jonathan’s blog

Waiting for a table at Cracker Barrel.

Eating at Fritz’s

It’s getting cold out here!  51 degrees this morning!…and even colder at nights.  That means new, warmer pajamas!

Noon and afternoons haven’t gotten too cold yet.  Here’s the gang running from house to house, backyard to backyard.  If you look really closely at Bekah and Kay’s hands…they are holding little bunches of flower-like plants…basically and technically, weeds!  The kids go to the neighbor’s yards…and pick these weeds that are heads and shoulders taller than the rest of the grass.  They make these bouquet-ish bunches and run back and forth.  It’s so cute to see them running full tilt, picking weeds as if they were the most beautiful flowers, without a care in the world.  HOWEVER…when you consider scientifically and environmentally what is happening…it’s a whole different story.  Basically…Mitch takes such great care of his lawn, there really aren’t too many weeds.  But the neighbor’s grow them aplenty.  The kids run and collect weed seed from the neighbors…and BRING THEM BACK to Mitch’s beautiful lawn!

This next picture serves the sole purpose of releasing my kids from being the sole culprits of the weed-seed-cross-pollination in Mitch’s yard.  Here is Jesse, one of his own sons, participating as well.  Jesse sometimes takes this practice one step farther, and brings the weed bouquet into the house.

Luke.  This guy is fast.  See here as he outdistances this crazy little dog.

Are you down with ECOG?  The Eagle Creek Original Gangstas…this is their turf!

The older girls on the swings.

Roar!!!

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Well…it’s not really a bed yet.  Just a mattress.  That minicrib he sleeps in now, it can be extended into a twin size bed.  The only problem…we brought half the pieces with us, the other half of it is burried in public storage with the rest of our stuff!  The poor dude is totally outgrowing his minicrib.  With Eileen in town, the plan came into focus.  Let’s get a mattress, let her sleep on it, and then when she’s back in LA…we’ll have Noah claim it!

Off we went, first and ONLY stop…Nebraska Furniture Mart.  We settled on a twin size by “Omaha Bedding Co.”  What’s that?!  It’s a local brand (obviously) that really gives good value for the money.  Tied it on top of the SUV, signed a waiver releasing Nebraska Furniture Mart from any liability should the mattress go flying off our car, and rushed home before the possible evening showers started!

Eileen is gone now.  Off came the white and pink sheets burrowed from my girls.  And on went the car sheets!  Noah gets so excited about his bed, “car, car, car!”

So how did it go?

Day 1…yesterday, he fell asleep in his mattress!  Woke up 4 times throughout the night, disoriented, crying, not knowing where he was.

Day 2…today, we put him to sleep in the mattress multiple times, each time he just got up, opened his door, and joined us in the living room!  Too much freedom for this little guy!  So where is he now?…sleeping soundly after I stuck him back in his minicrib! 

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1.)  In a mixing bowl, stir together onions, garlic, chipotle powder, tomato, corn and avocadoes.
2.)  Sprinkle oil and lime juice over the ingredients in the bowl, and toss gently.
3.)  Cover the dip with plastic wrap and put in refrigerator for up to 6 hours.

1.)  Boil corn, let cool, and drizzle with butter.  Serve entire cob to Noah for him to busy himself with during meal.
2.)  Allow Noah to run loose and feed on mystery ingredient…maybe a green crayon?  Who knows what he puts in his mouth, eats, and gets away with.
3.)  Cover butt with Pampers Cruiser Diaper size 4, and wait at least 6 hours.

Item A?  or Item B?  One of these is a Chipotle Avocado Dip, yum!  One of these is Noah’s stinking hyper color poo, yuck!  Taste test anyone?

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This is going to be a slightly frustrating post to type out…my left ’shift’ button is gone…just gone?!  Just typing that question mark and the capital ‘j’ to start this sentence was an annoying task!  I have a feeling that my little monster of a son might have something to do with this.

Anyways…highlight of the day, Kay’s tooth fell out!  She was chowing down on some kettle korn (oh man, we found this killer kettle korn place!!! yum!) and her tooth just fell out.  It was loose before, actually for a while now…made looser the other day when she decided to use her teeth to help win a game of seatbelt tug-of-war with her friends in the car.  Here she is, showing off her tiny tooth, rinsing out the blood, delighted by these little milestones of growing up.

Later this afternoon, we decided to stop by the house to see what new stuff had been done.  The Yap kids happened to be playing outside, and saw us come.  Here they are, checking out the progress of the builders.

