The Adams Blog Gets Even Better

For loyal followers of The Adams, the blog's about to get even better. Santa (Cindy) gave us a kick-a Olympus digital camera for Christmas. What this means for the blog is more crystal clear, sharp, bright images like the one you see below. It also means you'll be seeing more albums. You may have noticed I put alot of one-shot snaps on the blog. Most of these are taken with my iPhone. Granted the images aren't as great as this one of Addie, but what the iPhone lacks in image-capture it makes up for with it's convenience. When I see a good shot, I don't have to go find the camera, wait until I'm at the computer, download it, then upload it to the blog. I can just point, click, and email it straight to the web. So I'm going to try to continue with daily or semi-daily shots with the iPhone, but expect to see regular albums, too. I have heard some feedback from a few loyal fans that they miss the albums and the captions. Hopefully,  you'll be seeing more albums soon. In fact, I have a large stash of Christmas photos to upload as soon as I get to the office. I don't have enough bandwidth to upload all of them here at the house. I'm excited about the camera. Good job, Santa (Cindy).

Today: Anita Beth was a girl on a mission after church today. She has the house clean and in order, save a few decorations upstairs and some boxes ready to be taken to the attic. The main living area downstairs is spic and span. Hardly a remnant of Christmas remains. I wouldn't even know Christmas had happened if it wasn't for Spike the bulldog napping at my feet. It's fun to have a dog in the house again, but he is going to be some work. The little guy is a bottomless pit. Unfortunately, the pit does have a bottom, thus little Spike has to pee about every five minutes and poop every 10. Never thought I'd say this, but I'd rather change a diaper! But, I did it to myself, so I can't complain too much. 

Speaking of dogs in the house, I took AB to see Marley and Me last night. Two thumbs up. Not only was it funny, but parts of the movie were a mirror image of our home life. Small kids are hard. It was good to see a movie acknowledge that, at least as we live in the midst of it.

Worth Sharing: I saw at least 10 deer from the couch in my living room even as I wrote this.

Snow White World Record: Addie may be on the brink of setting some type of costume record. I can't remember that last day that she didn't wear either her Snow White dress or her Mermaid Princess gown. 

UPDATE: It's 10:15 p.m. and I'm tired as a dog. Seems the clean-up job this afternoon wasn't enough to satisfy AB. So, after dinner we took down all the upstairs decorations and I trucked all the boxes up to the attic. Good night.

UPDATE 2: Nearly 30 seconds after the above Update AB informed me that she reads the blog, pulled her covers over her shoulder, huffed up, and turned her back to me. So, to the extent Update 1 seemed like I was dissing on the best Wife and Mom in the world, Update 1 is withdrawn. Sorry AB. I enjoyed spending time with you yesterday, even if it meant I had to help clean up.

Christmas Was Hard Work

Meet Spike

Pixo!

Good thing Eva has the open line with Santa. Gracie was stoked.

Merry Christmas!

Santa brought Addie a new baby...and candy.

Audrey's First Christmas

Audrey waits patiently for Christmas Eve dinner. Merry Christmas!

Need a Boost?

I'm not one to normally forward things around via mass email. I will put the occasional good read on the blog. The following story takes two minutes to read. I know you have it or you wouldn't be at jakeanitabeth.blogspot.com!

Rick Reilly has the following story on espn.com today: 

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team's fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!"

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"

And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you."

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!"

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears.

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it's nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.

Hope.

Family Birthday Celebration

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACIE!

I love you! Here's my favorite picture of my four-year-old at a much younger 3 1/2. Please don't grow up. 

Static

> Addie and Mac in the church nursery this morning. Photo courtesy of
> Bubba.
>

Addie Needing A Nap

I spotted this pic as I was culling my photos. It's Addie after last
Saturday's ballet recital. It's a good shot of my ladies.

Just What I Wanted!

Addie loved her present from Uncle Roy and Aunt Gayle. She also loved
everybody else's. To Addie, every present is her present, from The x-
large flannel shirt Iris gave Roy, to the pink courderoy jacket Iris
gave Gayle.

Cooking For Uncle Roy

Gracie whips up some dessert for Uncle Roy. We celebrated Christmas
with Uncle Roy and Aunt Gayle after church today.

Long Week

Audrey says TGIF

More Elf

Gracie celebrates the play with her best elf-friend Maggie.

Christmas Program II, Return of the Elves

Christmas Play No. 1

No. 2 is tonight. Both girls did great this morning. Gracie was
probably the loudest most expressive one on the stage-a complete
reversal from last year. Addie had the hand motions to Away In A
Manger down cold.

Haircut

Much to my chagrin, Addie has been sneaking around cutting her own hair.

After Dinner Theater

The girls take in the Backyardigans after supper.

Birthdays and Ballet

12-13-08

One look at these pics and you'll know that Gracie had a HUGE weekend, 

kicked off by a riding toy party at the skating rink and followed by her first dance recital. 

All I can say is AWESOME.

Children's Sermon

Countdown To Christmas

We're celebrating the season with steaks marinated in Hoover Sauce
with the Marquis Philips Sarah's Blend. Mmmmm. And Jimmy's Potatoe
Casserole.

Xanadu II

Check out the roller skates. Gracie celebrated her fourth birthday at
the Corinth Skate Rink tonight.

After Dinner Story

AB capped an AMAZING dinner with the children's classic Dora's Potty
Time.

Picture Of Me At The St. Jude Finish Line

Nobody visits this page to see this ugly mug, but I wanted to document finishing the St. Jude Memphis Marathon, and actually, it's not one of my uglier photos. I can promise you this: I look a whole lot better than I felt. 

Sunday Afternoon Arts and Crafts

Gracie hit the Christmas Symphony with Iris so Addie got special Mom
time. I got special NFL time.

Audrey and John Burton Meet Santa

Bubba and Kimberly's sister Rachel kept Audrey for us Friday night.
While we were gone Audrey and John Burton gave Santa their list.

Audrey Captivated By Christmas Parade

Corinth Christmas Parade

Social Climbers

Check out the Social Climbers blog for an update on our marathon.

Encouragement From My Sister

Libby said she saw this and thought of me. Uh,  thanks. 

Christmas Tree 2008

AB finished the Christmas tree today. A special thanks to Brian Newell
for helping with the tree and the lights. AB likes alot of lights and
you delivered.

We enjoyed our visit with Libby and Brian. Having them here helped me
arrive at the realization that we could keep two nannies plenty busy.
If only. Thanks for coming to visit Brian and Libby!

"I Love Velvet!"

George Costanza.

Gracie and Addie love their sassy new red velvet pajamas.

Look Who We Brought Home

Brian and Libby came home to Selmer with us. It's rainy and cold
outside so the three Amigos here decided to hack into Libby's Netflix
account and watch some 30 Rock, AB's new favorite tv show. They made
me mute the Jets game.

Hangin With Jim

Howdy

Addie is having a rootin tootin good time at Jim's house tonight.

Saturday

It's been a good post Thanksgiving Saturday. AB and I ran 10 miles
together this morning. After the run Bailey, Rachel and AB took
Gracie, Garner and Addie to their first movie at the theater. I'm
watching football. Libby is playing with Audrey in the kitchen. Good
day.

Rocky Mountain High

Anita Beth and I have signed up to run the 2009 Transrockies Run in Colorado this August. It's a six-day 125-mile race through the Rocky Mountains. I'm very excited about this challenge we've taken on together. It should be a unique once-in-a-lifetime experience, therefore, you guessed it, I've decided to create a blog about it. I'm sorry I enjoy blogging so much. It's addictive. Anyway, I don't want to clutter the The Adams blog with running stories so I've created the Social Climbers blog to chronicle our training for the race. Wish us luck!

Pancakes and Hot Chocolate

Uncle Bailey and Aunt Rachel hosted breakfast this morning. Yummy.

Thanksgiving Crowns

Neeter and the girls worked on arts and crafts while I watched the
game this afternoon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're gathered round Cindy's House waiting for the Chicken Turkeys to finish cooking and watching Cindy scurry around the kitchen all the while carefully stepping around the five grandkids. Lunch should be good. I'm about to watch some football.

Audrey's New PJ's

Audrey digs her new sleepwear.

Thanksgiving Eve

Cindy reads the girls their bedtime story.

Memphis With Mom

The kids went to Memphis with AB today. Addie had a chocolate
milkshake on the way home. Can you tell?

Baptismal Reception

Cheeeese

Addie checks out the nursery at St Paul's Episcopal. Cousin Elam was
baptized a few minutes ago. We all saw it. He was a champ.

Good Morning From Shiloh National Park

It's a sunny 26 degrees and I'm on mile 14 of 20. Nowhere else I'd
rather be.

We're Still Here

Gracie likes feeding Audrey. And Audrey likes being fed. By anybody.

829

Stands for what time the men have to keep the kids.

Men's Running Club

Surf's Up

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1083842/The-moment-surfer-takes-41-foot-monster-wave--lives-tell-tale.html

Anyone want to go surfing?

A Couple Halloween Pics

Here's a couple cute pictures of Gracie and Addie from Halloween courtesy of Mia. Thanks Mia.

Wedding Pics

If you want to see pics of the prettiest flower girl ever (Gracie), check out Allison Muirhead's website. The password is Wendy. You can order online.

I won two trials in the same day today. Feels good to kick a. 

Halloween Costumes

See the Tulip at their feet?

Princess Addie