2 years

Today we celebrate our 2 year anniversary. How do those celebrations change after having a baby? Well last year we planned a trip to New York City. Stayed in an awesome apartment in the upper westside. Walked all day visiting museums, Chinatown, Central Park, hip restaurants. Just two pairs of legs and one backpack between us. We'd roll out of bed and be out the door 15 minutes later. No planning, no restraints, no "what ifs". And now? The LAST thing we want to do is use the tiny ounces of brain-power we have left to fight traffic into the city, research a fun restaurant, or deal with the hoards of people. You might think this is lame, like I would have pre-Brighton, and swore up and down I would NOT settle for such changes to my lifestyle/plans. But like any season you end up finding yourself in, you realize your expectations have to be adjusted and your priorities change regardless of whether you wanted them to or not. You have become a different person.

I am not the person I thought I would be when I imagined having a baby, becoming a mom. I guess I didn't realize how much I'd fall in love with a person I'd never met before or hadn't "chosen". How much I'd be willing to sacrifice. I remember telling Matthew the day before we found out I was pregnant, last December 13th 2004, what a pathetic mom I'd be at this point in my life. I didn't want to give up my lifestyle, our freedom as a couple, my time to serve a nonresponsive, crying baby. And I really believed that. When we found out I was pregnant, everyone kept saying you'd be amazed at how quickly you'd fall in love with your child. I didn't believe it. But was proved wrong those first few weeks after Brighton arrived. My midwife calls it baby infatuation. It's like falling in love. You just can't get enough of their smell, gazing at all their tiny little body parts, cuddling them. You could just sit their for hours doing this. I know, it was weird for me to find myself doing that when I felt so unprepared and undesirious to become a mom. Now I can't even remember what it felt like to think that.

But I digress, back to these season/lifestyle changes...I often find myself hyper-critical of other people's lives. I look at the season they're in and think "Woah, I will NEVER do that". Whether it was being single and observing married couples, being married and observing parents, being a parent and observing parents with toddlers. I think it's a self-righteous thing mixed with this idealized view we have of life for ourselves...and how we seem to forsee how we will live life without flaws. And that hypothetical-life I forsee myself living is perfect & untainted by this fallen world and my own brokeness. Then when you actually FIND yourself in that season, the part of living in a fallen world, becomes glaringly obvious and my hypothetical perfected map of life is quickly torn apart. Then I look back at those same people I was critizing and want to kiss their feet and honor them for the sacrifices they've made in their lives, the challenges they've worked through, the example they now are to me. Those are the times I'm really disgusted by the darkness and judgemental slant of my heart. Thankfully I'm not left there in my digust, but am reminded that this Savior, Jesus, is in the process of sanctifying that very heart.

So here we are, about the celebrate our 2 year anniversary in a very "new-mommy, new-daddy" way. Head to our favorite local pub, McNalley's, and then come home and crash...just be ALONE together for a few hours. No longer do I deem sitting around the house doing nothing together as lame, those moments are now priceless for Matthew and I. Worth more than a dozen romantic restaurants and blocks of unexplored NYC streets. Yes, this is a new and very different season for us, but this is raw, unromanticised, rich life at it's best. Without the frills, but with deeper, fuller meaning. We have a precious son, a life to share in raising with Christ. He comes with a lot of work, a lot of sacrifice, a lot of change to Matthew and I's life...but with a great reward. Being able to observe Christ shaping and using this little soul for his kingdom. That is worth far more than a few exciting dates or moments alone with Matthew. Those times will come again, and even though they'll be more sporadic and less predictable, this is living the kingdom life. Laying down our plans for a much greater Plan, crafted by the Lover of our Souls. We get to experience being in love as husband & wife in a new, fresh way that involves more sacrifce than we ever imagined. With that sacrifice, another layer of ourselves is torn away and we get to know and be known in a way we haven't yet experienced these past 2 years.

Although I crave predictability in my life and comfort and MY plan to succeed, my heart really does want to be captivated by something more. Something wild, unknown and far greater than my own measley expectations. That will ALWAYS involve dying. ALWAYS involve pain in some sense. Yikes. Why did I believe for so many years that being a Christian meant the opposite and God being good meant my life went according to my plans? I'm thankful He's much more wild, much more passionate, much more risky that I ever thought. And that He's willing to throw us into seasons we're not fully prepared for to remind us just how much we need His guidance and His love more than anything else we've foiled ourselves into believing offers safety & life.

