Merry Christmas!

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland!  From our backyard to our yours!

From our hearts to yours! Merry Christmas from the Ndjerareou's

Tough Day at the Office

4am-Say goodbye to Nate (his decision to take a cab to the airport saved me an hour trip and one grumpy toddler.)

5am-looking forward to an early quiet time, only to discover Sophia’s up anyway having wet the bed.  My bed actually, she’s a big believer in the family bed even if I’m not. 

6am-laundry starts early today!

7 am-discover that the battery has gone out on our thermostat and the house is FREEZING!  How ‘come these things happen as soon as Nate leaves?

8 am-Get in a fight with a curling iron, I lost! Now I look I've been branded on my left cheek! Hello my name is Indigo Montoya, I have a curling iron, prepare to die!

10 am-Mommy gets her hair painted with apple juice.  (Course mommy didn’t know that the brush was wet till afterwards.)

12 pm-Sophia informs me she doesn’t like jelly.  Unfortunately she doesn’t tell me that she’s spit it out on the floor.  Mommy & Sophia get a lesson in chewing when a plain peanut butter sandwich doesn’t get swallowed easily.

2 pm-Sophia decides she doesn’t need naps anymore.  I’m beginning to agree with her.  She sleeps until about 5pm and then of course she’s wide-awake at bedtime!

5 pm-Sassy learns to turn on lamps, in fact she’s so good at it she can completely unscrew the knob!  Unfortunately she can't remember where she put them.

10 pm-Sophia’s finally asleep, in my bed of course! Thankfully it’s just the two of us tonight (maybe I shouldn’t buy generic pull-ups?) 

4 am-we start all over again! 

"I yove going to the Yaundry Nap.  We put the money in and the soap. Then the clothes go 'round and 'round."

Climbing up onto the bed Sophia looked at me without skipping a beat she said; "So? How are you?"

"Mommy? There's a fire in my nose?" Sophia said after seeing her breath become a puff of white in the cold winter air.

Congratulations ND!

On surviving Army Bootcamp & graduating from AIT on December 4th as a Military Intelligence Specialist. And yes ladies he's single!  We're incredibly proud of you Banga and can't wait to see what God has in store for your future. 

As the story goes, when my brother-in-law Joseph Ndjerareou arrived at Fort Leonard Wood for Army boot camp, he knew that he was going to get attention because of our unusual last name. After explaining that the first two letters are silent his peers suggested they should call him N.D. since these letters had been overlooked for the first twenty-four years of his life!   

Your Choice!

Today's weather in Cedar Rapids:  27 degrees, feels like 16, snow, rain and ice. Sophia & I will be staying inside today since most things are closed and my drive way looks like an ice rink.

Today's weather in Los Angeles: 67 degrees, feels like 67!  Although Nate may not get a chance to use the pool, doing anything in LA looks great today!  When he got on a plane yesterday he didn't even take a coat!   

Triple Grande Skinny Vanilla

An oxymoron or a great latte?

“The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are--can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino.”              -Tom Hanks, You’ve Got Mail

   Triple Grande Skinny Vanilla,  as it rolled off the barista’s tongue it sounded more like a nick-name than an order.   I have to admit I kinda liked it.  For those of you who don’t enjoy your vices as much as I do, let me translate. This in Starbucks-speak means I ordered a Medium, Caffe-Late with sugar-free Vanilla syrup, skim milk and an extra-shot of espresso.  Whew!

Most day’s I’m a French-press girl, with a little milk and sweetner, in college I got hooked on coffee with raspberry  syrup and cream, for the price of a cup of coffee I got the feel of a snazzy-latte, it’s been my  standing order ever since.  Pink Coffee, what could be better?   Anything with a shot of espresso has to be fabulous, I love caffeine, put it in my shampoo—anywhere come on! 

Admittedly, I rarely do shots of espresso standing at the bar like the Europeans, but in Paris Nate & I made the ultimate café mistake.  We discovered the real reason for the standing shot! My husband claim’s its to get you back in the game after a two-hour lunch with wine.  True though this may be, standing in the subway station you notice the small ledge with Parisians trying to look non-chalant while they inhale a croissant du chocolate and an espresso.  The incredible smell of fresh bread alone was enough to make me want to hang around. But like the American that I am, I grabbed my breakfast and drink (sans top) and headed to the train, with my husband sort of hanging back—he knew we were being counter cultural but I had no idea!  Till we boarded the train, grabbed a seat and tried to continue our breakfast. After all we had a forty minute ride into the city.  So why was everyone staring? The French don’t stare at ANYONE!  Believe me, you can make-out passionately ANYWHERE! 

There is no private and public space, and they don’t bat an eyelash if you want to use the subway as your bedroom. But God forbid you’d eat there!  The entire time we were in Paris, we never offended people as badly as trying to drink a coffee on the train!  Who knew that the coffee cozy and the burn free lid were such an American invention?  So back to my good American brand latte that comes with a shot of personality. Seeking an identity in a cup of joe, it doesn't get much more descriptive than a Triple Grande Skinny Vanilla. How ‘bout Tall, Double, Skinny, Vanilla, Extra Hot?!?

 Recently, Nate & I returned to the church where we met.  The church sanctuary is a large half-circle and personally it's always been a little distracting. It's too easy to watch other people across the sanctuary.  I distinctly remember watching Nate when I'd come home from Chicago to visit my family.  He always sat on the right side of the church towards the front and it so happens my family ALWAYS sat on the left.  I'm not sure why?  My parents claim their parents were left-side-sitters in their respective Catholic & Lutheran churches.  I guess it was something they had in common, even though my parents now belong to a non-denominational church, where you sat was always a given.   

Not for us.  .  .After three years of marriage we'd never noticed this issue before (probably b/c we were in a different church)  The night we returned, after successfully getting  Sophia settled in the nursery  (a miracle in itself)  we casually entered the sanctuary, took a bulletin, waved hello to a couple of familiar faces and then.   .   .began to walk. .  .to the RIGHT?!?   

I wish I could say that this was no big deal, but I CAN'T HELP IT!  Is this submission?Biblically speaking, isn't the MAN supposed to LEAVE and cleave?  Don't get the wrong idea, Nate didn't force me to convert or anything!  It was just one of those things that was decided in a split-second.   The right side is closer to the nursery,the air on the right seems the same  I've even met some lovely people! (Wink)