this old house

tiling 101:

1. gather as many little children as possible around you.
it helps to keep it interesting. set out tools for them to
weild & sticky substances for them to drag their feet thru.
you’re well on your way.

2. remove hardware & prep the space.
pencil in the plumb lines
so you have an outline of where to aim

3. apply adhesive to wall, place tile, insert spacers

4. cut tiles to fit around light switches & outlets
(i’m not sure this is the recommended safetypatrol
way of using the electric cutter.
fingers appear vulnerable,
in my layman’s opinion)

the yellow/silver tile cutter
basically scores it and then
it snaps in half.

5. let cement dry.
(and by let it dry, we mean:
chat with cynthia & meghan,
go to church,
chat with julia & greg.
begin work again while still
wearing your church clothes)

mix grout.
smear grout into all the little spaces.

6. wipe excess grout off tiles with wet sponge

7. let grout dry overnight

8. wipe clean & seal grout using
alarmingly-titled (for me) substance

9. re-mount hardware
using drill bit appropriate for glass/tile

10. move in to your bright new kitchen

in time for o-sechi ryori
(japanese new year’s lunch)
with hisaya


caroline’s proudest chopstick feat:
itty bitty fishy

side note:
this day-project struck
a nice chord with me;
grateful for how the Lord has carried
us through the past few years.

this is what our life used to be like
day-in-and-day-out.
the morgans, brit, the kellers,
+ you guys helping us.

it feels like a long time ago that
we ripped out this house & rebuilt it.
and now we’re on to little
vanity, if you will, projects like this;
optional projects that we can
do at our leisure
(unlike heat, walls, floors & the like).

it’s been a good ride, friends.

guess who

guess who:

q1. was my surprise visitor today?
(ring-ring.hello?i’mintown+i’mwaitingoutsideyourhouse!)
yay yay double yay

q2. won the cinnamon-eating contest:
julia, cory or greg?
(brainiacs, i know)

q3. finished reading robin hood tonight?

okay,
let’s see if you got it.

a1. jen & ryan!

do you see her hoodie with a photo of
baby lewis on it? totally dig it.
serious props to cyn for this take-it-yourself-photo

a2. cory/greg
(jules heard that it’s impossible to eat a tsp of cinnamon,
so they doubledogdared eachother to do it.
and these are three of the smartest people i know. nice.)

note: mute your computer before playing the clip.
is my voice really that loud? ugh.

for the rest of the night,
greg kept saying he thinks
the cinnamon went up his nose.
classy.

a3. nathan & henry (and cory & i).

we gave it to the boys for christmas &
it just might be the
most beautiful book we own.
hardcover. 8″ x 10″.
full-color vintage illustrations.
unabridged (love that).
and you will n o t believe the price.
that’s right.
i couldn’t believe it when i saw it on the
table at the strand. and that’s the
everyday regularschmegular price.
[ robin hood book @ the strand ]

so sad at the end.
love that little john;
what a friend.

from the mouths of babes

so, i was distracted and
might have cooked these
apple cranberry muffins
a teeny bit too long.

nathan walks past and quips,
‘the muffin man you’re not‘

thanks.

ps – i know several of you out there
who are superstar memorizers.
want to join me on the start of eph 2?
v. 1-10, i’m thinking.

you’ll probably do the whole chapter;
don’t gloat.

pps – elena was kind enough to
break off the burned bits &
even politely compliment me
on the charcoal muffins;
what a girl

congrats, jonathan & susana
15 march 2008

of snowflakes & toy soldiers

playing nutcracker paper dolls
with the tchaikovsky score on
in the background.

we’re learning.

getting our pre-ballet ballet groove on

this 3 yr old’s first time to a proper show
at lincoln center, new york city ballet
(a short-brisk walk from our house)

she wants to be clara and
henry wants to be the mouse king.

happy anniversary, scott + katie

happy birthday, honor, karis, ava, ryan h,
leslie c, benton, connor, benjamin g, and corey m
for starters

see you at breakfast

if you sent us a christmas/new year’s photo,
we look at your smiling faces
first thing each morning.

at least we have brushed our teeth first.

ps – you guys are so good looking

pps – this project invovled 4 sm children,
string, nails, a hammer, tape, scissors &
88 photos of people we love.
don’t try this at home.

ppps – note to self:
(your self that is, if you haven’t already done it)
send photo to the cates’
255 w 70th
nyc 10023

pppps -
we were walking somewhere yesterday
and caroline pointed to a brick wall
and said, ‘oh, they have the same wall as us!‘

‘everything lovely happens to meg’

little women was the feature presentation
in the cates’ house tonight.

nathan & caroline were glued to the screen,
henry & betsy commented through most of it
and all six of us agreed on one assessment:
lots of kissing.

