melted smoosh

(for posterity's sake, Cecilia is 4 years and 3 months old.) while walking out to the car: "Spiderwebs can't hurt you! They don't have any arms!" she grew tired of playing by the rules and decided to play school with the pawns instead after going through the McDonald's drive-thru: "Ahhh! The fresh chicken nugget air!" "Sometimes we cry when we're so happy that we can't even hold the happiness anymore." one of many treasured self-portraits i discover on my phone "Mommy! We have arms so we can move our hands! If we didn't have arms, we just couldn't move our hands!" very excited about the girls' new matching comforters from Nana! this last exchange tells you everything you need to know about her glass-half-full philosophy. while racing toy cars with me, she announced: "I win!" me: "I lose." Cece: "No, you just won second, Mommy!" (linking up with Rosie here !) 

 i crashed and burned a bit with my reading goal for 2020 - 62 books read out of 75. i read 85 books in 2019 so 75 seemed like a realistic goal, but i guess i didn't count on the realities of returning to work part time halfway through the year! so this year i'm setting my sights a little lower with 50 books pledged to read by the end of 2021. i'm also committing to reading a book in each of three categories every month (plus hopefully a few bonus books).  a book i own Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis ,  by J.D. Vance. i've been wanting to read this for years, and Nick thoughtfully gave it to me for Christmas! it's a quick but deep read, an honest reckoning of the economic forces and cultural precedents that have impoverished Appalachian America. i'm letting it settle in my brain and heart a little more before watching the Netflix version. 5/5.  Edge of Eternity (The Century Trilogy, #3) , by Ken Follett. this monstrous book actually...

dear sweet pea,  you have grown up so much this year! when i look back at pictures and videos from last November, it's hard to believe that was only twelve months ago. and yet, at your core, you are still the same observant, thoughtful, creative, sensitive, dubious person you've been since birth.  "what the heck is going on?!" as expected, you've had lots of mixed emotions about our return to Pittsburgh from Rome. mostly, you're happy to be back in our house, with our big backyard and the new swingset Daddy built, and your bike (you and your best friends Maeve and Shayden learned to ride two-wheelers within days of each other this summer!). you've spent a few glorious weekends at Nana and Pappy's house, and i can still hear your shrieks of joy when you discovered your beloved friend Yaya was also at the "summer camp" daycare program at ABCs. but of course you miss your friends in Rome, especially Qing Qing, Louise, and Polly. we found out rec...

what. a. year.  i expected there to be some bumps along the road as we transitioned back to life in the States, but as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving here for the first time in three years, i've been blindsided by how much i actually will miss Thanksgiving at the NAC. that place really knows how to celebrate a feast in every sense of the word: emotional, spiritual, and gastronomical! the entire day was filled with purpose, from the sunrise Turkey Trot around Vatican City to an incredibly gorgeous liturgy to the gourmet meal, and necessary leisure time in the afternoon. moreover, our first Thanksgiving in Rome fell on St. Cecilia's feast day, and so that evening, we walked down to the Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere to hear none other than the Sistine Chapel Choir sing for mass. as we walked back up the Gianicolo hill, Nick and i marveled at what incredible memories we were making. Thanksgiving 2018: Thanksgiving 2019: napkins shaped like bishops' miters in hon...