Christmas

We drove to Cincinnati for Christmas this year, our first super-long car trip with all seven of us in our Subaru Ascent that seats exactly seven. It went amazingly well. Everything was in our favor as far as traffic and weather, and Thomas handled it pretty well. We stopped only twice, and it took us 10.5 hours. 

I stayed with Timmy and Thomas at the "Jeffersonian," which is what I like to call my parents' house. Tim got a hotel to stay at with the other kids, so that everyone might be comfortable. 

The day after we arrived, Tim and three of our kids accepted an invitation from Scotty and Faith to go spend a day at their Airbnb about an hour away in Kentucky. It is what you might call a hobby farm--lots of land and things to do, animals, fishing, hunting, canoeing, etc. They all had so much fun; it was just what they needed after a whole day spent in the car. I stayed at my parents' because I had a whole mountain of packages to open and gifts to wrap. Annie was a big help with Thomas so that both Mom and I could be upstairs wrapping presents. We had a ball up there for hours, talking and laughing and asking each other repeatedly where things were. I'm sure it was never more obvious to Annie as she sat downstairs with Thomas sleeping on her, listening to us carry on, that we are mother and daughter.

Thomas warmed up to both of them right away, but it was really "Papaw" that he was obsessed with. He'd yell for him over the gate if he thought he was downstairs. At times my dad can be kind of aloof with the little kids since they're always crazy about him, but he's not always in the mood for them. Once while he sat in the living room and Thomas tried to climb up his legs, Mom commented wryly, "See, if you act like Mt. Rushmore, they can't get enough of you." That really cracked me up, the image of his face carved into the side of a mountain. I could see it!

The view of the Cincinnati skyline, from their hotel which was on the Kentucky side of the river

I don't even remember hearing him cry, but oh, that sweet, sad little face!

Of course we had to walk around the corner to Anna's, and see her newest babe, Forest, who was just three weeks at the time. Anna's house is an enchanting place to be. A bird sat in the window watching us approach, and once we got inside, I saw that two more birds call this place home. Anna introduced us to each one and told us a little about their personalities. The one on the left was the one watching in the window, and Anna said she can be kind of mean. I wanted to give her space, but then to my surprise I found her on my shoulder. I was like, please don't hurt me!

Anna said that one of the birds sits on John Paul's head and kind of grooms him as he does his school work, and that made for such a charming visual. It made me really want a bird... until I remembered two things: 1) Willow would absolutely lose her mind with a bird in the house, and 2) We all know that the bird I would end up with would be swooping around, pecking at us, and probably pooping all over. 

There's Thomas not knowing what to make of this, and Mom just looking like the crazy bird lady.🤣

Ready for Mass on Christmas Eve

After Mass on Christmas Eve, we went to Scotty and Faith's. 

Christmas morning at the Jeffersonian

Christmas morning at the Embassy Suites

We had a fun and relaxing Christmas morning together, after Tim and the other kids made their way over. Later on, we went to a gathering with extended family on my dad's side. My grandma was not feeling up to going over to the clubhouse with everybody, but we walked over to her condo in small groups to visit. My mom took me over there, and it was so nice spending time with her. She is so sweet. She'll be 97 in March--crazy.

There's no way we would leave town without going to Grace and Joey's beautiful new house -- new to us anyway. They moved there a couple years ago when Grace was pregnant with Israel, and Israel was born in the master bedroom with the big picture window overlooking the hills. Dreamy...

Thomas and Israel either engaged in parallel play, or in tug-of-wars over various toys. Come this summer, those kind of tug-of-wars could get pretty ugly between two-year-olds.😆

Here are a few last pictures: the mall so that Tim could exchange something at LLBean, just hanging out with cousins, and having one more great day before heading back.

We had another easy, uneventful trip home, and when we got there we had a few more presents waiting under the tree. After we unpacked the car we opened them. There was the Rice Krispie wreath Aunt Jayne usually sends, which we made quick work of; and everyone was excited about tickets to the Hurricanes game against the Bruins--with Grandma and Grandpa in April.

