up

if you can,
try to see ‘up’ in the theatre.

3-d spectacular.

but watch out,
it’s a tear-jerker.

mine were rolling
right from the beginning.

and even when i recounted
parts of it to cory,
i promise his eyes were misty.
(sawdust, surely)

10 thumbs up from the cates’.

(i bet the number grows to 12
once cory gets to see it,
but he was elbow-deep in concrete yesterday.
we’re almost done)

8:30am
let the games begin

3-d rocks.

even afterwards,
they weren’t about to
take them off.

nothing says ’saturday afternoon’
like donuts at the greenmarket.

usna graduation

yes, after all of that build-up,
jacob actually graduated.

sweet.

hello, mr. president.
the 21-gun salute gave me chills.

it’s as if jacob
could see us.
(he couldn’t)

there jacob goes,
shaking hands.

the jumbo-tron was my friend
in getting a closeup of
The Shake.

a lot of the ceremony-time
was spent reading calvin + hobbes
up in a little shaded alcove in the
tippytop of the packed-and-sweating stadium.

the kids did a great job.

after the midshipmen toss their hats
into the air, the children get to
run onto the field and
retrieve the hats.

some of the mid’s tuck money
into the hat before they toss it;
nathan came away with $7,
a haul.

cousin parker’s hat had a
note tucked inside it.

of awards + dress swords

we’re so proud of
our little jacob.

he was 4 yrs old
when cory and i started dating.

this past week was an
extended exercise in realizing
he’s All Grown Up.

way to go, buddy.

we certainly wouldn’t have sat
(cheerfully) through so many
awards ceremonies for anyone else;
our bootys are permanently molded
into those flippy-up-seat shapes.

day 1: awards ceremony, chauvenet hall

following uncle jake to
see his special award

‘2009 jacob r. cates’

awwww.

heading back for day 2:
awards ceremony, mahan hall

he kept getting back in line,
they kept calling him forward.

jeepers, kiddo.
so proud.

cory does ’secret service’;
it’s like ‘blue steel’
only different.

day 3: awards ceremony, alumni hall

a challenge to my
shoot-while-clapping skills.

they line up like this
every.day.
for lunch.

every.day.
of his college career,
they lined up like this
to all march into lunch
together
and they’re seated
together
and they serve (4,000? midshipmen)
lunch all at once.

everyone is seated and
served and eats
at the same time.

an exercise in management genius,
if you ask me.

i’m trying hard to sychronize
a meal with 6 humans.

impressive.

boston or bust.

which means he’ll be close to us
for another two years;
bolt bus, here we come.

one can never have too many plaques, really.

my personal favorite is cory’s
little league ’sportsmanship’ award
from the third grade
which hangs contentedly on
our bedroom wall.

fingers-crossed that my kiddos
get the cates-family-math gene;
my solar-powered calculator
regularly gets the best of me.

enough already,
let’s get to the hardware:

one of the prizes he was awarded
was a 28″ dress sword.

popular with the nephews, i’ll say.

and a spy glass.
a Super Heavy spy glass.

for whenever he’s on a sail boat
hunting old-school pirates.

looking for maritime hooligans.

what he actually saw out the scope
as our annapolis house was in a
forest.

sherwood forest, to be precise.

(no joke,
it’s called ’sherwood forest’
and the internal lanes and roads
are ‘maid marion,’
‘friar tuck’ and the like.)

and it was gorgeous.

refreshing and
deep-breath inducing.

the whole week was.

congrats, jrc.

gun show

i loved watching this sweet
cbs reporter chat up cory
while we picnicked before
the blue angels took flight.

putting on his own kind
of gun show
in the navy yard.

‘let’s get you mic’ed;
we call it being ‘hot’ in The Business.’

’so who are you here celebrating?’

‘oh, your little brother?’

‘is he as handsome as you?’

tittilating b-roll.

i kid.
i kid.
i’m sure it made for
spectacular journalism
on the nightly news.

or cutting room floor,
as the case may be.

i give her an A for creativity.

