Instead of sending out a 'Christmas Letter,' we are just going to post the following, for you to peruse as desired:
Greetings, All ye Fine Readers of the Peters' Family 2005 Spoof Update
We begin this letter with something of a caution: you will probably never read this. So, you can either save some time and stop reading now or continue with the caveat that since the rest wasn't exactly worth writing, it probably isn't worth reading. Of the following, take only this seriously: Kourtney, Ben, and Aaron Peters wish you the very best end of the year, and may all our new year's resolutions make it
past the adolescence of February, and may they all involve more chocolate.
Our year
The 2005 year, now almost over, has been quite a ride, from the rainy-season of otherwise sunny Palo Alto to a summer spent overlooking the lush forested hills of Lviv, Ukraine to a two-bedroom apartment on the corner of Broadway and 112th in Manhattan—only three blocks from Columbia's main library, three parks (including New York City's marvelous Central Park), a couple giant neo-Gothic cathedrals,
and a number of new friends. 112th and Broadway also marks the location of the Seinfeld diner (Tom's Restaurant, a spot coupling mediocre service and serious tourist magnetism) and several bookstores whose siren song turns our heads everyday as we walk past them. (Back, you full-priced tempter books! You, with your unaffordable cover candy and seductively relevant-sounding titles...hey, isn't that the new book on globalization I've been meaning to read? Oh! And is that the
book on Gödel, Dostoevsky, and string theory?) With some luck, 2005 will see the end of our semiannual migration that we have maintained since we were married in April 2002.
New York has treated us well so far. Except we've been caught a bit off-guard by the cold that came late November. The first blanket of snow buried the last autumnal swirls of leaves that now only peer up at us through the dark icy patches that hug every street corner. But we've been coping: Ben broke out his boots from the LDS mission in Russia and started stomping around gleefully; Kourtney her long dark Russian coat with which she graced a recent Nutcracker ballet; and Aaron...well, Aaron's being busy perfecting his hey-what's this non-California winter and hurry-I-want-my-gloves-on-now-that-we-are-outside looks. New York City is brimming with a seasonal spirit that does seem to justify the popular celebration of Christmas in the City. The snow really has magic about it. We may spend Christmas there in future years, but as for this year, we are pleased to be with the Lamberts in Utah this Christmas, where it has been a balmy 40+ F. Whether or not the last year in California turned us into full-blown winter wimps will be proven probably sometime late February.
Aaron in Our Own Words
What Aaron says: Ball, duck, ootka (Russian for duck), apple, (yabluk (almost Russian for the same), apple-jtch (apple juice, apple sauce, and the only word he says in a recent game involving his holding any paper with words on it and intoning "apple-jtch" for minutes to all who will listen and applaud), two, dva (you guessed it), cheese, tsir (yep), owie, book, choo-choo, cow, cat, dog, mommy, mama, tato (Ukrainian for dad), knock-knock, please, pen, food, milk, meow, fish,
balloon, pop, banana, more, spoon, bowl, Ben, purple, blue, watch, stop, baby, and it seems like he says a new one everyday. He is pretty good at repeating phrases we say, especially if we say them in a funny way. In baby sign he says bath, thank you, band-aid, this-is-the-place-where-I-fell-down-and-it-hurt, etc.
What we say about Aaron: Even though Aaron isn't speaking in sentences yet, we still manage to understand what he wants and is trying to tell us most of the time. He's got quite a knack for acting out situations to tell us stories, as well as pointing and saying the necessary words to tell us what he wants. Besides exploring the world of words, Aaron has inaugurated his second year of life with experiments in the world of toilet training. At home and in the nude, Aaron seems well motivated to begin the switch from diapers to bathroom. He is a generally happy kid and spends a lot of time playing with neighboring children, his mom, and usually in the evenings his dad. What else? His smile continues to light up our little family life. He even gets frequent smiles and giggles as he pushes his baby stroller down the sidewalks of our neighborhood.
Kourtney
Well, in short, I am happy with my life. I love New York; it's my favorite place that I've lived in so far. I love how things are nearby, and things that are not nearby are within five miles or so. I love the museums and events that seem constant. We decided to give into the wallet and join the Museum of Natural History for this upcoming year. We can go anytime we want, as much as we want now.
Aaron loved it when we went the first time so we decided it would be a good investment. Hopefully we'll make use of it often.
I realized the other day that I now have three part-time jobs. I got a new one just before I left for Christmas, and that is mentoring/teaching at an after school program for third and fourth graders at a public school in way-uptown Manhattan. The commute is only about fifteen minutes, which is wonderful considering that some people travel over an hour to get there. I only worked twice before I came out to Utah, but I think it will be a good job in the long run. It was extremely chaotic and not at all like it is supposed to be (according to the training session) but hopefully some things will smoothe out and we'll be able to actually start teaching. My second job is the one I have had for a long time, which is writing and editing Math activities for a company that will eventually post these activities online for paying parents and schools to access. The third job is the one is private tutoring. I do this the least frequently of all my jobs, but I hope that it will become the most frequent as this next year rolls on.
Besides work and Aaron and all the side effects of taking care of a home, I have a calling with my church as a member of the Relief Society Presidency, which means that I help lead the women in our meetings, and try to assess needs and assist in whatever ways we can figure out. We have a really great congregation over there, and it's great to be an active part of it.
Ben
California was great, although in this cold it all seems in a galaxy far, far away. In May we left the good friends, great Ultimate, and absolutely enviable weather of Stanford, California for the cool summer of Lviv, Ukraine. (I finished a master's in Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian studies there.)
Ukraine was also delightful. Learned some Ukrainian (K and I both did a summer language program at a university there). Ate some good food. Spent the summer with a warm host family. (Dyakuyemo shye, nashi Darya, Mikhailo, Oksana, and Ihor!) Saw the birthplace and aftermath of the Orange Revolution (a so-called popular uprising in November 2004). Watched Aaron navigate his way past lots of street dogs and into the hearts of our wonderful host family. In short, had a great summer with the family.
School this fall has been even better, although family life may be the best part of it all. I've just finished the first semester of a Communications PhD program at Columbia University and will probably have coursework through 2007 and a dissertation to write through 2008 or 2009, depending on travel. Anyway, the time it will take is fine with us, as we are enjoying it all. The program is strong and small. Four new students a year max, three full-time profs, and access to most classes in New York City area. There's been some adjusting to the transition from last year's three 10-week quarters to this year's two 16-week semesters, and it goes a little something like this: come to a new school, make friends, eat free food, explore New York, play Ultimate, and enjoy thinking one's way over a mountain of reading for nearly fourteen blissful weeks. Then wake up one night terrified by the realization that your new professors (unlike those sun-drenched Bay Area profs) may actually expect legible papers composed of many complete--nay, even coherent--sentences in two weeks. Then spend two weeks maniacally whacking a keyboard, hoping that one's professors' health insurance covers stinky paper-induced heart attacks. With a gesture to a Sesame Street episode, I've chosen paper topics that all begin with the letter P (the printing press, parody, and property). While "panic" didn't make the cut, it permeates throughout. Ah, the life of a graduate student. Looking back over the 14 weeks of paradise and two weeks of purgatory, I can say, without hesitation, that I'd do it all again in a second.
Life also has found ample room for fulfilling a church calling with the four young men in our local congregation (meets on Broadway and 67th). My most recent responsibility has been attending an overnight videogame marathon. I'm sure only playing football with the nursery rooms full of two- and three-year olds in Palo Alto could rival my present church calling. We have found many friends among our new congregation--about half of the members are Columbia students (with enough law students to keep me engaged in law but glad I'm not in the first year of law school) and the rest keep life real.
Until you come to visit us--and we figure there's a 95% probability that you will be passing through New York sometime in the next three years--we remain yours.
Dec 31, 2005
Dec 13, 2005
Aaron wasn't quite ready to get rid of his precious stroller, even though it was unusable. He cried there at the stroller for a few minutes while I tried to explain to him that the stroller was dead and that we'd get a new stroller. Not much could console him, not even our talk on the walk back about how sometimes things die even when we're not ready but we need to just let them go. He wasn't very convinced.
Oct 30, 2005
I just posted a bunch of pictures below from the past two weeks. I have taken an unusually large amount of pictures because there have been a few big events (not even including Marsha and John's visit here, since I let Marsha take over the picture taking). So the pictures below are not comprehensive from these last two weeks because I got too tired to finish, but I will try to finish soon. In the meantime, enjoy these ones.
Sneaky Boy
Aaron has become a sneak in two ways: the first, cutest, and funniest way is that he creeps up on us (complete with slight "tchh tchh" sound effect) to tickle us.
The second, which honestly (at this point) is almost as cute, but a little more disturbing, is that he is sneaky with trying to do things he knows he's not supposed to. He'll show me out of the kitchen and tell me to sit on the couch so he can get something he's not supposed to out of the fridge. He doesn't quite have the incognito thing down yet but he's got the idea of sneakiness at least. He'll also do little things like push my head in the other direction so I can't see him while he does what he's not supposed to.
Sneaky in whatever way, he sure is cute!
The second, which honestly (at this point) is almost as cute, but a little more disturbing, is that he is sneaky with trying to do things he knows he's not supposed to. He'll show me out of the kitchen and tell me to sit on the couch so he can get something he's not supposed to out of the fridge. He doesn't quite have the incognito thing down yet but he's got the idea of sneakiness at least. He'll also do little things like push my head in the other direction so I can't see him while he does what he's not supposed to.
Sneaky in whatever way, he sure is cute!
All dressed up for the big trick-or-treating play group. One of the girls had us all over for a sort of mock trick-or-treating. We all brought candy and the kids went to two apartments in the same building, knocking on different doors within the apartment to get candy. Most of the kids were around the age of two so it was pretty exciting.
You try with all your might to shelter your child from sugar and especially chocolate... but then there comes a time when your sweet little boy, with a mouth full of sticky chocolate, asks you to open a Snickers bar for him. And then oddly enough, you actually open it up. How could anyone resist such a cute alligator?
Aaron and I had a great time cutting out pretty pictures from old National Geographics and other magazines to make collages and such (thanks Great Grandma and Grandpa Paulsen for the great magazines!). We also made some clay, which Aaron is using to create a modern art piece that I think he said was called "Lego my Lego, with crayons."
Oct 15, 2005
Well, as you can see I just posted a bunch of new pictures below. It sure is nice to have a camera again. And this one is pretty small so it's easy to take along with us wherever we may be going.
Today we went out for a pre-birthday dinner to an Ethiopian restaurant not too far away. We got there and there was a big party there so it was extremely noisy. We decided to take our food to go instead of eating there. So we rented a movie, brought the food home and partied here. I think it was much more enjoyable this way, because Aaron was entertained and we didn't have to chase him around as we would have had to in the restaurant.
We're pretty much completely moved in and settled here now. We love our apartment and it is becoming ours more and more everyday. We've broken it in by having lots of different people over, and at least one of us has peed on the carpet so that should make it official I would think. I think that one of the best things about this apartment is that every piece of furniture has a story to it. Instead of just taking a big IKEA trip to get all our furniture at the beginning of the year, we shopped Craig's List for weeks to find what we needed. We got lots of good deals and had lots of adventures hauling various pieces of furniture with a range of methods through New York City: Kami and I pushed a file cabinet in a stroller 15 blocks down Broadway at 11:00 pm, we all wedged a seven foot tall bookshelf in the back of Kami's VW convertible for a two-mile drive home, Ben and I carried a carpet and a lamp on the subway at rush hour, Brother Ben helped us carry home some brand new carpet we found in a dumpster, etc. We've had a good time.