Phew! Only took me till February to finish this post. I blame Thomas. I have very little margin in my day for this kind of thing, with him keeping me so busy. There are so many little things I like to do with a free moment, and the old blog keeps getting bumped down the list. Plus, I can't help but roll my eyes at the fact that I still have the same old blog from 2009, and I feel like such a dinosaur. I do miss the days when everyone was doing this instead of Instagram Stories, and writing captions that are five paragraphs long, that make me want to say, "If only there were a format better suited to these long stories... oh wait, there is!"

I wish I did the toddler updates the way I did with the other kids. I'm going to forget so much about this stage, like:

- the way he grabs our hands to make us do our bidding--either taking us by the hand to pull us around, or taking our fingers to get us to press buttons or do buckles or something. He's very persuasive too, getting his way most of the time. 

-The way he says things in his cute little voice, like "Go?" while shrugging (he means "where did he/she go?") He calls Timmy "meemee," Annie "Nanny," Delaney "Nay-nay," and Joey "Doey." He refers to himself as his nickname "Toot," which is beyond cute. 

There are many moments of sweetness with him, and increasingly more moments of exasperation as he gets closer to turning two. But as Tim reminds me, and I know it to be true, I'm going to miss him needing me as much as he does now.

A fun little Halloween

Every once in awhile--ok, twice since I turned 40--I want to be a fun Halloween person and dress up. Thomas and his riot of baby curls inspired me to make this one of those years. What do you think I did?

Whatever I felt like I wanted to do, gosh!😆😆 

It started with Thomas as Napoleon Dynamite, and then one thing led to another. I had no trouble getting Timmy on board as Uncle Rico. I got Joey to humor me as Kip for just long enough to take a picture; he didn't even need to change out of his school uniform to do it! I just penciled a mustache on him and had him pull his shorts up extra high. I rocked a side pony and fanny pack as Deb. I thought maybe I could get Annie to be Summer, and Delaney to be Napoleon's date to the dance, whose mom made her go. But they weren't interested; they didn't seem to be into Halloween this year. Tim, the self-described Grinch who stole Halloween, wanted nothing to do with it; otherwise I think he'd have made a good Rex.

Dang it, why did I give him a choice?!?

Once the obligatory pictures were taken, Joey was excited to put on his sumo wrestler costume to go trick-or-treating. He, Thomas and I left the house together, but once he saw his friend across the street outside, he ditched us for him and his family, and the other friends they had going with them. Timmy went with some of his friends. I was about to take Thomas back inside, but he got SO sad when I turned toward the garage--he knew something fun was happening. I relented and said, "OK, we'll just walk around." Then Tim and Delaney joined us, and we had a nice time just walking around seeing all the kids in their costumes and the decorations. We didn't go to any doors, but he did get one handful of candy when a neighbor approached his stroller to give it to him. "I love that movie," he said. "Nacho Libre."😕🤣 I didn't bother correcting him. I honestly don't think most people got it, but the ones who did appreciated it.

At the end of this video, Tim asked what we did when it was Delaney's first Halloween. Besides a little parade at the mall with other members of a 'mommy and me' group, nothing. She was three months old! With the exception of Joey, they were all little babies their first Halloween, and I didn't care to do much of anything with them. This Halloween was a good memory.

Tim might have to be ready to be part of an encore next year... We'll see.

Here are some pictures from a fun family visit we had last month. Tim and Carolyn stayed with us for over a week, and Karen and Matt came for the last weekend they were there. 

We celebrated Tim's 49th birthday. I made my first ever cheesecake and it turned out great. It may or may not have been able to come out of that springform pan, though.

They got picked up from school by Daddy and Grandpa one day, and made a stop downtown for ice cream on the way home. For Timmy it's always a shake, and that must have looked like a good option to Joey too.

Thomas was at such a good stage for enjoying the extra company every day. He and Grandma were buddies.

Carolyn came with me to pick Annie up from cheer practice one day after school, and while we were in the parking lot waiting, we watched marching band practice. The view was way better than it is from the stands.

Tim snapped this picture while they were out early one morning.

Delaney didn't get to spend as much time with everybody as she would have liked to, between marching band and work; but at least she got visitors.

They went to a JV football game one night to see Annie cheer.

