tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-138106422012-02-06T14:46:02.928-05:00We have changed significantly since beginning this blog 5 years ago. Then we were a young couple, living in Europe exploring our world; now we are a family of 5, living in the South. Our adventures used to include exploring new cities, countries and sites, and now include living day by day with a desire to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly. This is a small window into our world, a journal of adventures that continue to shape our lives.Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.comBlogger5891100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-26526178392233538892012-01-24T14:20:00.000-05:002012-01-24T14:20:26.333-05:00

Dave and I have been mulling over the whole chore-allowance subject for a few years now.  My girls are very helpful around the house, and we have wanted them to have specific responsibilities they are in charge of.  We have also mulled around the idea of an allowance or commission.  On one hand I think my kiddos should help around the house, no matter what.  They live here, they contribute to the

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At the end of May we journeyed up to TN to celebrate Jon and Leigha's wedding.  The girls love their cousins, Jon, Josh and Jacob, and their cousins are super sweet to them them.  Now the girls finally have a girl cousin and they are super excited about it.   All of us gals ended up matching in our black and white dresses, which was quite by accident, but I am sure it made for great pictures.

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About a month ago we trekked out to a farm not too far away for some yummy strawberry picking.  This was actually our fourth year at this particular place, and we managed to pick our usual two buckets.  True was on my back this year, as opposed to inside my tummy, so I came away with different aches and pains. And then the following night, Dave and I made our first batch of strawberry jam.  I

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-14303053104266154602011-06-14T10:03:00.000-04:002011-06-14T10:03:00.526-04:00

I love risotto.  I also love gnocchi.  A few winters ago we planned to go to Prague with our buds Jim and Kristen.  The morning we were to leave it dumped 18 inches on us and we had to cancel our trip.  Instead we bummed around our little place in Hensctal, ate some spicy, BB (butt-burning) chili, rode sleds, and ate at our favorite Oriental restaurant.  The next morning we decided to go to

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The girls took ballet this year.  I signed them up late (October), but it was a sweet little program at a local church, and they could be in the same class.  They loved it, although at times I wonder if that is really Annelise's thing.  Hadleigh Claire loved every minute of it, and Annelise especially liked jumping from dot to dot and making faces in the mirrors.  She did pick up a few moves,

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We have a victory garden!  This is our third year with a vegetable garden and it looks like it is going to be a great year.  I am so thankful that we started this three years ago, and we have gotten a lot of practice and experience over the last couple of years.  We started small and keep growing it, so it has fun to see the garden evolve. Dave and I read several gardening books this year and

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We have a wonderful, amazing produce stand near our house, and I swear by them.  If they say it is good, it is good.  If they don't have blueberries it means they are not good yet.  I have made a couple new finds this year because of them.  The first was baby Vidalia onions.  Holy Moly.  They are out of season now, so you'll have to remember to look for them next March/April.  I could have eaten

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Six years and 600 posts ago we started this blog.  We actually started it so that our friends and family could track us as we traveled Europe.  That was a lifetime ago, it seems.  Our adventures are not over, but our travel has been slowed to a snail's pace.  It will never be what it was 6 years ago, but maybe we will pick it up a bit as the kiddos get older. Our adventures used to include

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-14963249169941631272011-05-20T21:52:00.001-04:002011-05-24T10:36:54.098-04:00

Upon seeing this little house in the Botanical Gardens, HC exclaimed, "Peter Rabbit!  I did not know that he lived here!"

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-21106984952739698252011-05-18T21:38:00.000-04:002011-05-18T21:38:00.556-04:00

A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of meeting my new nephew Noah John.  My bro and sis-in-law, Chris and Rubie came out for a week to visit us and they brought their 4 month old baby along with them (thankfully). I had actually been hoping to take the kids back to Cali for a visit this winter, but several factors brought me quickly to my senses.  The first being that my parents are keeping

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-20723787853243514112011-05-17T12:40:00.001-04:002011-05-24T10:38:18.592-04:00

Happy Easter a little late, and a little blurry.

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-35747185434926736192011-05-11T21:21:00.000-04:002011-05-13T16:37:28.336-04:00

We have been busy...big breath. In early April we took the fam down to Callaway Gardens for a fun weekend away.  This was our first time there as a family and it was beautiful weather and beautiful gardens. We rented a little house outside the gardens, so we ended up just spending one full day there.  The rest of the time we spent puttering around the complex where the house was.  It had a

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-56226272103167770742011-04-20T21:38:00.000-04:002011-04-20T21:38:00.579-04:00

Sweet True is 9 months and this has been quite the month for him!  He is sitting up pretty well, when he has a mind to do it.  He is also a proficient roller/scootcher and can get almost anything.  He loves to show off his skills.  He is an expert at the pincher grasp and successfully feeds himself cheerios.  YEA!  He also loves dropping things, everything.  Food, toys, you name it, he drops it.

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-67671417881323697612011-04-18T21:24:00.003-04:002011-04-18T21:38:05.324-04:00

The very first activity we attended in our neighborhood was the annual Easter Egg Hunt three years ago.  Our house was under contract and we thought it would be fun to attend and meet some of our new neighbors.  HC was barely two and Annelise was a baby, so there was not a whole lot of egg finding going on that year. Remember the good old days when we used to use real boiled eggs for egg hunts?

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-40318406124350045242011-04-06T06:00:00.000-04:002011-04-06T06:00:04.809-04:00

So now that you know WHY we do all these things, we come to the part that you all have been dying to read…I know…HOW do we do all these things.  I think that one of the reasons I wrote before about finding out what you love and what you are good at, is because how we teach our children should reflect who we are.  What works for me might not work/appeal to someone else.  Cool, figure out something

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Here is another shout-out for roast chicken, and for my just in case you happen to recently turn to the dark-side and go vegetarian on all of us, have no fear, this is super yummy even without the chicken.  A yummy recipe for roast chicken without the chicken...odd, huh? Roast Chicken Breasts with Garbanzo Beans, Tomatoes and Paprika.  Is your mouth watering yet?  I made this last night with a

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Last night I was lying in bed thankful for my family.  I feel very aware of how blessed I am.  There is much to be thankful for, and today I am thankful for my girls.  I have the privilege of being their mama. One of the things that makes me very thankful is that they are just normal.  Normal little girls.  They are extraordinary to me, but to most they are just normal or average.  I am good

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Pioneer Woman to the rescue!!!  Red peppers are my favorite.  I love red pepper soup, red pepper sauce, and one of my favorite salads is romaine, red peppers, sun flower seeds with poppyseed dressing on top.  Yumm-o, red peppers! I made this recipe last summer when I was prego with True and it became an instant fav.

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-24410211970877972912011-03-25T06:07:00.000-04:002011-03-25T06:07:00.280-04:00

LOVE bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,        Guilty of dust and sin.  But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack        From my first entrance in,  Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning         5       If I lack'd anything.    'A guest,' I answer'd, 'worthy to be here:'       Love said, 'You shall be he.'  'I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,        I cannot look on Thee.'  10 Love

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*These are just random thoughts about things that we are learning... I realized the other day that I have never left a church.  It seems a little weird.  Even in all of my growing up years the only reason my family left a church was if we moved, and we moved to NP when I was 5.  I stayed at one church virtually my entire growing up years.  I went off to school, found a church my freshman year

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Does anyone have a cool homemade beer light?  This is the new decor in the "Man" room.  Do you know what is funnier than having a man room in the house?  Hearing my three-year-old daughter talk about the man room.  Hilarious!

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Probably every Mama wants to be a good Mama.  I certainly did not set out 5 years ago to be a bad Mama.  The reality of motherhood probably hit me around the time Hadleigh was hitting 2 years old.  It went something like this: You are not the best.  So I accepted defeat somewhat gracefully, and started to wonder, if I cannot be good at the whole thing is there at least a couple areas I can be

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While we lived in Germany we were in a Community Group that met once a week for dinner and Bible study.  It was a lively group, to say the least, and we started off studying Romans.  HELLO!  And the group was all over the map as far as theological beliefs, so it was interesting.  We finally began using Tim Keller's notes on Romans, which was fabulous.  And if you have never studied the Bible with

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A month or so ago I had about had it with our playroom and all of our toys.  The nice thing about having a playroom is that we do mostly manage to keep all our toys in one room, but sometimes it felt like a war zone in there.  The girls were always good about picking it up with supervision and direction, which was great, but it was just hard for me to add one more thing into our daily routine,

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I really enjoy P-dub and I think she has some fantastic recipes that our little family really enjoys.  This is one of our favs.  I made this last March when I hosted my neighborhood's Bunco night.  Everyone went crazy over it and I have made it often ever since. We love it on chips, on pita bread, in tortillas, on top of quesadillas, and also just straight up by the spoonful and into my mouth.

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In my quest to make my own bread, and because I could eat a whole loaf by myself, I tried this recipe a few months back.  I really like it because I can make it quickly.  It needs to rise for 1.5 hours and cook for 45 minutes.  In my opinion that is a quick bread to make.  I also love this because I can use rosemary from my garden.  In fact, if you ever need rosemary and want to swing by I have

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I think that poor True is going to have to be happy with the two month updates because I just cannot seem to pull it together enough to do the every month updates for him...poor little man.  My sweet, sweet boy is almost 8 months old.  He has had a busy couple of months. He had his first surgery at 6 months old.  Thankfully we have an amazing children's hospital in town (yea for living in big

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Holy Moly.  Once a month the women in my neighborhood get together and kick it.  It has been such a blessing to get to know these women better.  Over Christmas one of the ladies made this amazing cake, a mandarin cake.  Holy Moly.  It was amazing, and I brought a piece home for Dave and the girls to share. This is the cake that HC requested for her birthday, which we ate after her birthday

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-55345476351600945812011-03-07T12:40:00.000-05:002011-03-07T12:40:00.808-05:00

This is my beautiful daughter who is 5 years old today.  Seriously, 5.  Seriously, isn't she gorgeous?  We are in trouble.  I love this picture that my friend, Jess (blog on the left), took because I think it completely sums up Hadleigh Claire in a picture. She truly is one of the joys of my life.  One of my favorite "chores" of the day is to read to her before naps.  Sometimes it gets a little

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-43869453656293039022011-03-03T06:20:00.000-05:002011-03-03T06:20:00.213-05:00

Isn't this the sweetest picture ever?  Sweet HC putting her arm around sweet Asher (my college bff's oldest daughter).  This was taken two years ago when they visited us in Atl, and I recently found the picture and sent it to Elaine.  I hope they will get to see each other again soon.

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-11661763508905214562011-03-02T06:07:00.000-05:002011-03-02T06:07:00.072-05:00

My children are blessed to have two wonderful Grandmas who love them very much.

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-13319811836120588792011-03-01T06:20:00.000-05:002011-03-01T06:20:00.173-05:00

We LOVE a good soup.  Soon after we got married DAve picked up this awesome soup cookbook.  I can't remember where he bought it, but it was like $5.99, and it rocks!  Our first winter in Germany we started a tradition of cooking a new soup every week.  Thankfully Dave is not a meat and potatoes dude (I mean he likes meat and potatoes, but does not have to eat it to feel like he has had a meal),

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Thankfully I can carry a tune and I have a little knowledge and appreciation for music, but I would not call myself musical.  Dave, on the other hand plays the hammer dulcimer and sings beautifully, what a gift!  The interesting thing is that Dave and I have very similar musical tastes...as in the only cd's we buy are either Caedmon's Call (or Derek Webb/Sandra McCracken) or redone hymns by

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"My daughter is vain," I lamented to my older mommy friend, Kris the other day.  "She's sane?"  "No, she's vain, she's vain!"  I had just french braided her hair and afterwards she tore it out in a huff because it was "bumpy" all the while yelling at me, "It's not pretty, Mama!" She is 4, why is this an issue?  We have been battling this for a while it seems.  She wants to pick out her clothes,

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We are hoping for a great time at the pool this summer, and to help make all my dreams come true I enrolled the girls in swim lessons.  This is HC's third year taking them from the same amazing swim club.  I love this place and swear by it...although she is not swimming on her own yet...but that seems to be more about her personality than anything else.  She has certainly been taught some great

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Last winter when I was prego with True, my sweet mother-in-law called and asked if I would like a few frozen meals.  They were going to be coming to visit for New Year's and she had thought it might be helpful if she brought along some meals that we could put in our freezer and eat as we needed.  I was overjoyed, of course.  My all-day-sickness tends to last from about 7 weeks to 20 weeks of

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Sunday, February 13th, True was baptized at our church.  It was a wonderful occasion and we were so happy to be able to celebrate it with my mom and Dave's parents.  Leading up to the event it was fun to think about how faith is a miracle.  It can only be created by the Holy Spirit, and we look forward with great anticipation to see this miracle take place in each of our children.  We also look

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 Annelise can lately be seen around our house like this.

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Last fall my bro and sis-in-law gave me a subscription to Southern Living for my birthday.  I had been receiving Real Simple and enjoyed it, but I thought I would try something new.  For the most part I do enjoy Southern Living probably a little more than the RS, but I thought I would LOVE the food section of SL, and I just do not.  I have noticed that many of SL's recipes have processed foods in

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-43733010576036085372011-02-14T06:20:00.001-05:002011-02-14T09:25:20.254-05:00

A couple years ago, Dave discovered Pomplamoose.  If you have never heard of them, you can check them out on you tube.  It is two folks who are very musically talented, and they redo cover songs with voice and different musical instruments...it is hard to explain, but it is very fun.  The girls LOVE watching their videos, and HC has been known to walk around the house singing, "All the single

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-7425018246769932482011-02-11T06:20:00.000-05:002011-02-11T06:20:00.846-05:00

Today I heard two fabulous pieces of news.  Chick-fil-a is opening a new store close to our house.  We have one about 3 miles from the house, but this new one will be about 1 1/2 miles.  Sweet!  Actually I cannot think of the last time we went to CFA, but it is always nice to know that one is super close by. My real excitement is over the fact that Home Goods is opening up a store close by.  

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-48644145324932798312011-02-10T06:00:00.000-05:002011-02-10T06:00:08.555-05:00

As you can tell from the background of this picture, it was taken after Snowfest 2011.  The ice was mostly gone from the roads and we could take a nice little stroll around our neighborhood. I love this picture.  True is  watching the girls, dying to get in on the action.  The girls are hugging and loving each other and ready to take their babies on a walk.  Sweetness.

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-69605272863068157342011-02-09T06:54:00.000-05:002011-02-09T06:54:00.831-05:00

For the past year I have been in a Bible study with 5 other women.  All of us are mamas and all of us have known each other (more or less) from our playgroup, although if you have ever been in a playgroup you will know that there isn't much time to have in depth conversations, so even though I have been seeing some of these mamas in playgroup every week for the last 4 years, I really didn't know

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-2569390199800852312011-02-08T07:29:00.001-05:002011-02-08T07:29:00.402-05:00

My new favorite thing to make is roast chicken.  It is SO easy.  Whenever I make it I wonder why I had been making casserole and thinking it was easy, roasting chicken is WAY easier.  My mom is the princess of roast chicken, I say that because I think my grandma is the queen.  When we were up in NY visiting my grandma she made us roast chicken.  My 88 year old grandmother made us roast chicken.  

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-50600093995936585952011-02-07T06:00:00.010-05:002011-02-07T06:54:20.622-05:00

Over the weekend we were going through old pictures.  Our living room has several black and white pictures of European scenery and I needed Dave to find three more pictures to hang.  He scrolled and scrolled and finally decided on three, and in the mean time I stumbled upon these pictures which brought back some fun memories.I do not ski, neither does Dave.  Six years ago we drove to Austria with

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-35696785040065854692011-02-04T06:00:00.001-05:002011-02-04T06:00:13.494-05:00

 I was talking to my good friend, Sar, on the phone the other day and she mentioned that she had made some "heart crayons" with her girls.  Oh what a fun idea, I thought, and asked her how she did it, because when I grow up I want to be just like Sar.  And actually we are very much alike.  She and I grew up together, we were a year apart in school, but still good friends.  We both left Cali to

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-1446507586358543372011-02-03T07:10:00.001-05:002011-02-04T07:36:58.730-05:00

I TRY to keep things simple. OK, not everything, but somethings I try to keep simple.  For example, the girls have two pairs of shoes, sneakers and dress shoes.  That is it.  Please tell me I am not the only woman out there who doesn't care about shoes.  Oh well if I am, there I said it, I do not care about shoes, and if you had my feet you would likely not care either.  It is almost impossible

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-8730501382020565372011-02-02T07:16:00.001-05:002011-02-02T07:16:00.537-05:00

I am planning my garden.  We are changing things up a bit since it will be our third year.  I had some grandiose plans two years ago, but Dave wisely and skeptically kept me in check.  Gardening is hard work, and I had a 2 year old and a 1 year old, so it was hard to say how it was going to go.  There has definitely been a learning curve, but overall we all enjoy having the fresh grown veggies at

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-45768826267152055422011-02-01T07:16:00.001-05:002011-02-01T07:16:00.398-05:00

Years ago I bought this fab cookbook called "Vegetarian Pasta" and it definitely has some winner recipes in it.  One of our favs is Lentil Coriander Lasagna.  Lentils, mushrooms, cilantro.  Yumm-o.  I love making up several of those lasagnas at a time and throw them into the freezer.  Then a month later, voila!  I don't even have to think, I just put it in the oven and an hour later we have a

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-54427661235889983262011-01-31T07:00:00.001-05:002011-01-31T07:00:09.175-05:00

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-66446056294051665392011-01-28T07:48:00.000-05:002011-01-28T07:48:00.798-05:00

Our church is a far cry from being a liturgical church, though compared to the church I grew up in, it is very liturgical.  If it were up to me (which it is not), I would probably prefer a little more liturgy, but I enjoy the stuff we do get in the service. We have been keeping HC with us for the beginning part of the worship service before we send her off to her class.  Actually, truth be told

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-62612960253591196302011-01-27T07:10:00.001-05:002011-01-27T07:10:00.312-05:00

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-861409702072788612011-01-26T07:07:00.000-05:002011-01-26T07:07:00.533-05:00

I feel like it was just yesterday that I was lugging my cankles and huge prego self around, but truly that was 6 months ago during the worst summer I have ever experienced in Atlanta.  And now my ankle is visible again and I am holding a 6 month old in my arms.  Insanity. True is the sweetest baby ever.  YOu may take that to the bank.  He is full of smiles and coos and giggles.  And because he

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-54114711433737124982011-01-25T07:00:00.002-05:002011-01-25T13:25:06.469-05:00

Dave and I have been baking bread recently and before Thanksgiving I gave this one a try.  Divine!  You must make it immediately.  It is super wonderful straight out of the oven, but also makes amazing french toast.  Thanks Pioneer Woman!

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-28879359406062389312011-01-24T07:00:00.000-05:002011-01-24T07:00:04.464-05:00

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-66256394306289491342011-01-20T07:00:00.099-05:002011-01-20T07:00:18.217-05:00

In all likelihood I have mentioned that we live in absolutely fabulous neighborhood, but I would like to mention it again, because I continue to be thankful that God brought us to here.  I actually became familiar with this neighborhood when I was single.  I lived in another neighborhood just a couple miles away, and my roomies and I would walk through here on our loop.  I remember liking a lot

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-55194828470308438132011-01-19T07:00:00.000-05:002011-01-19T07:00:17.163-05:00

I recently put sweet True into the newly washed and bleached exersaucer.  At first he wasn't too sure about the whole situation and then he decided he wanted to get the star...SO cute.

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-13859398127804741282011-01-18T07:00:00.000-05:002011-01-18T07:00:18.925-05:00

We had this a couple nights ago and it was super yumm-o.  I was trying to use up things we had around the house and what do you know, we had all the ingredients (except the fresh mint).  My favorite go-to site for recipes is epicurious.com.  Love them!  It's the real stuff, from scratch kind of good, yummy cooking.  They have a couple sections that I enjoy checking out, and this one I found in

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-52134651767305165062011-01-17T08:16:00.000-05:002011-01-17T08:16:00.667-05:00

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-64930916740509648892011-01-14T08:01:00.001-05:002011-01-14T08:01:00.525-05:00

We have recently been reading this book "Sammy and His Shepherd" by Susan Hunt, singing this song by Stuart Townend, and memorizing Psalm 23 with the girls. The Lord's my shepherd I'll not want He makes me lie in pastures green He leads me by the still, still waters His goodness restores my soul He guides my ways in righteousness And he anoints my head with oil And my cup it overflows with joy

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-34879702102424866392011-01-13T07:07:00.000-05:002011-01-13T07:07:00.232-05:00

Yesterday was day three of being snowed in!  Dave was all ready to go in to work today, but was awaiting word from his boss this morning.  The news arrived at 6.30 that his boss could not make it out of his own neighborhood!  Welcome to GA where it takes more than 3 days to get rid of 4 inches of snow.  To be fair, all the snow has turned to ice now, so I feel somewhat sorry for the DOT.  And so

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-70256417042744649062011-01-12T07:16:00.001-05:002011-01-12T07:16:00.829-05:00

Two years ago I was in a Bible study with a very unique group of ladies.  We studied Romans, hello!  And we used Tim Keller's notes, hello (link here to the study).  I was the youngest of the group, being a new mom of two, there were a couple other moms with elementary age children, and a couple moms with teenage children, but most of the women were young grandmas (around my mom's age).  It was

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-12057546352799204952011-01-11T07:00:00.001-05:002011-01-11T07:00:07.667-05:00

The snow did in fact make it to Georgia and the whole city of Atlanta has shut down.  I know, you Northerners think this is silly, a lot of drama for 4 or so inches of snow.  The only thing I have to say is if you lived down here, you would seriously WANT people to stay off the roads (they are insane).  So we (Dave included) enjoyed sledding with the kids in our neighborhood, and hot chocolate

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-33846437410182845332011-01-10T09:17:00.000-05:002011-01-10T09:17:00.631-05:00

I realize that I neglected to blog about our family's trip to visit my Grandmother last fall.  The whole thing happened very quickly, as in we decided about 3 weeks prior to our trip.  Things began to normalize with True and we knew at some point we wanted to take all three kiddos up to NY to visit her.  I was thinking that was a trip we would take in the spring, but why not move it up a few

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-75355148979690095422011-01-09T18:06:00.000-05:002011-01-09T18:06:35.386-05:00

"They" are calling for snow in Atlanta tonight.  Yesterday "they" were calling for 4-6 inches which could potentially be record breaking.  Today "they" have changed their minds and are calling for 2-4 inches, which is still note worthy for us, and will likely shut down the city.  Whenever "they" call for it I feel skeptical about whether it will actually arrive or not.  We shall see!  Of course

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-23989948740197538112011-01-06T19:35:00.002-05:002011-01-13T07:03:06.412-05:00

Our good buds from Germany just launched their new website Capture Photography. You know that you totally want to go and check out their pictures because you never know who you might find as you are scrolling through. And then you can hire them immediately because they are awesome and if we think they are, let's face it, they probably are...

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-70083102548229977622011-01-05T11:46:00.012-05:002011-01-06T06:32:19.081-05:00

Sometimes the girls get really creative with their play. They did this for at least an hour...

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-42424765962101903552011-01-04T08:08:00.005-05:002011-01-11T18:13:04.178-05:00

For the last couple of months I have been collecting my thoughts on Family Worship, and how we have decided to teach our children about God. But with three children all under foot these days (which is wonderful), it has taken me longer than usual. So, one day I will post those thoughts, but it is not today. When I first began attending Intown, our new pastor spent a lot of time talking about

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-10089286119460504732011-01-01T14:05:00.003-05:002011-01-02T19:04:41.797-05:00

Unfortunately I did not read as much as I would have liked to read this year. I am sure there are books that I read that I am not listing, but these are at least the ones that I could remember, so they are at least worthy of a mention. I'll comment on a couple of them. Late last year I read "Little House on the Prairie" to HC. I so enjoyed it, and could not remember what happened after they

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-89588763259368647952010-12-31T08:32:00.002-05:002010-12-31T08:32:00.808-05:00

Look at us, so young and rested and kid-less! Behind us you see "our" bridge, the Pont Neuf in Paris. We are standing on the foot bridge just up from it, you know the bridge that "Sex and the City" made famous. It was actually important to us before the final episode of "Sex and the City". In April 2002 I visited Paris for the first time with my then roomie, Amy. We fell in love with all

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-53948166642346916712010-12-30T08:00:00.000-05:002010-12-30T08:00:01.737-05:00

Tell me these are not the cutest girls ever! In mid-October I found a sweet little ballet program at a local church. It took us a little while to get into the rhythm of things, but the girls are now enjoying every minute of this special class. And they get to do it together which is a bonus!

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-49152877678605975662010-12-28T08:13:00.000-05:002010-12-28T08:13:00.299-05:00

I got my first pair of glasses when I was 8. They were red Charlie Brown glasses and I loved them. They were just for reading, and doing close up work, and that is all I have needed them for until recently (not that I still have those glasses). The verdict is still out (only because I haven't actually been to the eye doctor yet), but I think I might need an upgrade in glasses. I was on

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-69116145654890312682010-12-26T15:34:00.005-05:002010-12-26T16:12:21.073-05:00

Don't say it, I know. It is the end of December 2010 and I have sorely neglected our blog this year. I am likely more disappointed by this than most of the world, so we'll see if I can revive it in 2011. In the mean time enjoy some photos of our December.We started off the season with our annual trip to find the "perfect' Christmas tree. We decided to try a new tree farm this year because we

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-77978333978720326642010-12-13T07:27:00.002-05:002010-12-13T07:37:19.571-05:00

I do not have a lot of time to write, but I wanted to share this story because it is so super precious to me. These are some links to my friend Jess' blog. She is an awesome photographer and friend from our Baumholder days. Jess was one of the chics I would do girls' night with, especially when the deployment started...and Nic was another one of the gals.You should check out her site anyway

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-3062068813394910702010-11-14T08:07:00.009-05:002010-11-14T08:32:17.732-05:00

Tomorrow True will be 4 months old, which is totally insane, but true. He is such a sweet, good natured baby, now if we can only get him to sleep through the night! He had been sleeping from 6pm-4am, and then again until 6am, but over the last two weeks things have deteriorated. I am trying to get him on a schedule of sorts, but of course we were on vaca last week and he just gets dragged along.

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-18483739270053740832010-10-20T07:59:00.005-04:002010-10-20T08:21:14.651-04:00

If you are a Mama, you might not think there is anything wrong with these pictures. Or maybe you are a Mama and you think there are tons of things wrong with these pics. I took these pictures on a day when I was particularly frustrated. I was mostly frustrated about my inability to get anything done around the house. This is one result of not having the girls in preschool, the house is rarely

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-1095598046677854902010-10-15T14:16:00.000-04:002010-10-15T14:16:00.509-04:00

Since we have kept the girls out of school this year we have been having fun chillin' with some of our friends who aren't doing the school thing this year either. This has been great fun for us, because we adore hanging out with Andrew and Elsbeth and of course Andrew and Elsbeth's Mama. Here are some pictures of our recent adventures. Annelise and Els kickin' with the gorillas at the zoo the

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-66221084360012974662010-10-14T13:56:00.002-04:002010-10-14T14:56:37.743-04:00

I have never been a big fan of cereal. Growing up I would always eat either Cheerios (regular, plain Cheerios) or oatmeal (hold the brown sugar please). Mom always said I was a healthy eater, I'm not so sure about that, but I was never big on sweets at least. No chocolate or candy for me. I always passed on the soda and hated pizza (I actually tolerate pizza these days, but would never choose on

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-14687324992856043412010-10-13T14:08:00.002-04:002010-10-13T14:15:11.795-04:00

Our good bud, Jessica and her crew came up to visit and take some family pictures for us a couple weeks ago. I think this is the 6th time she has used her crazy skills to bless our fam, and she did great again!Since I could not find a babysitter for her two kiddos we decided to skip Stone Mountain and take the shots right here at home. I was thinking outside would be perfect, but Jess

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-50785277986886809552010-09-28T15:23:00.002-04:002010-09-28T16:07:17.851-04:00

This fall our family took the plunge, we raged against the system (not really) and decided to keep all the children home. It was a bizarre decision, I must admit. I have never had an issue with preschool, go or don't go, I really don't care. Hadleigh Claire started attending one day a week when she was 18 months old. I had not realized preschool started this early, but it was a great option

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-62727989683958962912010-09-22T09:22:00.004-04:002010-09-22T09:31:30.764-04:00

Poor little True, I don't know that I will be able to always take the time to write about his monthly happenings. We'll see if I can get back in the habit.He just had his 2 month check-up and weighed 11 pounds, 8 ounces and was 23.5 inches long. This puts him at 50% for both height and weight. He actually gained almost 2 pounds since his 1 month appointment, which is great news with all the

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-39974244086823679322010-09-01T07:08:00.010-04:002010-09-01T07:15:41.806-04:00

Here are some pictures that Dave has taken over the last several weeks.

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-83726231577169898022010-08-30T14:34:00.003-04:002010-08-30T15:57:10.250-04:00

It's about time I tell my crazy story while it is still a bit fresh in my mind. I do feel like the last bit of pregnancy can be the hardest, especially when you are waiting on the baby. While Hadleigh came a day before her due date, we had expected her to come earlier. I had a stress test done 2 weeks before she was due because there was some concern about how she would due during labor. At that

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-35231790321826346142010-08-25T18:57:00.008-04:002010-08-25T19:31:08.929-04:00

I am obviously a bit busier with three kiddos since I have not updated my blog in a while, although it seems that the blog has suffered quite a bit this year. Maybe I have less and less to say...or not. =) If I had the time I would post several things today, but I do not think that is going to happen because in 30 minutes I will need to feed True, and I abhor typing with one hand...it is so

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-36797028065923218012010-07-18T11:18:00.006-04:002010-07-18T11:34:42.143-04:00

As a surprise to us all, this past Thursday, July 15, I woke up in labor. It was only a surprise because July 15 was my due date and I mean seriously, what baby arrives on their due date? I'll have time later to chronicle my labor and delivery, which I think was my best to date, but until that time we wanted to officially welcome our newest addition to the fam, True Schaeffer. He was 8 lbs. 9 oz

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-26861580686058790992010-06-27T19:45:00.002-04:002010-06-27T20:13:29.395-04:00

As I type, the little man is moving around and boxing my tummy. It's sweet, although I could sometimes do without the blows to the bladder! In any case, my time is getting near, or nearer at least. I went over with Annelise, so I'm trying to prepare myself to be prego well past my due date of July 15 (well past as in as long as they will let me go past which I suppose will depend on a lot of

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-88484683914009921322010-06-08T18:39:00.013-04:002010-06-08T19:09:08.282-04:00

This winter we were trying to determine WHEN we would like to go on vacation, and WHERE we would like to go on vacation this year. It was a bit of a difficult situation. Do we go pre or post baby? And if we go pre-baby should we go big (as in fly somewhere and rent a car...while we still can fit in an economy size) or stick closer to home. And then of course there is the question, beach or

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-67989615854625830512010-06-01T14:01:00.002-04:002010-06-01T14:23:24.917-04:00

We are trying to figure out a normal schedule/routine for the summer, which has been difficult so far because we haven't had a normal week yet (the week following vaca is NOT normal), and then yesterday was a holiday, so this week is not normal either. And next week the AC dudes come, so...yea.Anyway, we will still try to figure it out and probably get into a routine just about the time the

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-90854692647321170492010-05-31T09:27:00.006-04:002010-05-31T10:01:17.960-04:00

It is May 31 and I have no idea what happened to May. We finished up swim lessons for Hadleigh and Annelise. Both did marvelously well, and I look forward to seeing how they continue to develop as swimmers. Once Annelise turns 3 they can be in the same swim class, so I'm really looking forward to that development for next spring. We bought them both floaties to use in the pool this summer which

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-18609297471430966052010-04-30T20:03:00.003-04:002010-04-30T20:21:07.310-04:00

Last Friday morning I rolled over in bed to face Dave, who smiled and said, "It's going to be a beautiful day, let's hike up Stone Mountain!" My response was something to the effect of, "when hell freezes over..." and then, "I'm not carrying anything or anyone!" For those of you non-Atlantans, Stone Mountain is a huge rock/mountain outside Atl. You can walk around it, you can take the vernicular

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-18513576677905739952010-04-27T13:59:00.002-04:002010-04-27T14:24:28.744-04:00

The funny thing is when you are prego it seems you might as well walk around town with a sign around your neck saying, "please give me some advice, I really enjoy it when perfect strangers give me advice." When folks see me walking around with 2 girls they are desperate to know the gender of my baby, which is fun because having a boy seems like a bit of a novelty since I have two girls already,

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-27413300771929032010-04-18T18:36:00.002-04:002010-04-18T19:02:45.589-04:00

Over the past week the hallway between the playroom and our guest bedroom has become packed out with toys, blankets, animals and pillows. The girls are hard at work playing. On Monday alone they spent 1.5 hours straight in the hallway without any need for me to help them, or even break-up an argument...it has been heaven. HC told me that it is their house, and they sleep, and talk and eat

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-66652609558819310492010-04-07T13:41:00.003-04:002010-04-07T13:52:13.880-04:00

Sunday was a big day, not only was it Easter, but we celebrated 2 years of living in our home. This is a huge milestone to me. For the most part I have enjoyed being a home owner...besides the fact that sometimes you have to spend money on things that aren't "fun". I love our home, and our neighborhood and am continually thankful that we live here, despite our best efforts to live somewhere

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-54576349314654220932010-04-02T14:10:00.003-04:002010-04-02T14:21:07.857-04:00

That is an Atlanta Zoo bumper sticker you see all around town, and the zoo is one of the many reasons I like being a semi-urbanite (that seems like a decent descriptor for our current location). There are so many fun things to do in this city and many of them are within 20 minutes of our house.This morning we loaded up the girls for a much needed Family Fun Day. We have been lacking in this

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-66755538571765535602010-04-01T14:35:00.003-04:002010-04-01T14:43:09.996-04:00

This past Sunday was our neighborhood egg hunt, which was followed by our playgroup egg hunt, which was followed by Hadleigh's school egg hunt. I think we are good on the egg hunt front.In preparation for our 3rd neighborhood egg hunt (the egg hunt was the first neighborhood activity we attended 2 years ago, we had just gone into contract on the house), I bought some plastic eggs at the store

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-39940236988758909322010-03-28T20:08:00.003-04:002010-03-28T20:17:42.906-04:00

...a million more to go, right? This weekend we finished our second big house project. The first was the front yard, the second was painting the entryway/hallway/stairway. This also included painting all the wood varnished trim, even the running boards on the stairs.I mostly helped tape and plastic everything off because we rented a machine...sweet deal! Dave worked the machine and we had

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13810642.post-65823217563832731322010-03-22T15:04:00.002-04:002010-03-22T15:18:06.221-04:00

I love my girls, but it is hard to imagine having two children who are more different from one another. Annelise made a big splash when she came into this world, and I continue to be surprised by her little personality. I could say the same thing about Hadleigh, it is so interesting to see how she continues to develop in temperment and personality.This year Hadleigh has been in preschool 2 days

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and Truehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11665411605803579823noreply@blogger.com1