Birthday in Atlanta

On Saturday morning, we all went back over to Tafanie and Cory's to celebrate Emmaline's 2nd birthday!  She was dressed up so pretty!

And she even had a birthday balloon tree!  One of the conveniences of having a birthday so close to Christmas.  :)

And Emmaline and Bell both really like balloons!

As soon as Avery arrived,

she put on a Happy Birthday tiara.  :)

The birthday celebration began with singing happy birthday to Emmaline while Tafanie lighted the candles on Emmaline's birthday donut.

Emmaline blew out her birthday candles...

and then dug into her birthday donut!  :)

I think her little sister Ruby wants some birthday donut too!  :)

Emmaline began opening her presents and cards.  One of her presents was a Care Bear.  We remember Tafanie and Crystal having Care Bears when they were little.  :)

Bell helped Emmaline open some of her presents.  After all, Bell is now a PPO -- Professional Present Opener.  :)

I think Ruby wants to help open presents too!  :)

We had fun again today watching Cory put together the present we got for Emmaline:  a toy trampoline.  He had lots of helpers...

...who waited very patiently.  :)

Within about 15 minutes, the toy trampoline was up and ready for the birthday girl to try out...  

...as well as Emmaline's cousin, Avery...

...and her sister Bell.  

I think Emmaline likes her toy trampoline!

We had a wonderful time while we were in Atlanta and we are so blessed to have been able to spend Christmas with my mom and both of our daughters and their families.  

Christmas in Atlanta: Part 2

On the day after Christmas, we went over to Tafanie and Cory's to spend the day with them.  We started the day with muffins and pancakes, and taking turns holding little Ruby.

Even Bell likes holding her little sister Ruby...

...or Ruby likes holding her.  :)

After breakfast, it was time for Bell, Emmaline and Ruby to open their Christmas presents from us.  We soon discovered that Bell is a pro at opening Christmas presents...

...but that Emmaline likes to take her time.  (Don't you love their cute little matching outfits that their MiMi Van Wyngarden got them!)

Emmaline liked her tunnel that she, Avery and Bell all tried out...

...and Hannah liked the boxes that the presents came in.  :)

What is almost as much fun as watching the girls open their presents is then watching Cory putting them together.  :)

But Cory carefully read all the instructions, and within a few minutes, their soccer goal was ready...

and they made their first goal!  :)

After all the Christmas presents had been opened, Tafanie and Cory treated us to some subs for lunch.  Then, Tafanie, Crystal and I began cooking the things we were having for our Christmas dinner all together that evening.  While Tafanie, Crystal, and I were cooking...

Bell and Pa had fun laughing...

...and whispering silly secrets.  :)

Chuck and Cory also played a couple of games of Connect Four.

Everything was ready for dinner by 5 pm.  I had wanted to get an updated picture of us with all our granddaughters.  We decided that while they were all still and eating dinner was probably the best time to attempt that.  It still took a lot of attempts.  :)

But we did get a couple of good pictures of us...

 and my mom (GiGi) and me with the 5 granddaughters.

What made our evening extra special is that Mrs. Latifah and her family joined us for dinner.  Mrs. Latifah babysits for both Tafanie and Crystal and many other families at their church from time to time.

We had a wonderful time of food, laughter and fellowship together.  What a very special evening!  :)

Christmas in Atlanta: Part 1

Terry picked us up at 4:30 am on Christmas Eve and drove us to the airport.  How nice is that!!  The traffic wasn't bad and with not having to find a parking place, we had our bags checked and were cleared through airport security in plenty of time.

It only took 1 1/2 hours to fly the 950 miles from San Antonio to Nashville which seemed incredibly fast.  By 9:30 am, my mom had picked us up at the Nashville Airport and we were on our way to Atlanta.

It rained on us off and on for most of the way to Atlanta but we took our time and by 2:30 we were pulling into Crystal and Grant's driveway.  Avery was still down for a nap but Miss Hannah was up and very happy to see her GiGi.  :)

And when Miss Avery woke up, she was happy to see all of us and her GiGi too!

We went to the Christmas Eve service at their church and got to see Tafanie, Cory, Bell, Emmaline and Ruby there too who had just gotten back from visiting Cory's family in Iowa.  :)

After the service, we went back to Crystal and Grant's where we enjoyed snacking on sausage balls, pineapple wrapped in bacon, and these chicken and cream cheese croissant pockets.  Yummy!  :)  After dinner, it was time for the girls to go to bed in their Christmas pj's.  :)

On Christmas morning, Avery and Hannah were awake before 7 am...

and discovered that their stockings were full of goodies.

After discovering and playing with all the goodies in their stockings,

it was time to get breakfast started.  First, Avery helped me make the coffee,

and then she helped me make the chocolate gravy,

which turned out pretty good.  :)

After breakfast, it was time for Hannah and Avery to open the presents under their tree.  Avery got a new purple coat and some play dress-up shoes.

She also got some play dress-up hats...

which we all had fun trying on...

...including Hannah.  :)

Avery also got a cute little play cooktop and she immediately cooked some dinner for Pa...

and then helped cook dinner in the kitchen later that evening in her pink dress-up shoes!  :)

Hannah liked opening presents too.

And she liked all of them...

...including her new purple stocking hat!

Later that afternoon, Grant cooked a delicious Christmas dinner of a rib roast, baked sweet potatoes with maple syrup, brussel sprouts with bacon and mushrooms, and a spring salad.  It was so delicious!

When the girls were down for naps and after they had gone to bed at night, the "adults" had fun playing games of SkipBo, 7-Up, and LCR.

What a wonderful, fun and delicious Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!