I really wish I'd taken a better picture of everyone at the dinner table. This was the night of the father vs. son meatloaf challenge, the idea for which came about after we had meatloaf for dinner, and Tim Sr had some critiques for it. They each made meatloaf their way, then we had a blind taste test followed by a vote. Although I think we all agreed the two versions were very similar, the winner was Tim Sr. But here was the kicker: Tim Sr voted for his son's meatloaf! 

As one of his birthday gifts, Tim's parents gave him a certificate to Bay Leaf Indian restaurant downtown, and he took me there one night for dinner. Back outside the restaurant, I became distracted by what sounded like the chiming of a grandfather clock or something. It was constant. Tim said, "I don't hear it." I said, "In Stranger Things, the one who hears the chimes is the one who's getting it next! Tell me you hear it too!!"🤣 We ended up driving around just to see if we could find the source of the chiming, which we never did even though it got louder sometimes; but it was a fun tour of the historic houses all lit up, big porches all decorated for fall. Some of them were made to look like spooky haunted houses too, and were very well done. I think I just stared out the window with my mouth open the whole time. I love driving around these neighborhoods any time, but this time of year they are really something special. I said, "You know we have to come back at Christmastime."

I came in the door that night gushing to everyone about how much fun we had driving around looking at those old houses, so the four of them -- Tim Sr, Carolyn, Karen, and Matt, along with Annie -- went for a drive the next night. Karen came in the door awhile later, saying, "That was amazing! That was incredible! We have to do that every night!" I was like, "I know, right?" because I don't always catch on to Brady sarcasm very quickly, haha. I think maybe I am much more easily impressed than they are. I'm a cheap date--this is our version of dinner and a show!

Boone

Who's in the mood for an OG Rachael blog about how vacations don't always live up to expectations? Get ready for some pretty pictures and a whole lot of frivolity.

We just had a nice little long weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains; and while yes, it was beautiful and yes, it was a refreshing change of pace, Tim and I are not sure it was a great value in terms of where we stayed. In fact, this trip has us rethinking Airbnbs altogether. I’m embarrassed to say how much we paid to stay there, and it’s tacky to talk about that anyway, but I’m getting a little ahead of myself. (And for a couple of you who told me I need to go to Substack, I tried, but it wouldn't let me upload photos, only gave me an error message. And you know I can't blog without photos!) 

The photos of the house looked lovely, and it had five-star reviews (including a very enthusiastic review by a mom of five, of which the youngest was a baby). I was excited to take the whole family (minus Delaney with her marching band commitments) to the mountains for some hiking and fall weather, and a nice break from the usual hustle and bustle of the weekends. I don't know if I'm the only one this happens to, but I got so uptight hoping for it to be perfect. My stomach tied itself in knots in the days leading up, and I had a sore lower back, which for me is often stress-related. We don't do this stuff often, but made a spur-of-the-moment decision back in February to make this reservation, get it on the calendar. But as the final 10-day countdown approached, I could feel myself getting all wound up about it because, as the family's memory-making activity planner, I feel so much pressure. I don't think I have the stomach for weekend trips because it's too short of a time to be trying to ensure everything turns out perfectly. It didn't help that around here, Columbus Day isn't a day off for most people, and NOTHING was canceled. We were just walking away from it all. 

We left around noon on Friday, and after a few traffic delays, arrived in Boone as the sun was starting to set. I tried to reacquaint myself with driving on hills and windy roads again, as I've become so accustomed to the flatness of North Carolina's coastal plain. Everything was so picturesque that I wanted to turn my head and look at a mountain view or a pretty house, but things changed pretty quickly every time I took my eye of the road for even a second. 

Tim had placed a Walmart grocery pickup order hours earlier, but it turned out to be asking too much of Walmart to have it ready even an hour later than scheduled. So he canceled the pick-up order and went in with three of the kids, while I stayed in the car to try to nurse Thomas and do some people-watching. Boone is a very lively little college town, and it was a busy night at Wally World.

