Prom 2014

John-Paul seems to be in fast forward mode lately. First he got his license. He finished his SAT's and school for his junior year, and tonight he heads off to the prom. He looked so handsome in his tuxedo, despite the fact he wore a fuchsia vest to match Katherine's ( his dates) dress. It takes quite a man to pull off a fuchsia vest and tie! Here are some pics:

Fred doesn't watch the children

I know Fred is like 'the best father ever' since he actually still likes his kids after having ten of them. making him the rare guy in a crowd these days. And I have often praised him for his many wonderful, good, husbandly qualities ( is husbandly a word?). But man, oh man, is he surprisingly bad at watching over the kids in dangerous situations.

Last week we were at the ocean for our anniversary. We took the whole family. I know its a little crazy, but we ( sort of) like it, and have fun together. I know how much Fred likes swimming in the ocean and fishing. It means a whole lot to him. He can spend a whole lot of time in the water just jumping waves. Fishing is a religious experience for him.

I on the other hand view the ocean with the necessary awe a mother feels knowing a swell of water could sweep in and drown unsuspecting children at any moment. Which is essentially how I feel around the water all the time. For me visiting the ocean is akin to going on vacation to an active volcano, where you may indeed enjoy the sheer power and majesty of it, but you'd be a fool to ever get comfortable enough to stop worrying that she might blow at any time.

So on our last night of vacation Fred told me to "go relax" he would take the kids to the ocean for a short walk along the shore. Naive trusting fool that I am, I agreed. I did ask him "you're just letting them walk and collect seashells right?" cause obviously my spidey senses were already tingling, he said yes- of course- no worries!

My younger five kids, all dressed in real clothes, headed down to the seashore.

A few minutes later I asked Pete to open the door so I could listen to the waves. He did and within seconds i heard shrieking laughter. I knew it was my kids. What on earth could be going on, I wondered. Slipping onto the balcony I saw Fred standing at the shore line fishing, while the children were all fully clothed and swimming entirely unsupervised.

It took me one and a half decades of the rosary to reach them, and I assure you I prayed out of necessity on the way down. I actually kept my composure as I approached them on the shore. Fred, smiled, trying to pretend he hadn't been utterly consumed by the fishing line and hadn't lost track of the children. "Go upstairs, they're all fine!" he said. "Nah. I think I'll wait it out here for a few minutes and then take them back with me." He tried to persuade me and I finally had to just say it to him plainly "Sweetie, you cant help yourself, and I get that. Really I do. But I'm gonna take the kids back now, cause I really like you. And if I don't, and something happened to one of the kids, I'd either divorce or kill you. and after 21 years of marriage, that seems like a shame.And also costly and messy come to think of it. So lets just cut to the chase and I'll change the kids into pj's and we'll stay married a while longer.

He thought my logic was pretty good.

The washing machine is broken

Our washing machine is broken. Or at least its broken enough for me to have given up on it. It still whirls clothes around in it for the allotted time, but when you open the door at the end of the cycle- everything smells bad. In fact it smells way worse than it did when you first put the clothes in, to begin with. Its become a magic stink bomb of sorts.

The even worse part about this is that Fred isn't even *pretending* to try to fix it anymore. When I tell him 'Hon, the washing machine isn't working" he walks into the laundry room, looks at the growing piles of laundry, and then browses the computer for images of the newest models before calling it quits.

Tools aren't even part of the equation.

Which has actually made my housework surprisingly easy. I wake up, make my bed, throw some dishes in the dishwasher, wipe the counters down, and close the door to the laundry room. Voila! Job is done.

I know this will catch up with me at some point. Like when there are no more clean clothes in the house, or I cant fit any more dirty ones into the stinky laundry room any longer. But that day is not today. And there seems to be a lot of bathing suits and clean underwear between now and then.

So, I'm gonna just go with it for a while. Cause, you know, it was a long school year and all.

Matthew James Pio

Matthew was confirmed today, at the National Shrine Basilica of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. (Its not every day, your kid is confirmed within ten feet of a canonized saint!) Of all my children thus far, Matthew took his confirmation the most seriously. It has been a beautiful sunny day here for him. Bishop Rozanski did the honors. Matthew took Pio as his confirmation name, as he has prayed to him since he was about five years old. Today brings our sacramental power house to an end! We have had oodles of sacraments over the last few weeks and months. It feels like we actually need some ordinary time around here! I'll post some pics for you all to flip through. Say a little prayer for him today!

Matthew James Pio

Joe will be next in two years

Matt asked Joe to serve- this is the best shot I could get.

With the Bishop and his awesome sponsor Sarah!

party time!

Mrs. Denning, Matt's religion tutor for the year came to be with Matty!