Livie's First Time Out

This is a picture of Liv being cute and hanging from the oven. While it is cute, we as parents realize that kids and ovens don't mix. So Teri had to go against her instincts of staring at her daughter when Liv does cutsie things around ER associated appliances, and punish her to teach her that those activities are wrong.

Liv decided not to heed Teri's warnings so now we have a few pics from Liv's first time out. Notice the rug she is sitting on. This is the official murphy time out rug. If you ever see it in a picture you can bet that it is warm from children's bottoms. It is used often these days. Oh the toddler stage... gotta love it!

Fall Foliage Fun

On Monday afternoon, we trespassed into our neighbor’s yard to grab these shots of the kids playing in the leaves (We have our own hardwood trees, but their leaves are pretty lame).

This is one of the reasons that autumn is our favorite time of the year. I mean look at those colors!

Our kids loved playing in the leaves, and a few times James forgot that they don't always cushion your fall like pillows do. He jumped into the pile, rump first, and popped to a stop right on the hard ground beneath. It didn't phase him much, though. He would get up, shake it off and move on with his job of trying to kick every leaf in the neighborhood.

Liv on the other hand, really enjoyed the hearty, earthy flavor of the leaves.

Coldplay Sings For Chris and Teri’s Anniversary

This month marks ten years since Teri and I went our first date. So to commemorate the milestone, Teri and I made a last minute trip down to Atlanta to see Coldplay. Those guys put on an incredible show. It was two hours worth of live music that is in heavy rotation in our iPods, computers and car stereos anyway so how could we go wrong? Since we got tickets so late we were in the nose-bleeds, but it didn’t matter. Part of me felt like the folks down on the floor who paid $400 a ticket were suckers when Coldplay made the show feel so intimate anyway.

The trip as a whole was very fast. The whole round trip of driving south to Birmingham to drop the kids off with my folks, on to Atlanta with dinner and the show, then waking up the next morning to reverse the path to get kids and get home took less than 36 hours. It was definitely a whirl-wind, but it was so rejuvenating for me. It was a time of great food, great music and great hanging out. For anyone who isn’t married it is worth getting hitched for the road trips and the conversation alone! Teri and I will just talk for hours while driving, which we never get to do at home with kids and life and randomness. In my old age of 29, nothing is more fulfilling than sitting and talking to my wife. She is a great encourager and listener.

We both realize that taking time to get away with each other and taking trips with the kids are vital to our family. We are going to try and be more intentional about carving out time to get out of our routines and getting away a few times a year.

Revisiting an Old Friend

Teri and I started dating ten years ago this month (man, time has flown!). At that time, we were both in school, broke and pretty green in the sense that we had never experienced much outside of the South.
The night that I asked her to marry me I took her to a restaurant in Atlanta called Bones. Up to that point in my life it was the best, most expensive meal I had ever taken part of, but again I was a nineteen years old and my idea of fine dining was a meal at the Olive Garden. So, in the years since I have wanted to give Bones another try to see if the impression I had was mostly in my mind, or if the restaurant was really that amazing. I can now say it still is amazing.
While in Atlanta we stopped by ole Bones and gave it another go. The experience was perfect, and we left more in love with each other and with Bones as we were back on September 25, 1999 we took the next step.

Nashville Gives Chris A Chance

After months of waiting (because they only offer auditions every six months)I (Chris) auditioned for Improv Nashville on Sunday, October the 19th. Then, after two more days of waiting, they called today and asked if I would join the troupe. I'm totally excited, and hope that each of you reading this will come and see me perform soon. They have performances every Friday and Saturday night at 8 and 10. See you there.

Livie's Laugh

It's funny what throwing a sleeve of diapers can do for a child...

Autumn Ushered In With Friendly Neighbor

Our neighbor, Lira(whose house you can kind of see directly behind her), is a very sweet precious lady. A few months ago she welcomed us to the neighborhood with a basket of peaches, and today she gave us this pumpkin as a "Welcome to Fall" gift.