THANKSGIVING 08 Mindy's parents, brother, sister-in-law and nieces came to Atlanta for Thanksgiving... Noah... up-close and personal for his first meeting of the cousins!

Noah also had a one-on-one chat with Pop

Nana with her girls: Claire & Kate

Noah hanging out in the exer-saucer, while dinner preparations were underway... after Thanksgiving dinner, we all went to Stone Mountain Park, for their Christmas festivities.

Nana (with Noah) and Pop (with Kate)

Brrrr!! It was COLD!

Mindy & Jess sporting our snazzy 3-D glasses

Kate & Brant

Claire

Noah -- not so thrilled about the glasses, really.

Kate & Claire got to chat with Santa.

The next day, the girls (Jess, Mindy, Nana) had a kid-free day out antiquing (how do you spell that?), drinking much coffee, and eating a fun girly lunch... as our belated girly birthday celebration for Nana's 60th birthday.

Meanwhile, the boys (Pop, Brant & Adam) took the little ones to the Aquarium.

For a solid hour, Noah pumped his arms and kicked his legs with sheer excitement at all the sea creatures... then he slumped over the front of the Baby Bjorn carrier, passed out. Adam turned him around, so he could take a good nap and gear up for their next task: finding a Christmas tree!

That evening the men & kids put up & decorated the tree, and the next day, we pretended it was Christmas. We took about 84 photos of the cousins on "Christmas day." Of course, there was not a single one where all 3 were smiling in the general direction of the camera. The group shot above, however, is definitely my personal favorite. And anyone who has tried to photograph 3 children will appreciate it.

Nana found this dress while we were out shopping, and Kate LOVED it. She really jumped right into the role of Santa Clause.

Uncle Brant & Noah in their argyle sweaters

This is Noah's CRAZY happy squealing face

Brant, Jess, Claire, & Kate

Pop & Noah

"Christmas" night, some precious friends came over and watched the kids while we went out for dinner to celebrate Mom's birthday. (A good time was had by all!) This picture was taken right before we left. Again, we probably took 30 shots, and this one would be great, if Mindy wasn't about to fall over laughing at someone's smart remark about the excessiveness of all the photos.