a holiday miracle

cory cavin,
we’re so proud of you.

seriously,
we’re cracking up.

way to go, bud.

ps – my parents are here.
can you see my massive smile
from there?
thought so.

the heart of the beast

that’s right,
cory and the boys
left almost two hours ago
to head for
toys
r
us,
times square.

on the day after christmas.

if they’re not back
by nightfall,
i’ll call for help.

yes, sir;
6′4″,
dark hair,
needs to shave;
the other two are shorter
and in matching stripey shirts…

hmmm

caroline whispered to
me this morning,

are mary + joseph in our hearts, too?

repeat, ditch & adopt

note to self:

in 2009, repeat

1. reading the christmas story
from the catherine vos
story bible;
right on our level.
good thinking, c.

2. saving all christmas cards to
open together with cory on
christmas day while the kids
are occupied with new toys + books.

loved it.

3. new jammies on christmas eve +
sleeping under the tree
(the kids,
not us)

4. the 3 gift guideline
(one to wear,
one to read,
one to play with)

brilliant;
thanks, amanda, for that tip.

5. christmas day carousel trip;
it’s like our second home.

. . . .

in 2009, kindly ditch

1. the christmas morning cinnamon rolls
sans recipe
(apparently, having the ‘gist’ of the
recipe wasn’t enough.
henry, in a polite manner,
appropriately suggested they were ‘gross;’
luckily cory saved the morning
with his famous eggs+sausage.)

2. persevering in trying to find the
perfect winter hat for my beloved.
i’m 0/2 at this point.

the black wool kangol, notsomuch.
the black wool ben sherman, thanksbutnothanks.

i think he’s on his own.

. . . .

in 2009, let’s adopt

1. the lehmann’s ace idea
having gifts under the tree but not putting any
labels on the packages until
christmas eve.

it’d work well if i did a different
wrapping paper per child.

just as long as i kept track
of who-was-what-paper.

2. any other ideas i hear of from
friends; things that worked for
them in 2008.
(pssst. that means you.)

whew.

just like daddy,
b wants to carry her own metrocard.

credit suisse’s children’s holiday party
on christmas eve rated
‘two thumbs up’ from our young partygoers.

nathan ditched the crafts
in lieu of the massive arcade
they had set up for the occasion.
cheers.

he whittled an alligator
out of a bar of soap
as a gift for my parents.

gorillas, monkeys + pteradactyls
join the more ‘traditional’ christmas cookies.

coming home from a fabulous
christmas eve @ the simmons’ house
(thanks, guys)
in the p.o.u.r.i.n.g rain.

nothing says ‘christmas eve’
like waiting at the bus stop
in the dark
in the pouring rain
but we were digging it.

enjoying the new art set
from gma + gpa cates;
score.

it may not look icy…

(note: henry didn’t pause
because of the potential danger,
but because he wanted to
ask me if he was going to
get any time on the computer
when we got home.

glad he was so engaged w/ nature.)

quickie park-bench lunch-break
before hopping on our horses.

a snow-picnic, as it were.

carousel line-up;
i promise this is the first day
we have ever had to wait in line.

the family in front of us in line
was speaking in (mesmerizing) italian
and behind us,
dutch.
or was it danish?

beautiful.

i always feel like the
Luckiest Girl Ever
when we’re spinning on
the carousel and
‘my favorite things’
begins playing.

hooray.

and you know what
comes right after that,
of course,

‘do a deer’.

we are the luckiest.

(the songs prior to ‘favorite’
are some collection of
pseudo-show tunes that
i can’t make hide nor hair of.
boring.)

c requested a rest stop on the way home.

‘rest stop’ being code for
‘can i please have a peppermint, daddy?’

and we ended the
sweet day
with a birthday dinner
in chris wilson’s honor
(happy bday)

and the kids decided that
is simply the perfect ending
to christmas day;
birthday cupcakes w/ a friend.

i agree. i agree.

