we’ve dusted our hands of the two’s

that’s right,
the youngest person
in chez cates
has now
turned
three.

happybirthday,betsyboo

enjoying a private moment
at the start of Her Day;
a table full of presents,
cory attending the wafflemaker,
all is well.

her built-in cheering section

grammy + papa knew just what would
hit the spot.

whetting our appetite
with a few ‘bolt’ trailers
before hitting the 10:20am showing.

henry thought it appropriate
that for her 3rd birthday
she was seeing a 3D show.
(get it, mom? drop the R?
brilliant, hon)

and after a long afternoon at the park
and a birthday dinner of
roast + sweet potatoes
(dude, cory has cooked up a storm
this holiday weekend -
i think i’ve said heartfelt thankyous
about a hundred times),
a perfect end to a
lovely day…

lucy gave betsy ‘enchanted’ as a gift
and the three girls were tickled
to break it in with an inaugural viewing.
(thanks, r+p)

jacob, henry, cory, ethan + nathan
catch a game of settlers;
i think henry won
with an obscure strategy
of scratchies+roadbuilding.

in the 3.5 days that we’ve
enjoyed jacob’s company,
this is the 5th round of settlers
we’ve insisted on squeezing in.

we sure do love us some
elizabeth ann cates.

not-so-black friday

our only retail experience of
the day was at the carousel, baby;
7 tickets, please.

we brought our own lunch;
we’re planning to stay for awhile.

you can’t keep an excited man down.

see between the two trees?
that’s our starting point. (henry)

see jacob on the right?
and the pile of leaves?
that’s our ending point.

antcipating the first jump
into the leaves.

(approx 8 ft)

jacob

bravebetsy

must.go.back.up.
can’t.stop.jumping.

balancing practice

(i think he’s proposing)

our friend, linda, let the girls walk rosie
(a beautiful purebred red nose pit);
can you say ‘besideourselveswithjoy?’

around and around
and around the yard.

editor’s note:
cory would like to point out
that you only need to watch, oh,
the first 30 seconds of each video
to get the entire gist
and spare yourself our
banal banter.

consider yourself advised.

$10 worth of pine cones

henry blew in through the
front door yesterday
after completing his
park mission announcing,

‘i found the pine cones you need, mom!’

and quickly followed it up
with a hugeslysmile
and like the little new yorker
that he is,

‘and i’ll sell them to you for
a Dollar Each!’

‘and if you say no,
i’ll say less!’

(don’t show your cards, sillygoose)

and they were worth every penny.

top+tail-ing

team sweetpotato

hitting the parade

picture-perfect parade weather;
40’s, no wind, supersunny

toomuchparade:
she passed on the child-size-hot-chocolate
nothanks
and somehow? ended up with an adult-size-coffee
+
a random princess crown some
float was passing out.

let the games begin

nicky’s roasted courgettes, aubergines + tomatoes…mmmm.

(translation: zucchini + eggplant.
but it’s much more enchanting in
her proper british accent,
courgettes + aubergine)

lucy + quigley = sheer delight

the bird squad

sweetest lulu

during dessert we shared a round
of ‘i’m thankful for…’

henry: ‘my big brother’
nathan: ‘a community of friends’
caroline: ‘all of the things that God gives us.
just that.’

if i had to guess betsy’s: lucy

i teared up at least three times.
we’re dearly going to miss you, nicky.

special thanks
to
cory,
weiwei, ryan, paula, nicky,
sarah, nick, lisa, justin, anita,
jacob, lucy, nathan, henry, caroline + betsyboo,
for such a lovely day yesterday
celebrating Provision
and togetherness.

some uncle lovin’

an pre-breakfast outing with
our resident celebrity,
uncle jacob.

sara h. was in texas last week
and look what she brought us;
straight from a texas craft fair.

crackin’ me up.

thanksgiving day worship

chef cory has begun his magic
(starting with the frenchpressed coffee
he just placed in my cold hands),
jacob is at the bottom of
the cheery dogpile
+
my heart is stirred
with gratitude
to a God who loves
us so much

that he created.

that he sustains.

that he enters in.

happy day, friends.

thanksgiving worship around our table:
word doc you can modify |    pdf to reprint

cascade falls, yosemite national park

think turkey, think smart

we’re not in kansas anymore
and it’s definitely not
the 1950’s
because it’s no longer just women
(think: martha stewart,
think: julia child)
bossing us around*
on thanksgiving preparedness,

nosiree,

everyone is in on the
bossing-action this year.

the times is quoting
harvard b-school profs
who are encouraging us
to have a vision for thanksgiving.

and slate is in on it, too.

oye vey.

luckily, my goals are easy to meet.

goal 1: hug my family +
stay in pj’s a little longer than usual
(read: 8:01am for the cates fam.
we really do like to get on with it)

goal 2: fill the house with loved ones.
(it’ll be a good one)

goal 3: pop out to watch the parade
for a few minutes,
just as long as whoever’s hand i’m
holding wants to stay and not one
moment longer.
rush back to warm apartment
and continue to rub tummy in
anticipation of impending feast.
(so easy since the macy’s parade
actually crosses the end of our street
@ 70th + central park west,
go no further)

and i’m remembering one particuarly
fun year when grandpa cates was
happilysuckered
into buying dora inflatable dolls
as parade souvenirs for the girls
which they practically slept with
for the next week straight.
thanks, guys.

goal 4: after the gather-savor-recline part of the day,
prepare to play games, baby.
celebrity,
taboo,
you name it
and hopefully it’ll end with
a round of settlers with
whoever is still here in the
wee hours
(for me, wee = 10pm)

oh, i’m giddy.

*i can never remember if
sarcasm translates online.
you know i’m grateful
for any tips on bringing
order+harmony.

ps – i can’t convey accurately
how many times i’ve reponded
to this question this week:
when’sunclejacobcoming????

finally i can simply say,
today.

pps – dear grayhoundbusdriver,

please drive carefully +
please don’t break down.

if you break down,
i’ll break down.

we’ve got to see uncle jacob.

adam, nathan + caroline
had us turn out every single
light in the house
and put on sunglasses
to see how dark
they could make it.

they were screaming/giggling
like a flock of little girls.
(no offense to little girls;
i love the highpitched glee)

henry’s class celebrated
tomorrow’s holiday today
complete with sweet sausage stuffing +
cory’s sweet potato pie.

which meant our kiddos
woke up to the wafting
smell of…well, dinner.

a faithful italian mother

as caroline and i were coming home
in the rain this morning,
we ran into one of our
favorite neighbors, ms. josefina.

she was commenting on how
grown-up caroline looked
and then told me this
special story
in her strong italian accent:

she is one of six children,
four boys and two girls,
and she always remembers her mother saying
that the early years were long, long,
but then, poof, where did they go?
all of a sudden her
children were grown.

as her mother was raising her in italy,
times were hard,
there was not enough food,
not enough money.

so when the children would call out
and say, ‘daddy, i’m hungry’
and ‘mama, i’m hungry’
her daddy would
patiently say,
‘now, we’re going to play checkers.
don’t you remember how you love dominoes?’

and they would begin playing
games by the stove,
she and her daddy,
and she would forget her hunger.

she remembers her mother’s
long arms as she would
pass out the bread
to her family
seated around the table;
one for you
and
one for you.

and she recalled a time
when her mother,
who worked so hard,
so tirelessly,
would rise at 2am
and begin preparing the bread
for her family for that day

and a few hours later
a neighbor smelled the aroma,
called the police
and they came
and they interrogated her mother,
‘where did you get so much flour?
how did you get all of this flour?’

when she paused,
i asked when she came to america.

1966.

and do you know why she came?

someone was giving out samples
of american cheddar.
(american cheddar! of all things)
and she thought it
was exceptional.

and she came for the cheese.
and raised her family here.
right here on 70th street.

and i’m so glad i ran into her
in the rain today
and as i go to sleep tonight,
i’ll be thinking of her mother
raising six (hungry) children
and
will pray for mothers
with not enough food
for their children.

asking the Lord of the Harvest
to provide for the
children of this world.

a stolen moment

operation ‘keep betsy awake’
is entering its third week,
successfully.

[b loved her multi-hour afternoon nap
but hated staying in her bed
at actual nighttimebedtime
so we had to eliminate the
funsleep
to sustain
the
realsleep.

caroline and i feel like we’ve
been through sorority hazing
or something equally traumatic
trying to keep that girl
awake for 2 wks now,

but, hey, it’s getting better
and it’s so worth it)

so on cubscout night,
when the girls go down
(not a peep,
not a protest)

it’s silent!
it’s empty!
i’m alone!

a crazydaisy feeling.

so here’s what’s cracking me up
in my stolen moments on this
cubscout tuesday evening:

1. jack mcbrayer.
i like this little piece in the daily beast.
we run into him regularly in the
neighborhood.

he’s so happy-looking
in person,
just like on tv.

cory’s dying to say,
‘hey, jack’

but so far we’ve just
returned his smile.
and cracked up
and poke at eachother
as we
walk away.

just like stupid teenagers.

also, i’m curious why he apparently
shops at west side market instead of
fairway. (he’s often schlepping
very-full grocery bags;
that boy might need a granny cart)

too crowded @ fwy for his taste?

2. pink.
that ’so what’ video in particular.
so self-effacing
and obnoxious/adorable.

can’t get it out of my head.

3. place cards*.
i mean, really,
aren’t we all dreaming
of what we’re going to
do on thursday?
hooray.

oops.
the boys are home.
gotta run.
don’t tell them i was having fun.

*i love this:
today, a client messengered
over a set of thick+beautiful placecards,
the messenger waited
while i drew the
guests’ names on the cards
and then took
them on over to the
fifth ave apt
where the thanksgiving dinner
will be held.

sweet way to work,
in my book.

ps – this one’s for cory,
and this one’s for nathan.

piano man

it’s not every day
a girl gets to see a
baby grand piano
carried, piece by piece,
out of your house.

from the tiptop floor,
no less.

betsy brought snacks

caroline helped me run a few
errands this morning in midtown
in prep for betsy’s
t h i r d
birthday…

props to whoever can tell me,
based on the above photo,
the cross-streets of where we were.

(jacks 99, baby,
but which one?)

ps – see the clue
in the top-left
of the jack’s photo?

shout out

we went to a
‘parenting is heart work’
parenting seminar
@ brooklyn tab this wknd;
so good.

so good that i can’t
even talk about it
here yet,

i’m still drinking it in,
thanking God for such
timely instruction +
processing the material
so i can
roll it out
to my family.

(i’ve been filling cory’s ears
and he is leading
the charge +
has introduced parts of
it at breakfast
for the past two mornings,
so i guess the
‘unofficial’
Roll Out
has begun)

anyway, one cool resource
i picked up
is
noah’s internet
which we promptly
installed on the boys’ computer.

clubtuki.com

the boys are thinking
it’s cool.

(i had my fingers crossed;
i didn’t know if it would
fly or bomb)

last night, they were playing
u.s. geography games +
‘internet safety’ games and
earning ‘tuki moolah’
for correct answers
which you then can
save up and buy actual prizes
(can you say, ‘ipod’)

and that onscreen noah
(popping up here and there
with movie previews +
bible trivia -
can you say ‘cheeseville?’

in the best way)

ps – the other fun thing about
club tuki is that all of your
kids can have their own
(safe) email addresses.

so nathan sent me this email
which i was reading
simultaneously
(he told me to check my email)
as the plane hit me
on the head:

“watch out for this next paper airplane.
love
nathan”

nice.

and a new era begins.

damages

(the name of the show
they’re filming next door at
mike + vicky’s apt)

marcia gay harden,
william hurt,
glenn close;

we’re hoping for at least a
peek of those three.

they’ve got the entire street
lined with generator trucks,
catering trucks,
prop trucks,
mobile dressing rooms,
the director’s tent,
and scads of staff
milling about.

the girls and lydia had fun
waving out the boy’s window
to the headset-ed crew
camped in front of our place.

say hello to the
2nd place overall
dodgeball-ers:

is henry throwing a sign?

as a mouse

after a splendid sabbath’s morning
breakfast of cory’s blueberry pancakes,
eggs, and piping hot coffee,

the boys are off to
henry’s dodgeball tournament*
on the east side
and then
to spend the afternoon
@ the met,

and it’s so
q u i e t.

the girls are in the loft
singing princess songs
to themselves
and pressing their
little noses to the glass
to watch for
snowflakes.

(they’re convinced
this
is The Day)

this the day, indeed.
the day that the Lord has made.
we will rejoice
and be glad
in it.

*part of the beauty
of worshipping at 5pm
on sunday
is that our sabbath
can take on a variety
of different forms of
rest + worship.

evidently sometimes
it’s of the dodgeball+art variety.

friday-schmiday

. random bits on a
sparklingly sunny
winter afternoon .

my three favorite reads of today:

-up above and down below,
by sue redding

-mr. gumpy’s outing,
by john burningham

-stories jesus told,
by, mick inkpen

(cory actually gets credit
for reading the last one
in the still-dark hours
this morning
to a happilysnuggledupwithherdaddy
caroline)

randomly amusing:
find your elvish
boy names | girl names

Rissien (cory)
Eruantien (nathan)
Marcaunon (henry)

