spookydoo

spookypancakes
[marshmallow eyes +
cranberry mouth]

spookyfriends
['my wife does not like
that i did this.']

spookyprincipal
[well, not so spooky]

spookyredranger
[i love you, hpc]

spookymr.nick
[totally killer
wherethewildthingsare
costume, amigo]

happyspooking,friends.

ps – do not go to
youtube and type in
‘literal version’
unless you have
12+ minutes to waste
chuckling to yourself.

blowing kisses

dear am,

we’re so proud of you.

we love you +
we miss you.

instead of sending a card this week,
we thought we’d change it up a bit.

so here we are,
changing it up.

xoxo
from ny to ma,
your wednesday mom’s group friends

ps. when is the last time
i’ve been in the front row
of a group shot?

never.

nontraditional thursday

c went to work early this morning,
so the usual sweet morning of
hot breakfast (c)
and
thoughtful scripture reading (c)
morphed to
cold cereal (kj)
and
pokemon coloring pages (kj)

classy, i know.

(my bible was there;
surely i conveyed
something
helpful to them?
some bit of Truth,
hopefully?)

the crisp sunrise from the
other end of my street.
70/riverside

after playing at train park
until our frozen fingers
couldn’t take a minute more,
we headed toward home.

caroline was a bit ahead of
betsy and i and when we
got to where she was,
she patted the bench
beside her and said,
‘let’s watch the water for a minute.’

so we did.

and we did.

we watched the water.

a chilly morning’s prayer

o Lord,
we want to enter your presence,
worshiping you face to face,
awed by your majesty, greatness and glory,
yet encouraged by your love.

yet there is coldness in our hearts,
hardness toward you,
and unwillingness to admit our sin
and need for you.

forgive us for Jesus’ sake.

come near and strengthen us
until Christ reigns supreme within us,
in every thought, word, adn deed.

give us a faith that purifies the heart,
overcomes the world,
works by love,
fastens us to you,
and always clings to the cross.

an ordinary tuesday

i laughed so hard
when henry, eli + harry
were happilydistracted with playing,
and the girls managed to
swipe their unattended lightsabers.

which almost set off ww3.

your mom called

she said, ‘Wear Your Golashes’

i heard it’s supposed to
rain sideways
today.

oye +
happy being-inside.

ps – yes, j, cory will get
right on making one of these.
goodthinking.

off the top of his head

pbp asked me to share a bit tonight
about our commitment to
gospel community here in the city.

so,
of course,
i asked cory
what our commitment to
gospel community here in the city
is.

and this is what he
came up with
in 4 minutes flat.

i love that guy.

q. why are we here?

“because we think it is important to minister to
people who don’t take their faith for granted culturally
and are looking for serious answers.

because we think the transient nature of the city
has people longing for roots found in true community.

because we think god is doing great things here.

because we trust god will protect our children
and in fact make them even stronger people
and christians through growing up in the city.

because we love the experiences we are exposed to.

because we love the diversity and variety.

because our core ministry or calling is for
small communities which are easier to form
and work with in the city.”

imagine what he’ll come up with
if it give him 10 minutes?

ps – ohyeahbaby,
trader joe’s is in the house.

now that i know this,
i feel much more affinity
toward the massive-hole-in-the-ground
noisy-schmoizy
family-inconveniencing
work site @ 72/bway.

thanks for the tip, merritt.

pps – fairway’s trashtalk
is kinda cracking me up.

adieu for now

we miss you already, mom.

ps – nathan is psyched that
he comes up to grammy’s
forehead now.
(he might like to rub it in a bit +
she might like to
play along like she is
ReallyVery distressed about it)

not long now, mom,
and your 9 yr old grandson
will look down (sweetly) on you…

girly teamwork

the three of us went to
hear michelle + amilee
sing/play at the 9:15am service
(w o w)
and took a wee detour
on our way home.

let’s just say i take advantage
of my mom’s skills;
i saved my sewing project
until she was here so she
could start me off
in the right direction.

