January Miscellany

January, with its drab, cold  867 31 days, always brings lots of stir-crazed goofiness to our house.  Here's a sampling:

 

 Ben got to take his class "pet" Artie home for the weekend.  We decided we should have an Artie Party (Next Food Network Star fans, you feel me). 

 Ben and Noah have been intrigued by the Biltmore House (the largest home in America) for as long as we can remember.  Over MLK weekend, we took a quick trip up to Asheville, NC, to tour the house, eat some yummy vegetarian food, and swim.

You'll notice Jess and Eliza aren't in this commemorative photo taken inside the Music Room.  That's because E was not at all interested in the Music Room, the Banquet Hall, the Billiard Room, or any of the other 250 rooms on the tour.  She made this known in the way only a 2-year-old could -- loudly, embarrassingly, and carried-out-of-there-while-mumbling-threats-under-your-breath-ily.  We met up with them for snacks later.

I took Ben and Ava to the high school musical at the boys' school.  They were the cutest.

And speaking of Ava, Eliza has mad love and serious big girl adoration.

While E can totally rock a hat, I knew it was time for her 1st haircut.

There were sobs (read: shrieks of terror) until she realized that 1) it didn't hurt, 2) Dora was on the tv, and 3) there was a sucker waiting on the other end.

Ms. Lisa happened to braid her hair afterward, and ever since, Eliza has insisted her hair be braided.  Guess we're gonna go Laura Ingalls-style for a while.

 

And just 'cause it makes me smile (it's January - I'll take the smiles where I can get them), here's E jumpin' rope:

Yes, that might be Mr. Incredible (aka, our neighbor Josiah) you see in the background.

Michigan

Per tradition, we packed up and headed to see my family in Michigan the day after Christmas.  We were hoping there'd be snow (Noah could hardly wait to throw a snowball at someone), and Mother Nature obliged.  Not a ton, but certainly enough for these Georgia kids to enjoy.

 The four-wheeler got a daily workout.  Noah's driving here, but mostly it was used to pull three sleds tied behind it, one after the other.  Daddy and Eliza would drive while Noah, Ben, and cousin Austin slid behind.

 We got lots of cousin time in!  We visited the children's museum, had sleepovers at Auntie's, and had our annual post-Christmas pool party.  Cousin Kaylin was happy to help Eliza with her new laptop.

One of Booma's favorite things is reading to her grandkids, and she always has a willing listener in Noah.

The boys and cousins Ashley and Austin celebrated New Year's Eve silly string style.  So much fun!  (And so glad this wasn't my house!  Thanks, Booma!)



Christmas 2012

So, here it is the end of January, and my last blog post was from mid-November.  Sigh.  In between there were a million memories made and captured (hello, holidays), but alas, there was also a computer crash.  I have almost managed to gather all the pics scattered among the many devices they were taken on (kill me), and, without further adieu, Christmas 2012:

 Ben picked the tree out all by himself this year.

It was really fun decking the halls of the new house for the first time.

 Jess and I both wondered if this was the last year Ben would believe.  Hope not, but we savored the magic and wonder of Santa all the more, just in case.

 

 Boys' Church Christmas Concert.  Noah in his choir robe - the cuteness absolutely slays me.

 Eliza was not thrilled about the Pink Pig, which was puzzling because she's all about pink and trains.  But on the way home she conked out, developed a really high fever, and turns out our poor girl had pneumonia!  Hopefully she'll be in better spirits for Priscilla next year.

 Holiday lights at the Botanical Garden.

 

 Of course we had to visit Santa and tell the big man what was atop our lists ...

and with a 2-year-old, I was right back in that Santa picture.

We met up with Ava and Eli for a train ride and dinner.

 One of my favorite holiday traditions has become our annual Polar Express PJ Party.  Love these kiddos so much!

We went down and spent the day with Jess's family just before Christmas.  It's always so much fun to be on Aunt Julie and Uncle Justin's farm - chickens to feed, a big dog to play fetch with, and lots of uncles who'll play football all day long.  Really, a boy's dream.  And there were awesome presents to boot!

 We love Miss Kristen

and Aunt Julie Ann!

Christmas Eve brought lots of excitement.  We headed off to church:

 And then came home, put on our PJs, and the kids opened their gifts from each other.

Daddy read the bible story of Jesus' birth,

and we left out our plate of cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer.

I've been, over the past few years, leaning toward the notion of less is more in terms of gifts.  This year especially, I really tried to make the season about experiences --  spending time together, celebrating Christ's birth, and GIVING.  I was particularly convicted after watching this remarkable  video.  As one of our pastors put it, "I'm appalled, and if you're not, then you didn't watch it."  And, oh, I was.  And am.  And all this is to say, we decidedly gave our kids less this year, and it was wonderful.  They actually noticed, but not at all in a disappointed way.  I'm going to try to pare down even more next year.  It truly felt that with less stuff to receive, there was more room to give.

Some highlights of our Christmas morning: