Lights with the Joneses

We kept up our annual tradition of seeing the Lights of Life with our dear family, the Joneses! There is a fabulous route through campus with huge light displays, then there's an area to walk around. It was amazing to think of how the kids have grown since we did this last year.

 There's these SUPER CHEESY fake still-life random displays that the kids find absolutely fascinating.

 A little fire to warm your hands on...

 Here's the Jones family!

 Usually they walk, but we still roll this way sometimes.

 Linds and I with our crew...

 Nate and Joy are big buds- I think he might be kissing her hand here!!

 Peas in a pod- a few months apart, different gender, VERY similar personalities!!!

 Buddies.

The crew of crazies... I will say we stopped a passerby to take our picture at one point, then realized that Joy and Abby Jane were 50 feet away in a full sprint down a hill into some of the light displays.  

 Not sure how we avoided major injury or electric shock.

We sure love this precious family!! They are one of the many blessing we are grateful for this Christmas!

Bon voyage, Grammy!

Grammy came to dinner last week before she flew out to Manila to spend Christmas with Greg, Sus, and the kids. We had a lovely night with her, and it figures that the only pictures I have are blurry- things are always an extra level of crazy and fun when Grammy is around. She has officially landed safely and we haven't heard anything else, which must mean they are having fun!

 This is how Rambo would dress if he were a two-year-old little girl.

Henry's in the holidays...

Our "thank you" to Mimi and Bop Bop for helping watch the girls while Jake and I went to New Orleans was a dinner at a nearby Cajun place called Henry's. One special thing about Henry's is that it's a stone's throw from the train track that runs through downtown Acworth. This picture is a bit too blurry to make out the train, but it was really neat to watch them pass by so closely from the restaurant!

Blythe loves her Mimi and is also sporting in this picture one of the many new (mardi gras) necklaces we were given that night!

 Afterwards we played around on the Christmas displays by Acworth's depot.

 The festive lights gave great ambiance to a fun family evening!!

Happy Birthday, Jesus party!

Birthdays are very popular in our home, especially ever since the twins' birthday.  So I decided for us to have a party for Jesus, to try to really emphasize the whole point of the season in the way that seems hit home for them right now!  

                                                

We had brunch, made easy by everyone bringing an item (that was required to be simple) to contribute.

 

Any birthday party has to have cupcakes!  I got the idea for the peppermint tray from Southern Living this month.  It took about 10 minutes.  Just unwrap round peppermints, place them on parchment paper in the size of your cake platter, then melt in a 350 oven until melted together.  Let cool completely, and it pops right off!  So fun.

 Anxiously awaiting our guests in her party outfit- pajamas.  I wanted the morning to be as low-stress as possible for all the moms, so the kids all wore their pajamas.

There were two types of ornaments to make...

 The first and easiest were the button snowflakes.

There was also plastic ornaments to paint.  At Abby Jane's camping birthday party, I gave the kids glass mason jars to decorate with stickers and collect plastic bugs in. Several were shattered on various garage and tile floors in the days following the party, so no more glass objects will be sent home from the Gross household in years and parties to come!

 I had a difficult time helping all my people with their crafts at the same time, as they didn't quite follow my plan of helping children in stages.  This resulted in Miss Kristin helping Joy paint her ornament.  She wins for bravest party guest- Joy and acrylic paint is a pretty scary combination, though I think the only part of her that got painted were her fingers!

 Miss Katie and Carlton...

 The three year olds enjoying their treats in the playroom!

 Cupcake time! I love the cheeks full!

 Cooper belongs to Miss Lyndsay, and he is the spitting image of his dad in this picture.

 Miss Kristin read The Story of Christmas to the kids. This is my hands-down favorite Christmas book as it gives a simple, clear description of the story, then it ends with, "We give gifts at Christmas to show God's love, and to say, 'Happy birthday, Baby Jesus!'"

 Here is exquisite Clara, the youngest party guest.

 My makeshift ornament-hanging line, one of those things I didn't plan ahead for until I was handed Abby Jane's wet ornament!

This was such a sweet morning, and I would love to make it an annual thing, letting the exact party plan change with the kids' ages and stages each year. My mom has an infamous collection of nativity scene costumes that she has dragged out for the cousins year after year- maybe it will make an appearance next year at the birthday party! It will have to be a surprise!

Pretending to be Mary

as in, the mother of Jesus.

The Pink Pig

We were amazingly able to align schedules for Katie and I AND both of our moms to take all our kids to the Atlanta's famous Pink Pig. When we went with Betsy and the boys last year, it was 4 degrees out- it was about 50 degrees warmer this year!! 

Both Mom and Miss Pam rode the original train (pictured below) as little girls, so it was fun for them to be a part of us taking all our little ones!

I wasn't going to use this picture since the flash washed them out so much, but I think my mom and Blythe favor so much in this picture!

 Joy liked the train.

 Abby Jane was very grown-up and rode in the car in front of me all by herself!

 The moms and our people.

 Grammy and the girls...

This was the highlight of the morning for Carlton.  We went inside Lenox afterwards and walked around a bit to see all the decorations. I think he could have gone up and down escalators for hours and have had his perfect morning!

Meeting the Nice Bow-wee

I have quite a bit of blog catch-up, but we'll begin with Kennesaw's Christmas parade! The girls were much more confident about the whole parade idea this time around than they had been for Cartersville's two days before.

 We saw our dear friend Andy there...

 Various girls took turns getting the best view in the house.

 This was the best- Blythe and Joy sidled up through multiple adults' legs to get right up in front, even when it got crowded.

 This is the best part of the Kennesaw Christmas parade- Santa is pulled by real reindeer!

 Then it came time to meet the man in red, and the girls were AMPED for it.  Look at this delight from just five feet away.

 Then you see a slight transition here as it becomes our turn next...

Then it was our turn and Blythe and Joy frieked out, and the photographer made Jake and I get in the picture- where was Mrs. Claus from last year at the moment we needed a properly dressed lady for the photo op??? She walked up afterwards and complimented the girls' dresses. Gee thanks, Mrs. Claus.  Good timing. We bought the overpriced picture anyways to record the moment.  Maybe next year our girls will sit for the photo so we can take it with our own camera!

Some of you Auburn people may appreciate that yes, Jake is wearing a 10 yr old BRS for SGA pres shirt.

Well, the day ended on a sweet note despite MIA Mrs. Claus, as I made these eggnog cupcakes to take to our small group's annual tacky Christmas sweater party.

The next day, on our way to church, Joy pipes up and says, "I saw Santa.  I cried.  He's a nice bow-wee" (translation= boy).  The whole month since then, most mentions of Santa include the comment that he's a nice bow-wee.