‘in the beginning
was the Word.
and the Word was
with God in the beginning…

and the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
full of grace and truth.’
1 john 1:1, 14

ps – won’t it be so boring
when i finally get my
camera fixed (yes, again)
and have a flash
and a lcd display
and all of that.

the photos won’t be all
fuzzy, wiggly, and, um, interesting.

christmas in new york

from our little corner of the world
to yours,
merry christmas, friends.

with our love,
cory, kari jo, nathan, henry, caroline + betsy

photocredits: our  talented meghanfriend

checklist

‘a human being should be able to
change a diaper,
plan an invasion,
butcher a hog,
conn a ship,
design a building,
write a sonnet,
balance accounts,
build a wall,
set a bone,
comfort the dying,
take orders,
give orders,
cooperate,
act alone,
solve equations,
analyze a new problem,
pitch manure,
program a computer,
cook a tasty meal,
fight efficiently,
die gallantly.

specialization is for insects.’

-robert anson heinlein

i’ll get right on that.

ps – as i was kneeling by an
almost-sleeping ill-feeling
henry tonight,
he whispered to me,

‘if i’m not better by christmas,
tell nathan he can have
all of my presents.’

public speaking

you know how boy scouts
has a badge for everything?

surely they have one for public speaking, no?

nathan, daniel + leah
read scripture
in church on sunday night.

waytogo, guys.

editors note:
(well, more specifically,
lack-of-editing note)

nathan + his white sweater vest
come in at 0:18 and at 1:07.

greg + his red argyle sweater come in at 0:05.

21 dec 2008
redeemer presbyterian church
nyc

ps – i’ve spent the past week
cracking up when he walks
around the apt saying,
‘the zeal of the Lord will accompish this!’
in mock-rehearsal.

common lingo

betsy’s in The Club.

yesterday afternoon,
cory took the girls
to the nutcracker ballet
@ lincoln center.

(grandma cates was
to go with us as
her christmas gift to us,
but alas, the snowstorm
stranded her at home in kansas city)

it was betsy’s first time
to see a live ballet
and she couldn’t get enough.

at breakfast, the boys
were asking her questions,

betsy, did you like it when the christmas tree grew?
betsybetsy, what did you think of the
snow falling from the ceiling?

she’s in the club.
she has some street cred.
she gets it now that
she’s seen it, too.

well, as much as a 3yrold can get it.

post-ballet:

while they were on their magical adventure,
i had the distinct pleasure of
doing crafts with
nathan, daniel, henry + leah

we certainly missed you, mom + dad cates;
thanks for the nutcracker experience.

merci

i’m uber-grateful that the boys
are way into writing thank you notes
just now;
who knows how long the magic will last?

seriously,
n’s excited to practice
his cursive.

genius timing + props to his teacher.

here’s our supersimple
thank you note chart;
one per person.

you could easily use one main family list,
but i want the boys + caroline
to fill out their own sheets
on christmas day.

don’t worry,
we’ll help betsy with hers.

les livres

my current
read-while-i’m-at-the-bookstore book
is malcolm gladwell’s newbie,
‘outliers.’

i’m up to p. 58.
v. interesting.

(esp if you liked
‘blink’ + ‘tipping point’)

and the library was
good enough to loan me
a few holiday reads,
the most interesting of which is
‘boys should be boys‘
by, meg meeker.

i think i’m cutting my boys
(all three of them)
some extra slack
since reading it.

alice munro’s
hateship friendship courtship love and marriage
is my bedside companion.
thanks, p.

and your holiday rec’s?

(can’t wait to get my hands on
david sedaris’ ‘holidays on ice;’
bummer that i missed
him here at 66th street b+n last week.)

fourteen.

degrees.
on apple bank.

oh.
my.

four on one

babybiblestudy

(say that four times fast)

caroline and i read
psalm 134 together just now.

we read,
we thought/talked about
what it was saying,
and then
we prayed and asked
God to help us
obey his word.

in this case,
to praise the Lord.

now, she’s finding all of
the number 4’s she can find.

and she asked me to
read isaiah 14
and is scandalized that
jacob! is in there.

