Glow-in-the-dark 3-D Putt Putt

Just what the doctor ordered on the rainy day after Christmas. Ya gotta love beach towns. :)

Amelia's new exclamation

"What in the holy maraca??"

We'll probably not encourage its use, but it made us laugh.

This is another VA Beach Christmas picture. We were going to a Starbucks (where the girls posted themselves as Door-women, saying, "Welcome to Starbucks" or "Have a good day!") and outside a little shop Amelia posed as "a statue."

We've been playing "the statue game" since San Francisco 2009. They freeze in position and I notice "the most beautiful/adorable/lovely statue of a little girl I've ever seen, how I wishI had a real one just like it." Then my wish comes true. :)

Winter Walks

This was at Oregon Ridge last month. I love the woods in winter. It's quiet and you can see so much more without the trees.

Last weekend I was at RVR with the girls. We didn't get to walk in the woods, but we did go to the evening service, which was hosted by the Christian band, Willet.

I'm starting to show my age. It was so...LOUD. Both girls put their hands over their ears and cried, "It's too LOUD, Mommy!! Get me out of here! Let's go!!" I really wanted to see the drama, because it was being dedicated to a young woman who worked at RVR who'd died tragically in a car accident that week.

Once Evelyn saw that her cousins were staying, and having no trouble, she made a funny, tight-lipped face (the kind you made when you're trying really hard not to show how much something hurts), and said (or rather, yelled), "I'm ok, Mommy! I'll stay!" and went to stand between Anna and Aidan.

Amelia would have none of it. We both left the building, walking hand-in-hand in the cool, quiet night. I told her we had to go to the kitchen to see if Aunt Di was there. "Ok, Mommy," she said. "I'll walk with you, to keep you company." And sweet company it was. :)

Beautifully Adorned

Look at these girls. They love frilly, shiny things. They love beads, ribbons, and bright colors.

That's why they love the dresses Aunt Lisa gives them for Christmas. They leave a glittery trail (you can always tell where we sat in church.)

There IS something to sparkles and jewels, isn't there? We think they make us beautiful. That's why God uses adornments as a metaphor for the beauty of wisdom. "[Wisdom] will place on your head an ornament of grace; a crown of glory she will deliver to you." (Prov.4:9)

So...I have a new sparkly jewel on my wish list: wisdom. :)

Building, Creating

Right now I've got high levels of building and creating going on at my jobs, so it's pure pleasure to sit back a bit and enjoy the creative output of these two. :)

Check out what happens at the kitchen table at Grandma & Grandpa Blackman's house. (Again--pictures from Christmas. I'm enjoying going through them all!) And thank you, Aunt Barbara, for the slinkies. They are still commanding attention, although, as you can see, not in traditional ways.

More Holiday Memories

Christmas in VA Beach with Aunt Becky and Grandpa. (Grandma, Uncle Matt, and Casey were there, too--just not in the picture.)

I really love this picture. :)

Holiday Memories

The 2011 tree...with our greatest gifts under it. :)

Not too much of January passed, either, before it came down. for some reason, I just wasn't up for a Super Bowl tree this year.

And speaking of the Super Bowl, my cousin Charles Bisset was in one of the commercials shown that night. He is featured from :34-:38, (besides being the farmer driving the tractor at the beginning) and the crowd gathered at my parents' must have rewound, paused, and cheered three or four times when it aired.

Three cheers for Charles! He's one of the many folks in L.A. whose FaceBook "employment" looks something like this: trainer/actor/bouncer/kickboxer.

Back in action!

Obviously the past weeks have flown by, and not without incident. :) How about Evelyn's shiners? They were the result of a concussion she sustained after she and Amelia thought it would be MORE fun to sled with their eyes CLOSED.

Kinda hard to see the fence coming when you do that. The worst part for Evelyn was dealing with the soundtrack of "What happened to YOU?"

Can't wait to catch up! There's always a lot going on here...I regret not recording it these past weeks. :)