uncle jake’s [in]famous experiments

jacob + this tire swing =
a plethora of
‘experiments’

i think this is the third year
we’ve done experiments.

the most common one involves
everyone leaning out
and spinning moderately slowly
and when jacob yells,
everyone leans
in
and the thing takes off.

takes.
off.

sand butterflies

after a literal hour of experiments,
this one becomes the
Last
One.

whoops.
bye bye, breakfast.

and scene.

we’re done with the tire.
for today, at least.

tour de bluff drive

walking to the ice cream shoppe
in downtown parkville;
the ladies flock to c’s lap.

a sign in a salon window reads,
‘uptown service
with a
downhome feel.’

mom + dad cates live on top of a bluff
less than a mile from
downtown parkville,
and that .83 mi has a rise
of, oh, 400+ feet in elevation.

so when jacob dared cory
to ride the bike home from
the ice cream shoppe
without
stopping
once

game.
on.

dick + nathan in the lead,
jacob + henry in second,
grandma + caroline off to a great start,
and i’ve got betsy in the pace car
as
cory
takes the bait.

cresting the first peak
in fine,
if weaving,
form.

jacob, in a dead sprint,
catches cory + proceeds
to heckle him the
rest of the way.

jacob’s closing in.

give the man a yellow jersey.

betsy cheers on the finishers
as they descend into our driveway.

kayaking

cousin parker + henry,
sweeping + chuckling.

submerged.
sunk.
but ready to empty +
go again.

cory does the honors
and
they’re off again.

uncle jacob

betsy + henry

en route

at the end of the day,
cory turned to me and commented
on how easy
our life is now.

no car seats,
no diapers,
no strollers,
no luggage carts,
(3 measly pieces of luggage
at a mere 40 lb each,
easy-peasy)

just four independent-ish
young humans
happy to entertain themselves
and enjoy the flight.

we could get used to this.

la guardia

my best compliment
was from nathan,
‘this is harder than it looks, mom’

post-it notes
are popular
mid-flight entertainment.

caroline won my heart
with this one:

the post-it’s have ‘1, 2, 3, 4′ on them
so, of course,
she interpreted it to mean
apartment numbers:

‘1. cates
2. morgan
3. tracy
4. keller’

of course.

we miss you already, 255w70 friends.

bring it on,
vacation.

we’re ready.

the [perfect] Lord’s day

‘dessert @ our place,
pass it on’
down the pews at church.

and voila,
a splendid sunday evening.

some of us are soaked
from the post-church deluge;
our fam crammed into
a prius taxi
(yes, 6 of us + the driver
in a babytinyprius)
and
had to change our clothes
and towel down our hair.

soak.ing.

earlier in the day,
caroline took her 2nd long-ride
with the boys.

five.
hours.
later.
(i couldn’t believe it)

they rode to grant’s tomb + back,
8.4 miles roundtrip.

they stopped at 3 playgrounds +
ate fried chicken and funnel cakes
at the grant’s tomb jazz fest.

wholovestheirdaddy?!

meanwhile,
betsy rode circles around the playground
on her bike.

what she doesn’t know…

shimmery

heavenly.

tickled by her black + white bag.

looking through the last 3 yrs of
colorado vacation photos;
our excitement is building.

minor leaguers

the staten island yankees
were in the house last night, baby.

and the cates’ boys were representing.

all you can eat bbq
+
post-game sleepover on the field
(with boy scouts)
=
a Big Time was had by all.

too bad about the
spectacular lightning storm at midnight
that brought the
astroturf-nighty-night
portion of the event
to a screeching halt.

roll’emupquick,guys.

but a midnight ferry ride
back to manhattan
was an exciting enough ending for all.

ladies who lunch

aroma w/ lisa,
a lovely afternoon.

miserable.horrible.awful.

do you know how painful
last night’s cozy dinner party
was for me?

excruciating.

don’t get me wrong,
hugging the necks of loved ones
as they came in after work,
craig+lisa’s outrageous guac,
cory’s mad grilling skills,
howling with laughter
which totally hit the spot…

but the reality of our
dearest justin and favorite anita
moving to
far away california?

i hate it.
hate. hate.
am so hating it.