Quanteruanna Anessathiel (kj -
really rolls off the tongue, eh)
Vanadessë (caroline)
Eruwaedhiel (betsy)

i’ve got to stop it:
tearing up when i see people
running after a stranger
trying to get their attention
because they’ve left something behind
(a glove, a phone)

it’s the sweetest of exchanges,
eager kindness,
and i
Keep Choking Up.

sillygirl. stopcrying.

fantasy dinner guest

i’ve long wanted to extend
an [imaginary] dinner invitation
to mark bittman,
that clever chef whose
videos on nytimes.com
i watch repeatedly
and learn delicious tricks from.

his wit,
humor, clever insights
into cooking and
humanity;

what a guy.

so this peek into his real-life kitchen
today in the times =
brilliant.

and i served his shredded sweet potatoes
for dinner tonight*,
succulent.

so good, in fact, that i asked caroline to
run a few steaming bites upstairs to paula
just so she could share
in my pleasure.

(betsy wasn’t about to miss out
on a trip up the stairs to
lucy’s house,
so it was quite the
sweet-potato-delivery-commotion)

(yes, we’re all wearing
pigtail braids today.
juvenile but cheery)

ps – here’s how it went down:

tried a bite = caroline + nathan
(n – with forced cheer and
stiff-but-polite comments,
especially spoken for the
benefit of the other children)

not-so-much = henry, harry + betsy

wolfed it down = cory (ilovethatboy)

*next time, i’m going to try
it with carrots.
instead of sweet potatoes,
shredded carrots + garlic + sage.

critical mass

you know those silly games
you play with your mind?

well here’s mine for today:

i’m pretending that i have
five kids
so that when i go
out and about
in 34 degree weather
with my four
beloved ones,

it’ll feel ‘easy.’

easyish
easier,
at least.

i mean, hey,
i could have all five
and then that’d be
harder than this,
right?

surely it will work.

i can so totally do this.
{repeat said mantra
ad nauseam,
ad infinitum}

my in-the-doorway prayers
go something like this:

Lord,
here we go again.

may your Presence go
behind and before,
alongside and inside
of us.

andwe’reoff.

hot ref

post-game lollies

henry (far left) + his veryfun teammates

ps – my alternate prayer
has something random to do with
an imaginary boat,
but i’m quite fond of the prayer:

o Lord of the seas,
please steady our
happilyrocking boat
that we may
glorify you together.

free truffles

too sweet to be true?

word on the street
(thanks, faithy)
is that godiva is giving
away free truffles tomorrow
(thurs) from 1 to 3pm.

at these locations:

metlife building
grand central
times sq
rock center
lex & 50th
7th & 50th
col circle
mad & 67th
col & 71
bway & 84th
wfc
south street seaport
maiden lane

happy chocolating

busting a bus-move, apparently.
9am and
superfreezing outside.

secret recipe

here’s what i’m hoping
will be a good recipe
for whatever today holds
with my kiddos:

-more hugs
-fewer words (of mine)
-more eye contact
-less frustration (on my part)
-more grace
-less ‘no’ (from me)
-more diversion,
more helping them ‘change the game’

12 more hours
at 39 degrees (outside, that is)
and
it should
have a positive yield.

right?

right?

for kin-folk eyes only

these movies will bore the
bejeezus out of anyone
who isn’t technically
related to us,
but they might tickle
a dad +
two doting sets of grandparents.

a classic afternoon
@ classic playground.
(73rd + the river)

don’t say i didn’t warn you.

it was sprinkling just the teeniest bit
so the slides were
brilliantly slippery
(esp the first ride down)

urban yardwork

luckily,
it only takes about 1.5 hrs
every couple of months
and generates, oh,
about 5 bags of leaves.

she put this outfit together
because there are
ruffles on the bottom of the jacket
and
on the bottom of the skirt.

mailgirl;
a job caroline takes
very seriously.

mom, do you have mail?
any mail?
should we go to the mail?
i’ll get my scooter.

watching a dvd at our house
is an exercise in togetherness
as the screen is only yay-big.

someone else wrote them first

after a day like today,
when my heart whispers
(screams?)
that i’m utterly miscast
in this role as a mother,

floundering
and failing,

disappointing
(myself? them?)
and missing the point,

true words find me
amidst the happydin
of normal
catesfamilynightlynoise
and i’m grateful
someone else penned them first.

