Micah Cowell Superstar

This year Micah got to play the lead role of Jesus in a living nativity scene at Biola's Christmas tree lighting. He was onstage for only about 15 minutes, but did very well and seemed to like his manger bed, which was a lot more cushy than the original probably was. His parents and all the wisemen and shepherds were played by fifth graders, and it was really interesting to see them react to having a real baby in the manger. Instead of standing there looking bored and poking each other, they all leaned over to watch Micah and play with him, which made it seem very true to the actual event. Mary would have been just barely older than the girl playing her that night, and most likely all the visitors weren't standing around shooting the breeze, they were looking at the child. I loved watching that happen on the stage.

But I think the real highlight was when one of the shepherds went to the director and told her, "I think Jesus smells kind of poopy."

Yet another form of torture

There are certain things in life that Judah considers torture. The list includes hideous things like having his hair washed, staying in bed, eating chicken or really any meat, drinking milk without a straw, being put in his carseat instead of climbing in himself, and having to go anywhere without Lightning McQueen.

Also on the list is getting a haircut. Judah just got his first professional haircut. Usually we just shave his head every few months, but one of Nathan's patients offered to come over and cut both Nathan's and Judah's hair. She used to work at a salon that specialized in kids' haircuts, so I was all excited. She started out on the right foot with Judah by playing with his toys with him for a while, and then offering him a sucker. She sat him in a chair in our kitchen with his sucker, and all was well until he saw the cut pieces of hair on his sleeve. "What's that?" he asked Nathan. "Your hair," Nathan replied, and the screaming commenced. Within seconds Judah was a red ball of snot, tears, sweat, and hair, and the sucker was covered with hair as well. There was hair everywhere, in fact. It got on Judah's hands, and then he rubbed his eyes and it got all over his wet face and.....well, it just got worse from there. The minute he was done I rushed him up to the bathtub to de-itchify him and get all the snot off his face and hands. The bath cheered him up, and by the time Kassy left Judah loved her again, and was performing for her and showing off his dinosaur pajamas. He agreed that she could come over and play again sometime, but not cut his hair.

But he would not eat the sucker after we washed it off. It had forever lost its charm.

About as crafty as I get

I finally finished the project that I was supposed to do last summer. When we moved into our place I noticed that right outside our back gate were four stepping stones, but they were that plain pink stone stuff. I decided I wanted to make some of my own to personalize our path. So I bought the huge bag of cement last summer, but that was as far as I got because I was so miserably pregnant. When I actually got around to doing the project it was a lot of fun and way easier than I'd anticipated.

The turquoise tiles I used in three of the stones are really special to me. Back in the 1960s my church installed a mosaic window with about 14 panels of tiny tiles. In the center was a cross. The tiles all came seperately, and the women of the church spent hours and hours gluing them onto large glass panels. Both of my grandmothers worked on the project. In the 1980s, when the sanctuary was remodeled, the design crew decided to take about eight panels out of the cross window to make it narrower. The extra panels were then stored away, and I later spent years looking for them off and on. Then one day I happened to mention to my friend H.K. that I was looking for them. He disappeared for a few minutes and eventually came back carrying one of the panels wrapped in a sheet. I was so excited! I took the panel to Nathan's parents' house and my father-in-law took a blow torch to it, melted the glue, and peeled all the tiles off the glass backing, which shattered under the heat. I took the tiles home in a paper bag and then spent days hunched over the sink, peeling the glue from each tile and washing them all. I didn't know what I was going to do with them, and I was saving them for some special project some day, but then I thought it would be much nicer to work them into a lot of little projects, so that I can see them all the time. I know that my grandma Kimber would be proud. I love looking at my stepping stones and knowing that they represent a little bit of family history.

I made one stone for each person in our family. The fish is for Judah, because he loves the movie Finding Nemo, and loves fish in general. He likes to eat at The Whole Enchilada because of their amazing fish tank. The river is for Nathan because he loves fly fishing in peaceful places. The blue flower is for me and has to do with C. S. Lewis's discussion of the blue flower, which I've always identified with. And the star is for Micah, because he's my little star (and it didn't stay that dirty, I had just finished it when I took the picture and the cement was still wet).

Busted.

On Saturday morning I woke up with a burning thirst. Micah and Nathan were sound asleep, but Judah was up and running around in his pajamas, so I got up and Judah and I made a run to Del Taco. As usual, he said, "We need diet coke!" when I pulled in. I got my drink, and then we drove around for a while enjoying the beutiful day and the many trains passing by (5 within about 15 minutes!). When we got home Nathan and Micah were still asleep, didn't even know we'd gone.

Later in the day all four of us were out running errands and decided to stop at the same Del Taco for a quick lunch. As we pulled in Judah yelled out, "We need MORE diet coke!" Little rat.

Early morning conversation

"Hey Nathan. Are you awake?"

"Yeah. But I'm disappointed."

"Why?"

"Because we didn't win 20 million dollars."

"???"

"In my dream. I was flying a really crappy spaceship with some guys from Star Trek and I won 20 million dollars and I was excited because I could afford to fix my spaceship."

"Ah. Have you ever actually watched Star Trek?"

"Not in the last 20 years. I don't even like sci-fi."

"Very good. Go on."

"And I was going to repair my parents' water tower, because it got all shot up by some guys with rifles. But then I decided to put in running water for them."

"How nice of you."

"But then I woke up and was like, Darn, we don't have 20 million dollars. I guess I can't buy that motorcycle. Or repair my spaceship."

Probably wishes she hadn't decided to play in the fireplace

Payasa, after the bath. She wandered into our room the other morning, and for a second I thought we'd gotten a second cat, one that was grey instead of calico. But no, it was Payasa. Covered in soot. I only wish I'd gotten a "before" picture.

Snow in La Mirada

A couple of weekends ago we had our nieces, Rachel and Naomi, over to spend the night. Judah was overjoyed, as they're two of his favorite people in the whole world. They came over around dinner time and we all had pizza (mmm, Top Class), and then they wore Judah out for a while, and then we all sat down to watch Monsters Inc. Judah was so tired by 9:00 that he hardly even protested when we told him it was time for bed before the movie was over.

The next morning after breakfast we headed for our church, which was hosting Chili Snow Day, a combination of an old Granada tradition, the Chili Cook Off, and a new institution, Snow Day. They brought in something like 20 tons of snow and set up a couple of sled runs and two roped off areas for kids to have snowball fights or whatever. Rachel and Naomi loved it and had a great time pelting Nathan with snow. Judah, however, wanted nothing to do with the snow and spent the whole time begging to play on the playground nearby. We let him, and he loved it. Toward the end of the day Rachel and Naomi went to get their faces painted, and Micah agreed to have his painted too. Judah, of course, wouldn't do it.

Here are a bunch of pictures from our sleepover and snow play. Sorry they're out of order, Blogger was being stubborn and not letting me do things the way I wanted to. The picture above is Nathan going down a sled run holding Micah, which completely horrified all the older people.

Filler meme

Some random information, along with a random picture that I really like, though I'm not sure why I like it. Maybe it's the memories it brings back. Meme stolen from Wendy.

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night.
Judah

2.What were you doing at 0800?
Making oatmeal and drinking diet coke (duh).

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Reading about the latest fire.

4. What happened to you in 2006?
I completed the third decade of my life
I discovered a love for San Francisco
I camped with a toddler several times (NOT the best idea ever)
I got pregnant

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
"I don't know." In response to Nathan asking if the pounding upstairs was Judah getting out of bed again.

6. How many beverages did you have today?
Four that I can remember. You know what they were.

7. What color is your hairbrush
Neon green

8. What was the last thing you paid for?
A Christmas present for someone...

9. Where were you last night?
Home

10. What color is your front door?
Standard issue condo tan.

11. Where do you keep your change?
In one of our dresser's small drawers.

12.What’s the weather like today?
Warm and a little bit Santa Ana-y (hence the fire in #3).

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?
Vanilla bean (I know, so boring! But I love simplicity).

14. What excites you?
Lots of things: good music, vintage table cloths and dish towels, arts and crafts architecture and decorating, theories of time travel, the inscriptions in the front of old books, geneaology, travel, taking pictures, thunder storms...I could go on forever.

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
Constantly. But I also want it to grow out really long, so I'm always fighting with my temptation to cut it all off. I'll probably give in pretty soon.

16. Are you over the age of 25?
Yes.

17. Do you talk a lot?
Sometimes.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Yep, my brother.

20. Do you make up your own words?
Not usually. But I have been known to tell people that Nathan practices chiropracty. And also that he's a chirproctologist.

21. Are you a jealous person?
Not on the whole, but more than I'd like to be.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.
Ashlee

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
Christi, if she would just give in already and spell her name RIGHT.

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
Probably Nathan, but I'm too lazy to get up and find my phone.

25. What does the last text message you received say?
No idea. I erase them as I get them.

26. Do you chew on your straw?
No.

27. Do you have curly hair?
No. But it's not straight, either. Annoying.

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
Hopefully to Ruby's for dinner. It's that kind of day.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
Nathan, but only to people who deserve it. Like telemarketers.

30. What was the last thing you ate?
French fries.

31. Will you get married in the future?
Only if I decide to take up polygamy.

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
I think I've seen two in the last two weeks, and they were both not that good. One was "Daughter from Danang," and the other was "Elephant." Both pretty disappointing. But we recently saw "The Last King of Scotland" and that was really really good.

33. Is there anyone you like right now?
I like a lot of people. Most people, in fact.

36. Did you cry today?
No.

37. Why did you answer and post this?
Because I wanted to update but didn't feel creative enough to come up with something original.

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
I'd love to see it on all your blogs, but I'm not into demanding. :)

From Whom All Blessings Flow

Nathan
Judah
Micah
My parents
Our huge family
Good books
Sunshine
Enough food
Friends
Our church
Safety
Memories
Traditions
Shelter
Autumn leaves
Freedom
Our country
A new day

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Confessions of an American Diet Coke Drinker

Hey Barbara, remember how I said that I wouldn't go to the kitchen to get a diet coke in the morning if it meant that I had to actually walk from one building where I was sleeping to another building where the kitchen was? How I said that involved too much effort?

I take it back. This morning I got up and realized there was no more diet coke in the house, and I freaked. So I got both kids dressed (though Judah had no shoes on), got myself dressed (if you count yoga pants and an old fleece shirt that double as pajamas as "dressed"), strapped both boys into their carseats, loaded up the car, and drove two miles to the nearest Del Taco and ordered a 32 ouncer of my favorite poison (as Jeff calls it). When Judah saw where we were going he said "We need diet coke!" Too right. How addicted am I? Is there a twelve step program for this? I might need it.