Subtraction

Today at the breakfast table we were discussing the size of our family. Adara said, "When Naomi dies, I'll just be one baby again."

First Time Walking

This girl is super fun. She loves learning new things and she gets so excited. You can't help but laugh and rejoice with her.

Snow, continued

These are 6 week old pictures by now. They're still fun, though.

Shrinking -- those are two eyes on the snowman's face.

I like the mystery implied by the empty leash.

Adara almost looks Amish . . . or Mennonite. :)

Naomi wanted to join in the fun. I don't think this is quite what she had in mind.

Snow in the South, Baby!

It actually snowed here. We haven't left the house all weekend. I'm pretty sure the city doesn't own any snowplows, and now the roads are all covered in ice.

Other Tidbits:

The following is an actual conversation that Jon and I had the other night.

Me - "What are you watching?"

Jon - "It's called, 'Left Behind'. It's about the rapture."

Me - "Is it a documentary?"

Think about it for a minute.

Shifting gears completely -- the pictures below are the result of a gardening project. Jon bought a mushroom growing kit online, and, when he left town for a couple of days, I kind of forgot about the project for awhile.

Real Genius

I'd never seen this ancient Val Kilmer classic, but was sure I'd heard about it. It brings back memories of jr. high GT. What I especially liked was the moral: don't take yourself (smart kids, especially) too seriously. But don't get so lost in having fun that you fail to consider the impact of your actions on the world around you.

Personally, I'm still trying to lear that lesson. Anyone else need a refresher?

Florida Christmas

No, we did not spend Christmas in Florida, because that would be crazy. Crazy meaning that the number of people vacationing in Orlando would be four times as many as were there when we went. We had won 2 free nights in a hotel there and had to use them before Dec. 31, 2009, so it seemed logical, albeit out of character for our "off the beaten path" family to go to Disney World on the week before Christmas.

Now, having "done" Disney World, I have to admit that Orlando

is a great vacation spot. Pricey, though we got really lucky. We ended up getting free passes to Disney World through a friend of a friend (thank you Mr. Eric!). And then we did one of those deals where you agree to listen to a protracted sales pitch in exchange for a gift, and in our case the gift was heavily discounted tickets to both "Gatorland" and "Sea World".

Both of our girls loved the big tortoise at Gatorland -- we got to touch it and walk next to it, and Adara even got to feed it a carrot!

And at Sea World we sat center stage on the 2nd row. We got wet, but the tears only lasted a minute, and wet clothes were exchanged for dry ones pretty quickly. What a memorable experience, seeing those whales only 20 feet from us, and looking into their eyes! Adara went nuts when she saw the trainers swimming with the whales and performing their stunts reminiscent of water skiing. She was ready to jump in with them. (Keep in mind she doesn't swim, and freaks out if her head goes under water at the swimming pool.)

So now it's Christmas. I've been thinking that this is supposed to be a religious holiday, but the most we were able to get into that aspect of Christmas with our girls is that today is Jesus' birthday, and that Jesus was the gift that God gave to the world.

Besides singing Christmas carols and hymns, and watching the "Nativity" clip from the Church, the only thing we've done "in the spirit of Christ" is to take plates of cookies to our neighbors.

It was actually an accident that it turned into a spiritual experience. After we delivered the third plate, Adara didn't want to stop. She must have felt something that made her excited and feel like giving away her treasured treats instead of keeping them all for herself. I obviously couldn't recreate that feeling with the hymns and stories/videos about Christmas.

So here's my question: how do you get that feeling into your Christmas celebration on purpose? What do you do at Christmastime that makes you excited and filled with desire to share your treasured treats with strangers?

darndest things

Jon, speaking to Adara: "You see, Mama and I are one."

Adara: "I'm two."

And in a completely unrelated vein, here's a link to a song that Jon and I heard on the radio as we were driving across Tennessee when we were moving to North Carolina. I'd love to have it play automatically whenever someone accesses my blog, but I don't know how to do that.

To play a sample of the song, click on "play sample" at the following page:

http://www.pandora.com/music/song/dailey+vincent/poor+boy+workin+blues