Aaron is talking more and more everyday. He tries really hard to repeat what we're saying and it's incredibly cute. My favorite thing is when he tries to say 'pineapple' it always comes out backwards, more like 'applepine.' Hehe. The other day I caught him practicing 'up' and 'down' while he was lying on the couch. He'd say 'up' and put his arm up, then put his arm down and say 'down!' Hmm... what else does he do that's cute? He has a particular bowl and spoon that he eats with every meal now, and he won't accept substitutes without quite a struggle (which only happens when we can't find the sacred spoon... we just need to find a bunch like it and have them on hand). He loves balls, which Uncle Ben provides him with on a regular basis. For awhile he was cuddling up to this little orange plastic ball everytime he went to sleep but it got lost. He had a hard time with not having that ball to sleep with but I think he's gotten used to it. For awhile he would call "ball?" before sleeptimes, hoping that one of us could find it. No go. Uncle Ben also got him a plastic basketball hoop that he plays with all the time. He still loves his stroller but we haven't been using it much because it has been pouring rain here for about the last week. We were worried that this is the norm but everyone assures us that this is record-breaking amounts of rainfall. Phew.
Well Aaron and Ben have fallen asleep so I think I'll take advantage of my sleeping-in birthday privileges tomorrow and stay up late reading tonight. It's gotten cold here, which means that I am freezing my buttock off. What will February be like? Filled with lots of blankets, I hope.
Today we went out for a pre-birthday dinner to an Ethiopian restaurant not too far away. We got there and there was a big party there so it was extremely noisy. We decided to take our food to go instead of eating there. So we rented a movie, brought the food home and partied here. I think it was much more enjoyable this way, because Aaron was entertained and we didn't have to chase him around as we would have had to in the restaurant.
We're pretty much completely moved in and settled here now. We love our apartment and it is becoming ours more and more everyday. We've broken it in by having lots of different people over, and at least one of us has peed on the carpet so that should make it official I would think. I think that one of the best things about this apartment is that every piece of furniture has a story to it. Instead of just taking a big IKEA trip to get all our furniture at the beginning of the year, we shopped Craig's List for weeks to find what we needed. We got lots of good deals and had lots of adventures hauling various pieces of furniture with a range of methods through New York City: Kami and I pushed a file cabinet in a stroller 15 blocks down Broadway at 11:00 pm, we all wedged a seven foot tall bookshelf in the back of Kami's VW convertible for a two-mile drive home, Ben and I carried a carpet and a lamp on the subway at rush hour, Brother Ben helped us carry home some brand new carpet we found in a dumpster, etc. We've had a good time.
Aaron is talking more and more everyday. He tries really hard to repeat what we're saying and it's incredibly cute. My favorite thing is when he tries to say 'pineapple' it always comes out backwards, more like 'applepine.' Hehe. The other day I caught him practicing 'up' and 'down' while he was lying on the couch. He'd say 'up' and put his arm up, then put his arm down and say 'down!' Hmm... what else does he do that's cute? He has a particular bowl and spoon that he eats with every meal now, and he won't accept substitutes without quite a struggle (which only happens when we can't find the sacred spoon... we just need to find a bunch like it and have them on hand). He loves balls, which Uncle Ben provides him with on a regular basis. For awhile he was cuddling up to this little orange plastic ball everytime he went to sleep but it got lost. He had a hard time with not having that ball to sleep with but I think he's gotten used to it. For awhile he would call "ball?" before sleeptimes, hoping that one of us could find it. No go. Uncle Ben also got him a plastic basketball hoop that he plays with all the time. He still loves his stroller but we haven't been using it much because it has been pouring rain here for about the last week. We were worried that this is the norm but everyone assures us that this is record-breaking amounts of rainfall. Phew.
Well Aaron and Ben have fallen asleep so I think I'll take advantage of my sleeping-in birthday privileges tomorrow and stay up late reading tonight. It's gotten cold here, which means that I am freezing my buttock off. What will February be like? Filled with lots of blankets, I hope.
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