(interfacing is magic, eh?)

superhelpful fabric-arrangers;
we had the pattern out
and
the actual finished picture
on the computer
(i need all of the guidance i can get)

wknd bits

bootybumpers

captain n gives the pushoff

henry’s reading club

i keep trying to convince her
that this particular black dress
needs to be handed down to betsy.

she’s having none of it.

it’s quickly becoming a super-mini.

congrats to our tiger + webelo

crosbys + kramers
(+ hinzmans, in absentia)
join the pack.

whoohoo

caroline and i spent the better part
of saturday morning popping in and out
of fabric+trim shops in the
garment district
gathering supplies.

b+j fabrics = heaven

happygolucky

i can’t remember when
we’ve laughed more
thru a film recently

and this is one that keeps you
with this almost-smile
hanging on your lips,
even thru the hard bits.

i kept peeking at cory’s face
as he watched the show,

that look of
wide-eyed cringing/laughing
back and forth,

what an actress,
what a film.

and as we cozied-up over
coffee afterwards,
we ran into an old colleague
of c’s from columbia
who now lives across the continent;
what a small world.

11 more sleeps

fairy mom

the girls decided to play
‘fairy mom’
this afternoon.

when my mom asked them
what a ‘fairy mom’ was,
they replied,

they clean up things
and then they fly
to the next place
that they want to
clean up things.

i think i’ll play along, too.
sounds like a bit more fun
than just
‘regular mom.’

sandi prays with the girls
at the end of preschool
this morning.

from our vantage point
on the toys.r.us ferris wheel
(c, b, h + i,
our first time.
amigo, it’s high)

on call

in the old days
when cory was abruptly summoned
from our warm bed
in the middle of the night
to talk UrgentGibberish
with ConcernedColleagues on the
other end of the phone,

i would get up with him,
turn on a little light,
bring him a drink of water
and sit next to him
until said Situation
was resolved
and we’d happily slink back off to
dreamland as dawn approached.

so, it’s a little different now.

i mean, i want him to know i support him
but it just looks a
little differently now.

i still climb out of the
ToastyCozyWarmness
and sit next to him
in a show of sleepy solidarity,

and i usually remember
to find his glasses
but he’s waterless
(requests are welcome)
and certainly in the dark
(except the glow of his
now-warm computer screen).

so i sit in my chair
listening to ConfusedComputerSpeak
nodding in and out of
sitting-upright-dreamville.

the details of this night’s
disobedient data
are woven in and out of my
bleary eyed pseudo-dreaming,

which makes for an rather exciting
(if completely indicipherable and
incoherent) awakedream.

‘MBM2′ and ‘lemon servers*’ are ‘cached’
with things that ‘fail over gracefully’
and ‘turn red with heartbeats’

?

i still cringe when cory names colleagues
who are then roused from their
respectivey toasty beds,
and forced to join the
impromptu 2am scramble.

it’s a strange world to me.

but at least it’s sanitary + quiet.

my kind of middle-o’-the-night on-call-ness
usually involves something that needs
to be cleaned up +
my colleagues are much
noisier and less, um,
‘civil’ than his.

but he doesn’t get a
grateful snuggle
at the end of his
Midnight Session.

luckyme.

*i’ve been gently informed
by my chuckling companion
that i misheard the ‘lemony’ bit
and it was simply and
less-mysteriously,
‘london servers’
(you know,
the ones that are going online
right about now)

but i do know that mbm
is multibrokermanagement.

maybe next time
i should join the call
on another phone.

turansky/miller = brilliant

who’s joining me for this one:

‘we want to invite you to join us
for a parenting seminar coming to your area:

‘cooperation, consequences,
and keeping your sanity’

presenters: dr scott turansky and
joanne miller, rn, bsn

saturday, november 22, 2008
10:00 am to 3:30 pm
the brooklyn tabernacle
17 Smith Street
brooklyn, ny 11201

the cost is $10 per adult
register:
phone  718 290 2013
or
email  familyministries@brooklyntabernacle.org

‘you will learn practical ways to move
from a behavior modification approach
to a heart-based approach to parenting.’

‘it’s amazing how children change
when parents adjust the way they work with them.’