(six days in a prius
should be fun, though.)

new york, dc, knoxville, memphis,
okla city, albuquerque, grand canyon,
and then
their
new
home.

did i mention that
i hate it?

we’ve had twelve precious yrs with
our justin here in nyc.

and more before that, in college.

he’s held each of our babies when
they were mere hours old,
taught them (for better, for worse) things
they would’ve never learned from us,
celebrated countless holidays,
aided us in our snowball fights,
encouraged us,
loved us,
shared his life with us.

and given us our amazing anita.

i hate it.

listen up,
sunny california,
you steal all my favorite peeps
and i’m not going to stand for it.

we love you
more than we can say,
friends.

thanksgiving day 2008.

henry’s homework helper.

caroline’s 3rd bday

The Day.
@ all angel’s church.
cory was a groomsman +
caroline was the flower girl.

newborn betsy
(he always brought roses
to the hospital;
you are so precious, jgc.)

at morven + jono’s engagement party
w/ our favorite dr. daniel.

one of a million games of settlers.

ps -
seriously,
we’re very very excited for the
christian community in cali
that gets you.

luckydogs.

linkety-link

1. additional books to consider
for read alouds + children’s private reading
(k-12).

thanks, andrea.

2. mark bittman for president.

we already loved him
and then he brought us this:

101 simple summer salads

3. if only i could wing it
like sally does.
(maybe with my mom’s help)

shim + sons ’stacks of skirts’

4. simple + sweet backpacks for children.
and i love what she filled them with,
as well.

from the very clever ‘katie did’

beachy

jandro, nathan, ezra, gabe, caroline, honor, betsy + elena
living it up @ orchard beach

jandro + henry

her famous bulgogi

they take it off,
i reapply.

honor club:
ava wrapped one pkg beautifully.

what was inside?
trash.

she wrapped the other pkg shoddily.

what was inside?
stickers! for us!

God cares what’s on the
inside.

we’ll remember that,
trust me.

thanks, ava + kristel.

jordyn’s scrumptious bibimbap

six kids in a chair.
just for fun.

(see henry’s face?
that’s fun, man.)

classic

a watery monday afternoon @
classic playground.

see mama ligh + mama cho on the far side?

l to r: karis, betsy, erenei, lydia, henryonbike, ezrawithball,
and nathan checking out his water balloon supply.

as we were saying our goodbyes
at the corner of 71st/west end,
betsy shouted,
‘a rainbow! a rainbow!’

and indeed,
above the buildings was a
a colorful end to
a gentle day.

ps -
how genius is ava?

she wisely suggested a
summertime ‘meal swap’
where one mom brings a
picnic dinner for everyone
(and the next time,
someone else brings the picnic, etc.)

what a relief it was to
just show up +
have everyone deliciously fed.

brilliant, friend, brilliant.

pps -
and ava’s famous panko-chicken sandwiches
couldn’t have been any tastier
or
cuter
as she packed them in
these mini-critter totes
from renee.

an eager boy’s monday morning prayer

nathan had the pleasure of
staying at home by himself
for two whole hours this morning.

and when i returned home and
came in and hugged him,
i saw this
lying on the kitchen table.

his bulletin from last night
with a doodle of an eagle
as well as notes about ’serving idols’.

and this,
a prayer of confession and adoration
that he composed from songs, prayers,
and the words of encouragement
from last night’s service.

explaining his process
to his tearful-with-joy mom.

‘Dear Lord, human beings are not solitary,
self-sufficient creatures. you are the light of the
world, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. we sing
your endless love, we sing your endless praises. you are
the sovreign [sic] one that died. yet foolishly we have sought
our pleasures elsewhere. we have put the seeking of
idols, which are bound to leave us feeling empty, above
you. we have failed to love our neighbors as ourselves.
forgive us our sins for the sake of your son, Jesus
Christ our Savior. and grant that from now on we may
serve you in the newness of life for my goal is god
himself not joy or peace, nor even blessing,
but our creator god himself. our song shall rise to
thee. merciful and mighty god, “far be it from me
to do this O Lord, serve idols above thee.” the
people cry. yet it is done every day. help us O Lord
we beg of you. help us repent from sin and face your
judgement [sic].  in Jesus name we pray. Amen.’