‘feminine weaknesses and fainting spells
are the direct result of our confining young girls
to the house, bent over their needlework,
and restrictive corsets. ‘
-marmee

choices, choices

thanks, m&j

morv’s movies

vows @ king’s college chapel

jono’s brother, tim, writes a song on the fly
(j on guitar, t on the harmonica)

holiday

christmas eve @ the museum of natural history
with the simmons’

hisaya brought this fancy
christmas cake for christmas night

after a long & cheery christmas day,
1000 games of foos ball,
air hockey,
‘operation’,
doll house,
caroline & hisaya share a quiet moment.

did i mention the dancing?

flashback 11 days ago
across the pond
in scotland:

after the scrumptuous soups & dinner,
the tables & chairs were
cleared away
to make room for the dancing.

evidently, all school children
are taught these dances
in p.e. class from an early age.

so everyone there, young + old alike,
know all of the dances &
dance all of the dances.

it’s not this romanticy-sexy-boy-girl thing,
nosiree.

it is high speed,
super fun,
laugh the whole time
kind of dancing.

as the music started,
cory and i gathered up to
watch (i assumed) with the
rest of the group.

morven & jonathan, smiling ear to ear,
took off at full speed in the first dance,
the gay gordons.

they were halfway down the room
when her parents joined in,
then his parents,
and then the rest of the party
began to follow.

now, before you can say bobsyouruncle,
morven’s dad had pulled me in
(luckily, he’s a very good teacher)
and morven’s mom had taken cory by the hand
and
we
were
off.

i can’t remember laughing that hard.
ever.

my favorite was the dashing white sergeant
that we did with morven.
in groups of threes.

here’s what i gathered:
the three of us joined hands
with another trio of three (girl-boy-girl)
and we spun in a big circle
(8 counts to the right,
8 counts to the left),
then cory turned morven around,
turned me around,
repeated that again,
then cory takes both of our hands
and the three of us duck under the arms
of the 3 people facing us and we
join up with a new trio of people
and start again.

and so on
until we’ve danced with
all of the other trios
in the room.

whew!

the canadian barn dance
started ‘regular’ and then turned ‘progressive’
where you change partners.

the orcadian strip the willow
(oh.my.goodness.can.you.run&spin.any.faster??)

okay, if the day wasn’t already
magical
then the end of the night
surely sealed the deal:

at the very end, about midnight,
(it was a 1:30pm wedding)
the entire room joined hands
and sang a hearty beautiful
auld lang syne
with the bride & groom standing
in the middle of the circle.

then, we crossed right over left,
join hands again,
sang it again
and walked in towards
morv & jonathan
in, effectively,
a giant
singing
group
hug.

the happiest tears i’ve ever shed.
(i thought we just might be
caught up to heaven at this point)

then, m & j hugged their parents &
their new parents-in-law
and left
to start their new life.

i thought we might
float home.

ps – our usual kind of dancing:

lazyhazychristmasday

i’m so glad we were able
to give cory such a day
of rest yesterday.

a day off work,
duty-free,
and carelessly lounging about
with children singing quietly
and bringing him his slippers.

or not.

merry christmas, love;
you’re a very fun dad.

merry christmas

thank you for your love + encouragement
to our family this past year;
what a year it was.

merry christmas, friends.

be still and wait patiently
for the Lord.
ps 37:7

cory . kari jo . nathan . henry . caroline . betsy

the old ringy-dingy

thank you, mr. verizonman,
for cheerfully fixing the
‘problem at the transistor’
that turned my phone off
for four long days.

if he had stepped under
the mistletoe,
i just might have kissed
him in gratitude.

caroline would watch this yael naim clip
as many times as we could stand it;
clever & catchy, it is.

i think i should blow this picture up
and put it on the boys’ wall
to remind myself
that they are children.
sigh.
happy sigh.