‘this seminar is provided by the
national center for biblical parenting
and is a practical, biblical approach to parenting.’

booyah

i know what you’re doing tonight

that’s right,
hulu has posted
the season premiere
of 30rock
a week early.

hello?!
thankyou, hulupeople,
for 20min + 35sec of good laughing.

vampire mom

cory said i was his muse
for breakfast inspiration
this morning.

and what about the fangs
cut into the apple?

just seasonal fun, hon.

i’m not sure i believe him.

i think this is more the look
i can expect to see from
caroline for the next
10-odd years, right?

everything’s more fun
when mom’s here.

pre-fab bricks?
i had no idea.

but there it was,
a semi-truck full of
walls of pre-laid bricks
to be hoisted onto the
new building @ 76/amst.
(hello, new equinox)

i found myself evaluating
buildings differently
on our way home from
mom’s group.

less awe,
more pre-fab suspicion.

ps – i’m cracking up at this
tea towel
from the manicule:

the invisible God

wait for it

wait for it

and

now,
(i knew you were dying)
here’s the mom’s group
memory verse for today:

colossians 1:15

‘he is the image
of the invisible God,
the firstborn
over all creation.’

(i doubledogdare you to
keep going +
hit that whole chunk,
thru v. 23)

recap:

1. matthew 20:28

‘for the Son of Man
did not come
to be served
but to serve
and to give his life
as a ransom for many.’

2. II corinthians 5:21,

‘god made him who had no sin
to be sin for us,
so that in him we might become
the righteousness of god.’

3. psalm 119:32,

‘i run in the path
of your commands
for you have set
my heart free.’

betty lou is in the house

can you see my smile
from there?

yes,
mom arrived this afternoon.
whew + yay + double yay

the happy trek to cub scouts
(you only have to cross 2 streets;
might be my favorite commute of the week)

l to r: mom (hands only), betsy, eli, caroline,
henry, adam, harry, ezra (camera-ready) + nathan

not pictured: dk, i didn’t know if
putting him in the frame
would crack the camera.
har har.

if you’re happy and you know it,
shout ‘gram-my’
gram-my!
gram-my!

buttercup bakery
(don’t tell the boys)

now,
file this one under:
i sure didn’t see that coming

1. mom’s reading ‘arthur’s birthday’
to the girls

2. at the end, muffy + all of them
play ’spin the bottle’ at the
birthday party
(how did that make it thru
the pbs censors?!)

3. before you can say dodgytastinglondonmeatpie,
mom’s suggesting we all play
and the girls are wild with excitement

really,
i never saw this one coming.

and it’s just one of the many
reasons i love my mom.
she taught my girls
to play the sweetest.version.ever
of ’spin the bottle’*

now, when someone suggests it to them,
oh, 10 yrs from now,
they’ll laugh it off,
that game we played with our grandma?
you guys are so out of it.

*except that betsy’s little lips
are so lubed-up
with coat-upon-coat of chapstick
that our cheeks are positively
greasy
from her kisses.

she thinks her ‘lipstick’ is beautiful.

and i think chapstick
is better than
marker.

i see where this is going

during bible reading this morning,
cory was saying something about
jesus and caroline excitedly jumped in,

‘jesus rose out of the
big rock!’

and betsy followed up with,
‘the dinosaurs ate jesus!’

somehow it affects me that
brad pitt has (slightly) better
handwriting than cory.

she’s fun to shop with.

except when she decides
the coolest thing is:

yes, it’s a rubber rat.
foul+vile.

my fav 2009 planner yet.
whomi’s ‘cloud nine’ agenda.

now i have a reason to
scope the sale racks in
february,
trying to find my ‘new’ planner
at 75% off.

(both paper presentation +
ai friedman are selling it
in the high $30’s today;
not my bargain price
just yet)

wouldn’t it have been fun
to be there that night
some friends were
sitting around having drinks
and came up with the idea,
hey, let’s put your awesome cupcake shoppe
inside my fantastic book store +
see what happens.

oh, books of wonder,
how we love thee.

my covert photo of a gentleman
on the train who has
broadway show logos
tattooed on his legs.

i counted 14.

gathering goodies for
my mom’s visit;
she’ll arrive in a few hours.
hooray

praying for the boys
as we walk past
their stately school.

mr. couch’s new home.

i bet he’ll be homesick for
samantha, trey + logan
for a minute,

but we’ll try to make him
feel welcome.

clemente fun

a man walks down the street with a couch

i just don’t think she’ll get the bobbi brown job.

mac, perhaps,
but not bobbi.