hot dog + happy monday.

ipod ministry

there are countless ways to
‘faithfully administer God’s grace
in its various forms,’
(1 peter 4:10)

but until tonight,
i’d never experienced
that unique grace form
that is the

late-night
ipod
ministry.

that’s right,
i phoned a friend
(yes, just like millionaire
except without all the goofy stage lights)

and that friend
listened through my tears
(garden variety,
‘my responsibilities are pushing
me under the water +
i can’t breathe’ bit)
and in addition to encouragement + prayer,
she brought me her
ipod.

and her earphones.

and directed me to track 8.

jill phillip’s beautiful voice
leading me in a restful prayer.

amen + amen.

and so tonight
i go to sleep with
these True words singing
in my ear…

‘oh gently lay your head upon my chest
and I will comfort you like a mother while you rest
the tide can change so fast, but I will stay
the same through past, the same in future, same today

oh weary, tired and worn, let out your sighs
and drop that heavy load you hold ’cause Mine is light
i know you through and through; there’s no need to hide
i want to show you love that is deep and high and wide

i am constant; i am near
i am peace that shatters all your secret fears
i am holy; i am wise
i’m the only one who knows your heart’s desires
your heart’s desires

oh gently lay your head upon my chest
and I will comfort you like a mother while you rest’

ps -
even after i
return her ipod,

she gave me a pretty
slip of paper
that i will hang on to,

(you know i adore the
words of God’s grace
that come in handwritten form)

and it says this:

‘…that your strength will equal your days,’
deut 33:25b

and

‘in me
you may have peace,
in this world you will have trouble,
but take heart!’
john 16:33

and

‘a generous man will prosper;
he who refreshes others
will himself be refreshed.’
prov 11:25

delicious words.
healing words.

a bike-y-sparkle-y Lord’s day

7:31am

8:31am
caroline’s first out-of-our-neighborhood
bicycle ride with cory + the boys.

they rode up the river to
hippo playground and back,
maybe, 3 miles round trip.

god bless the crosby’s
for smuggling us some
sparklers.

the perfect post-church fire-y spectacle.

thankyouthankyou, friends.

ps -
on the way home from church,
3 of our 4
sustained actually-bleeding wounds
from their respective scootering/galloping.

snap.
ouch.

nothing says ’summertime’
like juvenile limbs full of bandaids.

too bad cory’s a
hydrogenperoxide stickler.

the minute we came in the front door,
betsy made a mad dash to hide behind me
knowing what her daddy was about
to require of her.

burgers on the barbie

read alouds

we’re lining up our summer read aloud
as well as penciling out our
fall/spring read aloud plan.

i’m looking for suggestions,
esp for missionary stories
appropriate for young ones;
those were always my favorite +
my mom always had a clever selection
that she would read aloud to us.

fanny cosby was my all-time favorite.

the Big List
to pick-and-choose from
from youngest to oldest
(preK thru 6th gr),
compiled from sonlight +
a friend’s pre-6th grade suggested author list:

The House at Pooh Corner
The Story of Dr. Dolittle
The Story About Ping
The Llama Who Had No Pajama
Richard Scarry’s Please and Thank You Book
Johnny Appleseed
Capyboppy
My Father’s Dragon
Dolphin Adventure
The Light at Tern Rock
Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The
The Apple & the Arrow
A Grain of Rice
The Hundred Dresses
Twenty and Ten
The Boxcar Children
In Grandma’s Attic
Five True Dog Stories
Family Under the Bridge
James Herriot’s Treasury for Children
Dolphin Treasure
Mary on Horseback
The Real Mother Goose

Seabird
Island of the Blue Dolphins
The Master Puppeteer
The House of Sixty Fathers
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
The Horse and His Boy
Journey to Jo’burg
The Hobbit
Tales of a Korean Grandmother
Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons
The Land I Lost
All the Small Poems
Daughter of the Mountains
Shadow Spinner

White Stallion of Lipizza
strawberry girl
the twenty-one balloons
red sails to Capri
the little riders
little pear
a little princess
the door in the wall
ginger pye
detectives in togas
cricket in times square
the apprentice, llorente
Aesop for children, milo winter
the word came with power, shelter
a child’s garden of verses

suggested authors:

Agatha Christie
Caroline Cooney
Robert Cormier
Sharon Creech
Michael Crichton
Roald Dahl
Lois Duncan
David Eddings
Nancy Farmer
Karen Hess
Carl Hiassen
Anthony Horowitz
E.L. Koningsburg
Gail Carson Levine
C.S. Lewis
Lois Lowry
Anne McCaffrey
Walter Dean Myers
L.M. Montgomery
Katherine Patterson
Gary Paulson
Richard Peck
Phillip Pullman
Rick Riordan
J.K. Rowling
Jerry Spinelli

The Golden Goblet, e. j. mcgraw
The Westing Game
Otto of the Silver Hand
The Trojan War
Master Cornhill
Favorite Poems Old and New, by, helen ferris
I, Juan de Pareja
Eagle of the Ninth
The Second Mrs. Giaconda
A Single Shard
Beyond the Desert Gate
God King
Flame Over Tara
The Shakespeare Stealer

add’l resources i’m leaning on:
the well-trained mind, susan wise bauer
the ordinary parent’s guide to teaching reading, j. wise
first language lessons, j. wise
how and when to tell your kids about sex, s. jones

which one of these
is not like the others…

loop

we’re never going to get
these catchy vbs songs
out of our heads,
are we?

ms. maria runs a tight ship in the nursery;
elena + abby, our sweetest volunteers,
tiffany, betsy, ezra, lydia, madeline + daniel

remember how the 5th floor gym was a million degrees last year?
we romp in riverside park this year instead.

too much vbs.

spit spot

i am desperate to have
my nathan + henry
back from boy scout camp.

the house is far too tidy,
the laundry is far too manageable,
the squabbles are far too mild, even.

seeyoutomorrowmorning, lovies.

ps – this is about
the last thing
we need.

pps – this, however,
intrigues me.

vb-what?

on the walk home from vbs,
both jordyn and i have been quizzed,

‘v b s?
[reading the shirts]
what’s vbs?’

it reminds me of,
back in the day,
when a then-four-yr-old nathan
would walk down the street
comfortably singing loud-ish-ly,
‘nothing but the blood
of jjjeee-ssssuuusss’

we might’ve taken a bit of
artistic-license with our shirts.

brianna + abby (+ elena + toby)
were in my group last year
and now they’re all grown up and volunteering.

waytogo, guys.

early morning thank you note writing;
we’re so grateful to the
vbs team.
what a special week.

(it’s the tiniest bit unfortunate
about her self-styled haircut.
grow, curls, grow.)

thursday confession

a prayer we regularly read @ church:

‘almighty and merciful Father,

you have called us to be your people
and have made us one body.

yet we have not lived like we are one body.
we have not loved one another as we ought.
selfish ambition has gripped us,
and we have failed to look out
for others’ interests above our own.
conceit has gripped us,
and we have failed to associate with
and care for those
who are different fom ourselves.

we have not treated one another as those
in whom Christ dwells.

forgive us for our offenses against you,
and go on to subdue everything in us
that is contrary to your purposes.

by the power of your Spirit
make us a community that shows forth
your acceptance,
kindness,
and love.

through Christ our Lord.
amen.’

be merciful to me, o God,
be merciful to me,
for my soul trusts in You
and in the shadow of your wing
will i find my rest.

12:04pm
snake as bracelet

gospel magic

let me tell you straight:
vbs chokes me up.

i’m embarassed at the number of times
that i got tears in my eyes today,
completely melted by these eager kids,
by the straightforwardness of the
gospel of Jesus Christ
being taught and retaught in
compelling + memorable ways.

gulp.

what an unbelievable privilege
to participate.

[and a shout out to the thousands of
other vbs programs going on around
the world this summer.
press on.]

i could sing about Jesus with ms. courtney
all day long,
i could listen to mr. joe teach us about Jesus
all day long,
i could even make those ’sunset on the sahara’ sand things
all,
well,
let’s be honest here.

vbs is magic.

