her gall bladder. Please say some prayers for her speedy recovery!

Giggles

To brighten your Monday morning:

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Partick drills for gold.

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We found Joe using his juice box straw to try to suck up hummus. He wasn't very successful and we hope he didn't backwash.

Patrick sports a jelly beard.

Snow Annoying

We got 7 inches of snow the other day. Post-Easter. That’s just wrong.

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Joe is a motor mouth! We took a trip to the library yesterday and the following is an account of what came out of his mouth from the instant we got out of the car: (read quickly and as if there were no punctuation) “Are we in a parking lot? I’ll hold your hand. Oooo, water. I jump in the puddle. Do you hear that, mommy? Hear that? Sounds like water. (it was dripping off the roof of the library) I hear a monster. Hear that? Could be a dinosaur. I push the button, open the door (the handicapped auto door) Can I push the other button? Wow, mommy. Look! I want bideos! VeggieTales and Wiggles and Bob Builder. How about Wiggles? Ooo! I like Wiggles! ……” on and on and on he went. It was a hoot. People around us were giggling.
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The twins are also talking up a storm. They are learning so many new words. Since Grandma and Papa were here last weekend, poor Grandma was really trying to get them do say her name. They are great with “Papa” It’s actually more like “Papa! Papa! Papa! Papa!” (inflection on the last a of the word) So, yesterday, I heard a distinct “DamMa!” which I am sure is baby for Grandma. Of course, she’s already gone home… Nice timing, boys. They’ve also said “burger” “goggy” and “cracker,” and “tee!” means “tortilla”

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I am trying to teach Joe what “Guess what” means. Before, he would say “Guess what?” to get our attention. When we answered “what?” he wouldn’t have a response or would say “I don’t know.” I told him that he had to say something after someone responded with “what?” I gave him some examples: “I love you” “You’re eating lunch” “I think you’re special,” etc. Maybe he got it, maybe not. You be the judge. This was our next exchange: “Mommy, guess what?” “What?” “I have gas, and the babies have gas.” Hmmm, thanks for sharing.

I witnessed a true chase, too. Patrick swiped Luke’s sippy cup and took off running. Luke ran after him to retrieve his soy milk. They’ve toddled after each other before, but never like this – it was a full fledged run with a mini tackle afterward.

Luke’s has had a very bad temper lately (maybe due to some canines coming in?) and his little tantrums are pretty dramatic to watch. He gets all mad and stiff and red in the face. Then the hollering starts. I usually have to stick him in his bed for a few minutes until he calms down. Patrick, however, has very funny tantrums. He throws himself onto the ground face first, but after a few times trying that, he realized that it was a bit painful. Now, he “flings” himself onto the ground in slow motion until he is safely on his tummy with his head buried in his arm. Then, when he notices that I’ve walked away or am not paying attention, he gets himself back up and goes about his business. It makes me laugh.

Just a second

The Easter bunny brought us brand new sets of kiddy markers and new coloring books. Eager to try them out, I set the kids in their highchairs (so they couldn't color the furniture and walls) and let them at it. I walked around the corner - literally 5 steps away - to push two buttons on the oven. This is what I came back to not three seconds later:
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I thought I was being so clever - Patrick with the wooden tray got orange marker just in case the markers were not as "washable" as they claimed. He looked like he had been iodine swabbed in preparation for chest surgery.

I saw Luke with the marker in his mouth and when I yanked it away, this is what I saw. The once green pointed tip had been sucked clean of it's ink. The tip had also been bitten off. (it was retrieved before being swallowed, thankfully)

Even Joe got in on the messiness, showing me his colorful hands.

This is why we don't color or paint at this house. My poor children won't be able to write or color until they are safely under the care of their kindergarten teacher (God bless her, whoever she is!)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, everyone!

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Luke enjoys some of his Easter basket treats.

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The Easter Bunny is a pretty smart guy. Around here when Easter morning is below freezing, he kindly hides the eggs and leaves the Easter baskets indoors around the living room.

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My mother made the boys superhero capes that we stuck in their baskets, too. They were a huge hit! Joe kept saying, “The world needs a hero! I am that hero!” (one of Larry Boy’s lines from Veggie Tales)

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Patrick enjoyed taking the eggs out of his basket and putting them back in.

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We had a wonderful time at Mass this morning, actually sitting in the congregation, not in the cry room or lobby. It was nice that the adults outnumbered the kids for once. On Friday, we went to the service at our church. At the Veneration of the Cross, I was trying to explain to Joe about how Jesus died and how Joe was supposed to go up and give Jesus a kiss on His feet. He was very reverent and when we got to the front of the line, Joe dutifully took out his binky and kissed the feet of Jesus (complete with big smooch sound.) Later, we were trying to reinforce what the day was all about. Joe said, “Jesus died. He was sad. He hurt his foot. I gave him a kiss.”

Spa Day

Happy Birthday, Uncle Brian! (shown here with his lovely wife, Kelli) BTW - good luck to the Royals on opening day, too.

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Some of you noticed that the boys got haircuts. Yes, another version of the mom cut, this one looked a little better than the strait #4 buzz cut. I tried to leave the top longer. Joe especially ended up with head that looked a lot like Scott's. He was very proud. Besides the haircuts, they all got nail trimmings - 60 nails in all. It was our own personal spa day!

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Joe has recently been echoing us so much. I told him I was sorry for something the other day and he said, "It's okay, sweetie!" When we ask him where something is, he responds with, "It could be somewhere..." (thanks, that was helpful.) And when Daddy got home the other day, he exclaimed, "Daddy's home! Woo Hoo!"

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Just call me Martha! Joe and I made cut-out cookies yesterday and after everyone was in bed, I decorated them. My friend Sara clued me in to how to make the icing and apply it to make designs, etc. I had SO much fun doing it. It was a great diversion from what I should have been doing - cleaning the house. That gets old. Now, my biggest challenge is hiding them from you-know-who so they actually make it to Easter.

No Foolin'

Happy Birthday, Papa!

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Patrick and Luke: "We love learning about mutual funds!"

Today is another interesting milestone for me as a mother – today, the twins are the age that Joe was when they were born. I can hardly believe it! Joe seemed so old, and they still seem like babies. Much of this is perception, of course. Joe looked like a monster compared to the little five-pound squirts. It seems like he hasn’t changed what he looks like or his fun personality. I do remember being shocked at how much he had “changed” after being away from him for 11 days in the hospital. I was looking back at some of the first posts and realizing that he really was this little – the babies wear some of the clothes he was wearing in the pictures, and the picture of him in the play structure was his first time really playing at a playground. Two weeks ago, the babies enjoyed their first playground experience as walkers and climbers. Is anybody else amazed, or am I just being a sappy mother?

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Joe was not happy having his picture taken with his brothers for the first time. Patrick is on the left (how many of you could tell that? :) )