‘is it our jacob?
or is it another jacob?
jacob gets to see God?!!’

hahaha.

and i hahaha along.

i’m praising the Lord
right now, sweetie;
for you.
for you.

ps – right now
she thinks it’s cool
that her bible
(nathan’s, really)
is bigger than
my bible.
oooooohhh.

consoling ourselves

things we’ve done tonight
to console ourselves
since mom + dad cates
won’t get to come
(we’resosad)

.. c read extra chapters of
the boys’ chapter book to them
(what a weird book)

.. watching ‘hello, dolly’
(our first time,
believeitornot)

‘it’s no use arguing,
i’ve made up your mind.’
-dolly

.. poking around on ‘green living’
websites and guess what?
i followed a link on this
clever little grenade-looking
reusable bag
and hello,
it’s designed + sold by
a friend from church.
supercool + waytogo, d.r.
(i placed my order)

sigh.

i still wish the cates’ were coming.

snow angels

these five really are.

he has a sweetpotato nose
and two dates for eyes,
a very delicious snowman.

caroline, jane, and abby

abominable snowpeople

christmas crafts w/ abby + danny
as our fingers + toes defrost.
drip
drip
drip.

ps – king’s college in the news;
we’re so impressed with all of
our king’s college girls who have
been our faithful babysitters
over the years + currently.

gassing up the snowplows

yay for snow.

boo that it’s keeping
grandma + grandpa cates away
(and anyone else who was
counting on the
big ol’ jet airliners.)

seriously,
how am i going to
tell the kiddos
who have been
coutning down the days
until today?

we’ll miss you,
to say the least.

cinderella, belle, and snow white
(aka. abby l, betsy + caroline)
with noses pressed to the glass

friday morning, 11:03am
this gentle storm is just
getting warmed up.

christmas cheer

our brilliant fellowship groupies,
oh, how we love thee.

christmas cheer,
mulled wine + juicy ham,
cheeky games + peals of laughter.

we love you, our dear fg fam.

and massive props to david+felicia for
hosting the spectacular soiree.

nick, sarah, amy, david k, cory, jen, greg, joe,
kim, david g, james, elizabeth, kj,
meg, chris, angie, jules + joyce
front row: hisaya, felicia, lisa, emily + elizabeth

ps – i.still.want.those.spoons.

hohoho

hovering helicopters

an unnerving sound, at best.

due to a sad incident @
the little tobacco shoppe
(71-72/bway)
our neighborhood is in
a strange momentary state.

we were taking our post-dinner
walk to the newsstand for
some chewing gum
and ran into the crowd.
and the yellow police tape.

and, thankfully, into a friendly
redeemer face, as well.
(belinda)

and they’ve re-routed all of the
72nd street buses over to
our street.

so little ol’ 70th st
is buzzing with mta bus
after mta bus full of
passengers.

an unusual evening, for sure.

with prayers for the shoppe’s
proprietor, indeed.

ps- if you asked the children
right now if anything was
different about our gum-walk,
i bet they didn’t notice a thing.

just talking+scootering+playingaround
and looking at the masses of trees in the
christmas tree stand at the corner
and quizzing the newsstand man on
which gumpacks were $1
(some are $1.50,
over our price threshhold)

amid the din of (at least 4) helicopters
hovering overhead +
newsvans with their big antennas
boosted overhead.

. grace elizabeth .

oh, baby grace!

she’s here,
she’s here.

. grace elizabeth harris .
my little niece.

5lbs 8oz . 19 inches
(runway model?)

cory,
these photos are totally
nsfw for you.

you will tear up, buddy,
so better wait till you’re home
or
pretend you have something in your eyes.

my little brother.
a husband, a father, a pilot,
i think he might be growing up.

we’re elated for you+katie.
waytogo.