(i dare you to challenge
my theology;
it’s gospelmagic.)

second day’s a charm for caroline;
she came into my room at 6:01 am
wearing her tutuskirt,
‘i knew this was the perfect skirt
to go with my vbs shirt, mommy.
i knew it.’

betsy’s desperate for a matching yellow shirt.

adam, ezra, eli, betsy, caroline, lydia + daniel

superdeluxe thanks to
tracy, amy,
carolyn, bethany,
katherine, and team
for such a special week
for our community.

we can’t wait until tomorrow.

ps -
what’s the perfect end to the
perfect day of vbs?

grabbing dinner +
eating and playing in the park with
abe, jordyn, ez, lyd,
michael + sara,
david + mary claire.

genius.

pps -
it’s flashback time, baby:

2008 . henry, harry, eli, adam + nathan

2007 . nathan, eli, adam, ethan + henry
(and a tiny cameo by 2 yr old caroline)

not so hot (well, technically hot)

breakfast in the garden
with a praying friend.

the painful events of yesterday afternoon:

1. it’s vbs week*.

i live for vacation bible school.

the songs, the children, the scripture,
the crafts (mmmm, gluey hands. love it.),
the adults, the catchy dance moves,
the smiles + the good stuff that actually
sinks in to young and old hearts alike.

2. so even though she’s been complaining of
ear pain since yesterday morning
(we rang the dr and she recommended
treating the fever/pain and hoping
that would work)
things are looking good for an afternoon
of bible school fun.

3. so we giddily arrive at vbs,
get into the swing of things,
and realize
she really isn’t well.
(sobbing girl broke my heart)

4. so we quickly we left the Happy Place
in our matching bright yellow safari tshirts
and scooted to the dr’s office.

by then, her fever was 103.3 and we had just
taken the tylenol, oh, an hour and a bit
before that.

5. she was holding my hand as we
walked out of their office
and she looked up at me
with her pale face and faint smile
and said,
‘now can we go back?’

sorry, lovie.

6. so i was surprised when we stopped
to grab more motrin @ joseph pharmacy
that she wanted to ride on
bob the builder.

in sickness and in health,
we’re committed to that overall-clad guy.

she rode on bob.
and took her medicine.
and hopefully tomorrow will be better.

(do i get a booby prize for using
the word ’so’ so much? oops.)

ushering in the evening
with godly ladies
around my table.

my heart is full after an evening’s
conversation + laughter.

* yes, that’s nathan + daniel in the photo.
i love that they still have that up there.
awwww.

blackberry redeemed

today is the day.

the day i embraced
my husband’s blackberry.

because it brought
me these hilights
from the front lines of
boy scout camp:

‘…nathan passed the swim test
(75 yds on chest 25 on back)
i had to pass it too and was tired on the
third lap of crawl for sure.
so when he goes to the pool each day
he gets a 30 min lesson on lifeguarding skills – super cool.

‘henry loved the climbing wall.
they have 6 courses and he made it
to top on first three.
he has asked me 4 or 5 times if he can stay the whole week.
[n is full week, we planned for h to do half week,
being his first time at camp and all]
i keep saying we’ll do 2 full days and
then see what the options are.
he is at crafts now likely decorating a space ship to the hilt.

‘our first thing this morning was tying ropes
and then the got to ride a bucking bronco made of ropes tied to trees -
he was giggling like crazy – i wish I could give you a recording.

‘i got to play softball today – staff vs leaders.
i hit a grand slam and we won – lots of fun.

‘tonight we all go swimming then a
night nature hike
then sleep on the pirate ship and
do a polar bear swim at 6:30 tomorrow am

‘tomorrow henry gets to do bb range and nature
but he is really excited about the mine.
not sure what he has in mind because i think
they just look for rocks and wash them off in a cool gold rush style trough -
i am hoping he doesn’t figure out the secret.