19 gun salute

after jacob’s marching parade
on thurday morning,
there was a 19 gun salute.
(indicating an admiral
is in the house?)

the kids thought it was
high.larious.
to act like they
were ‘hit’ after
each shot.

i mean, how long can
we keep this up?

all 19 times, baby.

cory gives us the lowdown
on where we go from here.

blue angel fever

one of our favorite things
about jacob’s graduation
last week was seeing the
blue angels
3 days in a row.

holysmokes.

day 1: rehearsal
day 2: performance
day 3: they flew over the stadium
at the start of graduation

we’ve got the fever.

pre-rehearsal picnicing
with cousin parker

rehearsal

they’re horsing around at 700mph
while i feel like i’m going
to throw up.

i wish the photos had
audio;
bone-shaking audio.

c + her grandpa cates

b’s model plane
apparently crashing
on her sweet aunt stacy

philly or bust

the ideal way to
kick off our
week-long roadtrip:

tuck + stacy.

photo credit: a smiling henry p. cates

three cheers for city church,
three cheers for the bart fam;

we love you, friends.

ps – we saw this the morning
we were leaving for philly:
apparently you can
chain up your bicycle
or
your wheelchair.

creative.

shells

thanks to our clever jw;
on a new zealand beach.

only 6.5 months until
we get to hug your necks…

my boys were so kind
to me tonight;
i prayed (aloud) in church
and i was nervous +
my stomach was all fluttery.

earlier, henry said he’d come up with me
on stage to  ’scare away the stage fright.’

nathan gave me a thumbs-up
when i got back to my seat.

heregoes:

‘please pray with me:

Gracious Lord,

we come to you as many individuals
yet, in you, we are one body.

we come tonight representing individual
concerns and responsibilities,
distractions and worries,

yet we are here to worship you,
to bear one another’s burdens
and enjoy the unity that only you can give us.

what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him,
and yet you do.

you, o Lord, are our portion and our cup,
you hem us in behind and before,
you have laid your hand upon us.

this knowledge is too wonderful for us.

yet in this truth we stand before you
and ask that you comfort the lonely,
that you will heal those of us who are sick,
that you will encourage the doubting,
and help us all to take our eyes off of ourselves and to
look to see how we can serve those
you have put us in proximity to.

We ask that you will bring about your kingdom
among us and
through us.

we ask that you will be with our relationships as a church.
that we will listen to you,
that we will speak your words to each other,
affirming each other and withholding judgment.

we ask that you would move in and through
our friendships, our dating relationships, and our marriages.

do not let evil have a foothold among us, O Lord.
do not let our love of sinning drown us.

help us not to lean on our own understanding
or to selfishly look out for our own interests,
but help us to consider Christ,
who for the joy set before him,
endured the cross.

thank you that you are faithful, when we are faithless,
that you pour out our love on us, when we are loveless.

because of  your grace, we ask
that you will help us to seek you personally,
that we will look out for the needs of those around us,
that we will serve our neighbors, our church, and our city
as you would have us.

order our ways by your Word
and make your commandments the joy of our heart,
that we may grow in your love
and that our community
would be an alternate city,
a city set on a this hill

we ask these things in Jesus name.
amen.’

surprising miss osewalt

the reservoir

looking north to harlem

and south to midtown

see the tip top of
the emp. state bldg?

congrats, james + elizabeth

a wonderfully successful
surprise bridal shower.

the amazing osewalt sisters

va-cay

that’s right,
our family is
officially
on vacation.

yessiree, bob,
eleven
(count ‘em, e.l.e.v.e.n.)
days until my three boys
have to report back
to the Real World.

mmmmm.
it’s feeling good.

the first 5.5 hrs of it,
that is.

so proud of her
monkey bar blisters.
hard earned,
they are.

desperately hoping she’ll get
monkey bar blisters.

photo credits: emily anne buckingham.
strong work, senorita.

ps -
my first vacation indulgence?
i learned how to upload
photos on facebook.

i’m entering the 90’s, baby.

pps -
diyart.com pixelates your
uploaded photo and
gives you paint-by-number
instructions for it.

ppps -
laran’s sweet new find;
les toiles du soleil’s nyc boutique.

race you there.

pppps -
karen’s brilliant tip:
dover publication’s bargain bin.

free shipping over $50.

simple school days

the usual friday gig,
which is such a
good gig.

co-op preschool,
how we love thee.

6 girls + 100 magnatiles + 12 mylittleponies = mmmmm.

run for the hills?

in a moment of happy ignorance,
one of my kiddos
knocked the
‘keep calm
and
carry on’
frame
off the wall
and it splintered
and shattered

i’m going to try
not to read anything
into it.

right?

wednesday go to meetin’

‘God used you
to keep me his.’

