I am coming out of hiding

Well, I do seem to be quite fickle with keeping up a blog, but I think I have made peace with it. Having come clean with that....here are a couple of pictures from Christmas. Let's start with our 2 little angels...

My attempt at making some rustic homemade stockings...burlap! Not totally how I envisioned but fun...I may work on a little more, but Richard and I have one each too.

There is so much this Christmas that I didn't get pictures of...first of all we had a great couple of nights at my mom "Nana" and Ted's "Grandpa's" house in Charlotte. A blessing to be there with them and the kids got so much lov'n an great food. Christmas Eve and Christmas morning we had at our house (the new, old stone home we moved into...with a fireplace:)) with all of Richard's siblings and our nieces and nephews...it was really great and I loved having all the festivities here...great fun to fill this house with family, laughter, and food. We passed up on the excess of presents on the King side and instead all pitched in on a little beach vacation down to Tybee Island...which we took off for the day after Christmas! It was great fun...and what a great gift to each other!

Also check out the new buz cut on Ryland...I do miss the hair, but he is cute and looks so BIG. We did do our family Christmas that morning when we also open some gifts from other family (thanks Poppy and Noni! Your gifts were a hit...notice the dress up clothes that of course had to be tried on immediately with accessories, notice the earrings, crown, shoes, and microphone -also the drums!!!!!). What a great morning to celebrate Jesus's birthday. Richard and I started a new little tradition of making a little manger with a little pretend baby Jesus wrapped in a blanket in it in front of the tree for the kids to wake up to Christmas morning. Addison said..."Mom, that's not Jesus, that's Ashley." I guess next year we will have to work a little more on finding a more convincing baby.

Ok, so yes...our kids do have a coffee shop habit already. I know, they are only 4 and 2, but they drink their milk or chocolate milk and we have our lattes or whatever crazy concoction Richard always orders...but honestly I think we just like the busy activity of people around us and there is some feeling of inspiration a coffee shop brings making us want to tap in to a creative side. Plus we just love hanging out, talking, and laughing at each other...and of course we do love coffee. So here are a couple of pictures from an evening out.

Yes, Starbucks was one of Addie's first words...I guess better than McDonalds. I think we have actually made that a bad word in our house.

Tybee Island, GA...I am sorry I didn't have the patience to put more pictures on from this trip, but my computer is horribly slow right now.

Metamorphosis

Well, honestly I think half of the reason that we dress up for Halloween, though not my favorite holiday, is because I really like tapping into our creativity to see what kind of costumes we can make from random stuff...the other half being candy!

There are lots of things I don't like about Halloween, but I hope I can teach my children to make something positive and fun out of something that the world often makes corrupt...so we choose to focus on something sweet, innocent, and creative. I think the kids really love helping me make the costumes and seeing their character take shape (literally) as they stuff it or put glitter on or whatever. This year they were a caterpillar and butterfly...as Richard said, "metamorphosis." (No Ryland is not a bee as one person thought) We met up with lots of friends at Church St., the Narnia kids (Isaac, Miriam, Amariah, and Jacob - their cousins), a cute little dragon (little Will), and many others. I wish we would have gotten pictures of them and all the Church St fun.

Ok...now for the Truth...and a little snow

Well, after all our posts expressing our opinions and beliefs, extremely healthy as it may be, this is what I read last night and man does it give me a peace and re-position my perspective....

Psalm 146
1 Praise the Lord!
Let all that I am praise the Lord. 2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.
3 Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. 4 When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them. 5 But joyful are those who have the God of Israel[a] as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God. 6 He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever. 7 He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners. 8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the godly. 9 The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.
10 The Lord will reign forever. He will be your God, O Jerusalem,[b] throughout the generations.
Praise the Lord!

Well, God brings blessings in all sorts of ways and the most recent was the cold breath of fresh air he blew on us the other day bringing a beautiful snow. It was perfect huge flakes just enough to play in! Here are some pictures from that....who would have thought these pictures could be from October. The picture above is of the 3 "punkins" cuddling on the couch which I just had to throw in.

Can you believe a winter wonder land? It was terrific! Addison just had to catch every snowflake on her tongue!

This is such a sweet rose

My Politics...

Wow, the other day I heard this and had to share it. This encompasses what I believe so well and is the basis by which I make many of my political decisions. This is what I believe America should be...used to be...and must continue to pursue. If I claim to have any political platform...this is it...

...and I had no idea it had been so long since I blogged...I promise, very soon my friends!

An American Creed
I Do Not Choose to Be a Common Man
It is my right to be uncommon—if I can.
I seek opportunity—not security. I do not wish to be a kept
citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after
me.
I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to
fail and to succeed.
I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the
challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of
fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia.
I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for
a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend
to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to
think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations
and to face the world boldly and say, “This I have done.”
By Dean Alfange

Thank You, God, for Seasons!

How did God know that every 3 or so months we need CHANGE? What divine knowledge and creativity He had in creating the change of seasons. I mean, I know that it has significance for every living species and our entire planet is sustained by this constant cycle of death and rebirth...but...seriously, did he have me in mind? I know that sounds so self-centered...that he would have gone to all that trouble for me, but in some small way I believe he knew that we, his children, would need the change of Seasons in our lives just as desperately as the rest of the planet.

The last week or so I have been getting antsy AGAIN, and wanting...no NEEDING something to change. I thought of chopping off my hair. I thought of trying to get pregnant. I thought of quiting my job (I say that with trepidation...but, Nanci, I think you are my only reader from work so hush!). I even dreamt I could talk Richard in to moving, but than it happened...our first cool crisp Fall like day, signs of my first pumpkin turning orange, crunching acorns on the ground, and yes, even the slight hint of color on the mountains. It happened...God provided the change just as He always does at just the right moment. I am going to drink it in...slough off the old, drop my leaves, and bask in the glory of the FALL! Thank you, Lord, for knowing our needs even before the foundation of the earth and creating us for the earth and the earth for us! Thanks...I love you!

New Memories in New England!

Well, we just came back from a great family trip to New Hampshire, Kennebunkport, Maine, Boston, and NYC. We went to Anthony and Kate Kings wedding in NH. It was beautiful, a great time to connect with family on the King side, and a wonderful reason to travel around New England and make some memories...that at least we won't forget. I have a bunch of pictures...here are just a few, but I will keep it short so you can see the pics. These don't even describe how beautiful the whole trip was, but they give you a glimpse. Richard is so great at capturing moments, so I had such a hard time leaving out so many great ones. (and for those who don't know...you can click on the pictures to see them enlarged).

I just thought this pic of Addie reminded me of some old time commercial for orange flavored seltzer or something. I just want to take a swig of her...she is just soooo cute...and sunny!

She met her cousin Kate for the first time from CA. They became great friends and we look forward to hanging out again.

This is the tree that grew a boy (doesn't it look like that). They had such fun at the wedding and rehearsal climbing in this tree.

Great moments with our Aunts who love us so much!

Dancing with daddy and Nana!

I love this picture...what a sweet face. This was in Kennebunkport, Maine. What a neat little Maine town right on the coast. We drove around looking at houses, the rocky coast, and even the Bush's estate. We also took in some great food and shopped a bit.

A night in Boston. Nana and Papa came here with us and even kept the kids one night so we could walk around the city at night.

Cute street in Beacon Hill, Boston.

Some other highlights: went to Basketball Hall of Fame, had dinner with Adam Combs and saw Annie in Boston, slept in our car at a campsite because there was no room in the Inn or any inn or hotel in Kennebunk, I ran 6 miles along the Charles River in downtown Boston (loved it), canoed down a river with the kids and saw a HUGE turtle, saw a brawl between a Red Sox fan and Yankee fan, staying in hotels (Addie and my favorite part), taking the train around Boston, IMAX, lots of laughs, getting lost but having fun anyways, and being a family having an adventure.

Check out Rye's new thing...he figured out how to suck his fingers while picking his nose...NICE!


We made one last stop to catch a Yankee's game against the Red Sox (one of the last in their old stadium). We also drove through Manhattan and Time Square at night which was such fun before heading back.

Please don't report me to Social Services!!!

Ok, so now that we have a little puppy our neighbors let us borrow this not-so-little crate. Well...I can't keep the kids out of it. They think it is their little clubhouse. Ryland likes to tell me he is having a party and takes ALL his toys in there. Seriously, I know this can't look good...but boy does this make it easy to get stuff done...JUST KIDDING! I try to keep them out, but they just look like they are having so much fun. Check out Addie's crazy faces as she is trying to do her best wild animal impression! What wild animal makes those crazy faces? Only she knows!

Another fun thing lately is their new Power Team with the neighbor kids. They apparently have a clubhouse of sorts and go on little adventures between the 2 houses. Ryland, AKA #12, will say "Go see Power People" and I think they are about to turn Leyla into wonder-dog. It's fun to have neighbors with young kids!

We also just had a great weekend with my mom, AKA Nana, and Grandpa Ted. We went to the Virginia Creeper, highly recommended by Annie, and really had a great time. Our camera battery died, but we did get a couple shots on Richard's phone. Ryland was in a little pull-behind wagon type thing. I didn't realize how much dirt he was getting in his face until the end...poor little guy, but he didn't complain much. I think he is most happy covered in dirt!