‘when satan tempts me
to despair
and tells me of the
wrong within
upward i look
and see Him there
who made an end to all my sin.

because the sinless Saviour died
my sinful soul is
counted free
and God the Just is satisfied
to look on Him and pardon me,
to look on Him and pardon me.’

and props to henry twells
for this song that
worked its way into
my murky brain:

(sing with me)

‘once more ’tis eventide, and we,
oppressed with various ills, draw near;
what if thy form we cannot see?
we know and feel that thou art here.

o Savior Christ, our woes dispel;
for some are sick, and some are sad;
and some have never loved thee well,
and some have lost the love they had;

and some have found the world is vain,
and yet from the world they break not free;
and some have friends who give them pain,
yet have not sought a friend in thee.

and none, O Lord, have perfect rest,
for none are wholly free from sin;
and they who fain would serve thee best
are conscious most of wrong within.

o Savior Christ, thou too art man;
thou has been troubled, tempted, tried;
thy kind but searching glance can scan
the very wounds that shame would hide.

thy touch has still its ancient power.
no word from thee can fruitless fall;
hear, in this solemn evening hour,
and in thy mercy heal us all.’

breathe in,
breathe out.

r.i.p.

. overheard .

leah: is this passed the part
where charlotte dies?

caroline: oh, no. charlotte never dies.

leah looks over at me, quizzically,
and we simultaneously
grin and shrug.

our dvd has a fatal scratch
about half way through the show
and it never occurred to me
that the girls have never
seen or read past that point.

when we read the book aloud,
we’ll have to tread gently.

ps – vintage lisa alert:
it’s true,
lisa is ’sharing that care with the world.’
soproudofyou.

presumed offense

i’m not sure how it started,
but the word
‘bub’
has now become
a pseudo-curse word
in our house.

if one of the boys wants to
be teasingly-offensive,
they turn to one of the
girls and call them,
in a derogatory tone,
‘bub!’

to which the girls
burst into tears
and come running to
cory or i.

and we’re supposed to respond
how?

“boys, don’t call her ‘bub’. “

which just makes
me feel crazy
saying it.

bub.

a november afternoon

we went to every venue
at lincoln center
(and juilliard,
and lincoln plaza cinema,
and the movies at 68th st,
with a short intermission
at the green market;
thanksforhtedonuts,ava)
to see who had
random lastminutetickets
(in the right price bracket)
available.

a 64-degree+sunny
scooter/stroller
november afternoon walkabout
with the fam.

we ended up seeing
‘changling’
@ times square
in the pouring rain
(which i love).

do i wish i hadn’t seen it?
perhaps.
it churned my stomach.

my favorite bits:

-angelina’s bit at the beginning
about parental ‘responsibility’
(esp potent since it’s something she’s
obviously embraced in her
real life with six children),
-the scene where she meets
with the killer at san quentin,
-her hats.

while cory was at the boxoffice…

3 scooters + 1 stroller;
betsy’s ready for her
transition to two-wheels
but i’m hoping to hold her off
until spring.

[a 3 yr old on a scooter
is a bit less of a liability
than a
2 yr old on a scooter,
in my book]

daddy beautyshoppe

i digress

the age old question:

to wear
or not to wear
lipstick
on a date

knowing that it’ll be
smudged off
a block from home
from those
beginning-of-an-evening
kisses.

what’sagirltodo?

ps – mac’s lame and lustre (viva glam)
are the contenders.

of paperwhites + roman numerals

our projects du jour.

planting +
studying.

and earning boyscout badges.
['craftsman' and 'family member']

onemore,mommy,
takeonemore.
justonemore,mommy.

i think we took 30
and i deleted 27.

love that betsyboo.

q. what’s for breakfast, sassy?

a. cory’s standard answer:

well,
i went outside and i
caught some slugs.
then i grabbed some leaves
and i crinkled them up
in this bowl,
added the slugs and
a few bugs
and i’m going to
pour some milk
over the top
and
it should be really good.

meets with
a chorus of
‘awwwwww, dad!’
‘da-deeeeee’
‘don’t be gross today’

as we sit down to
oatmeal with apples.

ps – on everyday glamour:

‘i believe in a set of values I cannot live by.
i set high goals for myself,
i seek perfection,
dream of exotic faraway places.

but ultimately, what i long for isn’t far away at all.
it’s in my own backyard.
imperfection charms me, familiar things move me…
a celebration of what we have,
instead of what we long for.

that for me, is glamour.’

-isabella rossellini

pps – how loudly do you think
my children will cheer
when they realize that

1. snacks for both n + h’s soccer teams
have already been prepared
(they’re yummy)

and

2. it’s pouring rain outside.

1 + 2 = snacksforthecatesfam!

