Robbie's Birthday

No doubt that the hardest birthday to have, minus Christmas Day, is the day after Christmas.  Everyone is tired for the constant go-go of the past month and the fact that you have to double-down on presents - which honestly, is a good and bad thing.

I always feel as though my presents and gifts to Robyn are anti-climatic due to the timing the day after Christmas; pretty hard to follow God's birthday.

She's a trooper.  She knows that it is hard on everyone but she rolls with it and always has a good time.

Robyn is an incredible person and we would all be lost without her and the world would be a boring place without her - she is the laughter in my day-to-day survival.

Happy birthday love; you don't look a day over 31 29.

Coon Christmas 2012

Keeping a Clean Site

Always a busy bee; cleaning the neighbors porch and keeping us all safer.

Neighborhood Sledding

Trek to the Mighty Hill

White Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning Happiness

A Bedtime Story

Twas the night before Christmas...

Preparing for Santa's Visit

Not only do we leave cookies and milk for the big man, we also leave reindeer food in the front yard for the hungry reindeer.

Remembering Why We Are Here

Christmas Eve candlelight service at church.

A Taste of Winter

The first snowfall of the winter...finally.

Historic Holiday

Nostalgia, history, and holidays are a fantastic combo.

David and Sheryl hosted a Christmas party at their new new living quarters - not a bad little shack.  Officially called Mattapany, the original portion of the house was built in 1723 on what is now the Patuxent River Naval Air Station located on the Chesapeake bay.

If the walls could talk of that house, I would love to sit and hear the stories.  

  

You know it's a good party when this guy shows up...

Little Lady of the Night

She got into her momma's lipstick...

Christmas Pageant

Our church, Mountain View Community Church, held their annual children's Christmas pageant last weekend.  After weeks of intense begging practice and great direction from the pageant directors, the kids pulled off a great musical pageant.  Jaxson is dead-center back row and little Colt is front row, towards the right (gray shirt).

I think Jaxson enjoyed looking through the crowd for us more than participating in the program...attention span of a six-year-old at work.

  

Old Town Christmas Evening

Throughout the month of December, the Downtown Frederick Partnership coordinates the entire downtown area each weekend with outdoor live music / performers, free hot cocoa and smore's, later hours of operation for all the stores, and a general "togetherness" for the entire town.

To see the streets filled with kids, adults, pets, out-of-towners, residents - along with the sounds of the holidays - is a small-town treat that we have the privilege to experience.

On His Big Red Sleigh

An occasional fire truck and/or ambulance in front on my house isn't the norm, nor do I ever want it to be.  This one occasion it was a good thing that multiple ambulances, fire trucks, fire fighters, and observers lining the street of our neighborhood.

The man in red rolled through our hood last night.  For a small donation to the local volunteer fire department, they will bring Santa to your house so your kids can talk to him one-on-one.

Our neighbors across the street were the ones that actually booked him, but we grabbed a few photos as he left on his modified red sleigh.

Taste Buds of a Three-Year-Old

Cheerios.  Animal crackers.  Cheetos.

Don't you wish your life was so simple that this is what your brain thought sounded good for dinner.

Simply Impacted

Last year for Christmas, my mom gave me the Steve Jobs biography.  I knew very little about Steve prior to reading the book and was extremely intrigued by his life story, his persona, and where his passion came from.  I'm not a die-hard Apple guy, but I love Apple products - their ease of use, their creativity, and most of all - their simplicity.

The products from Apple are simple because their leader kept things simple.  He was extremely complex inside himself, but his thought process on business and design stayed close to the old saying, "Keep it simple stupid."

I came across these two videos that sum up his thoughts; only lights a bigger fire in me.