Lake Lanier Magical Nights of Lights

Gran , Grandaddy, Aunt Tricia, Rob, Jaeson and all of us went to Lake Lanier to the beautiful Christmas lights drive through experience.  We followed behind Aunt Tricia's car as Jaeson sat in the trunk of the SUV with the lid raised up on a quite a chilly night.  As we first got there, the kids saw other kids in convertibles standing up with their heads sticking out and decided that this was a fantastic way to see the lights so we went along...at first.  Doug opened up the sky roof in his car and the kids wiggled back and forth as they both tried to have their heads stuck out the roof at the same time.  As space was tight and patience seemed to get thinner as well, we opted to watch the rest of the lights inside the nice warm car.  Although, Taylor came up front to sit in my lap and wanted the window rolled down.  We were quite chilly with a blanket wrapped snuggly around us for half of the ride until we got a bit too cold and rolled up the window.  At the end of the tour, there is a Christmas village with a live performance, roasting area for marshmallows and carnival rides.  The kids were more than ready to get on some rides so we bought some tickets and they each rode two rides.  The first was chosen by Taylor, who saw the ferris wheel and decided that this was the one she wanted to do.  I reluctantly went with her, as I am more susceptible to motion sickness these days, but thank goodness, she wasn't one to rock the seat much so it ended up being a lot of fun and it was well worth the trip to see the smile on her face as she rode her first ferris wheel.  Joshua rode with Daddy right behind us and this was his second trip on a ferris wheel.  The boys made funny faces at us and had a great time as well as Aunt Tricia was snapping pictures and the grandparents were waving to us as we went around the wheel.  The kids got to ride two more rides each and they rode the spinning hearts ride first which was like the Disney teacups but in a heart cage instead (so thankful that I did not have to do this one!).  For their last ride, Joshua chose the bumper cars and Taylor wanted the swings, but the wait was too long so she rode the boats instead.  A great Christmas filled evening that I'm sure the kids will remember for a long time.  Taylor's favorite light display was Pooh Bear falling into a pot of honey and Joshua seemed to think that one was quite funny as well!

Wig fashion show

During our Christmas time with the Harding side, we pulled out the Rapunzel wig and Doug's 70's wig and we all took turns putting them on and posing for pictures.  I have to say that I think Doug enjoyed sporting the Rapunzel wig the most and posed many times for the camera and even grabbed the guitar for a rocker pic.  Aunt Tricia and Rob and Jaeson joined in on the fun, but we couldn't get Joshua or Gran or Grandaddy to try on the silly wigs.  Maybe next time!!!  Too funny.  Taylor put on the 70's wig for just enough time to get a couple of snapshots and then the wig was off.  Oh well, she's already got curly hair so it wasn't quite as dramatic as the rest of us:) 

Air Tran Flight Extravaganza!

Joshua went with his class to Air Tran for a field trip today. What an experience!  It was jam packed with so many great experiences for the kids and the chaperons.  We started out the morning meeting on of the Customs dogs whose job is to sniff out fruits, vegetables, and meats that are in bags.  His name was Vance, a beagle, and the kids LOVED watching him in action.  The kids tried to find the hidden foods in the bags under all the chairs before Vince got a chance, and Vince was much more accurate than the kids at finding the foods either by sniffing or looking through the bags.  We then went to a room where two flight attendants helped the kids with a craft of coloring wooden airplanes to take home.  After that, we walked over to the Boeing building across the street.  Each student got to get into a 20 million dollar flight simulator machine (the same ones that commercial pilots train on) and do a take off, flight and landing.  This was a really cool experience.  They did not turn on the movement part of the simulator (thank goodness), but it felt like we were moving as we looked out the cockpit window and saw everything you would see if you were a pilot.  Joshua loved this and took off a little jumpy, but then got the hang of it and had a great landing per the trainer! The kids also had some air traffic control training as they had to listen to direction to move themselves along the runway to take off area without running into each other.  Pizza was provided for lunch and then we headed off to the hanger to look at some jet engines (no planes were in for maintenance so the kids didn't get to see an actual plane) and get into a airport fire truck and watch the truck shoot off a seriously strong stream of water on the pavement.  They also got to go up in a bucket ladder (as I did, too, and got to go almost to the top of the hanger...perk of being an adult!) and they sat inside a vehicle that pulls planes to the hanger that need to be worked on.  All of the kids seemed to have an incredible time and it was a great experience for all!  The kids got to end the day with going down the escape slide in the training center as I did, too, and that was quite fun!  Awesome day!

Joshua's Christmas Concert

Joshua had his first speaking part in a school Christmas concert this year.  Most of the kids spoke and they all did a great job!  They sang about the trip to Bethlehem for Jesus' birth and Josha's line was "Imagine...you are on the road to Bethlehem".  He spoke loud and clear and didn't rush through it.  He was  real pro up there and I hope that he'll get more chances like it in the future.  Great job!  The 2nd grade classes sang a couple of songs and Joshua looked a little sleepy through one of them with a yawn, but he made it through and his class did so well.  Doug went up close and got some pictures of Joshua speaking and we got a lot of the singing on tape. Great evening!

Lucy Lou Hairdo!

Today, we went to our annual Hands on Christmas craft outing at the Smyrna First Methodist Church. The kids had a blast making Christmas and Thanksgiving crafts...wooden nativity scenes, snowmen, smores snowmen, and wooden spoons made into Indian women. They also frosted graham cracker houses and put lots of yummy candies on them. On our way around, there was a hair beading station. Taylor LOVED the idea of having her hair done, so we sat down and watched her get her hair beaded. She was so excited when she saw the beads in her hair and sat still the whole time. The next station over was a "Lucy Lou" hairdo from "The Grinch that Stole Christmas". She wanted her hair done here, too, so the girl put a pony tail on top of her head, and then two more on the back. After that, she put shiny silver pipe cleaners twisted on her head and it looked so adorable. She was totally thrilled and her mouth went wide open when Joshua put the mirror in front of her to show her her new do! So fun! The kids had a great time today once again.

Joshua's first written song!

Joshua decided to write a song about Jesus, and I thought that I would go ahead and "publish" it for him on this blog.  Here it goes:

Jesus is the man
Jesus can heal the sick and poor
Jesus has all the power in him.
We in the world are weak but Jesus is strong.
Jesus created the world and we love you O Lord.

Wow, Joshua!  So beautiful and true!  Your heart give your Daddy and I so much joy.  Your light is shining brightly!

Rapunzel and Obi Wan head out for the candy hunt!

The kids had another great trick or treating extravaganza this year!  We had Rapunzel escorted by Obi Wan.  We strolled down our road and then around the corner and hit every house with their lights on.  Our neighbors across the street had their house so scary with Danny waving a fake knife around and dressed in an outfit fit for a horror flick that the kids didn't even want any candy and were ready to head for the road when Danny stepped out of  "character" and held out candy for the kids.  I'm thinking his house was better suited for teenagers out for a good scare!  The other houses were much more tame and the kids filled their buckets with loot before they got tired and cold and called it a night.  We ran into our neighbors/babysitters Mary, Annie and their Dad and chatted with them for a bit and also saw Connor Miller (another neighbor) who is a CCS student as well.  We had fun finding their house and they filled the kids buckets to get rid of their extra candy!  All in all, they had a great night and filled their bellies with chocolate and candy before heading to bed!