With groceries crammed in any available space and Tim behind the wheel, we left Walmart and set out for our little Airbnb. The owner had texted many instructions, and I scrolled back through them now, looking for the pertinent information to give Tim as he negotiated the last few turns. There was just a little bit of light left as he turned onto a very narrow and steep gravel road leading up a mountain. "He says turn into the second driveway after you see the house number sign; or you can keep going into the neighbors' cul-de-sac and turn around and come back to it, which some people find easier." Tim saw no reason not to take the sharp left onto the second driveway, but the car couldn't quite turn that sharply. So he had to back up a little and try again. And then we weren't going backward or forward for a few tense moments as the motor revved and gravel flew. But he figured it out, and as we were going up the driveway I said, "I'm sure glad I wasn't the one driving!" Annie said, "Me too!" and I laughed. I think the only one who couldn't see any humor in this was Timmy, who dreads mountain roads and heights in general.

Tim would become a pro at this driveway after a couple more times up and down over the next couple days. I told him he should try just going up the road really fast, and then as he's about to pass the driveway, slam on the brakes and turn the wheel hard. Then I giggled at random for a while every time I pictured that. I do crack myself up.😊

The house had a rustic log cabin feel, and was decorated with lots of bear and other assorted wildlife kitsch. It was all decked out for fall now, with little pumpkins on the table and trays of pinecones. I'm partial to pinecones myself in decor; I felt right at home immediately on walking in. Everything looked very clean and smelled nice. The bedrooms all looked cozy and inviting.

Annie staked her claim to a bedroom she'd have all to herself, and the boys ran downstairs to check out the highly anticipated game room. Foosball and this other game were broken, but the ones that worked were good to have. I think air hockey was a favorite. I took a few minutes to shoot baskets with Joey.

After a long day on the road, we were hungry and tired, so Tim turned the oven to 400 to make our Red Baron pizzas. I was changing Thomas on the bed when I started to smell something burning. I came out of the room to see black smoke billowing out of the oven! Tim was like, "You've got to be kidding me." Amazingly enough the smoke alarms didn't go off, but he turned the oven back off quickly and we opened up the doors. There were two ovens, and the pizzas cooked in the other one without incident. That was a relief because we had no backup plan for dinner that night. Smoking oven notwithstanding, the kitchen was well stocked, up to date, and had high-end appliances.

We like to wind down by watching a little TV before bed, so we plopped down on furniture that turned out to be surprisingly uncomfortable; then went to bed on a mattress that was super saggy was not supportive of my 44-year-old body in any way. I would have gladly traded the Bosch dishwasher for a decent mattress. And so you know I'm not The Princess and the Pea here, I have found the mattresses in all other rentals and hotels in recent memory to be satisfactory. None of the Airbnb reviews mentioned the mattress. Is this a taboo topic? Is it considered impolite to leave that honest of a review? Does nobody care about the surface they're sleeping on after a day of sitting in a car or walking on trails? I realize that renters also receive reviews (Tim was actually turned down as a prospective renter of a property near my parents' because he didn't have any reviews), so maybe this has something to do with it?

I didn't have much planned for the next day, which was Saturday. I thought for the first part of the day we'd just relax at the house and hike the trail up the mountain we were staying on. Then later we would go to Mass and out to dinner afterward. That's pretty much how it worked out. But once the sun came up in the morning, I found out that being in the house was not enjoyable at all. It had almost no natural light coming in, and not a lot of artificial light either, despite what the bright Airbnb photos would lead one to believe. My pupils were adjusting size based on the brightness of the windows, and as a result were the size of pinpricks, making everything indoors appear shadowy and dark. If I hadn't had a Kindle, I would not have been able to read in there. Tim couldn't see anything either. Someone might say, "Why did you go to the mountains just to sit inside?" To that I would reply that for what we paid, it SHOULD be just as enjoyable to be inside the house as out, and with a baby in tow, there has to be rest and downtime. Even without Thomas as an excuse, this is the way we are; if we didn't want to be comfortable and happy indoors, we could have stayed at a hotel or camped, which is what you do when you just need a place to lay your head at the end of the night, and don't care how nice or homey it is. 

Timmy took the picture because he didn't feel comfortable walking out onto the rock.