encouragement on a rainy sunday

thank you, jeff white,
for that exhortation this
morning before tim’s sermon.

after the update on new song comm. church,
he encouraged us
not to grow weary,
not to be discouraged,
and to continue
seeking the peace of the city.

i was nodding
tearfully*, wearily?,
along.

thank you, r & p

we played hangman during lunch today
and gave eachother hints at presents
under the tree

trying to see thru the
wrapping paper.
i so remember doing that
when scott & i were little.

i love this verse jenny & chris
included on their christmas card:

‘from the fullness of His grace,
we have received one blessing after another.’
john 1:16

* you know those special times
when you’re teary+weary and
you run into a friend
and you look into eachother’s
eyes and there’s that unspoken,
“oh, i so totally know” look
that just melts you &
helps you?

i love those times.
and i love those friends.

we’re not ignoring you

we haven’t had a dial tone on
our home phone since
yesterday morning.

we were expecting verizon today,
but they didn’t make it our way.

they said we could look for them
on
monday;
oye.

so, i guess it’s skype,
cory’s cell,
or the old knocky-knocky-on-the-front-door.

sassy santa

henry & nathan have just blown in the door
and given a hearty,
‘hello, princesses!‘
to the girls.

c: did you get us any presents?
h: 200 slugs in a piece of tissue

ps – can you see the
brilliant necklace
ava made for me?

oh my,
thankyou,ava

i love that nathan is eight,
curious and
clever.
and i love his brown eyes.

skype hype

i’m giving a serious
shout-out
to skype.

i mean, i barely downloaded the
stuff and typed in the two magic words,
‘morven wraight’
and
there
she
was.

in person.
live.
free!
(of charge, that is)
10:30am in perth, australia
and all smiles;
8:30pm in new york,
we were showing off henry’s lost tooth
and four loose ones.

that’s ace
(in morvenspeak).

see you in skypeland, friends.

ps – scott & katie, do you skype?

pps – our landline is on the blitz today.
apologies to anyone who has called.
and apologies to myself who has missed
being able to make any outgoing calls.
cory promises to get on it in the morning.

sam seaborn is dreamy

cory and i are madly in love.

with the west wing, that is.

we’re giddy when we get our things
done and wrap up around 9pm,
grab the computer and
find a place to snuggle up with
the next episode or two.

we’re right in the middle of season 3.

can you imagine having such titillating,
witty, world-influencing conversations
day in and day out?

well, i know my workplace is like this,
but i just didn’t know if it was like
that for everyone.

aaron sorkin is a genius.

baby, it’s cold outside

caroline helped me make the beef stew
and i’m about to call flicks to order the
‘you’ll shoot your eye out’ daisy bbgun movie.
(surely they’ll know what i’m talking about, right?
or surely one of you knows the proper title?)

when all of our boys return home tonight,
it’s going to be a cozy start to the holidays.

come on over, man.

(and drive safe, jules;
maine or bust

and 1000 others of you
driving & flying about,
good luck)

beef+onion+yukon golds+carrots+peas+thyme+s/p=mmmm

this year, i made the apple+cranberry bread
from the once upon a tart cookbook
for cory’s colleagues. (last year, granola)
i am sovery grateful to them that they make
him look forward to going to work every
morning. cheers to the 15th floor

and ryan & paula’s stroller arrived last night;
their first maclaren.
Small is well on her way
(feb 3 is the projection)

ps – top ten christmas movies for children

pretendyou’reworkingfriday

oh, yeah, baby,
the friday before a Big Holiday.
the people around you are
certainly only pretending
they’re working, right?

i know i’m only pretending i’m working.

2 minutes of pre-christmas goof off:

: : i was thinking about
’streamlining web-based initiatives’
and i came to the conclusion
that i positively can not endorse
the name of this website;
that said, you must click
on the ‘make‘ button

: : i stick my foot in my mouth so often
i should print these out in
tablet form for frequent use
(did i hear an ‘amen’ from 11 madison ave?)

: : we like the reactions when
they replace it with a burger
from somewhere else:
whopper freakout

: : get your swatchbook straight:
red is so 2007.
blue is so 2008,
apparently.