(snowy) night (snowball) fight

that’s right,
it’s the first real snow of the season

and we’re launching +
receiving
from our backyard
to the
kramer’s backyard.

mary pondered certain things
in her heart,
and i ponder other
things in my heart.

sigh.

merry christmas.

ps – the overthefence snowball trashtalk
between these
(6, 7, 8 and 9 yr old)
boys is cracking me up.

though i keep reminding them
shhhhh! the neighbors, the neighbors.

pps – don’t tell the kramers
but we’re about to gain a
distinct advantage
as justin is sneaking out back
to increase our bombing capacity.

but don’t feel too badly for them;
they have their dad +
a ladder.

luckily, he laughed

the scene:
this morning in our apt,
after oatmeal with currants
and while children are bopping around
playing with + prodding eachother,
in various stages of dress +
teeth brushed/not yet brushed,
with a tiny bit of stress thrown in
as we assessed (yet again) the sorry
state of our post-flood carpet downstairs.

i entered, stage left,
and saw my beloved wearing
a dress shirt (handsome) with his
grey cashmere sweater over top,
dress sleeves rolled up a bit
on top of the sweater sleeves.

jumping to (incorrect) conclusions,
i cocked my head,
assumed a slight pout
and said,
‘are you out of fresh shirts??
couldn’t you give me a
bit of a head’s up on when
you’re down to one or two
so i could have them deliver
the pressed ones?!’

and my gentle love
quizzically tipped his own head to the side
and looked down at his hipsweater/shirtcombo
and back at me and said,
with a chuckle,
‘i just thought it looked good.’

it DID look good.

and he wasn’t trying to subtly say to me,
‘girl, can’t you keep up with the details?!
don’t you know how many days worth of
fresh shirts are hanging neatly in my
closet and don’t you know when i need
more clean shirts?!’
which was the message
i assumed he was trying to convey,
you know,
looking cute and all in his sweater.

oye vey!

poor guy.
i misread his wardrobe
as a dig at me -
what a twisted mind i have,
feeling guilty +
getting defensive
instantaneously.

luckily, he just laughed at me.

and then snuggled
me into a hug
and whispered that
he loves his women crazy.

good thing.

‘even when our hearts condemn us,
God is greater than our hearts…’
1 john 3:20

no accidental cursing

when i picked chipperhenry up from
school today
in noticed a big sheet of
white paper folded multiple times
and stapled together
like a slip-on envelope of sorts.

on his middle finger.

so i inquired.

his wide-eyed response went
something like this,
‘mom!
did you know that your middle finger
has a really bad word written on it?
it says a really bad word?

so i made this cover
so that whenever i’m
moving my fingers
i won’t accidentally curse
at anybody.’

oh, whew.

42cents worth

those sappy songs are dead-on
on this one:

this is the most wonderful time of year
for my mailbox.

being a handwritten
in-the-snail-mail
letter-loving-girl,
i’m drowning in happiness
every time i open
that sweetlycreaky apt 1 box.

the photos,
the humor,
the not-so-humorous,

and the handwriting i look forward to
all year long;
aunt leslie, mrs. wall, nicole t,
and so many more of you whose
distinct+warm penmanship
makes me feel like we’ve had a good chat.

keep ‘em coming:
255 w 70, no. 1, nyc 10023

ps – here’s our new christmas morning
cinnamon roll trick,
thanks to ina.