Here’s the older four, hanging out on Kay and Bekah’s little ‘reading bench’.  And before you ask…yes, those are pink bono-ish sunglasses on Kay.  The girl loves to accessorize.  Here’s a recent accessory story: On Fridays, I have to volunteer at Kay’s school (it’s actually not volunteer, it’s totally mandatory;if you miss it, you have to pay $20)…maybe they should call it non-volunteer hours!  Anyways, I have new found respect for teachers.  Geez…I feel like a zombie after just 1/2 a day of grading papers, monitoring lunch and recess, reading or helping with math…and I’m not even the real teacher!  Wait…back to Kay’s accessorize story.  So I’m at her school, watching over their morning worship assembly.  It’s awesome, kindergarten through 4th grade, singing “Beautiful” over and over again.  Kay was up near the front, lifting her arms in worship.  I was so proud of her, moved that she was engaging in worship, amazing…this little girl at age 6 is interacting with our Father on such a deep level, singing, lifting her hands…and then I see it.  Her hands, lifted high, above all the other kids…pure BLING.  She had on a bracelet, a flower ring, a butterfly ring, a green one, a sliver one…I couldn’t even count how much STUFF she had on her hands!!!  How’s that for the fasted lifestyle?!

Noah at our new home…is quite arguably the hugest, messiest, most stressful event of our days.  Under normal environments, he’s already a handful.  Now bring him to a construction site.  Sawdust, nails, screws, lumber, concrete gravel, open vents, non-railed staircase…you get the picture.  Some Noah highlights: finding him in a cabinet in an unmounted cupboard, finding him with a mouthful of gravel/rocks, finding him sucking on a chunk of plaster, finding him dumping dirt into our open air vents, finding him swimming in sawdust.

Busy day of construction!  The trim guys were there doing the baseboards, closets, crown molding, and window/door casings.  The cabinet guys were there doing the kitchen and bathroom vanities.

These trim guys really take what they are doing seriously…and they are really good at what they do.  Here it is, evidenced on their license plates!

They come early, around 7am in the morning and set up shop in the garage, the kitchen, and the master bedroom.  Right there, on site, they measure, cut, and nail all day.

This is a special little highlight of ours.  A pond!  It’s a free upgrade, we didn’t even ask for it!

Check out the kitchen!

The Great Room coming together!

The Library!

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2 weeks ago, we had Bekah’s first day (only an hour) run through of preschool.  She did great!  Then it was Labor Day.  Then Bekah got sick.  She hasn’t been able to shake this awful cough, until this morning.  So here she is, lunch bag, backpack, pig tails…ready for her first official and full day of preschool at Colonial Presbyterian.

Bekah’s Ayi-4 arrived from LA yesterday afternoon, and so was able to be a part of today’s milestone activities.

This is Mrs. K.  I don’t know her full name, but she is an incredibly friendly and caring person…Bekah warmed up to her instantly.

Sensing the ‘buzz’ of this very important event for our family, Noah wanted to get in on some of the love and good feelings.  I’m not sure if he even knew what he was doing, just that there was excitement in the air…so he went ahead and moved in for his hug.

We got to school for ‘pick up’ a few minutes early, and so we were able to see Bekah playing for recess.

If you look closely, Bekah is in the engine of the train.

Back to the Blue Room for ‘pick up’.  I found her waiting patiently for us.

But wait!  It’s not just any old ‘pick-up’…Bekah is the ‘Star of the Day’!!!  I’m not exactly sure what that all entails…but I’m really proud of her.  I mean…it can’t be a bad thing!?  I asked her to try to explain what it meant, to be the Star, she said something about listening and not getting in trouble.  I’ll take that!  Good Job Girl!

Juli, Kay, and Luke get to do The Daniel Academy together.  Noah and Sarah have home alone time.  That leaves Jesse and Bekah for preschool.  Jesse is in the room right across the hall.  Look at these ‘marvelous comrades’!

Not only was today the first full day of preschool, it was also Bekah and Kay’s first day of Ballet.

Wow!  What a day.  Bekah, you did really well.  You’re a Star!

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Choo Choo Train.  A train goes “Choo Choo”.  Choo Choo.  Gungung.  For some reason, Gungung has become Noah’s way of saying train, or Choo Choo.  If you ask him, “Noah, say ‘train’,”…he’ll say, “Gungung!” with all the conviction in the world.  It’s gotten a bit out of control.  He LOVES trains.  Emily bought him this cool little train toy, and the kid drags it all around begging either his sisters or parents play Gungung with him.  The other day, there was a locomotive special on the Science Channel.  The girls like to watch cartoons, but I’ve been getting them to watch Discovery Channel and/or Animal Planet with me…but this morning, we all had to endure this documentary on locomotives.  Kay, Rebekah, and I thought we’d indulge Noah…and let him watch this really boring show on trains.  The kid went nuts!  Jumping up and down, hollering at the TV, “Gungung, Gungung”…pointing, trying to get all of us to see the trains on TV.

