Charleston

Sorry for the lack of updates recently.
With fall restarting at church, house work and two kids, life takes a little bit more time to simply live.
We are in Charleston for a few days having a Neely "Reunion". We have NC, Kansas and Tennessee represented.
It is great to have everyone together for a week.
Here are some pics.
Amazing weather thus far.

Here is Davis playing with a fishing game, I think he was trying to catch Annie.

We had a beautiful morning on the porch.
Here is Davis looking out at the ocean as we enjoy coffee and breakfast on the porch.

Here are some other pics from before we left.
We were loaned some clothes by a friend, Lesli, and Annie has been playing dress up.

Kiddos

Why these pics?
Because I can.




It's Monday. Make it count.

Goal Setter

I'm finding that I am a goal setter.
Financially I do much better with a goal in mind.
With my weight... well we all remember BabyFat.

So now my next goal.


Running a 10k on October 24th.
For those metrically challenged like myself a 10k is 6.2miles.
Noting intense, but a goal.
The cool thing about this race is there are no fees, no sign ups, just find a place and run 10k on Oct 24th.
If you are in the Knoxville area and know of a good 10k loop/route, feel free to let me know.
I found a good training regiment for a 10k that is 8 weeks long, exactly how long I need.

Monday: lacing up the running shoes.

Still have kids

We realize that we haven't put up pics of the kids in a while, but they are still here and doing great.
Davis is at that stage where he is saying a new word everyday.
Annie is growing so much and she smiles all the time.
Here are some pics of the kiddos.
A couple of days ago Davis thought he should wear an apron around the house. He really enjoyed spinning around in his apron and balloon that he got from "Captian Z" at S&S. (That's a whole other story)



Annie is starting to sit in the bumbo for a few min/secs at a time.

Obviously Davis thought it was a good idea to chew on a green marker.

potty training.

Davis is not potty training yet.
I'm just so glad we already found this to help with the process!
My parent's anniversary was yesterday, I may get a matching pair.

Seriously?

I'm thinking about putting Davis in the lake at Muma and Poppa's house and seeing if he can do the same thing.

Happy Birthday Katie

Yesterday was Katie's birthday.
She turned 31.
It's hard to believe we started dating when she was 16.
Now she is 31 and has two kids.
She is funnier now than she has ever been.
Katie brings energy to a room like no one else I know.
She is an all star mom.
It's a joy to watch her love, discipline and train our children.
She loves people well and is well loved by so many.
Katie cherishes family.
Katie loves Christ, is honest about her relationship with Him and we are learning what that looks like as a couple.
She's 31 and she's hot.
Katie laughs alot.
She simply wanted to go to a movie and our favorite mexican restaurant for her birthday, another reason to love her.
She lives within her means.
Katie is my wife, best friend and mother of my kids and I am so thankful that God allows us to live this life together.
Grace.

Twitter

Twitter is down this morning. For hours it has been down. No service. I just sat thru the longest meeting without twitter. Couldn't check on the outside world. No idea which friend was drinking coffee, which friend just woke up, no clue if an acquaintance had stubbed their toe, no info on who was reading a book they really liked... I had to sit through this meeting all by myself (and the people who were actually physically sitting in the room.)
Many people hate on twitter. "I don't get it?" "Why does the world need to know what I'm doing" "Its so self centered"" I don't have a smart phone so it doesn't make sense" etc...
I get those excuses, but they sound a lot like my grandfather did when cell phones first came out. Who needs a cellphone anyway?

Times do change.

But today without twitter I thought, what kind of world are my kids growing up in? What will they consider normative that I don't even know about yet. Examples for my generation would be cell phones, DVR, texting, laptops- things that are completely normal in my every day life ( i know that many of these are luxuries and are in no way normative for most of the world, but this IS the world we- the Neely family, live in), but my parents and grandparents couldn't have imagined when they were my age.
What will Davis update every day, how will Annie communicate with her friends.
I don't know, but I'm hoping that I invent it.

Smart Kid

This is not a political statement. It's just a conversation I had with Davis the other day.

"Dad, aren't we in a hard financial time partly because many people were given home loans they couldn't pay for and now are in short sales or foreclosure?"
"Yes son."
"Dad, aren't we now giving people cars they can't afford thru programs like cash for clunkers?"
"Yes son"
"Dad, won't most of these cars be repossessed in a few years when people default on their loans?"
"Yes son"
"Dad, isn't it my tax dollars that are buying these cars"
"Yes son"
"Dad, didn't the government vastly underestimate the amount of money that would be needed for the program?"
"Yes son"
"Dad, are we supposed to believe they can accurately estimate the amount healthcare will cost for everyone?"
"Yes son (grin)"
"Dad, should I consider putting away a lot of money."
"Yes son"


Smart kid.