’stunt preaching’

what kathy calls it
when tim pulls one of his,
‘let’s see what i can get out
of this passage of scripture’
maneuvers.

last night, it was the lengthy genealogy
from matthew 1:1-17
(‘the history of grace’)
that he pulled these
rather large +
heart-melting points from:

1. the gospel is good news
not just good advice

(news = here’s what has already happened
advice = here’s what you should do)

2. all the best stories are true

3. christ turns the values of the world
completely on their head

4. jesus being the seventh seven

whew.
bring it on, tim.

december getaway

all mental pistons are firing today
thanks to a crisp jaunt
up the hudson for the weekend;
a spectacularly simple +
alltogether energizing
december weekend.

thank you,
thank you,
cross fam.

nothing screams ‘time for a watergun fight’
like a freezing december morning.

surprisingly, caroline led the charge
on the watergun brigade.

cory + nathan hiked sugar loaf
on saturday afternoon
(4 mi. round trip?)

returning climbers,
completely invigorated +
ready for some dinner.

wisecaroline sticks to the top
of the wrestling pile.

tracy, cory + i mastered a 500-piecer;
i was so proud of it that i could barely
bring myself to put it back in the box.

sunday morning tennis;
it just doesn’t get better than this.

finishing up homework before
scooting off to 5pm church.

we were glad to catch a good round of
’settlers’ after church
(cory and amy were neck and neck,
he pulled ahead at the end and
let’s just say lisa/meg/nathan and i
were tied for the remaining positions);

a merry december weekend, indeed.

just call me mrs. noah

once again i’m extending
mental blessings to
mr. shopvac
wherever he is.

we had two days of
beautiful rains
which our basement
will be enjoying for
a few days to come…

nice.

sing with me,
‘row, row, row your boat…’

a mindgame for thursday

this morning, i’m remembering
that i’m better off when i
expect
things to go
differently than planned

than when i’m
thrown
or
shocked
by the unexpected.

for starters:

since i have three children
aged six and under,
if i expect that someone’s had a
potty accident in the night
and that i’ll be doing an extra
load or two of laundry
and scrubbing a mattress (or two)
and doing a morning bath for
a child (or two),

well, when all sheets are dry
i’m thrilled +
think my life is
such a cinch.

or:

if i expect to lose an entire box/jug
of something
(cereal, triscuits, milk, etc)
over the course of
the day or week,
then i’m
pleasantly surprised
when it’s just normal crumbs on the floor.

wow, we barely spilled a thing!
amazing job, guys.
and
don’t worry, babe;
grab a towel and i’ll help you
clean it up
vs.
whatwereyouthinking??!

(that last one is usually in
a highpitched voice with a
slightly reddening face,
i’m embarassed to say)

reminding myself of the massive
developmental coordination projects
their muscles + brains are undertaking
helps lighten my expectations.

i mean, they’re growing like
bamboo shoots +
their teeth are falling out and
growing back in +
their little bodies are working as
hard as they can to go
as fast as they’re pushing them
doing as many things at once as possible…

i often forget about the
broken and fallen nature
of our world and i
expect peace,
expect efficiency,
expect gentle answers.

come on, momma.
get some imagination +
pray for a bit more patience.

dear self,
point taken.

ps – don’t forget to change
those extra loads of
laundry today.

pps – to end the suspense,
this morning it was one bed, one  child,
one box of kix and one box of
honeybunchesofoats.

(we hate it when cory leaves early
for work and we’re stuck with
mama’s cold cereal breakfasts.
how boring.)

handwriting 101

i’ve had a repeated request recently
of friends asking me to
offer tips on how they could
gussy-up their own handwriting
(esp regarding addressing their
christmas cards).

so i’m going to throw it wide open
for a minute.

if you send me a letter
within the next week
(aka. any letters received in
my snail mail box by 19 dec 08)

i’ll make some suggestions on
what you could do
and mail it back to you.

your writing sample should include:
-a self addressed stamped envelope
-a lowercase alphabet (cursive)
-an uppercase alphabet (cursive)
-an uppercase alphabet (all caps)
-the numbers 1 thru 10
-your signature (on a good day)

a few quick thoughts
as you grab your pen today:

-if you have a long letter at the beginning of a word,
a ‘y,’ or a lovely ‘j,’
swoop it a bit.
add some drama.