Had the weather been warm enough to sit outside, I would have enjoyed the huge porch with the rocking chairs and table. I could have sat out there with a book and some tea for a long time. But not with Thomas. There was a broken slat on the railing, and he could have easily wiggled through that opening. The stairs at one end of the porch had nothing to close them off with, so it was not a place we could take him even had the weather allowed. Life with a toddler, I know. But it makes me appreciate the beach houses with their little gates. Is it so hard to do?

Nothing about this house was babyproof. There were so many things for him to get into.

Tim's selfie with some random family back there🤣

The hiking trail from the edge of the driveway up the mountain was great exercise. I found myself very intrigued by a little structure perched on the side of the mountain that looked like kind of a lookout. I wished I had binoculars to get a better look, but I didn't dare try to go down the side of the mountain to get to it, and to test the wooden walkway that led to it. There was no need to die on this trip! But I am fascinated by abandoned places, and I always want to at least look in the windows if not go inside for a tour. I did not take a picture, though. The view at the top of the mountain did not make me want to break into song as one Airbnb reviewer described, but maybe I have impossibly high standards. Timmy was a good sport even though all of this was like a punishment to him. He was so glad just to be on the way back down.

By now you might be wondering, is there anything I really liked about this trip, anything that I didn't find fault with? Yes, a few things: Mass was good, it always is. The dinner we had at the Indian restaurant afterward--yummy, and with great service. Then we had leftovers the next day. The Blue Ridge Parkway and the Rough Ridge trail, which is where we took most of the photos in this post, was a fun excursion. I had never been on the Blue Ridge Parkway before, and I'd assumed it was just a scenic expressway, and we would just see beautiful views as we flew by at 65 mph. But the speed limit is only 40, and there are so many places to pull off. I would have liked another day to drive around there and make another stop or two. We noticed that the further we drove, the more fall foliage there seemed to be. We must have been gaining elevation.

After our little hike to the top of another mountain--this one with a much more satisfying view, we drove along the parkway for a while longer before deciding to have Panera for a late lunch. For Timmy. Panera would not have been our pick, but it seemed like a fitting reward for the kid we kept dragging up mountains. Panera (really all fresh bread) is his favorite. We waited nearly an hour for our food even though the restaurant wasn't even that crowded. It was people using the app for "rapid pickup" that were breaking the system. We were dining in, but they didn't give us buzzers like they'd do at home. We just stood there waiting and watching the kids working their tails off getting orders ready, thinking surely any minute ours would come up. When I finally approached with my receipt to ask about our status 45 minutes later, the girl told me our order hadn't even come up on their screen yet, but she'd start working on it anyway. We ended up having lunch at almost 3! But it was yummy. Nobody fell apart during the wait, not even Thomas.

I don't know when our next mountain trip will be, but I'm glad that we have now familiarized ourselves with Boone and the surrounding area, and I feel confident about how I'd go about planning another getaway and getting the most for our money. But if Timmy has his way, it won't be anytime soon.

The last couple mornings it's been 59 when I wake up, the air clear and a little crisp, and I've been taking my coffee to the back porch. Summer seems to have just run off the stage all of a sudden, like Napoleon Dynamite when the music stopped during his dance routine. A week ago yesterday I was in the pool after school with Joey and Thomas. Thomas and I were floating around together, the water was a perfect 88 degrees, and it was great! until Joey started crying because something had stung him. I hurriedly dried off and went inside with them. I didn't know it at the time, but that was my last opportunity to enjoy the pool on a hot day this year. It's bittersweet because as much as I love fall, I wasn't quite ready for summer to end.

With Thomas's nap schedule so unpredictable, and him consuming my attention when he's awake, it's been very difficult to get any blogging done, but it feels like time for an update. He's worn out from his ISR swim lesson, and might last another few minutes napping in his car seat on my bed.