(you might want to swing
by our apt around, say, 4pm)

exhale

cory read psalm 127
to us this morning.

my kiddos are going to
grow up thinking it’s
normal for mom’s eyes
to be brimming with
tears–happytears,
gratefultears–every time the
scriptures are read.

elder brother-ish-ness

the enormity of tim’s sermon
this sunday is like a
whirling dervish in my brain and heart.

he’s preached for the past
several weeks (six? seven?)
from luke 15’s parable
of the prodigal son.

after he preaches,
we then look at it again in
mom’s group

and again in
fellowship group

and several times more
in informal conversations
throughout the week.

the parable is commonly taught
looking at the younger brother,
at his folly + subsequent redemption.

but tim had us look at the elder brother
this week,
and carefully noted that he’s in a
more precarious,
more dangerous state
of not knowing
that he, too, is focused on the
things of the father
rather than the father himself,

ouch.

i think i held my breath
through the whole sermon.

and i’m positive you could’ve
heard a pin drop across
the auditorium.

now, here’s what’s floored me today
after our discussing it yet again
this morning in mom’s group:
(thanks, wendy)

hebrews 2:11-19

11 both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy
are of the same family. so Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

12 he says,
“i will declare your name to my brothers;
in the presence of the congregation i will sing your praises.”

13 and again,
“i will put my trust in him.” and again he says,
“here am i, and the children God has given me.”

14 since the children have flesh and blood,
he too shared in their humanity so that by his death
he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—

15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

16 for surely it is not angels he helps, but abraham’s descendants.

17 for this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way,
in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God,
and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.

18because he himself suffered when he was tempted,
he is able to help those who are being tempted.

gulp.
gasp.
and i can’t wait for
tonight’s study.

fifth avenue on parade

veteran’s day parade route:
28th st + 5th avenue
to
55th + 5th avenue

status:
the cub scouts are excited.

in the shadow of the
empire state building

daniel + betsy
riding in style

street fair on 56th

our walk home
thru sheep’s meadow

lefty power

henry likes
that he and president-elect obama
have left-handed-ness
in common.

oh, and henry would like
to get a dog, too.

if only his parents were as
progressive-minded
as malia + sasha’s parents.

no more ‘blissful anonymity’

i thought my heart would burst
with pleasure
as four of our fg friends
became members
at church on sunday night.

. ann-marie . felicia . david . amy .

congrats, friends.

church was so jampackedsardines that
tracy, greg, and i had to sit behind
cory, nathan and henry.

[i think cory rubs his eyes
four times on this
four minute clip]

way to go, steve.

can you say ‘triplelayerchocolatecake’
and ‘homemadepeachtarts’
for the afterparty, baby?

embarassingnotetoself:
straighten up that bookshelf
before future photos.

ps – i love membership vows.

here’s what they’re sincerely promising:

1. do you acknowledge yourself to be a sinner
in God’s sight, justly deserving His displeasure,
and without hope
except through His sovereign mercy?

i do.

2. do you believe in the Lord Jesus as the Son of God
and Savior of sinners,
and do you receive and rest
upon Him alone
for salvation
as He is offered in the Gospel?

i do.

3. do you now resolve + promise,
in humble reliance upon the grace
of the Holy Spirit,
to endeavor to live as becomes a follower
of Christ?

i do.

4. to the best of your ability,
do you promise to support
the church in its worship and work?

i do.

5. do you submit to the government and
discipline of the Church,
and do you promise to
study its purity and peace?

i do.

to be known

. overheard .

caroline: do you guys know about me?

nathan: yes, we know everything about you.

c: everything? how do you know everything?

n: look, we were born before you
and we know everything about you
from every day that you’ve been alive.

c: well, what am i saying when i’m quiet?

n: wha?

c: i’m saying things in my head
and you don’t know what they are.
so there.

h and i had a little chitchat
about the nature of
‘counterfeiting’
after this little brightideamoment
with the color printer
and his five dollar bill.

note to the treasury secretary:
he thinks you should just call it,
‘fake money’
instead of
‘counterfeit’

ms. moose brought birthday magic

[please note:
my boys dressed themselves
inadvertently?
in matching stripey shirts.
i had no hand in that one.]

queuing up for musical chairs

i had never thought of chess
as a party game
but let me tell you,
this was one magical birthday party.

kisses to c and s;
happy bday, kiddos!

anticipation

this rainy afternoon
has afforded me
an unexpected luxury:

curling up with favorite cookbooks
in anticipation
of preparing yummies for
tonight  + tomorrow night’s
activities.

today’s inspirations:

