What did you do on this sub-zero day?

We went swimming.

I kid you not.

Granted, it was nice and toasty warm in the pool area at our YMCA, and by reports the water was fairly warm. But, seriously, who wants to get wet in public in this freezing weather? Well, we signed up, by golly, so we were going to swimming lessons today. We all survived swimmingly.

Ballet, on the other hand, our completely dry activity, was cancelled.

Time for hot chocolate, I say. And fuzzy slippers.

Just wanted to share...

...a little something that Lucy wrote. She was inspired by the novena we're praying to Our Lady for the upcoming vote on FOCA. I'm correcting some of the spelling in the interest of readability. But mostly, I'm leaving her spelling, theology, wording, punctuation as is. We've decided to pray this prayer for the next 7 days in lieu of our original novena. Here it is:

Oh Immaculate Conception, you said yes to God. it was a big yes because if you said no their would be no Jesus!! So, I thank you oh Mary for saying yes. So I made this prayer for you


Oh Mary mother of God, Moms are wonderful (my mom is the best.) but you are the mom of all moms. your son is the son of all sons. your husband is the husband of all husbands. oh mary let the holy spirit come upon you and let your Son be the light of the World. Amen.

Thank you, President Bush

From the Susan B. Anthony List Website:


In 2004, President Bush said, “It’s important to promote a culture of life. I think a hospitable society is a society where every being counts and every person matters. I believe the ideal world is one in which every child is protected in law and welcomed to life.”

The President spoke out of true conviction. His record over the past eight years has made clear his dedication to advancing a culture of life where every human life is valued and protected under the law.

In 2002, President Bush signed the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, requiring that Federal law recognize any and every infant born alive as an individual deserving of rights, including the survivors of abortion attempts. The very next year, he called for and signed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, thereby outlawing the heinous practice of partial birth abortion. Close on the heels of these two laws came the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which Bush signed in 2004 and which created a separate criminal offense for any person who causes the death of injury of a child in the womb. Finally, he prohibited the solicitation or acceptance of tissue from fetuses created for research purposes when he signed the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act in 2006.

The President also worked to defend health care providers by issuing a regulation allowing them to follow their conscience in matters of ethics and morals. He also stood up for the interests of pro-life taxpayers: he protected restrictions on the use of taxpayer dollars by promising to veto any legislation that would weaken Federal abortion policies or that encouraged the destruction of human life at any stage of development. Additionally, he vetoed two bills that would have used taxpayer dollars to fund embryo-destructive research.

President Bush worked to create a culture of life not only in the United States, but also abroad. He prohibited NGOs receiving U.S. funding from performing or promoting abortions and restored the Mexico City Policy, thus guaranteeing that international family planning programs do not subsidize or promote abortion.

It’s been a great eight years for the pro-life movement. Thank you President Bush!

Pro-life activists across the country stand ready to defend your pro-life legacy during the next administration.

Wednesday Update

The breaking news headlines from our house:

-Baby Has a Croupy Cough and Eye Boogers in Neon Green

-Seven-year-old Discovers the Joy of Breakfast in Bed and Milks Every Slight Discomfort to This End

-Four-year-old (almost) Gets Dragged to Pediatrician with Sister (combine sick and well visits? why not. must be efficient...) and Announces to All Office Staff:"No, No, No, I cancelled my doctor's appointment."

-Swim and Gym Was Cancelled Due to Weather Anyway, So We're Not Missing Anything

-Mom Starts Blogging and Burns Bacon

Still working on it

Dad: "What does V-I-C-T-O-R spell?"

Vic: "Car!"

Dad: "OK, what does C-A-R spell?"

Vic: "Victor!"

Facebook is Freaky

Several of my friends have facebook profiles, so I decided to sign up. I had no idea what it was all about - probably should have looked into it before I took the leap. I thought it was just looking at cute pictures of my friends' kids, but it is actually a way to link to any number of other people in pretty close to real time. I've had a profile for all of 3 days, and people I haven't heard a word about in 18 years have already 'found' me. Not that I was hiding. And, actually, it's nice to hear from the people who have popped up so far. I'm just a little nervous about who might be next...

There is no obligation to accept another person as a friend, which means he or she has acccess to the info you've provided about yourself. I'm just not sure how I'll feel about actually clicking on the 'reject' button if necessary.

It's all just a little 'in your face' for me. Maybe that's why they call it 'facebook.'

The Shirt Says It All