(so the boys’ room will be the
only in-fashion room in our apt.
swell.)

dream sequence

i sincerely thought i
was in a happy dream
last night when:

1. cory walks in the door early
with kisses all around
and
2. announces,
‘boys, we’re
going ice skating’

2.5 hrs later the boys
came home dazed and
wastedtired and
so
so
happy

holiday party whirlwind week

nathan’s nonfiction report on snakes

hank, karis, caroline, luke, betsy & annie
performed their holiday songs

we met emma for the first time; hi, annie

henry’s publishing party

henry + his dad, harry + his dad

ms. mariano directs the class; ms. marie on the right

henry + justin, caroline, adam + nathan, first toothhless grin

bouncycastle in the morning

bebe boom

congrats to
matt & virginia

. caroline parker candler .
and cutie bigsister marion

and congrats to
haley and ramsey;
charlotte taylor march
was born last week.

and jane is almost there;
congrats, jane & james in beijing.

kilted vows

did i mention that cory gave
the homily at morv & jonothan’s wedding?
he did.

it was encouraging & honest;
way to go, babe.

dr. and mrs. jonathan wraight

jetlagtuesday

thank you, mom & dad,
for such a stellar weekend
with the kids.
they are so happy &
so missing you;
enjoy japan.
give our love to scott + katie.

thanks, meghan, diane,
julia & rachel
for making monday work.

we miss you, scotland friends.

happy flying to morv & jono;
they should’ve hit singapore
and should be en route to australia.

i’ve already shown the photos to
jules, merritt & justin
(and the bootleg video, too)
so beautiful.

tuesday in new york

i think our eyes are still spinning
from the dancing on saturday night.

i know our hearts are still reeling
with the worship, the conversations,
the refreshment we found in scotland.

sunrise over the scottish hills

a beautiful wedding morning.

we had devotions this morning
with morven + mr & mrs campbell,
morven’s aunt & uncle
and
cory & i.

read ps 103,
sang ‘bless the Lord, o my soul‘
prayed together & then
prayed the ‘prayer of thanksgiving’
like we do at redeemer
(Gracious Lord, we give you thanks for
calling us out of the darkness and…)
and sang amazing grace.

the men were in tears at the end;
loved it.

now cory’s gone golfing with the groom + mark,
morv’s gone to get her hair done,
her dad showed me his surprise video
which he’ll show at the end of his toast,
(it is perfect. she’s going to love it)
and i get to have a quiet morning
in this beautiful setting
and then off to the wedding.

we’re staying at inchmarlo
just outside of aberdeen.
the villas are built
around the golf course
where cory is currently.

12:30pm arrive at the church
1:30pm service @ king’s college chapel, aberdeen
4pm ceilidh (par-tay) at the ‘barn‘ in banchory

the Lord is generous, indeed.

thank you, mom & dad, for giving
the kids such a fun time at home;
they probably don’t know we’ve gone.

aberdeenshire

today:
- jfk to london heathrow to edinburgh
- morven picked us up & drove us thru
the scottish countryside drive to aberdeen
- helped a tiny bit in setting up the reception site
- mrs. campbell’s ludicrously tasty butternut squash + coconut soup
- wedding rehearsal @ king’s college chapel (built in 1505)
- dessert with the campbell & wraight families
at the wraight family home
- cory’s putting the finishing touches on his homily

and
now
we
sleep.

wedding day tomorrow

the ol’ sleet+snow combo punch

nothing says ‘i’d-like-to-make-an-international-flight-tonight’
like a
snowstorm.

nice.

still hopeful,
kj

the nutcracker, sort of

betsy tries to get her balletgroove on
by ‘dancing’ the nutcracker
at mom’s group this morning
with miss alice, karis & caroline

ps – miss alice rocks at this

god bless amsterdam avenue

a. 6 minutes

q. how long do you think it took me
to drive from my house (70th st)
to wendy’s parking garage (101st)
to repark her car?

i don’t think i even used the brakes.