-and if you have an ending letter that
you can extend a bit,
extend away.
(an e, or an a, or a longflowing s)

show your flair today, indeed;
tis the season.

(please tell me you’ve
seen office space.
10 times, hopefully.)

a rainy wednesday afternoon

i’m trying to convince
some small human beings
that i love
that we should go to
the carousel
even though it’s raining.

they’re not buying it.

yet.

watch out, kj

cory was reading to us from
luke 8 a minute ago,
about the seeds that
fall along the path
and it hit me
like an anvil to the heart.

. some are trampled +
eaten by the birds
. some fell on rock +
when it came up,
it withered for lack of moisture
. some fell among thorns
which choked it as it grew
. still other seeds fell
on good soil
and yielded a crop
100x more than was sown.

and at the end
it says,
…the seeds that fell among the thorns
stands for those who hear,
but as they go on their way
they are choked by
life’s worries,
riches
and
pleasures.

worries and pleasures.
in want and in plenty.
the hard and the easy.

oye + watch out
(to myself).

may His word penetrate
our hearts
quickly,
deeply +
exclusively
this very day.

ps – caroline just gave this
word o’ direction to nathan:
you can’t kick me
while we’re hugging.
now, hug me!

pinkandround

pink+round:
the theme to b’s third bday party
this morning

caroline jumped out of bed and
just knew what she would wear:

pink and round, right, mommy?
i’ll wear my tutu.

of course you will.

betsy jumped out of bed as well
and just knew what she would wear:

her snow white dress*.

neither pink nor round
but somehow
perfect.

i underestimated the
popularity, versitility + sheer hilarity
of the inflatable rings.

‘you put your head in,
you put your head out…’
the lesser-known hokeypokey verse.

awesomelisa celebrates her 4/4 victory
on the human ringtoss
(the girls couldn’t get enough
of that game;
doitagain!doitagain!)

the boys were seeing how far they
could launch their rings
while
the girls played ringaroundtherosy,
of course.

we missed you, honor + lydia;
we love you.

daniel wouldn’t let his ring out of his sight
and
cash sat on his,
just to keep it close.

we read ‘nova the robot fixes his spaceship’
twice
which (surprisingly) had universal-gender-appeal
and a sweet ‘teamwork’ message;
i’ll remember that one for the future.
way to go, david kirk;
a noteworthy accomplishment.

what a brilliant
morning with these
sweet kiddos.

props to you, lbrn,
for your cheerful help +
ringtossymastery.

*thanks, samantha.

post party analysis:

ladylike

c to b:
princesses do not
take captives.

with sympathy

our hearts ache for am + s
(and e + h).

afterward:
‘mom, how do you make a cursive ‘z’?’

i’m so glad it has worked
out that i get to go
to the visiting hours
this afternoon in
massachusetts.

and fingers-crossed:
it will take five
(cheerful + competent)
adults to take care of
things here
from when i leave
and when cory gets home.
(bummer that it’s
a session night)

massivethanks, team:
jessica, scott h,
carrie, greg + lisa.

the ol’ ringy-dingy

it was 13.5 yrs ago that
cory dropped to one knee,
quoted a bit of colossians,
and said those memorable words
(to me,
memorable to me),

‘to love is to serve
and i love you with
all of my heart
and want to
serve you for the
rest of my life;
will you please marry me?’

and i said,
wellllll,
is there anything else?
lemme think about–
just kidding.

and ever since then,
every single day + night,
i’ve worn that beautiful
ring on my left ring finger…

until last night
when the diamond
fell out.

and i feel so naked today
without that sweet ring.

bummer-rama-mama.

