The Touch A Life Story

Our wedding got a shout out on the Touch A Life blog!!! To check it out go to www.touchalifekids.org

Chris got to have his first holiday with the Jones fam this year so we tried to make it really exciting for him. Half of us were missing, but we had fun with mom, dad, Daniel, Melanie, Daisy, and Isaac. We carried on the tradition of going to see the Festival of lights at Callaway Gardens, and also the tradition that dad tells us it's going to be really cold and we say no it won't and he brings blankets and coats anyway and we all use them because it gets really cold. Here we are on the trolly with the icycle lights behind us... the show really was beautiful!

Here is a new tradition that we started this year upon Daisy's receiving a new game for Christmas (can't remember what the game is called). At the end of a round, the winner has to do a funky dance, which is too much fun for one person to do alone, so we all joined in on cutting a rug at the end of each round.... I think Daisy wins the best dancer award... at least the most enthusiastic :)

Dad was, of course, the best builder of tall tall towers among us... so he built and Daisy and Isaac quickly knocked down each time. Once, I made the mistake of attempting to build one for Daisy to knock down, and she instructed me that I could build one, but I needed to be really serious, like B-pops. Tower building is no laughing matter.

After a day of shopping (so fun) the girls took the kids while the boys played. We spent the morning bouncing at Monkay Joes. I felt so sorry for the other girls because they weren't as cute as Daisy or even anywhere close to it.

And while we're on the subject of being cute, look at these precious cheeks...

Mel and I both took turns sliding down the steep slide with Isaac. I really just took him so I had an excuse to ride the slide... it was really fun, but climbing up the bouncy ladder with Isaac on my hip made my legs feel like jello.

Isaac found every toy with a steering wheel and had to try them all out. He can already shift gears and everything!

Baby Shower - Indian Style

Sarah and I had the honor of going to our first Indian baby shower for our friend Hemali. The event was formal so Sarah and I decided to wear our normal church attire. It is our understanding that in the Indian culture that first babies are a huge deal. Hemali's family came from all over just to celebrate. The baby shower was a lot of fun and made our baby showers look like an afternoon tea party at the local 7-11.

The shower was in a ballroom which was beautifully decorated. When we first arrived there were very little people there. There were a few Indians but most of them were dressed it normal clothes. Sarah and I thought we had been pranked. Luckily after a few minutes a lot people arrived sporting the same type of dress we were wearing. The afternoon began with a nice appetizer which would have been more appetizing if it had not been like eating fire (can someone help me understand the correlation between spicy food and runny noses). For those of you don't know me, I don't really like spicy food. Really the spiciest thing I like is ketchup.

After sharing a small meal it was time for the games. The first game we played was baby B-i-n-g-o which I happen to win. I then embarrassed Sarah by grabbing the microphone on the way to retrieve my prize to thank my parents, producers, etc. After baby b-i-n-g-o we played a "couples" game with three other couples. This game was set-up as a relay and involved Jello, a baby bib and a large adult diaper...yes Sarah had to put the diaper on me. Just the thought of those pictures getting out gives me a stomach ulcer.

After games Hemali and Chintu were sweet enough to have lunch provided for the 100 or so people that were attending the shower. Oddly enough the lunch looked very similar to the appetizers. To my delight, however, this time the food was much spicier. The waitress stood next to my chair in order to refill my water glass that I downed after every bite. Even after drinking all that water I think I was dehydrated because the food caused me to sweat and for my nose to continuously run. To top it all off, I knew i could brave the spiciness for some nice tender pieces of chicken. The problem was the "chicken" wasn't chicken at all. It was smashed together squares of tofu...Glory be!

I must say...as you can tell...Sarah looked really beautiful. I am always amazed at how beautiful Sarah looks no matter what she is wearing.

Our First Christmas!!

This is our beautiful first Christmas tree. At first we weren't going to put one up since we wouldn't be home for Christmas, but the some friends of ours loaned us one so we decided, why not, and it has brought me much joy ever since. Chris laughed at me while I was decorating it because he could just see the shear joy in my face when I was pleased with the placement of a decoration as I put them on the tree. Anyway, it's a humble start, but I just had to show it off for its sentimental value...improvements for next year: lights with the green wire instead of white.

We had fondue for our "Christmas Dinner" ...ahemmm Chris is just pouring us some sparkling grape juice.

We had fun eating the fondue and then we opened gifts. Chris did so good on my gifts... and he wrapped them really well, too! (I felt the need to don a fancy dress for the occasion)

Afterwards, we went to Cheesecake factory and ate dessert... It was such a perfect first Christmas and we are so excited to spend Christmas day this year with Mom, Dad, Dan, Mel, Daisy, and Isaac (Anna, Don, Jon David, Luke, David, and Eryn... you will be very sorely missed)

Just think, this time last year I was trying to plan a wedding while studying for quals... ahhh the relief