Shadiest Yard in Kennesaw?

We still had this much snow in our yard today- six days after the storm! We've played in it every day since we've been home. That pink lump of Joy on that boogie board sure loved sledding!! I've never seen her so still.

Blythe absolutely ate it up, too. Literally. She tried to eat the snow, and I stopped her right before she tried to go "Christmas Story" and lick a particularly icy part.

Speaking of "Christmas Story," all these layers made Abby Jane look pretty funny and often get stuck on the ground.

Pic of the year, going down a pretty steep grade- Blythe's eyebrows are one of her best features- look how high they are right here!

Triple stacker

Got pretty warm today, and with church tomorrow morning, today may have been our last day to so fully enjoy the snow... and right when we were finally getting efficient at putting on and taking off all the girls' layers!

Bedheads

After morning naps the other day...

Blythe. Sweet sugar.

Joy with her paci cigar-style and whatever hair she's got looking pretty crazy...

"Look at my trick for the camera, Mom!" Wonder where the babies learn crazy...

Blythe looking contemplative...

Joy pretending to be contemplative...

Just kidding!!!

Clean and Fresh

It's been fascinating to see the progression the snow has taken.

That first day, it was so powdery that making a snowman or a formed snowball was difficult (see disintegrating ball head towards my eldest.)

The second day, it had become crunchy/wet enough to make the perfect snowball. Jake left Exhibit A on my back, no photo as the photographer was engaged in intense snowball battle at the time.

The third day and going into today, everything that had been wet or melting snow froze over. When we arrived home last night, our front yard was a sheet of ice covering the snow. Today Abby Jane and I went outside to play while the twins slept. I attempted a bit of snowsurfing (thinking Jake had already done it yesterday), and absolutely busted on the flattest part of my ride- on the driveway. It was great. Turns out Jake had not tried surfing on our ice- thought it was crazy- that would have been good info for me to have...

Regardless, snow is so clean and fresh looking- the sparkle of the ice covering the snow is so pretty...

In the spirit of the New Year, I decided to lighten up our living room. When we arrived in this home, we thought it would be short term, so I just threw an old print on the wall and our same pillows on the sofas. This is from the week we moved in.

Here is my "lightened" living room! It's amazing what new pillows, a new sconce, white frames, and some black and white favorites can do.

If you can't be in Glendale...

You might as well drive up to the grandparents' and have your other Grammy come join and all get snowed in together!

There was plenty of sledding.

But the most popular mode of snowsport was Bop Bop's idea- kayak rides! Mush, Jake, mush!

Bop Bop's turn to do some pulling...

A short-lived three-girl sled ride...

Ice blue Joy in the ice cold... her bottom lip cracks me up in this picture.
Mimi and Bop Bop with the girls.
Grammy learned how to snow surf.

On championship night, Blythe got her game face on.

And then was the game we'll all remember for forever. I cried. It is truly great to be an Auburn Tiger. I so dearly wish we might have gone, but it was a fantastic evening at the Gross home experiencing this incredible game all together. I won't say it was a once-in-a-lifetime game because I fully expect Auburn to return to the National Championship in my lifetime, and next time we will be there!

Mimi and Abby Jane rolling a tree the next morning... our on-location version of this beautiful sight!

I was so proud listening to Coach Chizik, Cam, and every player I heard interviewed- all giving glory to God. WAR EAGLE!

WAAAAARRRRR EAGLE!!!!

How did your year begin?

It has been a full, full week, but I got pictures from a few of the things that have been filling our time. In the midst of it all, there has still been time for the girls to continue to love their new "playroom."

The little ones love to stir! This was the first time I could catch them both stirring at the same time. Too precious.
Blythe has a thing about having two objects most of the time, one in each of her hands. Usually it's something more portable, but on this morning, she was more ambitious than usual.
My precious friend Katie, her mom, and Carlton met us at Mom's house for one last playdate before they returned to Seattle.

These folks are less than three weeks apart. Carlton is a fast, busy boy, but the girls compensated for their lack of speed with ability to be rough-and-tumble,

thanks to training as little sisters to an almost 3 yr old! We sure love those friends and soaked up every moment together!

Finally, this morning, I was trying to get them dressed for church, and they just wanted to be silly in Abby Jane's bed! Abby Jane was really proud of her "silly trick" as she calls these kinds of moves!

Now to the biggest concern we all have... the snow that is coming down as I blog had BETTER NOT prevent the few of us who are NOT in Glendale from watching the game!!! Those of you who are there, watching the game we will all remember for a long, long time... cheer for all of us!! WAAARRRR EAGLE!!!!!!! IT'S GREAT TO BE AN AUBURN TIGER!!!!!!!!

Cheers!

New Year's Eve hike up Kennesaw Mtn.

Without cousins to hike with, it took a little convincing to get out of the stroller and do some hiking with her own two legs. We're trying to teach healthy habits, though...
We went straight from our hike to celebrate Granny's 85th birthday with aunts, uncles, Mimi, Bop Bop, and a few cute cousins!

After naps that afternoon, we took advantage of having grandparents in town and let the girls go to bed at Grammy's while we spent the Eve-ning with sweet friends playing games and enjoying delicious food!

New Year's Day was rainy and nasty out, so we spent the day there at Mom's house. My kids have been spoiling us with sleeping until 7:45 or 8:00 some days, and New Years was one of those! It was great having a relaxing, cozy day as a family.

Happy New Year!