1. once upon a tart

and

2. my barefoot contessas

i’m a girl who needs a
photo on every page
(merci, donna hay)

i need to see what that
baby is gonna look like
before i know if i want
to put out the effort
to create it.

and the extra pleasure
of this afternoon:

cory’s eyes look like those
swirly cartoon guys
with porkchops as corneas
as i was suggesting
yummy ideas and
he was savoring the
veto power.

now, the girls have their
raincoats + wellies and
we’re off to fairway
to gather ingredients.

ps – henry got his soccer game in
before the real downpour,
nathan isn’t going to be so lucky.

whistlewhileyouwork

henry takes his
cheery work philosophy
seriously.

logistical notes:

1. one of the first things he unloaded
were three white coffee mugs.
he stacked them in a (precarious) tower
on the edge of the sink
and proceeded to fearlessly maneuver
around them.

2. when he gets out the chair
to put the blue/white glass bowl
away above the sink,
he balances it
on a stack of white glass trays.

so,
glass
stacked on
a stack of glass
and not exactly pushed-in
to safety.

but it works.

it all works.

i am going to try to trust him
more in general after
witnessing this work of
dishwasher emptying cheerful-savvy.

disclaimer:
kindly avert your eyes at some point
when the girls come out of bath time
dressed as towelmonsters.

henry doesn’t seem to register the
noise or general distraction;
focus, baby, focus.

a walkytalky kind of evening

tonight was just what the
doctor ordered:
a night out with my main squeeze.

somehow seeing him
browsing around anthropologie
with me,
not hurrying through,
or tapping his finger
on his imaginary watch
made me love him even more,
if that is possible.

the ’seven sins’ book
kept cory company
while i immersed myself
in an ecclectic feast for the
eyes + senses.

[what's not to love in that store?]

my anthropologie-date souvenir

the emp st bldg
is all
‘viva italia’
tonight.

te amo, cjc, mi amor.

spookydoo, pt. 2

as michelle would say,
bwah-ha-ha-ha

our haunted recipe included:
2 wizards
1 ninja
1 princess
1 green power ranger
1 vampiress
assorted + sundry grownup-types
in varying degrees of costume+non-costume-ness
=
one super spookyfun halloween

thanks to the jennings crew, justin, tracy + junior,
for such a great night.

photocredits: mmj photography

loot check @ the jennings’

junior

a wet thursday

lisa sent me this photo
that she took during
church last sunday.

awwwww.

and check out susi’s intel ad
for an upcoming oprah mag
(and other mags?)

way to go, st + savant marketing.

ps – i love that they
used a real photo of
their boys on the
computer screen
in the ad.
cutiepies.

pps – we saw ‘rachel getting married’
the other night.
talk about an
emotional punch in the stomach.

our polls are open

cory//henry made these ballots
this morning:

1. gorm + cinderella
vs
2. bereyis + snow white

nathan just put out
this poll:
1. tigrara + dopey
vs
2. wavern + grumpy

henry’s latest release
pits
dan + drago
against
saber-toothed tigrara + bereyis

this could get ugly, folks.

henry was eager to paint
‘voting’ signs and recruited
betsy to help

i love school holidays.
lazydazyholidays.

our own private reading room @ magnolia

i’m not sure how this one went down,
but nathan tied henry’s shoe
so henry could keep reading.

ps – poll no.1 is closed and
it was a landslide.
bereyis + snow white – 6 to nothin’.

pps – our wait in the Real polling line
was less than an hour.
y tu?

cooking lessons with paula + nicky

the view from apt 4;
see the roof of the boys
school across the street?

yesterday was my first foray into the world of
ouch-that-hurts-and-now-i-can’t-stand-up
back pain.

wow,
i didn’t know how painful
it would be to join the
‘back pain club.’

you guys have kept your secrets well.

massive thanks to the team
who took care of our family
in my laid-up absence:

thanks to jen b,
who put away my groceries +
fed the girls.

thanks to paula + nicky + lucy,
who gave the girls a magical
couple of hours upstairs
baking cookies + playing +
laughinglaughinglaughing.

thanks to lisa,
who administered meds + good cheer
and picked up the boys from school.

thanks to diane,
who changed my laundry,
emptied my dishwasher and
set my table.

thanks to cory,
who massaged + stretched +
applied heat and pressure appropriately.

i’ll be glad to unjoin this club
very soon.

today is muuuuch better than yesterday.
whew.

a. marathoners desperately looking for taxis

q. what was west end ave
f u l l
of
on our way to church
last night around 4:45pm

my favorite was the family of four
and the dad was clutching the
well-bent-up-by-now
hand-drawn signs
that read
‘Go, Mom’
‘WeLoveYouMom’
and, though tired,
they were still beaming
and their mom looked to be
in good form.
waytogomom, indeed.