(thanks, w&j;
tarjay was the
perfect leave-the-island
adventure for mom and i)

and bless these children, too;
this is the scene we woke up to this morning.
we didn’t have to get out of bed
until a glorious 7:30am.
colored pencils for everyone.

ps – one more sleep
until we head for jfk

pps – mr smartaleckmathyboy here is saying that
30 blocks in 6 min makes for a top
speed of about 15 mph, nothing to brag about.

but i reminded him that it’s 30 stoplights +
city traffic, which is reallygood in my book.

spoiler

i finally thought of the perfect
christmas gift for cory.

piglatin for dummies.

i thought if i couldn’t find one in
the stores, i would just type up a
little primer myself.
my gift to him.

i think he always feels a little left out:
phd in nuclear physics aside,
that boy has never figured out
the asics-bay of-ay ig-pay atin-lay.

but then i came to my senses.
that would sure spoil all my fun, right?

i’m going to think of something else
and savor the deliciousness of
knowing
one
thing
that he doesn’t.

tuesday morning
4 1/2 min before the boys need to leave for school
36 degrees outside

the Clever Mummy Award
is definately going to someone else;
i thought hey, we’re all dressed up
and ready for school,
let’s try one more time
for a family photo.

caroline lost her spatula.
that’s right, her little kitchen spatula.
and she couldn’t recover.

and betsy has a scab
the size of texas
on her nose.

take 107b:
no better than takes 1-107a.

sigh.
and a little chuckle
at how positively
ridiculous we are.
which i quite enjoy.

yellow clown car

q. how many people can
you squeeze into the back
of a taxi?

a.

can you see six faces?

at the office

hands down,
cupcake cafe / books of wonder
is my favorite
pseudo-office

wifi +
coffee +
happy people
browsing for
terrific children’s books =

a cheery setting can make
citywrites paperwork
seem much more interesting.

come on over,
the cube–er, table–next to mine
is open
for
business.

my mom comes today
my mom comes today
my mom comes today

ps – the girls and i are compulsively watching
these web suit flying guys.

the Lord’s day

n & h singing at the dewitt nursing home today

passing out gifts to the nursing home residents

nathan reads our story
before bed
and
then cory & i enjoyed
christmas tea
with ted, diane + brittany.

have i mentioned lately
how much i love living here?

and tim’s sermon tonight.
wow.
my heart was burning within me.

par-tay in the village

minneapolis, you lucky duck;
darryle & dawn move in january.

we’ll miss you like crazy.
until you move back, that is.
(hint)

it was perfect to party one more time
in their amazing apt last night.
diaconate + elders + pastors = partyhardycrew.
i loved seeing everyone.

it’s humbling being in a room
so full of people who work
so hard, so faithfully,
helping people + doing the
goodmessydifficultrewarding
work of the kingdom of God.

ps – jenny sent us a pkg of these
homemade chocolate mint cookies.
oh my.
(she used an andes mint on top + choc sprinkles)

no room in the inn

or the apartment, as it were.

the pro:
dusting my house takes, oh,
about 6 min flat.
for both floors.

the con:
there’s not one extra surface
(no mantle, no shelf, no piano)
to set the creche on
for christmas.

the solution:
bye bye, books
hello, baby Jesus

ispywithmylittleeye =
can you find baby jesus & his crew?

pitstop

how do i say this delicately?

if you’ve never taken a pitstop
in our apartment,
now is the time.

normally, the back of our bathroom
door hosts our all-time favorite
new yorker cartoons.

and december is a
Very Special Month
in the bathroom.

we take down the usual suspects
and put up our very favorite
new yorker christmas cartoons.

so, if you need to wash your hands
+ you’re in the neighborhood,
come on in for a chuckle.

hooray for
lewis freeman tomkins;
may the Lord sustain you, sweets,
as you wait for your
parents & sisters
to come and
bring
you
home.

interesting article on mind over matter;
this could help us thru toddlerhood.

did you see this, dad?
compusa is discounting most of their merchandise
as they’re closing all of their stores.

chez cates, part II

so this is what the girls’ room
looks like downstairs:

hi, daniel

the rest of the house

scotland or bust

cory and i are anticipating
our jaunt to scotland
next week
to celebrate with morven & jonathan.

my mom is flying in to
take care kiddos &
hold down the fort here
thank you, mom

and daddy just emailed
the most beautiful words,
“I’m coming -
Thursday thru Monday early
Love you all,
Dad”

she won’t be alone,
hooray

the six of them will
have the Most Wonderful time
thanks, dad

and then mom & dad fly to japan
on monday the 17th
to be with scott & katie for christmas.

whew.
i’m so excited.

