Baby Francis and Brave; an unlikely pairing, I know.

Reeeaaaaaallllly hoping my kids will sleep in tomorrow. They were up late. Marianne hosted a few friends from her class for a movie night tonight - they watched Brave - and then there was the typical long time to get them all calmed down from their sugar- and friend-induced high once the other girls had gone. But let's back up a minute.

It's been a busy week since Marianne's birthday!

Last weekend we drove down to St. Joseph, Missouri, for the baptism of our newest godson. Francis Paul is a darling little boy, with the finest features I've ever seen on a newborn. His nose is so prim and proper, nothing like my typical newborns' pudgy little flat things.

We spent a few hours with Sam and Mary on Saturday, catching up and holding Francis. After dinner, we retired to our hotel, which had a small indoor water park. The hotel was nothing to write home about, but the kids loved every minute of it. Sadly, I couldn't find my camera, so all I have to share are my memories, and they were made hazy by lack of sleep. There was one very large, almost completely dark tube slide that the older girls rode countless times. There was also a play area for younger kids with one of those giant buckets that slowly fills and every couple minutes tips to dump water in a huge splash. Meg was terrified of it at first, but I coached her through how it worked, and she quickly determined that she could run up the stairs and slide down one of the slides three times before she had to wait at the side of the pool for the bucket to dump, then she was off to the races again. I went back to the room with Rachel after only a few minutes at the water park, but Nathaniel assured me that by the time they were done, she'd braved up even further, and stopped just long enough to cover her head with her arms wherever she was when the bucket tipped, but she quit letting it slow her fun.

The room we reserved was a "bunk bed suite", but the term "suite" here is used very loosely. Don't worry; we knew that going in. It was a single room with a king bed, a bunk bed, and a pull out sofa (plus a pack'n'play). So the bedding arrangements were fine. In fact, we ended up not needing the pull out, since of course all the kids wanted to sleep on the bunk bed for the novelty of it. I think it was slightly larger than standard twin size mattresses (although I can't imagine why it would be...). Whatever the size, it worked to have Marianne and Meg up top, with Ruth and Peter on the bottom bunk. We put Rachel's bed on the other side of ours in the hope that some space between all the kids would help her sleep, but that was wasted effort. She did not fall asleep before they got back from the pool, and then their excitement got her revved up again, and it took a long time to get everyone settled down. I say that, but in truth, they were probably all asleep by 10, and they slept through the night until that fateful moment when one of them had to use the bathroom shortly before 6. {sigh} You can imagine how this went, I'm sure. Within a minute, all four kids on the bunk were awake, but being quiet, as they took turns heading to the bathroom and getting drinks. I almost thought we were going to get lucky. And then the pretty little head popped up over the edge of the pack'n'play. {repeat sigh} There was some cat-napping between 6 and maybe 7:20 before I finally called it and started turning on lights. Next time I will go with my gut and take the hotel with a less spectacular water attraction, but a two room suite. Sometimes a little space (or a wall) makes all the difference.

After a pleasant breakfast and a leisurely morning watching cartoons on cable and getting ready for church (again, novelty! cable channels!), we checked out and headed to mass and the baptism. Sam and Mary's church is beautiful! The service was nice (it was my first time receiving communion at a communion rail - novelty for ME even!) and the baptism after was lovely. Francis didn't make a peep. Good boy!

We are honored and blessed to be godparents for this new tiny Catholic. I look forward to watching and praying for Francis as he grows in stature and in God's grace.

Oh hey, and check this. We even managed to get a quick family photo at the reception in the church basement. It's a good thing we did - Meg has to take a family photo to school next week and I'm not sure we've gotten a group shot since Rachel was born!

The few days since the weekend have felt unceasing in chores and errands and cleaning. I've been prepping a little (a very little) for Marianne's movie night tonight, and much more so for a family brunch we're hosting on Sunday, to celebrate Marianne's, Peter's and Rachel's birthdays (10, 3 and 1, respectively), which fall ridiculously close together and will continue to stress me out all the years I am on this earth. This weekend is also the wedding of Nathaniel's cousin. He's an usher and they kindly invited our family to the rehearsal dinner on Friday. Oh, and, in case you'd forgotten, tomorrow is Halloween, so there's that. It struck me today that I don't have to worry about making dinner again till Monday, praise God. Well, I have to put the take-n-bake pizza in the over tomorrow, but it's already bought. Nathaniel brought home dinner tonight, then the pizza, the rehearsal dinner Friday, the wedding on Saturday, and Sunday is our couples' book club following the birthday brunch. All good things, but wow! I'm a little tired just thinking about all things I have to dress my kids up for, whether in costumes or just nice clothes.

At least I can check the movie night off my list. I think Marianne had a really wonderful time with her friends. We took the kids' pottery barn chairs down to the basement to arrange "stadium seating" for the movie viewing, and we set up a refreshments table with popcorn, candy and juice boxes. If fun is measured in giggles and opera singing (no kidding), then the girls had a rip-roaring good time.