-a mom’s group friend’s
testimony about what
the group has meant
to her this past year.

non-trite-ly,
this group is
the face,
the voice,
the arm(s) of
God to me;
tangible, warm reminders
that i’m not alone in
this journey.

happy summer, friends;
here’s to another great year together.

and thanks, rpc,
for your encouragement + support
of all of the mother’s groups,
as usual.

‘jumping for jesus’
is always a crowd-pleaser.

honor, betsy, lydia, ethan, caroline, kevin, ryan + elijah
(and mrs. goble)

abby’s fan club.

yes, that’s 1/4 of an
orange in her mouth;
what a lady sillybean.

ps – paula, we miss you.

pps – lianne, wendy, + courtney,
we’ll miss you.

ouch.

ppps – we’re memorizing
hebrews 12:1-3 together
over the summer.

join us?

pppps -
we’re so excited about
our four newborns;

congrats to
paul + melanie + baby matthew,
chris + erin + baby jack,
derek + renee + baby samantha,
chris + janice + baby connor.

six-sided truth

‘i think
hexagons
are hard to draw
by yourself.’
-henry, age 6

creep-o

when jordyn asked caroline
what nathan’s painting was
in the art show this morning,
she cheerfully (and accurately)
said,
‘a creep-o!’

a creepy guy.
a creep-ola.

in nathan’s description of
his painting, he included this tidbit:

‘to be honest, i’m not a very
artistic kind of person
so painting a good painting
is harder than it looks for me.’

finder’s fee

i owe morv + jono a finder’s fee
for this tip:

free itunes download of
‘preaching christ in a postmodern world’
series by
clowney/keller.

monday, sweet monday

and we all know
the best thing about mondays.

the new
new yorker
arrives in
your mailbox.

whew.

(i hate double-issue weeks.

well, i love them the first week,
but what’s a girl to do
that second long week
without new copy?!

i know you know.)

a classic afternoon

thanks to m’s faithful organizing,
classic playground
is the place to be
on monday afternoons.

glad to be out
and
doubleglad to be together.

wet cement, day 2

after an 8am baseball game
go, dodgers
we kicked mother’s day off
with a dance-off.

ethan gets in on the
rubble-smashing action.

the completed retaining wall;
we’ll fill in the gap with rubble + cement.

caroline helps fill the
holes in the cinder blocks
with the rubble the boys
have broken into small pieces;
nice teamwork.

looking for lulu.

justin + cory supervise
the sledgehammer action.

nothing says ’summertime’ to me
like hearing the yankees game
on c’s portable radio.

it follows him around the house/yard
all season long
and we all listen anxiously for that
final line,
‘aaaannnnddddd
the yankees win,
the Yankees Win!’

building the form for the
next big pour.
(tues night,
fingers-crossed for no rain)

worksite + church dress =
umm,  notsomuch.

at one point in the afternoon,
henry came running out
and said,
‘hey, i thought sunday was
supposed to be a day of
rest?’

8-wheeler

‘God give me a deep humility
and a burning love,
a well-guided zeal and a single eye;
and then let men and devils do their worst.’
-george whitfield

our 8-wheeled ride
en route to church
last night.

(oops,
only 1 helmet;
we live on the wild side*)

we can’t pass our old corner (77/west end)
without balancing on that
funky little wall.

*every now and again,
the playground will be abuzz
with sightings of the police
handing out helmet tickets.

sans helmet = $100 fine.
ouch.

ca to ny and back

i could kiss this photo,
it makes me so happy;
r+p+l are settling in.

here’s what p found at her
farmer’s market in ca:

here’s what we found at ours:
flowering chives.

she looks so legit as a driver;
her
i’m-really-an-urban-girl
secret
is safe with us.

happy mum’s day

this is how our basement
is celebrating mother’s day.

(see the black hose/tube?
c’s rigged it so the shopvac
blows air under the carpet)

i like this one;
drying inside/behind the wall.

an old-fashioned wall raising, day 1

yay, ted + cory.
thanks, michael + abe.
go, team.

i like the column at the right
on c’s supply list;
200 lbs, 600 lbs, 1K lbs
(cement, sand, and gravel,
respectively;
not to mention the
30- 8″x 8″x 18″ concrete blocks.
now, those suckers are heavy)

now, here’s the important thing:
when the prince lumber truck
pulls up out front,
they roll open the back of their truck,

and the rest is up to you.

off the truck? yep, you lift it off.
onto the sidewalk,
into the entryway,
shuffle thru the apt,
onto the back deck,
up the back stairs,
whew.