we didn’t stay long enough to
figure out who these cases
of vitamin water actually
belonged to,
but it was curious watching
cars & trucks swerve
to avoid a healthywaterycollision
at 79th & amsterdam.

circle one, it’s friday

this is a similar idea to the game that
moms the world over
play on their kids every day.

we give you a ‘choice’,
but we’ve already approved both options;
it’s a win-win for us.

do you want the broccoli or the peas? you choose, sweetie. (you will eat a veggie)
shall we go to the park or the playground? it’s all up to you, kiddo. (we’re going outside)
scooters or bikes? whatever you want. (you’ll be on wheels)
shall we do laundry or vacuum first? great choice. (team clean-up time)

in that spirit,
you choose.

circle one:

optimist or pessimist? (it’s all relative)

decaf or regular? (hopefully with milk)
play games with your drips

demetri martin or zach galifianakis? (we’re going to laugh)


(this is as clean as he gets.
you can youtube these guys to see more;
beware.)

anna netrebko or amy winehouse? (good sounds for different reasons)

we saw a.n. at the met in le nozze di figaro.
her beauty is breathtaking.

(maybe she should go to rehab?
hello, six grammy noms. wow. bigtime.)

taxi or train?
so many people are pregnant right now
that i should learn to make these.

kate spade mix tape or fred flare boom box?
(k.s. – click songs in the right column;
l. armstrong is divine)
(f.f. – ‘click to rock’ at bottom right)

hardest working women in showbiz

co-op preschool, baby.
these women outdo themselves
every
week
on behalf of our kiddos.

and we sure do
have a lot of fun.

sandi, laran, diane, kj, anne, sacha, caroline & ami

ps – and when it’s time for our
dirty santa gift exchange,
we
don’t
mess
around;
we got some gooood stuff tonight.

pps – between us, we represent 22 children.
now, that’s a lot of playground action.

lowkey

henry & i did a little christmas shopping
this afternoon; he picked out nathan’s gift.
and got his hot dog.
and ate it on the bench in the median
(‘instant death’ as bebe calls it);
i’m thankful for this ordinary day.

oh, and we had to make fun of jim & samantha:
wearing hats, gloves & down coats
and
eating
pinkberry.

photo recap

: our week in pictures :

ezra & adam, annie, luke & madeleine

cory cavin, harry

brennan

justin, uncle jacob & ethan

abby l.

trey & samantha

jane & carrie love(ly)

ode to a sexy physicist

five things i love about cory:
5. he can make fun of himself
4. he’s always willing to help
3. just like bob, he can fix it
2. the spring in his step
1. he fixes breakfast. every morning.

hurry home, love.

ps – i can’t resist.

five things i could take or leave about cory:
5. when he makes fun of me
4. he knows me a tiny bit better than i know myself.
3. he leaves the cast iron skillet out & i smash my fingers putting it away.
2. he’s competitive. okay, i like that one.
1. his email etiquette leaves a lot to be desired.

like mother, like daughter

can you guess the mother/daughter
footwear fashionista combos?

hint: both of the mom’s are in the
wed. mom’s group bible study;
stylish group that it is.

is koen too cute?!

ps – swanksigns.org is killing us;
cory and i are laughing like little girls.

here’s the caption someone wrote for this one:
if a portal to Hell opens in your leg,
please cover it with a white sheet.

warning: monkeys in this area will
steal boxes and fart lightning bolts

pps – my apologies for using
the f-word above;
laughter makes me undiscerning.

gentle monday smells

caroline says the butternut squash smells
‘gentle’

?
i’ll go with it.

the girls helped seed the squash
before we roasted
it with sweet potatoes & apples.

a dash of cinnamon + nutmeg, s + p,
some chicken stock and a quick puree.

voila.

sorry if the ‘gentle’ smell is
making you hungry;
we’ll eat at 5, if you’re in the neighborhood.

ps – evidently everyone’s feeding kangaroos but us.
david & linda in korea
(i assume eunjoo is there too,
behind the camera)

pps - the jennings are famous

ppps – congrats, donna & ellison
they’re still in china and
they have emma luying in their arms.
and i’m sitting here crying with happiness for them.
we can’t wait to meet her

snow & settlers on sunday

indoctrinating the clemente’s

cory snapped these photos;
the first one reminds me of couples’ skate at the roller rink