(orange marker base +
black and blue markers for topcoat;
it’s all in the mix, ladies,
the mix.)

five gold stars
are awarded to
chris + meghan
for their massive
help with
‘operation couchswitch’
this afternoon.

chris, nathan + i
carried the
New Brown Couch
(thanks, rach)
two very long blocks
to its new home
(we didn’t fit on the sidewalk +
had to walk in the traffic lane?!!)

and then we tried to
put the yellow couch downstairs
which involved some
inadvertent sheetrock removal
and chris actually had
to saw the leg off the couch.

and then, of course,
we had to carry the
loveseat* up out of
the girls’ room
so we can
get rid of it…

but, ahhhhh.
it’s looking good now, folks.

*anyone need a [free] loveseat?
crate + barrel, pink stripey,
super comfy.

anyone?
bueller?

i am sup-ress

(pronounced: soup-ress,
you know,
like the female version
of super,
as in your bldg superintendent)

sometimes when i find myself
doing those random
house jobs that,
pre-townhouse,
i hadn’t had the pleasure
of doing,

i get this theme song
running in my head,

sort of a super-heroes
blendy-tune
with lyrics like
(v 1 is from this morning’s
first-time-the-heat-is-on
this-season
water-heater-incident)

‘i can shopvac the
hotwaterheater water,

nah-nah-nah
boomboom,

i can flush out
the extra hot
wa-wa-wa-water,

i can unclog the
storm drain,
stick my arm in
uptotheelbow, baby,

shicka-shicka

i am sup-ress,
hearmeroar’

but secretly
i’m hoping
that the
next emergency
happens when
my corylove is
home to
fix it.

my bff

holding out

i mentioned a $5 reward
to my immediate family
if they could find my
camera (last seen fri night).

i mentioned it again at
breakfast to whet any
$$hungry appetites.

nathan turned to me
and said,

‘it’s still at $5?
i’m not even looking
until it hits
$10.’

thanks, buddy.

ps – i found the camera
snuggled into a
tiny little pink purse
underneath
betsy’s pillow.

should’ve looked there earlier.

naute couture.

it’s like haute couture
but it’s actually just
not couture.

swingdancing w/ tracy

treehouse brilliance:
i’ve admired this treehouse
weekly for the past year
(it’s in a townhouse backyard
behind central baptist, 92/amst,
where our mom’s group meets)

who knows,
being new york,
they probably hired an
architectect to
draw up the plans for
this baby.

hmmm…
i’m not so much thinking
for the kids
as i am
a treehouse office
or a treehouse masterbedroom
or…

i kid, cory,
i kid.

(i am kidding, right?
surely.)

bottle it

i wish i could
bottle
these colors.

the radiant orange
mixed with that
theatrical deepish yellow
and the brilliant red that
hints at things to come.

i’d keep it on my shelf
all year long
remembering
twilight hikes +
sunrisey saunters,

to remember
how the beauty of fall
revives my soul.

and even scripture is
seems more vibrant
in seasonal context.

as caroline + i read psalm 105
this morning
watching the sunrise
over westpoint,
over the yet-calm hudson,
it struck me in a
different way
then it has
when sitting
in my living room
in the city.

‘look to the Lord
and his strength,
seek his face always.’
v 4

ps – the boys are having
quite
the weekend:
first, camping with cory
and the rest of the
boy scouts
then
enjoying james/peter/john’s
garrison house,

their eyes are full
of sparkles
and the knees of their jeans
are full of
muddy
memories.

pps – nathan is still chuckling
about this one:

apparently he + cory decided to
indulge in a late-night drink
@ camp alpine’s lone
coke machine

and after a back+forth
sprite/dr. pepper/sprite/dr. pepper
they decided that since
it technically was cory’s money,
they’d get the dr. p he
was craving.

so they put in the change,
pushed the dp button

and

boom,
sprite.

joke’s on you, cjc.

ppps – during last night’s hike,
we stood on the foot bridge
over the metronorth train tracks
and we got to stand there
(shake there?)
as two trains passed
underneath.

dude.

also, we ran into
gov. pataki
not once (jason + cory)
not twice,
but three times.

nice man + fast runner.

pppps – six of us on the
tennis court for the better
part of a chillysunny
sunday morning,
dreamy.

a new york state of mind

how could i get bored
waiting for the bus
(22 min.??)
with this much
entertainment.

she had repeatedly requested
to ride ‘by herself’
and this was her first time.

a very proud 4-yr-old
sitting in the
single-seat.

way to go, love.

or another way of looking at it…

rhythm on the streets

so, britney’s new song,
‘womanizer’
is playing all around
and i haven’t thought
much of it.

