The Paper has Settled.....

Wow-what a busy holiday season! Over the course of last week, we celebrated Christmas four times. Each complete with a meal and presents.

The first was at my folks house-Grammy and D-daddy to the girls. You'll see pics below of Baby K and G with cousin RJ.

Two days later, we went to R's folks house-Mimi and Papa to the girls. G was so excited about her Julie Albright doll. Baby K received the Bitty Baby doll but as you can see from her pic, it was all about the paper, cards and bows.

Two days after that, we spent Christmas Eve at R's extended family. Each year, everyone gathers at Aunt B's house for food and of course, more presents. This is also the stop where we do the family pics. Each attending family takes a group shot in front of the fireplace. Same spot, same family groups each year-you can look back at each year and see how much the kids have grown (or how much the grown-ups have aged). Baby K was taking a nap this year!

Then we had Christmas Day at our house. According to D-daddy, Santa must have dumped his sleigh in the family room. It certainly appeared to be a lot for two little girls. You'll see the pics of the girls in the red pj's-those are the Christmas morning pics. G received a lot of American Girl accessories for Julie Albright-you have to wonder how Santa knew about that? I got a big pink buggy, oh wait a minute, that was for Baby K. Who looked absolutely adorable riding around in it. I'm not sure how long it will actually fit her and be practical, but it sure is cute.

After all the excitement at our house, we spent the late afternoon at Aunt M's house. You guessed it, more food and more presents. It was an especially nice visit because we got to spend time with our family members, Aunt B and L, who are missionaries with ADRA in Africa and who are home in the states for a couple of weeks while L recovers from an infection.

The final pic is us-we're not all smiling but sometimes with a little one you have to take what you can get:-)

A big thank you to all our families for making this such a great holiday for the girls and for us-We love you all!


The cutest littlest present!


G and cousin RJ


G and Julie Albright


Baby K opening presents :-)


Thompson and Jones families at Aunt B's on Christmas Eve


G on Christmas morning


Toot! Toot! Chugga Chugga Big Pink Car......


The Jones family

Two Days Before Christmas

It's hard to believe that it's only two days until Christmas! All the planning that starts months ahead and then the last couple of weeks seem to rush by. This past weekend we got 24" of snow and it's really slowed everyone's pace down a bit, it's been kind of nice, actually. Our geographic area tends to panic when there is a couple of inches of snow so you can imagine that everything and everybody was completely paralyzed for the first couple of days.

December has been a busy month for the Jones family. First, I have finally become totally immersed in suburbia-we traded in the Mercedes for a MiniVan. For those of you who said it was going to happen against all of "my never in a million years", go ahead and chuckle. I have to say that I'm really glad to have made my last climb over the center console in the Mercedes to get to Baby K-as G has reminds me rather frequently, "you're not 18 anymore." All joking aside, the van actually rides smoother than the Mercedes and there is definitely more room in the front seats. R can actually ride comfortably in the passenger seat even with Baby K's carseat behind him.

Next, Baby K had her 8 month pics taken at a local picture studio. See pics below of her and G. I had hoped to get a pic of both girls together but no such luck on this trip (never fear, we'll be going back in April to do Baby K's 1 year pics:-). I did get a great pic of the girls and myself that I plan to frame and surprise R with for Christmas.

G has been busy with school and extra holiday activities this month. She went to her first Daisy meeting-she was so excited to be a part of the troop and to have some of her friends there from her preschool class. The troop leader is fantastic-not only does she seem super organized but she is so good with all the girls. I also took her to some holiday craft classes. At one, she made a graham cracker house, complete with a marshmallow snowman, that has become the centerpiece for our kitchen table.

This past Friday was G's last day of school and her class had a birthday party for Jesus. It was a great way to celebrate the true meaning of the holiday. Below are pics of Aunt M and Baby K and also of cousin J and the girls. The picture of the cousins is my "once in a million years" shot-all three kids are not only looking at the camera but are also smiling. Note the dress that Baby K is wearing-it was a hand-me-down from some of our dear friends. I have pics of their girls wearing those same dresses. Seems like only yesterday that their youngest was small enough to wear that dress, now she's 3 and going to preschool and their older daughter is in kindergarten. Where does the time go?

Enjoy the pics! I'll try to be a little more timely with the Christmas morning pics-


G


Baby K


Christmas card pics at Grammy's house


Aunt M and Baby K


The Cousins

Where did Thanksgiving go????

Where did Thanksgiving go? I guess in my excitement to get to Christmas, I missed making a post about Thanksgiving-getting old is hell:-)

G had a Thanksgiving Feast at school and she was a pilgrim. The teachers had put together the cutest pilgrim accessories. Take a look at the pic below-the hat and the collar are fabric and are assembled using fabric glue. A very crafty and quick idea that I'll tuck away for next year.

Our family had a great Thanksgiving. First stop was at my parent's house and then about 3 hours later we went R's families home to eat again. As is the tradition, by the time we make it home, we are overstuffed and miserable from eating too much.

G spent Thanksgiving night at Grammy and Ddaddy's house and R and I took Baby K on her first Black Friday adventure. She was such a trooper! We were not part of that group that was out and standing in line at 4:00am but we did make it to our first stop by 6:30am. This year there wasn't anything that we were on a mission to find, which was nice. We just kind of went to a couple of places at our leisure and if we found something great and if not, no big deal.

R had off a couple of days over the Thanksgiving holiday and we used that time to start getting out the Christmas decorations. We put the tree up and did a little decorating around the house. Not as much as last year because we just don't have the space with all the changes we made in the room layouts when we setup the nursery.

I think R and G are going to put up the outside lights and decorations this weekend so I'll try to get some pics. Of course Baby K and I will watch the activities from the warm inside:-)


G, Baby K and cousin J at the kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast


The cutest little turkeys


A whole flock of turkeys