I love you Matthew and am thrilled to be on this adventure into parenthood, marriage, life with you and Christ. Happy Two Year Anniversary.

Love,
Your fellow "trench-mate"

Sickies

I am home today from work taking care of my two men. Thankfully, I haven't come down with this sickness circulating. Our babysitter called us sick on Tuesday, so Matthew's been taking care of B this week. Now HE came down with it as well and is currently in bed sleeping. The mother must go on, so pleae keep praying for protection & health for myself! And to stay up on my workload which is only mounting having recently been on vacation....at the office and here at home. I'm off to take cranky, bundled-up B on a jog.

2006

Above is little B during nap time. Matthew & I joked about posting a New Year's Resolution list that had the lowest possible resolution, so if anything even somewhat better than that occured, we'd be happy. But then our sarcasim, which we're trying to work on, would only be aggrevated. We thought about resolutions such as "We will make sure Brighton sleeps for at least 1 hour per night", "We will drink at least one cup of coffee every morning", "We will make sure we shower at least once a week", "We will make sure to check our email at least once a week". Ah yes, those are resolutions we can cope with I think :0) No offense if you did make a resolution list on your blog. We of lame-o discipline habits though...we just can't fool ourselves.

Well, here are the long overdue Cali pics to wrap up our trip. After hanging out with our friends, the O'Donnells, we headed down south to enjoy a week with my mom's side of the family. Then we travelled back up the longer, but INCREDIBLY beautiful Coast Hwy 1, to Santa Cruz to fly home at the end of the month. Enjoy the pics.

The Whole Hall/Mull Clan...with a thank you sign for the folks who let us stay in their AMAZING home (complete with a huge outdoor hot tub, which we appropriately soaked in on our Cali Christmas Morn)
The great-grandparents with their little g.g.son (my mom's parents)
The boys - cousin Luke, brother John, & cousin Michael
The Christmas Elf

The fam overlooking the massive waves at Skooner's Cove
Risky buisness...Em got blasted by a wave out here!
Watching the waves break over the jetty
Hello, From Morro Bay!
Yes, we are in SUNNY California! The sistas...
...and their shoes
Little B high atop Coast Hwy 1
...and his cute dad

As for the latest on the messed up blog (no pattern, funky header), instead of fixing it, Matthew is spending many long grueling hours creating a new website for me. This one will turn into an archive page, so I'll be sure to let all know when that takes place. It's gonna be hip.

Other news on the horizon, Brighton's baptism is coming up on the 15th. A joint effort by our pastor at Liberti (another website Matthew designed) and my own dad. We're partying at our place before the service, 8:30 am to be exact, so if you're in the area, feel free to stop by. Yesterday Matthew and I celebrate our whopping big 2 year anniversary over a steaming hot home cooked meal (now THAT'S a miracle with the schedule we've been maintaining lately!) and the festivities will continue on this Saturday when we drop B off at a sitter for 4 hours!! Yes, we're ecstatic. We'll probably come home and sleep...ha, ha ;0) We would covet your continued prayers for sleep as B has begun feeling the pains of teething and has been more and more restless at night and cranky during the day. These are the paths of parenting :0)

Hope the New Year has started off well for you all!

Home Again, Home Again

We've returned to the East Coast, but have yet to return to the time zone here. I'm still wide awake in the evenings and horribly dragging in the mornings, but hopefully it won't last for long. Brighton is totally wacked out from all the changes in the past two weeks. He's been crankier that usual and frustratingly stubborn to fall asleep. But thankfully I am working from home today and Monday, so I can at least be around him instead of adding to his confusion with me gone all day.

We've got a slew of fun pictures to upload from our Cali trip, but I think I'll do a few at a time since we're also in the middle of unpacking, taking down Christmas decorations and trying to wade through loads of laundry to do. I'll start with the beginning of our trip and add posts after with more pictures after that.

Matthew is also in the process of redesigning my blog to add to his portfolio of web design that he's gotten into. Fun! I'm willing to be a guinea pig for those kinds of things! It should be up and running in a little bit. If you REALLY like it, you can hire him to do one for you...ha, ha ;0)

Packing the day before...sleepyhead B

Downtown Santa Cruz with our boyz

Daddy Devon enjoying life

Goofing off at the cliffs of New BRIGHTON Beach!

Having fun in the FREEZING Pacific waves

Brighton enjoying his "salt lick", as Devon called it

Scaling the cliffs as the tide came in

Our dear Cali friends

Saying goodbye to their new found buddy

We miss you guys already!

Los Osos

Merry Christmas Eve all. We finally got internet access again, probably one of the last times before we return to the East Coast. We'll have to wait until then to fix my blog as well. It looks as if the picture and patterns have been messed with on our server, so we'll get those up and running next week. The Mull/Hall family has reunited and has found possibly every taco shack this side of the country in the past few days. We now have an expansive knowledge of all the different ways to serve up a fish taco. Yum.

It's been beautiful, wonderfully un-Philly weather out here. Yesterday we all sat out in the grass soaking up the warm rays. We hiked along the coast and saw the sea lions surfing the huge waves. Supposedly the biggest they've had in years from some unusual storms off the coast. We also decided to buy a "christmas tree" yesterday since we couldn't do Christmas without one. But since we're staying in someone elses home, we opted for a Christmas "shrubbery" instead :0) Hey, white lights can make any thing festive.

B has been pretty rocked by all this change and has resorted to waking up every hour or so and being WIDE awake at that. Something he's never done before. So instead of eating and crashing, he's eating and talking to us until we get up with him. Four nights of that are starting to wear on us. Last night my sweet parents took turns with him and gave Matthew and I the best Christmas present ever.... 5 1/2 hours of sleep. Wow. I haven't slept that long in 5 months! If you think about it, please pray for us that B settles down and doesn't keep this up the rest of our time here. Or we'll be shot and he'll be a mess when we come home.

We have so many amazing pictures to share, but no internet access for Matthew's computer, so we'll have to share them when we return. Here in Los Osos, we feel as if we're in Hawaii each morning as the sun burns the fog off the lush green mountains. We're staying in an amazing home that overlooks the bay and the surrounding mountians. It really is breathtaking. So Matthew has been storing up the memories on his camera for you all to see.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve and day!

5am Cali time

Well Brighton is trying his hardest to adjust to this 3 hour time change and he's been a trooper. We've been keeping him up 3 hours more than usual...6pm CA time, 9pm PA time. But he's still ready to romp at 3:30am...this morning he pushed that to 5am. Maybe he'll get the hang of it before we drag him back home in a little over a week...poor guy.

There are so many stories and funny moments to share already, but I doubt B wil stay entertained here on the floor next to me for long. Just a quick recap, we had a wonderful time at the office holiday party. Not only was the food and wine amazing, but everyone made us feel so welcomed, even with our tiny babe. They even THANKED us for making the effort to come out and join them?! What a great group. Last week flew by and suddenly it was Friday night and our bags still weren't packed, the dishes were piled high in a sink that wouldn't drain, there was no gas in the car, and no food to pack for the plane. So Matthew used our other borrowed car and head out to the seedy gas station with a container to get a gallon or two of gas for the Subaru so we wouldn't be stranded the morning we arrived. Then went and got us dinner and groceries at 8pm, while I fought to get B to sleep. Then he scooped out the bleach/Drano-filled kitchen sink so the water wouldn't be standing there for two weeks, while I tried to quietly wash all the dishes in the bathtub, trying not to wake B. Then we were up at 3:45am ready to head out the door for our flight. Our "chauffeaur", Geoff, rising just as early to get us to the airport ON HIS BIRTHDAY! Thanks Geoff...and Maria, for letting us steal him so early :0)

B did an AMAZING job on the plane. Never really fussed at all. Just played, fell asleep, ate and did the whole routine over again. Considering the fact that we were held up on the second plane for over and hour before it took off and then it was almost a 4 hour flight, that really is amazing. We'll post some pictures of the adventure when we get the camera out. We made a make-shift mobile for him on the plane using my belt draped between the seats and some of his toys.

Now we're here staying in the attached apartment of our friend's home. We already feel ourselves relaxing and enjoying being away from "life" for awhile. We've seen the stormy Pacific ocean, smelled the fragrant eucalyptus trees and eaten some incredible mexican food. Ah California, now I know why my mom gets teary-eyed every time she talks about her home state :0) I think we're going to enjoy this Christmas on the west coast thing. I will try to get some pictures up before we leave, but it's been nice to be away from computers and email and all those pulls.

Hope you all are enjoying your Christmas season. We already miss our Philly friends and wish we were there celebrating with you guys! We'll be headed home ready to celebrate New Year's Day with some soccer at Allen's Lane though :0) Below are some of the older pictures I kept promising...

Our cheapskate home decorations, nothing says "Christmas" like a brown paper bag :0)

WeeB suited up for Xmas tree shopping...

The beautiful spread for baby Clara's baptism celebration...

Baby Clara and her loving mama...

The hustle and bustle of getting out the door on time. And the adorable big brothers, Manny (getting layered up by Maria's dad in the background), and Benicio...

Schwanky Affair...

Tonight is B's first formal dining experience. We're all three off to our annual office holiday part-eh at the Barclay Prime, another amazing Steven Starr restaurant. He's the chic restaurant owner of 9 hip places around Philadelphia. Last year we frequented Tangerine, I guess that was with B too, but he was barely the size of a jelly bean at that point. We were going to skip the event due to lack of babysitters available late into Monday evening, but the guys at work convinved me to come and bring along the little weeB, as Matthew has so fondly started calling him. So it should be a fun night. As one friend said, "Martini in one hand, baby in the other".

And the countdown has begun for our adventure west. Only 5 more days until we head out to beautiful, sunny 60 degree CA!! We cannot WAIT to see Allison & Devon and explore their coastal villa of Santa Cruz. Matthew is pumped about squeezing into his wee little wet suit and hitting the waves with Devon. I'm pumped for the babysitter lined up and our wild night out we're all four planning :0) And then heading down to Los Osos for some time with the West Coast relatives. Now if we could only be assured of surviving the two 3+hr. flights and one layover with Brighton. This is truly when I wish they invented baby sleeping pills...ha, ha.

Of all stages, I think this one is the best for travel though. B has been laughing and smiling and melting his parent's hearts these past few days. As annoying as the whole sleep thing has been, he's probably the most chilled out babe I've met. Life just doesn't seem to phase him. He's content just to hang out in anyone's arms for a good stretch and just soak in the sites around him. He hates to be changed, but that's about the only time I've heard him really cry. Guess every baby has their issues and their perks. But the sleeping IS getting better. Last night he slept for a 6 hour stretch and then I HAD to wake him him because of these annoying rock-solid boulders growing on my chest just wouldn't take it any more. Thank you Jesus for sleep! And for this precious boy we keep falling more and more in love with.

I promise pictures are coming soon. The camera has been floating around, so I haven't had a chance to download any yet. We've got some great ones of B's godparents, the Beatty's, baptism of their little girl, Clara. And other fun ones of the house, our goofy boy, this crazy couple. I'll try and get them up before we head out this weekend.

Redemption

One of the very few comforts in life to me is that there are silver threads of redemption woven into the "burlap cloths" of living in a fallen world. A friend of ours often says that "God didn't do a half-assed job of cursing the world, it's a shitty place to live". And it's been so for a long, long time. Just read the Old Testament or the New Testament. Brokenness is the backdrop, but redeption weaves it's way throughout the story...in pretty big obvious ways and in lots of small ways that we don't get to read about. Like God probably providing Mary & Joseph with strength to get up once again when baby Jesus would cry during the night those first early months. Or when He'd most likely give them grace to love & serve each other when they really just felt like ripping each others heads off they were so tired and weirded out by all the adjustments of becoming parents.

Matthew and I were able to drop off Brighton at a friend's house this morning (Thank you Hasses!!) and go spend two hours at a coffee shop just talking and hashing out life. We asked for prayers for this time and Christ heard and was right there with us. We were able to really LISTEN to each other and share about what this transition has been like and really repent for how we've failed each other in the midst of it. It was beautifully raw and achingly rich. For the first time in awhile, we really felt alive together...not just surviving. We reminded each other of why we fell in love with one another, what our passions are in life, where we long to go as a couple, and how we just want to be in the lives of more broken people and share this Gentle Healer Christ with them. Through our time we felt honored to be partnering in this life together. We felt humbled by Christ in each other again. Ah, sweet redemption.

We both realized how resistant we are to accept the reality that this life is not perfection. That we will feel betrayed by our circumstances, rejected by our friends, hurt by our spouse. And that is living in a cursed world. But as much as we "head-know" that, we still manage find ourselves face down in the dirt with the rug just pulled out from under us by a variety of stinky circumstances we didn't ask for...and we're yet again, shocked. As our idols - of having an easy life, faithful friends, adoring spouse, choose you're thing - are ripped away we find our tongue searching for the missing tooth and only find a bloody, empty hole. What I tend to do when I find that emptiness is hole up and get pissed. What Christ is teaching me to do instead is not ignore the emptiness and try to put on a happy face, like I grew up thinking (that's being a really GOOD Christian, right?!), but instead take that emptiness and stumble to Him...knowing He's the only one who can fill it. So why do I keep wanting to find that dead tooth and shove it back in??

At our wedding, Matthew and I danced to these words:

A page is turned in this life, he's making her his wife
And there is no secret to the source of this much life
When the grace that falls like rain is washing them again
Just a chance to somehow rise above this land

Where the God of second chance
Will pick them up and he'll let them dance
Through a world that is not kind
And all this time, they're sharing with the one
That holds them up when they come undone
Beneath the storm, beneath the sun

Little did we know that the grace that would fall like rain would be showering us daily as we learn, through our failures, to return to each other, repent and find Christ leading our partnership again...not our lame attempts. And little did we know how much marriage, becoming parents, walking through a cursed world together would show us even more vividly how we tend to trudge, but are called to dance through a world that is not kind. I'd say even more explicitly, in a world that reeks of death, a world that groans as in the hellish panges of natural childbirth (Hmm, that comes home more than ever now). Not dance with some sort of chipper Christian facade, but dance because we're on our Daddy's feet, our Truest Lover, and every other lover has broken our heart. We can't hold onto his hands as we dance AND our other lovers/idols of having an easy, perfect life. I'm pretty sure I'll always be trying to cling on to both, but thankfully the Spirit is prying my sticky hands loose from the one and pressing me closer to the Other.

Thankfully He's not just a God of second chance, but a God who runs to scoop up his prodigals over and over and over. O the deep, deep love of Jesus. Vast, UNMEASURED, boundless, free.

Bad Smiths...

I'm sure we would get a rebuking from our support-raising coach who has been harping on us to sleep, sleep, sleep as early as we can in the evening, especially for last night. The last season of 24 was just released Tuesday and we held on to our last Netflix and put it in the mail on Saturday to make sure it arrive just in time for us to get the first disc of the new season. Which arrived as planned on Tuesday afternoon. So last night we sat down to watch one of the four episodes. Ha, RIIIIGHT. When have we ever been able to watch just one episode when the other three are waiting there taunting us. Last fall (when the previous season had come out) we must have watched 12 episodes in a row at one point since we had the 3 disc Netflix deal. We're ridiculous. We have no resolve when it comes to 24. Or maybe I have no resolve and Matthew just goes along with it. Either way, it was dumb move. I wasn't able to fall asleep for almost an hour after I went to bed because my mind and heart was racing. And every time I woke up throughout the night I immediately tried to figure out different things that had happened in that last episode. Ugh. It was like binging on Christmas candy or something. But thankfully B had a GREAT night last night, only waking up twice so I still got some good sleep. And hey, we've gotta have some fun amidst the craziness of this season of life we're in, right?? (Hmm, okay justification-Amy)

more snow, more sleep

Maybe it's the bear in him, but with this snow, B has been in hibernation mode (well, for a baby and for Brighton in particular). He's left his restlessness behind for the time being and sleeping a little more peacefully, giving his mom some much needed ZZZ's herself, at least more than an hour at a time like it had been the past week. I guess we can blaim that bout of restless sleep on the 4 month growth spurt and all the changes he's going through lately. Pushing up on his arms, almost rolling over, standing for longer, being way more vocal, and all out laughing these days when Matthew blows on his neck.
And the 4 inches of new snow was beautiful yesterday morning, even though it wasn't enough to keep me in my pj's working from home, like I'd hoped. But we were able to have our dear friends all over for chili, warm cornbread, and some good wine last evening, making it an almost perfect winter day.

The picture I posted earlier about being Home Alone was more telling than I anticipated. Last night we must have had an unexpected snow storm blow through Philly...or maybe it was expected, I just didn't pay attention to the news. It's that perfect kind of first snow that's not enough to disrupt your life, but enough to cover the grass and coat the trees.

Having been up since 5am this morning, B & I decided to get bundled up and headed down to our neighborhood coffee shop. I stuffed him in his bear bunting and had to keep shoving his little thumbs back in the whole walk, that he always managed to creep out, making him look like some kind of funky lobster/bear boy.

We love this city neighborhood we live in with it's historic twin homes, the growing business community just a few blocks away that just opened a tiny little bookstore, the Wissahickon park that creeps into the streets with its huge ancient tree limbs. But I loved it even more this morning with the fresh layer of snow. I know I'll regret saying that come March when the 20th snow of the year has hit, but the first snow of the season always has this romanticised quality to it.

Being as early as it was, we had the fun of being the first ones out and therefore getting to make the first footprints on the sidewalk. Well, besides the hoards of squirrels who joined us. What are they doing out in snow anyhow? If food wasn't an incentive, I'd be curled up in a warm nest somewhere. But they didn't make much of a dent in the snow, gliding around chasing each other like they had on miniture ice skates or something. One over zealous guy slide right into the bottom of the tree. I wished Brighton had been old enough to enjoy that site with me.

I think he enjoyed his first snow, seeing as he was exhausted and ready for his nap when we headed out, but his eyes stayed wide open the whole walk, staring around at blanketted neighborhood, or maybe it was the noise of my feet crunching along. He's now snoozing in his crib...argh, why can't he do that at 2am? We had a pretty restless night, with his stuffy nose and missing his dad. I know you might think I'm nuts, but I really think he can sense it.

I'm off to make the most of this opportunity and going to go scraped down the car and get ready for church. We're going to attempt the feat of getting our Christmas tree this afternoon before Matthew gets home. Hmm, should of done that BEFORE the snow decided to drench all the trees, but ah well. The drive home with probably shake it free of any extra snow. Hopefully. I had fun getting the rest of house decorated yesterday, for these two short weeks we have left here before heading west. When Matthew returns with the camera, we'll get some pictures of Brighton's first "Christmas home decorations", that he'll only appreciate when he's older going through these pictures. Or maybe he won't. But it was fun for me, none the less.

For those of you willing to own up to the qwerkiness of stereotypical Christianity and who aren't afraid to laugh at it, you'll totally dig this site Lark News. Check it out. No, God won't strike you down for it. He'll probably be laughing along with you. And if you haven't watched the Jesus films I mentioned over there on the right from the Vintage 21 site...get on it!! Number 4 is well worth your time.

Home Alone

Today B & I took Matthew to the train station at 6am and started our three day/two night adventure together. Matthew will be in Charlotte, NC for WHM recruiting at my parent's London EG informational weekend. Along with my best friend/roomate from college :0( Yes, I'm totally bummed I'm not there right now. I feel a strange mix of being sad to say goodbye to Matthew for the next few days and a sense of excitement about conquering the next few days alone. Weird, right!? Guess it's fun to have a challenge every now and then to be independent and do this baby thing alone. No, I'm not crazy, I've just spent the past few days being scared about this weekend, and now I guess I'm on the flip-side.

We were going to get our Christmas tree all together as a family last night, but one thing lead to another and it didn't happen. Matthew did drag up all the decorations from the basement though, so B and I will be able to tackle the house ourselves this weekend. Since we only have two weeks to enjoy any decorations before we head to California, I think B and I are going to go get the tree today as well. Guess I'll have to settle for a 5 or 6 footer so I can get it in the house myself. That'll be an interesting experience. Probably a humorous story as well. For those of my friends who laughed at me as I frantically re-arranged my dorm room/house...you can probably picture it now :0)

Well B just crashed, and since that's my cue to get back to work, I'll have to keep this post short. Thankfully I was able to get a good chunk of work done early this a.m. before we headed to the train station to spare some of my late afternoon hours. Stayed tuned for stories from the 2/3rds of the Smith family this weekend. Pictures will have to wait since Matthew took the camera.

goofing off

Matthew's walking on air he's so excited about being away from Brighton for an hour :0) We're enjoying our time of rest here in C'ville. Here are a few shots of us making the most of our escape from "life" for the time being...

Playing with our boy...

Being silly on one of our walks alone together...


Hanging out at the UVA pool, B's first time! I THINK he likes it, we couldn't quite tell...



And if you haven't gotten enough of little B from the hundreds of pictures I post on here...I uploaded some more under the "Little B" shots page over there on the right. His bluegrass boy photo shoot :0) Tomorrow we head back to Philly and back to life, with Christ leading this motely threesome.

Thanksgiving Festivities

Here are a few shots of the last Thanksgiving in the Hall Holkham Drive household. Mom presented a beautiful meal for us and Dad carved up the tasty turkey. Here are a few pictures of the feast...




Mom & Callie working hard in the kitchen...


Dad with the "Hall-Tongue" carving the turkey...


The hungry men waiting to dine...



B in his new fuzzy outfit from a family friend...




Brighton didn't sleep much last night, hence his dive for the coffee...


Dad working off the holiday calories...