Thomas is 16 months old, and he has added opening doors to his list of skills. We have the knobs you don't even need thumbs for, you just push down, so it was only a matter of him getting tall enough to do it. (He's kind of on the smaller side.) He loves being read to, and will hand me the same book again and again to read. Good Morning, Farm Friends is his current favorite; it's one of his Imagination Library books. His favorite page is is the one that reads, "But rooster has a job to do--cock-a-doodle-doo!" I love his excited gibberish when he's anticipating that part. He also loves Rescue Squad No. 9. There's the part that says "Go-go-go!" He says that as he's trying to hand me the book. I never know where I'll find the laundry room hamper anymore; he pushes it all over the house. His mop of curls gets crazier looking all the time, but I won't get him a haircut yet because I'm worried that once the curls are gone they won't grow back. That's what Carolyn tells me happened after Tim's first haircut. I do take him every so often for a bang trim so he can see.

You can see the mattress in the photo above as well. That is what we have in lieu of a crib because this spoiled baby has never slept in one. I nurse him to sleep every night on that mattress, and then take him into our bed with me when he wakes up an hour or two later. Rachael from 10 years ago would be absolutely appalled by this. To my younger slack-jawed self I would say, "You did what you had to do then; I do what I have to do now, and I've decided that I've got to get all the baby snuggles I can while they last. He's got the whole rest of his life to sleep independently." *

Our weeks are full and sometimes hectic, and our weekends have turned into pretty much a whirlwind. I think we're a little overscheduled at this point, something we (especially I) have always been against. We've always said every kid gets one extracurricular, and that's more than enough with five kids. But when it comes to Joey, he is still so open to trying new sports that we just want to take full advantage of this sampling period that we get with him for however much longer it lasts. This fall the new thing he wanted to try was flag football, and that season overlaps with baseball, which is already time-consuming. But again, for now he seems to like everything; Tim feels like that needs to be encouraged, and I grudgingly agree. 

Timmy's still on the travel soccer team, he likes it, and it gets him out of the house on a regular basis. Unlike Joey, his friends don't live in the neighborhood; he interacts with them mostly through a screen. It's not what I would consider ideal, but it's how it is, and Timmy's perfectly happy with that. Tim takes him to his away games, which are usually within a two-hour radius. I have to say, after some bumpy years with him as a little boy, I see a more mature personality beginning to take shape; he's really pleasant, with an agreeable disposition and a good sense of humor. He's been overall more patient with his brother (Joey) too, which is really good to see. Our only troubles these days come when his keen sense of what's fair clashes with whatever my agenda happens to be at the time. 

The girls are both doing something new this year: Annie cheerleading and Delaney marching band. They have both been working their tails off since July with so many practices and skills to learn, and I admire their dedication. They didn't get it from me. You know I'm not really a sports fan, but I do go to games here and there to see them. I'm a huge dork about it too, sitting really close, smiling and waving, and taking awkward pictures and videos. Would I even be their mother if I weren't doing these things?

I did not take this picture. I screenshotted it from the team's Instagram Stories.

Not to mention, Tim and I have extracurriculars ourselves. He's got the school board--his last year doing that, and that's good. That's been kind of a big commitment, and in addition to meetings they give him homework, which he doesn't like. I have decided to take on a little more volunteering, this time in youth ministry. I want to be alongside Annie these next two years as she prepares for Confirmation, as well as see if I can be of any help to our parish's fledgling program. Last year I don't think I could have spared the extra couple of hours, with Thomas being so little; but we're in a bit of a different place this year, and I have just a little more flexibility.

I find downtime wherever I can, and read whenever I get a few minutes. My sister Grace recently told me about a book recommendation from a podcaster and blogger we both like. The book, which was very popular about 10 years ago was  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I must not have been in the right frame of mind the first time I tried to read it a long time ago. It's entirely in the form of letters among friends, and it seems to start in the middle of an ongoing conversation. I was like 'what is this?' and I lost patience quickly and gave up. A few days ago I gave it another try after my sister told me about it, and almost got stuck on the first three pages again, but I'm so glad I kept going! It keeps getting better and better. I'm a quarter of the way through, and it's such a fun historical fiction read. Historical fiction is not usually what I would describe as fun. The best would be to curl up under a blanket on a rainy, cold day to read this book.

On the horizon is our long weekend in the mountains next month, and then a long visit from Tim's parents, along with a not as long visit from Karen and Matt. We're looking forward to all of it.

*Just don't ask us how that's going with seven-year-old Joe.