‘tons of wild black and raspberries -
tough to get three 6 year olds going when they keep stopping to find berries’

15.43

miles
from my doorstep
to their tent flaps.

this morning, cory + the boys
traded the comforts of apt 1
for archery and mosquitos
at boy scout camp.

just over the gwb
but a world away
from the bustling uws.

it was entirely too quiet
and tidy
and orderly
around here today.

i miss their energy
and
i’m going to breathe deeply
while i have the chance;
i’m no dummy.

saturday sunshine

a thumb +
a coffee
comfort two of my favorite people.

cory’s own ‘duckling’ lineup.

sofia + betsy

‘i was here’

scoping for a water-balloon target.

his method of pushing the swing
involved spanking n’s rumpus,
to their squealyscandalized delight.

every time betsy swung back,
he’d kiss her.

c was teaching us
the surprising thing about pendulums;
it doesn’t matter
how heavy the object is
or how high its starting point,
they oscillate at the same frequency.

as he and nathan demonstrated using
caroline + henry.

i’m still pondering the theoretical bit
about if you built a pendulum-based train,
you could connect any two points on earth
and the transit time from any two locations
would be the same.
(if you could eliminate the resistance)

ex: a train from
california to new york
would take the same amt of time
as one from
new york to boston.

hmmmm.

olivia’s back today;
she sets up her little shoppe at the playground
giving mani/pedi’s to benefit
operation smile.

did i mention she’s
twelve years old?

i’m so impressed.

j thought her newly-purchased tripod
was, well, a tripod.

you know,
the stand-on-the-ground kind.

but she might’ve misread the box
as it’s 12″ tall.

i laughed.
i cried.
it was better than cats.

if music be the food of love

shakespeare class @ the delacorte theatre

see the grass on the left?
the ‘twelfth night’ set w/ anne hathaway.
(tomorrow’s the last night)

‘these people are crazy about shakespeare‘
-nathan, post-class

his favorite part was where they dared
the class to throw out all sorts
of real-life scenarios
(toilets clogged,
you’re in trouble with the principal,
life isn’t fair,
your brothers and sisters are getting on your nerves, etc)
and their troop would
recite appropriate shakespeare
for the situation.

his favorite was someone’s (theoretical) cat dying
and them responding with a myriad
of poetic suffering+death couplets,

‘cowards die many times before their deaths;
the valiant never taste of death but once.‘

he defined ’sonnets’,
and they rewarded him with
a copy of ‘twelfth night‘

meg, betsy, jandro, zoe, henry + ethan
play games for 3 cheery hrs
while we wait for
carin, nathan, elena, toby + abby s
to enjoy their class.

the diana ross playground,
in all of it’s july morning glory.

81st/central park west

a request + a prayer

on a superbly temperate july morning.

’satisfy us in the morning
with your unfailing love
that we may sing for joy
and be glad
all our days.’
-psalm 90:14

‘grant my prayer, O Lord,
and do not allow my soul
to wilt under the discipline you prescribe.

let me not tire of thanking you
for your mercy in
rescuing me from all my wicked ways,

so that you may be
sweeter to me than
all the joys
which used to tempt me;

so that i may love you most intensely
and clasp your hand
with all the power of my devotion;

so that you may save me
from all temptation
until the end of my days.’

-st. augustine, confessions

magnetic girls with amy
(yay, amy’s here)

a swim in the sky

the pool is at the top of the building;
staggering views.

post-swim rooftop play;
thanks, ava + co.

in the shadow of the san remo.

i thought we might need
jackets for dinner;
it’s in the 60’s, baby.

cory needs coffee

fellowship group dinner last night
in the backyard was
simply perfect.

amy a, whitney, conrad,
meghan, neil, lisa, cory,
joe, kim, amy b, emily,
sarah, bethany + kirk.

i turned into a pumpkin at 11pm
and they must’ve wrapped up
within the next hour,

so when the phone rang at 1:20am
and cory was up putting out
work fires until 4:45ish,
and then popped back out of bed
at 6:30 to head in for
a 7:30am mtg,
well,

we feel for you, hon.

caroline expressed it this way:
‘i’m so sorry you have
to make breakfast, mom.’

we’re so grateful for a cory
who spoils us with
hot breakfasts +
thoughtful scripture reading.

i’m definitely second-string
on the breakfast front.

