You Had Me at "Hola"

Me and C in my parents' pool

My father-in-law gave me an article about the 25 Random Things lists that have been circulating on facebook.  Apparently, the craze is so big, that right after it started, a google search for the lists yielded 35,700 results.  I've really enjoyed reading them.  Almost every lister has stated that their siblings are their best friends.  That makes me feel better about the work involved with mothering a big family.  I've also found out interesting things I didn't know-- like that my sister Tara hates being tall, my cousin Sara has run five marathons and, the saddest, that Chris' college friend Dave turned off last year's KU final in despair with two minutes left to go (KU came back to win the title)!

I made my own list for facebook but decided to do another one in honor of Valentine's Day.  This one is about me and my guy and is as cheese-free as possible!  Enjoy!

25 Random Things About Chris and Alice 

1.  Chris did in fact earn his "A" in Spanish 101.  I was his teacher.

2.  Our first date was like one of those movie scenes where the characters go to the park, to the beach, out to eat and on a hot air balloon ride all in one day while one long sappy love song plays on the soundtrack.  We started with Spanish Mass, then had a picnic on Campaneille Hill at KU.  After that, we drove to Kansas City for dinner and ended up at a movie on the plaza.

3.  We love the priest who married us -- Father Peffley.  Despite the fact that he is busy with the demands of a large parish, he makes time for dinner with us every time we're in town and still calls us all on our birthdays.  He is our role model for how to live in the world without being of it.

4.  We both love the book A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken.  The sequel, Under the Mercy is good too. 

5.  When we travel without the kids, we try to stay at B & Bs.  We enjoy talking to the owners and other guests and find the atmosphere romantic.

6.  While we were living in Beaumont, Chris listened to a 21 hour audio book about Stonewall Jackson.  Every night at dinner, he would narrate the latest installment of the Stonewall Chronicles.  We loved it.  Stonewall is Chris' foremost military hero and is the reason for #7.

7.  We like to tramp around Civil War battlefields with our friends the Lomax.  We've been known to subject the kids to picnics at temperatures below freezing just to check out the view from a Confederate gun line.

8.  Both of our parents will be celebrating 40th anniversaries this year.  We are so happy for them!

9.  Minute Maid Park is our favorite Houston landmark.  Lance Berkman is Chris' favorite player, mine is Hunter Pence (I share him with Madeleine who liked him first).  Our favorite sport to watch together is still Jayhawk basketball.

10.  Chris is an aspiring songwriter and has a few hits to his credit.  Unfortunately, his latest kid creation, "I Ate You Up", is not a household favorite (although I think it's pretty funny).

11.  Our wedding Mass was amazing.  We got married in the church I grew up in where I'd celebrated every sacrament except Baptism.  We planned every detail of the Mass and even memorized our vows (yes, we are both first-born, type A, high achievers).  We had our reception at a cozy place in Old Town, Alexandria.  It was fun but I was totally exhausted after three days of parties.  I think I had more fun the next night (after a lot of sleep) going out in Old Town with Chris' family.  It was Jack and Barbara, Chris' brother Kevin and me and Chris. We went to dinner at Union Street Tavern then to the Fish Market where we sang and danced with the piano man.  After that, Jack and Barb went back to the hotel and Chris, Kevin and I stayed out until past 2AM dancing.  Kevin is a terrific dancer and I felt pretty lucky to be hanging out with both of the Doyle boys.  Chris and I got up the next day at 5AM to leave for our Honeymoon. 

12.  Chris and I try to live Stephen Covey's first habit but often find ourselves reacting rather than choosing our response to our kids' squabbling or fussing.  We are definitely a work in progress.

13.  Ella is our fifth baby but we still ooh and ahh over her and say things like, "Come quick, look what she's doing!"

14.  We wrote a Marriage Mission Statement a few years ago.  I plan to frame it next to a photo of a boy and girl (one of our nephews with one of the girls) running a three-legged race -- that's our image of marriage.  (We think of "race" in the way St. Paul spoke of it.)

15.  We have dabbled in real estate investment.  The first property we bought came with a swim business that I ran for two summers with my friend Beth.  I am very grateful to Sue Dressel for teaching me the Learn to Swim Today method.  It works!

16.  We love to entertain and would seriously love it if our friends called us to say, "We don't feel like cooking tonight, can we come over?"

17.  We had a military swordarch at our wedding.  It was lots of fun but when they slapped me on the butt with the sword at the end, they forgot to say, "Welcome to the Marine Corps, Mrs. Doyle" so I'm not sure if we're actually married in the eyes of the Corps.

18.  The marriage class I took at St. Mary's Academy did not prepare me for the real thing and egg babies are not at all like real ones!

19.  Our favorite date these days is a trip to a winery.  We talk about owning our own vineyard someday -- we'll probably be happily busy with grandkids though!

20.  The three things that most warm our hearts as parents are:  when our kids say a spontaneous "I love you, Daddy" "I love you, Mama", when they are being sweet to each other and when they are belting out praise and worship songs.  Our top priority for them is that they be saints and they never sound more like saints than when they're singing about how much they love Jesus.

21. Chris can talk any sport with anyone, anywhere.  The best was when we were eating out and after hearing our waitor's thick accent, Chris asked him out of the blue about his Red Sox.  The waitor jumped right in with a lot of enthusiasm to talk about his team and Chris knew exactly what was going on with them.  When Chris starts in about Nascar or Hockey though , I know he's leading a double life!

22.  Our confirmation saints are St. Joan of Arc and St. Michael the Archangel.  A little scary.  God must have a few battles in store for us!

23.  We are not car snobs.  If it runs, we'll drive it.  We do draw the line at rust and extensive body damage.

24.  We agree on many things including: live not artificial Christmas trees, picnics not fast food when eating on the road, when in doubt about parenting ask WWMLD (What Would Michael Landon Do?), family dinners are a priority, cheap beer isn't worth it, children should learn to swim as early as possible and, after God, family comes first.

25.  We couldn't be so happy in our marriage if our parents and siblings weren't happy in theirs!

I hope you enjoyed our list- we'd love to read yours!

#4 Dinner with Fr. Peffley Summer 2006

#7 Visiting the resting place of Stonewall's arm in Fredericksburg, VA

#8 Aren't they cute?  There are no mother-in-law jokes at our house!

#9 Hunter Pence saw Madeleine's sign, waved and smiled.  That made up for not being on TV.

#10 Grace's reaction to "I Ate You Up" -- poor Chris

#11 What a great picture!  My MIL looks aghast but can actually bust a move herself when she wants to!

#13 Dancing with cinder-Ella.  She's getting so big!

#15 Margaritas and a kiss to celebrate closing.

#17 "A Kiss to Pass"

#19 We love North Mountain.  It's close to my parents' house and they make a great Toms Brook Red.  Both Sophie and Ella have been date-crashers there!

#24 Go Baby G!  All of our kids were swimming last summer.  Even Ella was wiggling a foot to the wall.  I haven't had them in the pool all winter so we'll be having a refresher course in May.

#24 We try to eat as a family every day.

#24 Picking a tree our first year in Beaumont

#25 My beautiful little sis', the last Kreitzer sib to walk down the aisle.  Proving that it is possible to live happily ever after (okay--that was cheesy- but true!)