(the beat is fine,
we haven’t heard from
her in a good while,
but yada yada +
whatever
on the lyrics)

well, we
owned
that song
this morning.

as we were coming home
from starbucks school,

the milk man
(delivering milk to
the boys’ school
across the street)
was
rocking
out
to that song

while cheerfully loading his cart
and wheeling in crate after crate
of fresh milk for
the kiddos.

and let me tell you,
i was feeling his groove.

the doors of his delivery truck were
wide open +
his stereo was cranked.

betsy went all in
with the music
and
boogied all the way
to our house
and
i certainly can’t get
it out of my head.

womanizer-womanizer-wo-wo-womanizer…

stuffed animals
tend to be
good listeners.

spin

there’s a store
around the corner
on columbus
(is it 69th or 68th?)
that’s called

the
amazing
store.

that’s it.
‘the amazing store.’

(you’ve seen it, too?
that teeny little newspaper store
with lotto tickets?)

okay, i didn’t know you could do that.

i didn’t know the rules allowed for that
kind of self-inflation.

but now that i know,
well,
i’m going to use it to my advantage.

so when i call + leave a
message for cory @ work,
i’ll say,
‘please tell him that his
amazing
wife
called.’

and when i write a letter
i’ll put
‘amazing woman’
over my return address
on the back flap.

i just had no idea
it was that easy
to be
amazing.

memory lane

remember when shanghai tang
was in the scribner’s sons building?

i thought that was the
most magical of
combinatons.

the unique roundy windows,
the vaulted main area,
the catwalk-y upper level
w/ those astoundingly-embroidered
s.t. creations?

retail-architectural magic.

and i was so sad when they
downsized to the smaller space
and moved a bit up north.

so seeing sephora*
as the current occupant
feels a bit like when
a
bank
moves into my neighborhood.

1. tinge of excitement at
potential for new possibilities
2. exhale + letdown of
expectations when the
bank sign
is hoisted.

bummer.

597 fifth avenue

*i’m perfectly fine with sephora,
just not in this space.

i mean, what would we do without sephora?
where would i get my silver glitter
urban decay eye liner?
for serious.
you should try it.

betsy should not, in fact, try it.
she gets it ev.er.y.wh.e.r.e.
but that’s beside the point.

luckily, sephora can’t move in here.
at least not soon.

st. patrick’s cathedral,
50th + fifth avenue

even on an overcast day
like yesterday,
quite the spirit-lifter.

let’s review

mom’s group memory verses

week 1:

matt 20:28,

‘for the Son of Man
did not come
to be served
but to serve
and to give his life
as a ransom for many.

week 2:

II cor 5:21,

‘god made him who had no sin
to be sin for us,
so that in him we might become
the righteousness of god.’

and this week’s will be:

psalm 119:32

‘i run in the path of your commands
for you have set my heart free.’

.     .     .     .

i love it when cory prays for me this way:

‘may His word saturate your
mind and heart
quickly,
deeply,
and exclusively.’

and i pass that prayer on
to you today.

a hit + a miss

caroline’s loving this,
‘the first shall be last
and the last shall be first’
bit.

and she’s even incorporating
some of the,
‘the way up is down
and the way down is up.’

(exalt self = bad/death,
serve others = good/life)

so tonight she was
trying to convince me
that,
‘yes is no
and no is yes’

along with the other
famous biblical maxim,

‘wrong is right
and right is wrong.’

hmmmmmm.

ps – clever mum award:
a client had me draw
luggage/stroller tags
as party favors for
her daughter’s first birthday
this wknd.

on the other side
is a little drawing of a pram
and the child’s first +
last name
along with their
mum’s cell number.

me gusta.

new york tricks + tips

high.larious.

clever christoph niemann shares
his new york tricks + tips:

‘all new yorkers develop tricks that
allow them to stay ahead of the pack in daily life.

these are generally tightly guarded secrets,
but now that i don’t live in new york,
i have generously decided to share some of mine.

what follows are a few handy charts that will,
i hope, help readers to improve their lives.’