(we found the runaway stone.
whew)

ps – need a chuckle?
susan’s 10 ways you know
you’ve blown a gasket

bathroom bustup

this afternoon,
we all loaded the imaginary
school bus and trotted
down the hallway
to take a fieldtrip
to our very own…

bathroom.

part of our ’slow roll-out’
of family-structure-ideas
from the turansky/miller conference
is to introduce a couple of
‘new’ things each week
on down the line.

this past week,
we’ve been talking about
honoring eachother.

the three definitions
of ‘honor’:

.. treating people as special
.. doing more than is expected of you
.. having a good attitude.

and one of the practical ways they suggest
to honor eachother
is specifically in the bathroom.

before you leave, asking yourself,
‘is this bathroom
ready for the next person?

so this afternoon
we actually had fun
testing ourselves
on bathroom cleanliness etiquette.

first, we talked about what
it should look like when
you walk in.

then, i’d go in,
mess it up
and then they’d have to
fling the door open,
notice the shower curtain tucked into the tub,
the drippy water all around the sink,
the teetering-over handsoap dispenser,
the misplaced hand towel,
the unroll-y toilet paper,
an action figure on the floor,
etc.

and make it right.

bingo!

they totally got into it
and wanted to repeat their turns.

now, we’ll work on cory

gender differences

the setting:
we have one sweet minute
before we head out the door
to the ‘bday party for jesus’
(way to go, t2 + crew;
rockedthehouse)

the idea:
quick,
in front of the tree, turkeys.

and then the moment passes,

the girls keep smiling
as if nothing is happening

oh, well;
let’s hug.

hugging + wrestling = the story of our lives

and then there was one.

interesting take in today’s times,
‘in defense of teasing’ by d. keltner

it’s complicated

my parenting homework for tonight
involves looking at the
network of relationships
within our immediate family
and asking
these questions
for each relationship
(using the acronym ‘peace’):

1. how are problems solved btwn these two?
2. which emotions are communicated or not communicated?
3. how are arguments handled between this pair?
4. what conversation topics are easy or difficult?
5. what is the level of enjoyment in this relationship
for each person?

obviously,
this will take more than one night.

it’s complicated;
identifying the good relational patterns,
the strained ones,
and those that might need
urgent redirection.

and it’s worth looking closely,
and chewing on,
and chuckling at,
and throwing up my hands
in surrendered prayer.

thanks, turansky/miller,
for the goldmine of structure
and encouragement in parenting.
(‘say goodbye to whining,
complaining and bad attitudes
in you and your kids’
p. 68-69)

sunset on the hudson river

the boys wanted to play
with sticks + lassos.

i tried to give caroline
the message that she
might want to hang
with betsy, daniel, margaret + i,
and leave the boys
to their fun,
but it wasn’t until
she came running over
with crocodile tears
and yelling,
‘it got bonked! it got bonked!’
(her head, apparently
and judging by the confusing grammar,
maybe her brain took a bonk)
that she took the hint
and joined the non-armed crowd.

ps- the beauty of examining the network
of relationships is this:
i need to change first.

if i want to help someone stop whining,
i first need to change how i respond
when someone whines.

if i want to help children stop bickering,
i need to change how i relate
to children who bicker.

brilliant.
and hopeful.

vantage point

thanks to kim + juliet
for a lovely morning in the sky.

see the crosswalks?
that’s 70th/west  end.

looking down on my life from a
bird’s eye view.
(read: 31st floor)

don’t worry, you’re invited

the last hour felt quite
surreal
as caroline politely insisted
that we sit down and
plan her baby shower.

it has 7 steps:

1. ‘thank God for the new baby’
2. ‘thank God for my husband’
3. ‘open presents for the baby’
4. ‘enjoy some food with our friends’
5. ‘have a prayer’
6. ’say, ‘i love you’ ‘
7. ‘talk’

‘the end’

she drew pictures to
illustrate each of the ’steps’
and reminded me that
it should be
‘like merritt’s and ashley’s
and paula’s’ parties.
(fresh in her memory)

and quickly added,
‘you’re invited,
mom + betsy!
and it’s a girls and boys party
so daddy and the boys
can come, too’

dear potential suitors,
don’t be frightened
by her plan-ahead-ness.
love,
the management

slaying the seven-headed mouse

cory, nathan + henry
enjoyed the nutcracker
@ lincoln center
yesterday afternoon.

barely a few minutes into the
beginning party scene,
henry leaned into cory
and asked,
‘when do they start fighting??’

they feed the live music
into the foyer
so the girls danced a long
(and enjoyed the audience’s applause)
while waiting for the
boys to be done.

the elusive pas de deux

thanks a million, diane, for organizing the trip;
they loved it.

at this point in my maternal-life,
i can whip up a
to-go lunch-for-six
at the speed of light
with my eyes closed.

