8yo is telling riddles and demanding that every guess be supported with reasons for its proposal. He keeps rejecting my guesses for being insufficiently argued prescinding from questions of correctness.

When I threaten war over not winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the committee will finally see how wrong they got it

Vance currently putting up Jordan numbers in this department

Anti-human, anti-life; corrosive of sociality, civility, decency, dignity, piety, and fear of God; cynically contemptuous of truth in its abject nihilism; a stain on Christian witness for those who make themselves complicit—the cancerous rot of MAGA must go.

Merry Christmas!

Found some stand-up bits I wrote and recorded (just audio) a few years ago and got surprised by some the jokes I’d forgotten… surreal experience

Don’t really care where they’re from, as long as they’re safe for the baby

The Shining… just spend the winter at home

Princess

Seeing 7yo reading Harry Potter by nightlight after lights out

Wake Up Dead Man: A Theological Mystery

3yo daughter has gotten so into Pokémon (thanks to her older brothers) that she is now saying things like “yellow evolves into red” when we approach a traffic light

Idea: a novel composed entirely of epigraphs

Daughter turning 3 (today): “Am I big? Can I reach things?”

5yo’s joke: “What do two half-teeth make? A cavity, because two halves make a hole.”

5yo: did you bring my sunglasses? Me: to go swimming? no 7yo (wryly): [Brother’s name] is accustomed to luxury

Update: “Whenever I see Satan I’m gonna throw him in Papa’s pool so his disguise gets ruined.”

5yo’s joke: “Why was the football a bad sport? It kept getting kicked out of the game!”

7yo is explaining that after being a sophomore one moves on to become a “hardmore”

“If I ever see Satan I’m going to chop him with a jackknife.” —5yo son

Had been looking for something all over the house, remembered to say a prayer to St. Anthony, and found it literally 5 seconds later

If you’re so inclined, check out my new story in Gulf Stream Magazine gulfstreamlitmag.com/2025/05/03/f...

Went in the other day to wake up 2yo from a nap and she was nowhere to be found. Searched the whole room before she emerged bleary-eyed from the closet. Now every day after we say goodnight she will migrate to the closet (shutting the door) to sleep and cackle with glee when we find her there.

the state of peaceful happiness

You’re just giving the bread false hope… it’s toast

Rest in Peace, Father

Reread some writing of mine from 10 years ago and expected to hate it but was actually pleasantly surprised. Wouldn’t stand by every single word today but that’s life, and I think it works on the whole (for what it was). contemplationes.wordpress.com

7yo: “If the Easter Bunny didn’t come I’m going to challenge it to a Pokémon battle”

Pokémon all the rage in the house right now as it wonderfully hits all the key demographics: the 7yo (stats, scientific classification), the 5yo (action, fighting), and the 2yo (cute talking animals)

2yo daughter (doing the Christian Bale Batman voice): “I’m Batman. You’re my best buddy.”

Explained March Madness to our 7yo and he immediately started referring to the winners of the Final Four as the “Terrific Two”

2yo (at bedtime): it’s a mommy night tonight [for snuggles], so you won’t miss me Me: but I will miss you! 2yo: no… you’ll be in my heart! (looks at me very intensely) I’ll always love you

Yeah this is now just a “kids being cute” account… sorry if that offends

Yesterday I was merging some pdfs on my laptop and our 7yo asked what I was doing so I explained. He became extremely invested and has been gleefully begging me to merge more pdfs with him, even if it means no TV time (“it is SO satisfying”).

Almost every morning our 5yo knocks on our bedroom door and says “Daddy, would you like to see the sunrise?”

5yo: Daddy, how did Jesus save us from our sins by dying on the cross? Me (thinking of how to summarize ST III.48): Well,

2yo woke up early from nap with a full diaper so I changed it and put her back down. Later she calls and knocks. She had found the diaper cream spatula, opened the wrapped-up diaper, and painted its contents all over the door and walls. She explained very sweetly: “I’m sorry, I was decorating.”

I grew up immersed in conservative Evangelicalism. In college I went deeper into the sort of religious intellectual conservatism that was interested in, say, MacIntyre’s virtue ethics, Burke’s Reflections, patristic theology, art history. Over the past ten years, it has been both surreal and…

doing this with ‘Treasure Island’ now, they are locked in, it’s so fun

7yo: “I’m going to rewrite the whole Summa theologiae in Chinese”

Unintended effect of holiday Grinch-watching: 2yo now claims this little piggy had “roast beast”

The boys have developed a toll system for their room

7yo (playing Roller Coaster Tycoon, suddenly gleeful): “Only 2 people drowned this time instead of 8!”

“I thought Charlotte was a girl who invented the internet.” —7yo on ‘Charlotte’s Web’

The one time I forget to bring a book 😩