‘our building in the williamsburg section of brooklyn had no buzzer,
and I would have to run downstairs to let friends in, accept deliveries, etc.
after some training — and thanks to my 6’4” height —
I perfected a maneuver I like to refer to as “the northside eagle”:

‘place your left foot in the middle of the vestibule,
lower your upper body to precisely 90 degrees until you reach the front door,
while sticking out your right foot to keep the vestibule door from closing shut.’

catch the rest of his charts in the nytimes;
thanks, swissmiss.

ps – i think i’ve done some version
of the northside eagle
in the kramer’s entry way.

dear mr. badgemagic,

(or is it ‘ms.’?)

remind me to give you a
kiss on the lips
when i meet you
as your product
is changing my life
and
causing much less
embarassment to my
beloved scouts
(my patch-sewing leaves
much to be desired).

gratefully yours,
kjc

ps – cheers to scout davis, as well,
for this instructional video.
it’s like magic.

pps – i love the location of
the boy scouts store:
the empire state building.
urban scouting it is.

they’re apparently not worried
about their conservative client-base.

laura ashley it ain’t:
h+m is selling tutu’s for adults.
yes, ladies, that’s black tulle.

i passed.
but you might want it.
goforit.

mba’s at my service

i am ohsothankful for the
encounters i have with you guys +
with other brilliant new yorkers
who say things
that change my day.

this morning’s example:
parent meetings at school

sitting in a room of, oh, 100+
parents of first graders
and talking about the
issues at hand,

these business-efficiency minded,
mathematically-gifted ,
problems-are-just-a-chance-
to-exercise-our-creativity inclined
individuals

is superhelpful
to my daily life.

the energy + gusto with which
they tackle problems
(i’m glad they’re not tackling
the problem-bearer)
is enviable

and contagious.

one of my favorite take-aways
from this morning’s pta mtg
is from a cleverdad who
proposed instituting a
6-day schedule to
certain activities
that don’t easily
fit into the weekly schedule.

instead of doing x every monday,
you do x every 2nd day or
every 6th day.

things that weren’t fitting into my
family’s life in a 7-day week
(or 5-day work week) calendar
can be rotated onto a 6 (or 7 or 9)
day schedule
quite easily.

hmmmm.

the mtg also reminded me
how many things can be
accomplished by
clear communication
(repetitive repetitive communication)
and then the ‘problem’
itself dissapates.

i’m going to try that one, too.

[keep those good ideas coming, amigos.]

we so classy

evidence to the contrary:

1. betsy comes to the door
of the loo and hollers,
‘dad! i have to say i’m sorry!
dad dad! i have to say
I’M SORRY!’

so cory pops over to see
what she’s talking about
and she points to the floor
and says,
‘i got poop on the floor
and i’m so sorry!
it’s okay!
it was an accident.’

(preaching the gospel to herself?)

2. henry has taken a sudden
interest in poetry.

especially the verses that begin:

‘i once knew a genie
with a 50-inch weenie…’

(you don’t want to hear the rest.
or maybe some of you
already know
the rest.
thanks for passing
that one down to the
next generation, guys.)

nice.

first date

those girls had to get
fussy-gussied,
fancy-nancied
up
for their hot date
tonight
with an older man.

they went for dinner
[ 'it was a place daddy took you, mom!
a real date place!' ]

and then walked through lincoln center,
admiring the buildings and
even walking thru the
avery fischer lobby.

fancy, indeed.

cheers to mr. columbus

we tipped our hats
to the
celebrated explorer
today

ps – how long do you think
it takes to walk 10 blocks
if you stop at every.single.
phone booth en route?

. baby olivia .

what can make the heart sing
like holding a newborn baby?

my heart is singing
after meeting
little miss olivia chang
for the very first time
this morning.

sorry my big ol’ melon is
in the way

caroline + daniel had a chat
while betsy swiped his iphone.

you can almost spot
our house from the window.

photo credits: mrs. teague
thanks

the official family shot

jen’s baptism

it has been an unbelievable privilege to
watch the Lord work in jen’s heart +
in her life.

and last night
she was baptized.

wow!

and let me tell you,
we celebrated.

waytogo, michael!
waytogo, abe!
the ol’ keller-cho
onetwopunch.

the keller crew
(we need to photoshop sara in;
we missed you, love)

we destroyed the
triple-layer coconut cake

naomi loves kathy’s brownies

at one point,
naomi + betsy escaped the party
and made their way up to mecca
(aka. lucy’s house)
and when paula opened the door,
they happily announced,
‘WE HAD CAKE!’

thanks for returning them, p.

ashley’s a mom

and daniel’s a dad!

oh wow, oh wow, oh wow.
it’s just too good to be true.

she’s a precious little bundle
of pink
and we’ll soon know
what we’re going to
call her.

congrats, friends.