(it’s not an interesting lunch,
mind you,
but it’s lunch nonetheless)

togetherness

why brush alone
when you can
brush together?

ps – caroline to kj:
‘mommy,
my nutcracker is very hungry.
can i feed him some nuts?’

a spectacle of mass proportions

photocredits: lisa elaine marie brown

(if you blink and squint quickly
over the first four photos
you get some sort of
family photo)

way to go, amy!
and
a million thanks, chris, for
getting us all organized.
wow + yay.

and thanks, again to amy
for the backstage tour;
nathan was especially impressed with:

1. the hydrolic curtain set-up
and
2. the way they turn around
the red tour bus off stage
(key: it’s too big and the side stage is
too little, so they actually physically
dismantle + reattach it to make
it look like it turned around -
the steering wheel pops out
and reattaches to the other
end of the bus.
killer info to a
curious nine-year-old.)

a winter morning’s levity

hymns, the perfect way
to start any day.

this morning’s verse three:

near the cross! O Lamb of God,
brng its senes before me;
help me walk from day to day
with its shadow o’er me.

(singwithmenow)

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

nathan prayed after we sang
and about two heartbeats
after that,

he said,
‘what do you call a fake noodle?’

‘an impasta’

ahhhh,
the lingering worship.

ps – here’s another good one
from that turkey this morning:

q. where do killer whales go
to have their teeth done?

a. an orca-dontist

our secret recipe

+   =   hopefully betsy will feel better soon

i know,
we’re geniuses.

medicating + hydrating + resting =
this is rocket science here.

the book box

i stole this idea from my mom
and from many other
of you brilliant mothers:

the box of december books
that we stash away annually
with the christmas decorations
and
pull back out and
begin enjoying
on december 1st.

oh, i love these books.

i get as excited as the children
to read and reread
these favorites
that are only with us
for one short little month.

it’s the perfect project to
add a bit to it each year
and now that we’re celebrating
our 9th christmas with children,
we’ve got quite the
little collection.

this year’s box includes:

the nativity,
illustrated by julie vivas
(find it in hardback)

corduroy’s christmas
(lift the flap;
that sweet corduroy. love him.)

the wild christmas reindeer,
and the night before christmas,
by jan brett
(what’s not to love about jan brett?)

four friends at christmas,
by tomie de paola

the best christmas pageant ever
(cory reads this aloud to
us the week before christmas;
thanks, grammy + papa)

the christmas miracle of jonathan toomey
by susan wojciechowski
(thanks, brit)

papa panov’s special day
retold by mig holder + illustrated by julie downing
(thanks, john)

through the animal’s eyes
by christopher wormell
(thanks, cross fam)

classic christmas stories
selected by ian whybrow
(thanks, bartholomew fam)

the advent book
by jack + kathy stockman
(the one with the big doors
that open each day)

the nutcracker,
by susan jeffers

the nutcracker ballet
with paper dolls
(thanks, grandma + grandpa cates)

the velveteen rabbit
(thanks, grammy + papa)

jesus
by demi
(thanks, cross fam)

the twelve days of christmas pop-up
by robert sabuda
(thanks, kingston fam)

and a handful of silly christmas books,
some that light up +
some that sing those
fantasticallygoofy electronic music
christmas favorites…

bring it on.

ps – i almost forgot
two of our favorite pop-ups:
christmas in new york
+
christmas around the world