and there’s just something
magical
about those crinkly mylar
keepmewarm
silver pancho things.

definately enhances their
heroic superstar
look.

cory + nathan went to cp to watch
the runners yesterday afternoon,
at least that was
the main part of their
PreApproved Flight Plan.

it did eek out later on
that they also
hit rockefeller ctr
to see the
electoral-map-in-the-ice-skating-rink-ice
and ended up spending
a good chunk of time
playing ps2 @ the nba store
and then somehow
ended up at
another spot (fao schw?)
playing wii.

(‘you should’ve seen the
graphics on the ps2, mom!
you could see the sweat!
seethesweat!’)

quite the fun interpretation
of ’sabbath rest,’
boys.

i love it.

verse-two theology

mmmm…were you just
drinking it in
at church yesterday/last night?

for real.

second song,
verse two:

when satan tempts me to despair
and tells me of the wrong within
upward i look and see him there;
who made an end to all my sin.

because the sinless Savior died;
my sinful soul is counted free.
for God, the Just is satisfied;
to look on him and pardon me,
to look on him and pardon me.

(can you hear henry’s eager voice?
a bit premature–as in, he sings
it as soon as he reads it–
but very eager)

third song,
verse two:

in the presence of Your infinite might,
i’m so small and frail and weak,
when i see Your pow’r and wisdom, Lord,
have no words left to speak.

and i cry holy, holy, holy God,
how awesome is your name,
holy, holy, holy God,
how majestic is Your reign,
and i am changed
in the presence of a holy God.

(can you see nathan
squeezing my hand
along to the tempo?
i think i might cry
happyhappy tears,
grateful tears
that i can worship with my
immediate family
and with my
Family At Large)

communion song,
verse two:

near the cross, a trembling soul,
love and mercy found me;
there the Bright and Morning Star
shed its beams around me.

in the cross,
in the cross,
be my glory ever,
till my raptured soul shall find
rest beyond the river.

and you know that final prayer
by heart,
say it with me,

‘gracious Lord,

we give you thanks for calling us
out of the darkness and
into your glorious light.

when we remember the price you paid,
the death of your only Son,
we can only wonder and marvel
at the greatness of your love.

we give our lives to you, Lord,
and pray that through your Spirit
you will teach us how to live
according to your will.

send us out now
to love and serve You
as faithful witnesses of your mercy.

we pray this in Jesus’ name.
amen.’

and amen.

ps – we’re loving
tim’s new book,
the prodigal god.
mmmmm.

pps – my little niece
is joining us very soon…
a month-ish to go now.
yay, babygirl!
yay, mamakatie!

ppps – i forgot about this week.
the week post-time-change
that those of us
with early-rising-little-ones
have extra company
in the wee hours of the morning.
letthegamesbegin.
earrrrly.

hotwheels

caroline took her first
solo
bike ride this morning.

i laughed,
i cried,
it was better than
‘the brothers solomon’
which c + i tried to watch last night.
(17 sheepishlyuneventful minutes
to be exact)

climbers

whereas i climbed up
careful-schmareful,
cory decides to mount this puppy

with one big jump.

tiptopofthejunglegym club

kj: hey, we’re at the tiptop
almost up in the trees,
smileforthecamera.

realityman: won’t it look
about the same
as if we took the pic
standing on the
ground?

thanks, bucko.

notetoself: insert joke here
about a dip.
doing dips.
or something like that.

nathan finds a daddychair.

see caroline
leading the way
up the hill?
speedygonzales.

swingers

hardest working man in showbiz:
keeping four young’uns aloft.

their game:
sleeping beauty pretends to,
well,
sleep.

trying hard to ’sleep’ +
not laugh.

her handsome prince
enters the picture.

one kiss +
the spell is broken.

repeat,
repeat,
repeat.

the morning after

remember:
hydrate
and
get moving.

let’s shake that
after-halloween
sticky-mouth-even-after-brushing feeling,
eh?

ps – if there was a candy-counter machine
similar to a coin-star machine,
i’d be dragging these kiddo’s
treat bags over there asap
and
would coming home with a
Chunk O’ Hard Cash
in my pocket to be
spent on
actually
worthwhile
things.

you’d be second in line?

pps – kisses to henry
who had managed to give away
all
(yes, all. every.single.piece)
of his candy
to nathan + daniel
before we even
got home last night.

he didn’t want to ‘get sick.’