22.5 hrs old.
sweetpea chang, we love you.

full disclosure

i just have to make sure,
in good conscience,
that you guys know
that all (all) of the episodes
of ‘arrested development’
are at your fingertips
on hulu.

i just couldn’t sleep
one more night
thinking that someone
somewhere in the world
might not have heard
the good news.

juvenile fun

family movie night
(‘meet the robinsons’)
+
an ice cream run
+
pitchdark playground play
=
the perfect end
to a sweet saturday

and those four should be
snoozing within the hour

and the two of us are
cozying up with our books,
our tea,
and c’s newest addiction, ‘the wire.’

(he started it without me
when i was in co,
so it’s hard for me to catch up.
can you believe he did that?)

spoof-tastic

1. pretty please tell me that you
saw the very first one,
the one with tina (fey) as sarah (palin)
and amy (poehler) as hillary (clinton)?

2. have you heard the rumors
that sp is actually going on snl
to spoof tf?!

this tina/sarah thing
seems to be the only bright spot
in the current political arena.

divide+conquer

team nagah
(h named us for
the strongest bakugan
he knows)
hit soho
this morning while

team lego
did the uws.
(daunted by the crowds
@ the cmom they opted
for west side kids +
the bookstore, instead;
not a bad substitute)

that sign defines
a major part of
my identity as
a mom of four.

we sauntered thru cb2
and looked at practically
every.single.thing.

they opted to test out the
comfy ottoman while
i made a second round.

it was like heavens’ lights
were shining down on
the muji store;
i want to move in.

listen, if you’re hanging with me,
chances are good you’re
going to come home with
a new pen in your pocket.

we usually carry our
notebooks with us
and i rarely can resist the pleas
from lonely pens in
store display racks
just waiting to be adopted,

‘take me! pick me!
we’ll make beautiful things together, babe!’

gel? flourescent? hiliter?
ballpoint? funkycolor?

love it.

what’s not to love about
canal street?

waiting for the train.

awwww, shucks.
his first word for hangman was
‘betsy.’

ps – random:
did you know that
my little ponies
have magnetic feet?

seriously.
try it out.
weird.

the richter scale

was the glass in your office
vibrating today around, oh, 2pm?

yep,
that was caroline.

giving her lungs the Ul.Ti.Ma.Te.
workout.

i sincerely didn’t know
this littleangel piece-of-work
was even capable of
a period of screaming that
Loud and that Unceasing.

rewind 40 min,
enter stage left, pediatrician’s office:

she loved the pink paddle
she got to use to cover her eye
for the eye exam
(’star!’ ‘cup!’ ‘it’s a heart!’ as she
called out the characters)

and she giggled her way thru
the hearing exam,
cocking her head and laughing at
the nurse as he buzzed the little
sounds in her ear. so funny.

and then there was the gown.
when she saw the paper gown
she was going to wear,
well, well, glory be.

she insisted on only putting one arm
in the one sleeve;
think wilma flintstone.

and she wanted the ‘belt’ tied low
for the drop-waist effect
and she pranced
and she danced
and she generally amused
henry and i for the full 25 min
that we had to wait in the cheery yellow room.

she giggled thru clever dr. w’s exam,
and she looked genuinely astounded
when the sweet dr said she could
feel the broccoli in caroline’s tummy.

and
then
there
were
needles.

henry, brave soldier trooper boy, laid there and
received his 3 shots with no more than
a concerned-but-controlled
‘ouch’
and was dressed a moment later
and thanking the doctor.

by that time,
caroline had ducked down
in a corner of the room
and was already
s.o.b.b.i.n.g.
and shaking her head
and absolutely NOT going to
participate.

so i coaxed her over
and onto my lap
[read: i picked up her flailing little self]

and then the world as
i knew it
ceased to exist
for the next
fourteen
tumultuous
minutes.

her parting words,
in full-throttle-scream,
to our dear dr. w:

‘I-AM-NEVER-COMING-HERE-AGAIN!’

and with that
we exited
to find a waiting room full
of saucer-eyed children +
adults alike.

and on the way home,
she reiterated,

‘I am NEVER going there again.
next time,
take betsy!’

ahhhh, the touching display of sisterly loyalty.

ps – the sweetest part for me
was henry’s response
to this ultimate display
of terror in his younger sister.

he sobbed.
he pulled his knees up to his chin
and buried his face in his pants.
he carefully held her
shoulders and,
through his own tears,
comforted her,
‘caroline, it’s okay.
caroline, she’s not trying to hurt you.
caroline. caroline.’

unfortunately,
caroline was on another planet
and didn’t notice his
sweet display of tlc.

ps – happy columbus day wknd

pps – need a new book?

ppps – need a new look?

not just for children

the boys and i
ran into my friend, sally,
at the bagel shoppe
this week

and every time i see her,
i have to tell her
how much her
work means to us.

one of the things she’s written,
‘the children’s storybook bible,’
is really a must
for any bookshelf -
don’t be misled by the
word ‘children’ in the title.

so at dinner time during the week
(aka. cory’s not home for
family dinner @ 4:30pm
on weekdays)
i read to the children.

we rotate thru bibles:
it took us a year and four months
to complete
catherine vos’ ‘child’s story bible’
(if i had four books on
a desert island,
c. vos would make the cut)

so we took 6 months off and
read sally’s bible twice
and ‘the big picture bible’
(which took about 1 day)
and now we’ve
started catherine vos
from the beginning again.

with just one parent + four squirrely
end-o’-the-day and we’re-hungry
children,
the read-@-dinner plan
brings quiet +
peace +
a common story thread
thru the fam.

thanks, s;
and i can’t wait to read,
‘how to get married’

ps – you must read,
‘little one, we knew you’d come’
but start off with a tissue
in hand.
you’ll need it.

ps – when we finally finished the
vos bible in march,
we took a family trip to
pinkberry (our first time)
in celebration.

so they were expecting that
each time we finished a bible
we were going to get ice cream.

so they were superpleased
that we read thru three
bibles this summer.

we love ice cream the bible.

happy yom kippur

another jewish holiday =
another day for an adventure.

.

riding double in a single stroller;
it’s a bit of a schlep.

after singing 12+ rounds of ‘weenie man’
we finally made it to gray’s papaya.

everybody now,
‘i know a weenie man,
he owns a weenie stand,
he sells most everything from
hotdogs on down.

someday i’ll change his life
i’ll be his weenie wife
hotdog! i love that
weenie maaaaaaaan’

eating our dogs
on rainywet benches
in verdi square

whew. we made it!
a great day off.

ps – interesting article on apts in the city.

pps – i am still chuckling at meghan’s expense.

brilliant, generous meg
had a terrific idea today,

so she came over,
already dressed in her swimsuit
to pick up my boys and take them
swimming for the afternoon.

wow.
thanks!

so…
it wasn’t until she was trying to
push open the
very closed door
of the jcc
that she realized.

her gym is the jcc.

you know,
the jewish community center.

and this being
yom kippur and all…

well,
i must say
they had a very fantastic time
at her onthefly back-up plan:

toys-r-us in times square.

and then the girls and i met them
for some playground time.

and i still think it’s funny
that meg + the boys
spent the entire afternoon
in their swimsuits.

thanks, m.
and thanks for the laugh.

a sweet + smart schmuck

justin passed on the fun news
that a professor we both used
to work for
won the nobel prize
for his glowing jellyfish
(my terms,
i’m sure he’d explain it
all fancy-like).

huge congrats, marty.

community life

joe led us in a significant, challenging
look at luke 15 tonight,
at the parable of the prodigal son.

i think i’m a bit of both;
i have the ‘younger brother’ impulsiveness
and the ‘elder brother’ demand for
equality and fairness.

bummer.

and
hooray for grace
and a God who
relentlessly pursues us.

fellowship group lovin’:
back row-ish: sarah + quigley, greg, chris, david k, david g, joe,
front row-ish: kim, jen, jules, kj, joyce, katie, lisa, cory + meghan
ladies in white: felicia + elizabeth