(i read from proverbs,
twenty-one, i think,
and nathan laughed out loud at the
‘it’s better to live on the
corner of the roof
than in a house with a
quarrelsome wife’ bit.)

my breakfast skills include
‘do it yourself
snapcracklesurprise’:

strawberries,
blueberies,
cheerios,
rice krispies +
yogurt =

breakfastsnaptacular.

passthecoffee.

harlem or bust

the world of a beginning reader
means that context clues are everything.

she decided this ad was that
‘grandpas like to eat peanuts
when they’re surfing’.

make way for ducklings

i feel such camaraderie with
the mama duck in that cheery story;

our lives are really quite
similar.

schlepping little ones
hither and yon,
while keeping them safe from
in the city traffic.

boston

new york

yes, honey, it’s an inflatable rat;
don’t be scared.

sometimes employees get angry
at their employers and they
rent one of these inflatable rodents to
announce their displeasure
to the entire community.

a quiet morning in central park.

the closest restroom is in
tavern on the green.

caroline loves that pink-and-shiny bathroom
and when the pleasant attendant hands her
the paper towel at the end,
oooohhh, fancy.

busted.

i wondered what was taking so long
at the top of the slide.

someday we’d love to get a
bench plaque for cory;
i wonder what his should read.

summer normal

8:41am

8:43am
a quiet place to
re-enjoy yesterday’s lollipop
(discovered in a hidden location.)

right now, two children are chanting,
‘cen-tral-park cen-tral-park’
and the other two,
‘across-the-street  across-the-street’

ahhh, the nuance of
maternal tie-breaking.

(do i lean toward what my oldest is wanting +
win his favor for the day,
do we serve our younger siblings
by going with what they want,
do we (insert third wise option here)…)

sweatyhappypeople returning:
cory and the boys rode to
riverbank state park last night;
maybe 6.5 mi round trip.

yay for summer evenings.

where the bikes live
in real life.

a summer monday prayer

o God,
from whom all holy desires,
all good counsels,
and all just actions do proceed–
give us that peace
that the world cannot give,
that our hearts may be set
to obey your commandment,
and by your protection
we may live in peace,
through the merits of
Jesus Christ our Savior.
amen.

at breakfast, caroline asked cory
what ‘peace’ meant.

now that she knows the definition,
today will surely be full of it.

happy summer monday.

ps -
cory simply couldn’t take it.
he really needed us to go back
to the zoo again yesterday and
look for the elusive new
snow leopards.

three sightings.

whew.

pps -
we love any new zealand friends that
morv + jono send our way;
lovely to enjoy the Lord’s day with you,
vanessa + graham.

a monkey’s uncle

from this yellow line
to that yellow line (see it?)
is how far a snow leopard jumps.

and try as we might,
we didn’t see any actual snow leopards, either,
in the fancy new exhibit.

betterlucknexttime.

visiting henry’s relatives.

some things do change

hooray +
three cheers,

the kellers are all moved in upstairs.

(did you see the couch
being hoisted up the
front of the bldg +
into their open window?
score.)

our newest housemate
(and long-time friend), michael,
popped in this morning to make
a most-welcome, most-shocking
announcement:

did we hear that loud noise?
we did, but hadn’t thought twice about it.

had we looked outside yet?
um, no.

un.
be.
lie.
v.
able.

check it out.

i know, rub your eyes, right?
we can’t be seeing this.

they’re
removing
the parking lines.

and just like that,
we have our old street back.

we twisted lisa’s arm
to come straight from the hospital
and join us for eggs+toast+strawberries+coffee
before going to bed.

sleep well, little friend.

now, i need to say some
prayers of thanks + gratitude
and make some valentines
for the DOT staffers responsible.

wow.

i just can’t believe it.

i’ll never take the parallel parking
on our street for granted again.

or at least for the next week.

gettin’ grill-ready

my three post-bath helpers
did a brilliant job setting the
table for a late-evening dinner.

it took them no fewer
than ten trips in and out of the house
to set it all up.

i esp loved how one of them
painstakingly put the silverware
around each plate,
carefully tucking each cloth napkin
under each fork
(which was to the right
of the plate).

waytogo.

we so enjoyed you, j + b
+
a million thanks, em.

labor of love

betsy made our bed
this morning.

so proud,
she was so proud.

thanks, babe.

such flair.

i love the unkempt-yet-finished
artistic-y look of it all.