Snow Fun!

There's nothing quite like a white Christmas.

A new Christmas tradition?

I LOVE all things Christmas, and our December this far has been full of all the usual fun Christmas activities. We got dressed up for the Chick-fil-A Open House (note Holly's name tag - so cute!):














Decorated a gingerbread house:














And baked Christmas cake balls.














We've had some reeeeally cold nights, and have used the heck out of our old-fashioned, woodburning fireplace already. And it's not even winter yet.

All of the activity, while all good things, makes me think about how we distort the spirit of Christmas with our consumerism and excess. I fall into this trap each year, and it bothers me. Then I read books like Radical, and read verses like these, and I have to wonder...are we missing the boat? Rather than collecting things for ourselves (and teaching our kids to do the same), shouldn't we be giving our things away? I'm not there yet.

But I'm being challenged lately, and it's as though Jesus is saying directly to my heart, "I have blessed you with so much not so that you can consume more, but because you are the means through which I will love and feed the poor and oppressed." And man, does Jesus love the poor and the oppressed.

What does that mean for our family? What does that mean for me?

After talking about this with our small group, our neighbor and friend Kerri challenged me. Above and beyond their family's normal giving, she had decided to give away all of her discretionary monthly allowance for 2011 to Charity: Water. No fancy haircuts, no department store lipstick. Instead, she is bringing clean water to people who have none. That's what I'm talking about! THAT is the spirit of Christmas!

Knowing I had to put up or shut up, I decided to give up my entire clothing budget for next year (and Matt's too...if I didn't tell him, he would never even know). I'm not sure where it's going yet. But I'm excited about knowing that the new shoes I didn't buy just fed a child. Or purchased a teenage girl out of sex slavery. Or did just about anything other than fill up my already full closet.

Having decided that (last night!), my heart feels full. And ready to receive my King.

Merry Christmas to all!

Happy Day!

Dori and Lee got married last week in Kauai and celebrated on Saturday with a reception in Memphis. It was perfect - a beautiful bride, her handsome groom, and an art gallery full of adoring friends and family. They are blessed!

I have a few tips for Lee, from someone who has known Dori for 21 years.

1) Don't talk to her while she's trying to fall asleep.
2) Don't talk to her too early in the morning. If you do, don't be too cheerful.
3) Don't touch her with your feet.
4) Take good care of my bf. Love her well, lead her well, and cherish her. I know I do.

Congratulations Dori and Lee. Wishing you a life of love and a home full of laughter and joy...and little Schumanns!

Happy Things

I love the mountains outside of Asheville.

I love them even more with my honey.

I loved the sunset from my front porch this evening.


And the bright red tree in the yard across the street. (Doesn't it look like I altered the photo to make the background look black and white? Nope! That's how red the tree is.)

I love my gangsta baby. Side note on Anna...the girl finds something she likes and becomes obsessed. Today, it was this pink hat. Had to have it on and wanted to nap with it. Other obsessions of late: anything that's yellow, her princess pajamas (which happen to be yellow), a butterfly bib that she wears all day. Obsessed. She is stubborn and strong-willed, and when she doesn't make me crazy, she makes me smile.

I love my wacky fairy-butterfly-princess. Wish you could see the pink rain boots she's wearing.


And I love Sunday morning dances. Does it get any sweeter?

'Tis the Season?

Ever since I read Candace's enthusiastic blog post about pumpkin flavored goodies, I've been wanted to try something. An experiment, if you will. I'm not a big pumpkin fan (when I eat anything pumpkin flavored, I can't help but picture pumpkin guts), but I have been on a cake ball frenzy since I discovered these.

So an idea was born.

What if...I combined Candace's mom's recipe with Bakerella's recipe? Spice cake, cream cheese, pumpkin, chocolate. It's going to be amazing.

I decided to make them this morning (because although I'm supposed to be packing and handling logistics for a weekend getaway that begins in 2 hours, I must have nothing better to do).

Start with the basics:


I added a couple eggs, a little oil, and a little water to the cake mixture, because I just didn't trust that pumpkin and cake mix alone would work. Wasn't necessary. If you decide to make these, follow directions. Isn't that the number 1 rule in baking?

Throw her in the oven:


Find yourself a good helper who doesn't mind getting her hands dirty:

After rolling the mix into balls and chilling (per Bakerella's instructions), dip them in chocolate. And the end result:

Actually, the TRUE end result:


My opinion, not bad. But not amazing. I still felt like I was eating the inside of a gourd, to be honest. But I think most people, especially pumpkin people, would enjoy it.

If you live in my area, I'll save you one and you can decide for yourself!

We're back!!

Thanks to some encouragement from some sweet friends, I'm resuming my blog. I took an unintentional summer break...we had a season when our lives were really busy but not especially interesting. So a week turned into a month, which turned into two, which turned into nearly forgetting my blogger.com password.

I'll give you a few highlights of the previous few months for the Rife family. Hopefully it doesn't leave you thinking, "no wonder she hasn't had much to say!"

August included a girls' trip to Vegas: my mom, her sister Bonnie, my sister Leigh, and myself. Fun, fun times!



We also took the girls to a Braves game. We made it through at least 5 innings, and this time actually got to see some baseball!



In September, Matt and I took the girls for our first real family vacation with just the 4 of us. We went to the Blue Ridge Mountains and had a great time picking apples, hiking, and enjoying the end of summer (or so we thought...who knew summer would hang around until mid-October?).




In October, Holly got to celebrate her birthday twice. In Greenville for her actual birthday, with Grammy, Pappy, Uncle Kelly, Aunt Megan, and Evan...



...and with Nana and Papa and our incredible neighborhood friends for her Little Mermaid birthday party. My baby is 4!




And to bring you fully up to speed, a few pictures from our Halloween festivities. Anna made a cute peacock, but a compliant one she was not. Spending $17 on a costume was enough to make the battle worthwhile.








Sorry for all the photos, but sometimes pictures just tell a better story. Especially when there are 4+ months of stories to tell.

See you again soon!

Never wake a sleeping baby

Go Bravos

Anna's spending the week at Grammy's and Pappy's, so we decided to fill our time with things that are hard to do with a 19 month old in tow. Tonight, we took Holly to a Braves game! It was a fun night, full of firsts for Holly:

First time at a Braves game


Well, that's not exactly true... she did go 3 years ago, but I don't think that she has any memories of it.


First time taking a picture with my camera


(And yes, I now realize I'm wearing the same shirt today that I wore 3 years ago. Mama needs a clothing budget.)

First time eating cotton candy


The girls is smart though. Towards the end, she asked Matt for popcorn. When he asked if she had finished her cotton candy, knowing the answer was "no," she said, "I don't want any more of that stuff - it will just give me holes in my teeth." Needless to say, she got her popcorn.

And this was my first time at Turner Field without seeing a single pitch.

We got there at 6:45 and there was a rain delay, and by 9:00 the tarp was still covering the field. It was time to get the wee one home to bed.



As you can tell by Holly's goofy smile, I think she still had a pretty great time.


I'll leave you with one of Holly's moves, rarely caught on camera...