Christmas 2007

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Twas the Morning Before Christmas...

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Times with the Griners

Here are some pictures from our fun Christmas outings with the Griners. One afternoon, we let all the big kids make gingerbread houses. The children were very creative with their "architecture" and Max enjoyed exploring the Griners house for the first time as an expert crawler.



Patrick-Griner 2nd Annual Trip to Lake Lanier Lights was super! Again, we met the Griners and parked their car and all climbed in the back of Jack's truck. It was a chilly night, but with the camper top, a futon matress, and plenty of coats and blankets, we all stayed toasty warm. Christmas music blaring in from the front seat, children squealing with glee at the miles and miles of lights, and Smores by the fire at Santa's workshop made the night another great Christmas memory. Max thought he was one of the big kids standing in the window staring at all the twinkling diplays. As always, one of the highlights of the night was the stop at the live nativity scene and Kinsey enjoyed some rides at the carnival area before we left.








With my piano now at Jacob and John Scott's house, we decided to have Christmas gift swap and caroling around the piano. It was so cool to be sitting around my step-grandfather, Max's, piano, with my youngest named after him! The kids had a great time opening gifts and working on a "project", then we ate, sang some songs and then watched The Polar Express. Great way to wrap up a fun season of holiday events with such a wonderful family! We love you guys!

Santa and his Reindeer

OK, these pictures are a few weeks old, but I just realized I could download other people's pictures from Shutterfly! :) Jack took the kids and met the Griner family down in Greensboro to sit in Santa's sleigh and meet four of his reindeer. They also went to Reynold's Plantation to see an almost life-sized gingerbread house. The last two weeks have been overwhelmingly busy, but hopefully I can get some more of our fun Christmas pics posted soon.

Baby Dedication

Monday, December 17 Yesterday, Max was dedicated at our church. As you can see from the pictures, he was the oldest of the babies there! He also was by FAR the loudest of all the babies, yelling "dadadada" during the entire lighting of the advent candles beforehand. Kinsey was a very proud big sister and worked very hard to keep her brother quiet during "big church".

Kinsey's Christmas Musical

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Friday, December 14. Wednesday, Kinsey participated in her very first Christmas musical. I was worried that she would just freeze like a statue and didn't think she would remember the words and hand motions to the songs, but she did wonderfully! We were proud parents!

Patrick Elves

December 2, 2007 This is too fun! Check out this website. Very easy to make your own.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1140706225

Trip to Cashiers

November, 25 Today, we went up to NC to go cut down our Christmas tree. We headed north of mom and dad's house about an hour just about the beautiful mountain town of Cashiers to Christmas Moss Farms. It was cold and foggy at 3000+ elevation, but their trees were gorgeous. I don't think we got any kind of deal cutting our own tree, but boy does our whole house smell divine this evening! Think we've found a new family tradition!!!

Black Friday

Yes, we did it...AND in Atlanta with two little kids. And, I must say, it was a success. Kinsey and Max had their photo made with the famous Phipps Santa Claus. Max about drove the poor man crazy trying to reach his beard. These pictures were taken behind Santa's backdrop trees since you weren't allowed flash photography at Santa himself. We shopped (mostly children's clothing stores) for about 3 or 4 hours and came home to try and recover from the previous day's mess!

Turkey Day

What a busy day! We have so much to be thankful for in our family this year. We were sad that Lar Lar, Paul, and Cousin Thomas were sick and had to stay home this Thanksgiving, but welcomed Nanny, Papadad, Granny, Nan, Granddaddy, and Pop to share Jack's beautiful smoked turkey and delicious veggies and desserts prepared by everyone. God even blessed us with a beautiful, drought-relieving downpour in the morning. After our meal, we went to Atlanta to watch the annual Lenox Tree Lighting Ceremony. FREEZING, but fabulous indeed! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Halloween

I know it is extremely late to post Halloween pictures, but just getting any posted is an accomplishment for me! This year, we again participated in the Lane Creek hayride Trick or Treat with the Griners and friends. Both kids really had a wonderful night. Max really got into character for the evening!

Pumpkin Patch 2007

We spent another funfilled evening this fall at the Washington Farms Pumpkin Patch. One night we took the kids to the corn maze. We let Kinsey and her flash light lead us for a good hour or two. These pictures, though, are from the night we went with some of Kinsey's friends and did the cow train and hayride.

Treasures of the Sea

Fun at Nanny & Papadad's

November 4, 2007 These pictures are from a few weeks ago, but I thought I'd post a few pictures of Kinsey and Max's fun times at the grandparent's house in SC. Kinsey loved riding Sugar the pony and playing in the hottub and Max just enjoyed getting loved on.

Life Is Good!

October 14, 2007 Nothing special...just a good night. Wonderful end to a wonderful weekend!