now, repeat that for the other
29 concrete blocks,
20- 50lb bags of gravel,
12- 50lb bags of sand,
(and the sand was wet)
and 2- 100lb bags of cement;

feeltheburn.

the new fence goes into place.

forms for the first pour of concrete.

mix it up, baby, now.

little miss lemonade-refiller-girl.

they unearthed lots of
spectacular worms today.

b’s squirmyworm collection.

when i think ‘cinder blocks’
i don’t exactly think:
‘barefoot’
or
‘in a flowy-catchy dress’

but, hey, to each his own.

wknd

green thursday

prepping the plots
across the street
at our school;
ooohhh,
this is going to be good.

welcome, leafy neighbors.

can you smell the
lilacs from there?

i thought so.

(and at $8 a bundle,
this photo is all the closer they’re
going to get to my
living room)

my cheerful helper

we chose pinky-peachy begonias,
these double-flowered impatiens,
and brilliant red fuchsia
for the back yard planters.
(bright shade)

we sort of looked
like we knew what
we were doing.

props to the stokes farm staff
for treating my rookie-questions
as if they’re Quite Important.

we can never resist
the fresh cider donuts.

ps -
gold-star-thanks to
diane, margaret, and emily,
for helping in multiple ways
while we perfected our
water-sucking-up
techniques today;

a superb team effort
and we’re so grateful.

(some people get
‘tennis elbow;’

i might get
’shopvac back.’)

rain,
rain,
go away…
just for a bit
so we can dry up
a smidge.

on second thoughts

so, this morning
we saw a car
.honk. .honk. .hoooooonk.
at a person in the crosswalk.

wait,
a nun in the crosswalk.

on a cane.

an elderly nun
using a cane
in the crosswalk
and they’re laying on the horn.

i wonder if they had
second thoughts as they
drove away.

i know i have
second thoughts (and third and)
on my behavior
every day.

oye.

‘…God’s kindness leads you toward repentance…’
romans 2:4

ps -
“mothers in crisis turn to
temporary ‘parents’ “
from the times.

wish i could sign up to help.

hungry hippo

i need to post a
clarifying photo.
(sorry to have confused some of you
with the legs-and-shoes-dangling-
out-of-the-hippo’s-belly photos)

for those of you
who haven’t had the
pleasure of enjoying
either of the two
west side hippo playgrounds
(91/rsd, 91/cpw)

the
hippos
are
hollow.

you climb in the head
and exit the belly.

or vice versa.

here’s what it would look like
if, say, you were playing
your big brother’s ds
inside a hippo.

and then your buddy
and then your sister
joined you.

the entire park looks like
hippos are wallowing about
and they’re even swimming
up to your
canoe.

imagine away.

ps -
one tip for newbies to
hippo playground.
(i’m going to save your life here):

before you have a coronary
because you absolutely Can Not
find your child in the playground,
i mean,
you looked away for one second
and seriously, they’re
seriously seriously not here;

take heart,
you Have Not lost your child.

they’re inside the hippo.

go and look
and you’ll see that
i’m right.

now, cancel that
frantic 911 call
you just made.

soho or bust

aaahhhh, the strand.

her first trip to pearl river mart.
in all of it’s glory.

caroline had stars in her eyes
in topshop.

(she really thought this one shirt
would be ‘perfect’ for cory.

i really would’ve loved
to see his reaction if we
had actually brought it home for him.

i so should’ve done it.)

and it was her first time
at trader joe’s as she
helped me make the
Fish Run.

ps -
i was so pleased with her
willingcheerful sprint-ish walk-ish
from bway/canal
(muji, cb2, pearl riv mt, topshop, madewell)
up to the strand/tj’s at union sq.

a woman after my own
speedy-window-shopping heart.

imaginary dinner party

on a rainy monday morning,
i’m thinking about
the imaginary dinner party
i’d love to host tonight:

ricky gervais,
mark bittman,
condi rice +
macy gray/norah jones.

you in?

love me some
smarmy david brent.

here’s the thing

we started the worship service
tonight with,

‘Lord, we come to worship you,
Lord, we come to worship you,
for we know that your name is
worthy, O Lord,
and we come to worship you.’

all three grateful-tear-inducing verses.

andwe’reoff.

a few songs after that,
i caught a look at nathan’s face
when abe was leading us into
the confessional part of the service,
saying specifically that
confession brings rest,
and health,

and n’s look was
so intent,
so concentrated,

and the significance of having
adults up there
leading us in worship
that he knows personally;
wow.

i mean,
that’s mr. tom and ms. michelle,
daniel + leah’s mom and dad.

and mr. abe,
lydia + ezra’s dad.

and they’re leading us in worship,
and they’re publically confessing
the truth of the gospel

and we see them on the playground,
and in the neighborhood,
and we shoot hoops with them,
and they come to our house.

how can i not
tear up through
the entire service?

the Lord is worthy.
and his people are wonderful.
i know this,
full well.

thanks, guys.

ps -
cory’s going to rate me
high on the cheese-o-meter
for this one,
but he knows i’m
right.

pps -
the babbie mason song
she sang for the offering?
shazam.

what’s not to love?

overheard

caroline, eyeing the lobster tank @ fairway:
‘do the lobsters
know
they’re about to be eaten?’

henry:
‘i tried to give nathan
a wedgie, but did you
know he doesn’t
have any undies on?’

even better,
henry said it (loudly) in front
of a new couple we had just
met on the playground.

classy.

that’s right, baby:
9 orange + 9 yellow peppers
for
$1.50/bag

fairway’s ‘bargain of the day’

i barely resisted the
bag of red ones,
but, hey,
a family can only stomach so much
peppergoodness before
they start a revolt, eh?

stay with me here:
my mental game when i hit fairway
for the big weekly shop
is to keep it as close to $200
a possible.

see the ‘total due’ line?

this is my 2nd place receipt.

i could kick myself for finally
throwing away my
personal best,
my very own
First Place Receipt
from last october.

last october?
$200.00
no lie.

today?
$199.98

cha-ching.

oh, the things we do to
amuse ourselves, folks.

ps – props to cory for the
$4.49 coupon;
that improved my game
for sure.

pps – the important part to
My Goofy Grocery Game
is that i’m not counting it up
as i load my cart(s).

(today was a 2-cart day)

so it’s always an exciting mystery
to me as the nice grocery checker
is scanning it up;
oh yeah,
oh yeah,
Oh Yeah!

(or
oh, bummer.
as it totals up,
$205.88.

betterlucknexttime;
thanksforplaying.)

of eggs + champagne

a special brunch with friends
celebrating God’s faithfulness.

amen + cheers.

little miss jane

nell’s a big sister now;
congrats on baby samantha.

how sad are we that kevin’s moving?
sad.

and don’t even get me started
on luke, annie, and madeleine.

i’m.not.going.there.

luke + henry
hangin’ in the hippo.

jim + jane, olivia + ashley;
awwwww.

caroline has a private hippo moment.

congrats, holmberg fam;
we love you.

walking on sunshine

ps199
first annual
walk-a-thon;

rock.
on.

the firemen make a grand arrival.
(and our house
in the backgound)

approaching the finish line;
it was a mile loop
starting at pier 70,
up the ramp in front of trump,
up 70th to
the playground.

oh, yeah.

henry admitted later that he thought
a walk-a-thon meant we were going
to go house to house asking for
donations.

needless to say,
this way exceeded his expectations.

my tallest walker clears
the finish line

the firefighters bring their goodies.

i want to eat him up.

it’s all about the swag, man.

little mr. magnani

so proud of her medal.

our favorite local firemen;
they put a medal around
each walker’s neck as
they crossed the finish line.

the kids were dying with
pride and excitment.

yay, team.
way to go, kristen.

2008 . year of the bike
2009 . year of the rings

yay, caroline.

now she can make it to the last ring
and is prepping her
Return Trip
skills.

whew and hooray.

perspective

it’s usually my friends
whose childen are older
who tilt their head
and sigh,

‘the days are long,
but the years are short.’

they surely remember, though.

they surely remember
that when your kids are young,
you can’t help but feel
like this guy
every now and again.

(read: daily.)

esp. when my kids were
newborn, 1, 3, and 6.

especially then.

label-maker trashtalk

spotted on the
ceiling of the
boys’ loft:

i wonder who is holding
the gadget at this point.

lifeline

the community of
christian families
here in the city
is our
lifeline.

happily schlepping home
from wednesday west side
mom’s group.

mrs. goble, jordyn, wendy + patti,
ezra, madeleine, betsy, abby, lydia, caroline + honor.

you get the idea.

waiting for the bus;
we’re quite a crew
on the southbound m104.

(you won’t offend us if
you move to the front
once we board;
we totally get it.)

the lushest backyard.

i oogle it often;
it’s behind the chuch
where our mom’s grp meets.

and this treehousey one, too: