And the time has gone.............yeah, I don't know where.

Before I start my long-overdue update, I need to plug a new blog by a wonderful priest who just happens to be very close to our family (and also has fabulous hair!). With as much of a flourish as I can muster on a blog, I give you...........the Commune of Cufflinks! At the moment, being very new, Fr. E has only a couple of his homilies posted for a listen--but they are most definitely worth a listen. Visit him and leave a comment, and encourage him to give us more!!

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Yeah, I know August is almost gone. It's been busy here, and in the mean time, I've been entrenched in the battle with Major Pukey. The Nausea Bug has become a permanent resident, for Pete's sake, and it turns out he's one of the worst neighbors ever. His thug friends are annoying and show up at all hours, and I'm so over their frat-boy schedule of parties. But all things continue to move like the tide, and I find myself on the other side of the trimester markers. The Little Peach has been growing beneath my heart for nearly 14 weeks now, and that puts us into the Second Trimester. God is good!

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The Frog has been running. I had a phone call from the cross country coach, and she wondered if it was something the Frog would be interested in. I asked the Frog, and she said, "No way!" so of course I signed her up immediately. I feel badly for kids of all ages whose parents never make them try things they're certain that they'll hate. If I never made my kids try things, they'd never do anything, for Pete's sake! At any rate, she didn't hate it right off the bat, so she stuck with it, running her beginning training runs with My Darling, and quickly starting to out-pacing him, much to his chagrin.

We figured if she was going to go the whole season, we ought to get her some decent running shoes, so we went to a place which specializes in just that, and gives a hefty discount to high school cross country runners to boot. Bonus for us, since good running shoes are really not cheap....

Her endurance is fantastic, and she's working on her speed now. It's an impressive thing to see your child blossom in ways you never dreamed you'd see! Best of all is that the team has taken as their patron saint Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. His is a truly inspirational story and I love that the Frog and her teammates have such a wonderful role model in him.

The Pickle, the Reepicheep and the Squash are all settling into their schoolwork already. I'm not starting them out with everything at once, rather I'm having them do "subject days," where we pick a subject for the day and see where it takes us. They don't always want to do the same thing, so it's fine with me if Pickle chooses one thing and Reep chooses another. Squash isn't exactly going to get into the finer points of history or science the way the big kiddos do, so we work together on things more his speed.

And the Pudge? The Cuppie? Her latest trick is gigantic temper fits of impressive proportion. If it's true that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, then she must be greased for good. It's tiresome, but I know it'll pass. She'll be 2 in November, so this is right on track, I suppose, for what many toddlers go through. We've been blessed to never have to deal with it this way before, so we're definitely learning as we go.

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Yesterday, My Darling and I celebrated thirteen years of marriage together. As I said to him last night (after soundly whooping him at cribbage...), "It certainly hasn't been an easy thirteen years, but it surely has been a good thirteen years." His response? "If it had been easy, I would have taken it for granted."

Bingo.

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To keep in your prayers: Richard, who suffered a major stroke and is recovering slowly. He has been almost single-handedly responsible for coordinating the volunteers and regularly-scheduled adorers for our parish perpetual Eucharistic Adoration.

AJ and Sarah, who welcomed their beautiful little baby girl a couple of weeks ago, and are learning so well what it is to love and parent your first child!!

All those who are suffering from unexplained or undiagnosed medical troubles, and for wisdom for their doctors.

All pregnant Mamas, those families waiting to adopt, and those praying to become parents.

All married couples, to live their vocation together in the Grace of Our Lord.