So…we thought we’d take him to Fritz…a little burger diner where your food gets delivered to your table via toy train!  Needless to say, Noah was awestruck.  Here is a train delivering food.  Here is Noah pointing out the various trains buzzing by, delivering food.

Yup.  That’s green water!  Apparently they dye the water green for “Irish Fest”.

What’s going on with the house?  Driveway is laid out and they’ll be laying the concrete any day now.

The path and steps to the front porch will also get cemented in.

Hardwood floors laid in today!!!

Here is a small story about Emily and Noah.  I missed most of this as it unfurled…

Emily was folding laundry in our hallway.  The girls were helping out by stacking up their clothes and folding some small towels.  Noah looked like he wanted to participate as well.  So Emily handed him a few of the kids’ small towels and told him to go put it in the bathroom cabinet.  He’s been pretty good at following directions lately so she was pretty sure he could do it.  She just repeated the directions a few times and off he went!  He came back empty handed!  Emily praised him for doing such a good job and handed him two of his long-sleeve shirts to put in his room.  He took the shirts and took off once again!  What a great helper, she thought.

As they finished up with the laundry and were getting the kids ready for their baths, she decided to open up the bathroom cabinet to see the work of her great-little-laundry-helper son.  She didn’t see any of the folded towels.  Emily took a quick glance into Noah’s bedroom and didn’t see any of his shirts on the floor.  She walked back into the kids’ bathroom and found the missing laundry.  Maybe not such a great-little-laundry-helper after all!

And finally…quite possibly the largest watermelon I have ever seen…

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Today was Bekah’s first day of pre-school.  It was a ‘test-run’, that only lasted an hour.  Parents drop off their kids for an hour, to go through the whole “Bye, Daddy and Mommy are leaving…” experience, just to see how their kids will do.  Bekah did fine!

This is Mrs. “K”, Bekah’s teacher.

Bekah giving Noah a kiss/hug goodbye.

OK.  Now for the real one, a week from now.

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Emily’s 35th Birthday celebration actually started last night.  We knew we had a Pre-School Student Orientation at Bekah’s school tonight…so we went out with the Yap’s last night.  Where?  If you can read backwards on the door, or make out what it says on Emily’s ‘take home’ bag…Joe’s Crabshack!!!  We were so happy to find out that there is a Joe’s way out here in KC!  Gotta love their BBQ Crab.  Anyways…this is us.  11, count it, eleven Chinese folk making a scene all over Kansas City.

This morning, on Mitch’s (and Yelp) recommendation, we did First Watch for Brunch.  It was great!  Kid’s had a fruit crepe, Em had the Egg’s Benedict, and I had The Gravy Train.  Oh man…it was good, a bacon/sausage omelet smothered in country sawmill gravy!

Wait!  We aren’t done yet.  While Mitch and I went to the school orientation, Emily and the kids kicked it at the Yap’s for a little more BDay celebration.  I don’t know how Lillian, being a mother of 4, pulls this kind of stuff off…but she managed to put together a whole afternoon tea type dinner.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the show stealer.  I don’t even know what to call this thing?…But it puts the Claim Jumper Mother Lode to shame.  This cake was enormous, delicious, homemade…just awesome.  I ate a huge piece and took home an even bigger piece.  Gotta turn up the exercise regimen if I’m going to survive living next to the Yap’s.

Happy Birthday Emily!

Now…how is that home coming along?  Drywall!  or Sheetrock!  or whatever you want to call it…let’s just call it more progress!

When we first bought the land, and nothing was even marked off for building, we came out and anointed the land with oil.  Here Emily wrote out a batch of Primacy of Loving God, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind snippets to plant around the house.  God…may our lives be founded on this Truth!

The girls, finding places to hide the Word of God.

Noah…putting himself in danger to turn off his lights.  What kind of kid does this kind of stuff?

This may look like a nice quiet day at the park.  Nope.  It’s a nice day…but not even close to quiet.  What you don’t see in the picture (or in real life) is the cicada…hundreds, thousands of them.  The cicada is this huge ugly bug, that makes an insanely loud chirping/buzzing noise.  It’s loud, never ending, and everywhere.  Sometimes it makes me feel like my head is going to explode!  It was a nice day, so for a while I drove around with the windows open.  Seriously, the sound was never ending…up and down city blocks, it was just a continuous never ending buzz!

At last, check this out.  Sul Lung Tang.  Say it with me!!!  Sul Lung Tang!  I love this stuff!  It’s not even easy to find this stuff in LA…but they have it here, in KC!!!  Can you believe it?  And it’s pretty darn good.  It even comes with the bowls of green onion and sea salt.  I was so happy to find this.  Never mind the name (Rainbow Noodle House) located next to the Oriental Super Market (ignore that name as well)…it’s a great bowl of soup for a cold day.  yeehaw!

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Happy Birthday!

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