Preston's First Haircut

Daddy finally put his foot over the Christmas holidays and said that Preston's curls had to come off. Procrastinating as long as possible, we went last week and had them cut. Not to worry, they're safely in an envelope marked "Preston's curls". :-)

Before....

Martina getting ready -- Preston's not sure what the big deal is!

...After

What a handsome guy (with a little food on his face!)

Christmas!!!!!

Santa finally arrived! After several weeks of waiting -- poor McCord, he really did the best he could waiting for the big day -- the morning was finally here! :-) Everyone had a great time busting ribbons and seeing what the big man brought. Preston's favorite thing to do was to walk in a circle around the room from one person's pile to the next seeing what was there. Once he had done that, he was content to sit down and play with some things he got.

"Deer in the headlight" look -- before the chaos

The coveted "talking Captain Jack"

Strange martian bouncy thingy


Looking up at the "flying saucer" that Santa brought everyone -- Preston did not like this toy (and still doesn't!)

Sissy's new camera...

A drum set for a 1 1/2 year old?!? You should see him jam!! :-)

Phil Mickelson pic -- to go along with our golfing collection in the office.

Still loving the Captain Jack...

Sissy wanted, and got, clothes, clothes, clothes... :-)

Richard hopes to improve his literary knowledge during all the upcoming volleyball tournaments with his newest book "Pillars of the Earth"

The marble tower -- a huge hit! :-)

A fun (and still exciting) toy -- the marshmallow shooter! Sissy even got one, but in this picture she must have put it somewhere else....

Captain Jack pjs :-)

Cool dude!

Almost Christmas...

The weeks before Christmas found us doing normal things like decorating the tree, attending McCord's Christmas program at school and searching every morning for our elf friend "Holiday" -- who came to live with us for the month of December. Each night he would fly to the North Pole and report to Santa on the behavior of all family members in the Grice house (believe me when I say that McCord made sure we knew that he was watching Mommy and Daddy, too!). Each morning he would be in a different spot around the house and we had to find him -- McCord really loved playing this game. :-) Amazing what the sentence "Remember that Holiday is watching..." will make a 4 year old do!!!!

Taking a break from putting ornaments on the tree.

Actually, McCord would put the ornaments on the tree and Preston would walk right behind him and take the ornaments off the tree. It was pretty funny to watch! :-)

They ended the concert with McCord's favorite song "We Fish you a Hairy Christmas" -- this is a picture of the "hairy" part.

A picnic on the floor in the pantry -- notice all the cereal on the floor! :-)

Visiting the North Pole

Last Saturday, the boys' preschool turned into the North Pole (really, according to Cordy!). We had a lovely morning of Christmas crafts, stories, doughnuts, and, of course, meeting Santa Claus! As you can see, though, Preston wasn't too thrilled with the big guy!

Poor Preston!

"I would like 2 Captain Jacks, please!" (If only he'd asked that nicely!!)

Buddies!

Cordy loved these huge packages that covered the stage at the "North Pole". He really, really wanted to open a couple! :-)

Peek-a-Boo

Where is Preston??

Peek-a-Boo!!

Thanksgiving -- Cousin Lisa

Well, so it's taken me quite a while to update our blog from Halloween! Goodness!

We had an exciting Thanksgiving here at the Grices. Aunt Terri and Uncle Chuck were very kind to share Cousin Lisa with us for a few short days and we were able to visit with her over the holiday. We offered her some warm weather and good 'ole southern hospitality as we schleped her around the city visiting various family members (well, Katie's family members...). Lisa faired very well and even squeezed in a visit to Georgia Tech -- a possible graduate school selection. We all had a great time!!

Halloween

I apologize for the delay in getting the Halloween pictures onto the blog (there really aren't that many, anyway...), but I wanted Preston's big news to have some time at the top! :-)

The last 2 weeks of October were "Halloween weeks." I pulled Cordy's costume out the day we went trick or treating at Richard's office (about 8 days before Halloween) and he stayed in it through Halloween night -- even sleeping in it some nights. It just wasn't worth the arguments to get him to take it off. :-) Speaking of trick or treating at Richard's office... The firm set aside a day where the entire office is open to family trick or treaters. The people who want you to stop by their office put a print out of a pumpkin on their door and they all have candy. When I say they all have candy, I mean they ALL have candy. There are about 40 attorneys per floor, 1 administrative assistant per 2 attorneys, support staff -- so, potentially 60 or so people to visit. We made the rounds on Richard's floor and, after dumping the bucket twice to take in more candy, we finally convinced Cordy to head back to Daddy's office for a nice Coca-Cola (the child will do anything for a Coca-Cola!). We all had a great time, though, and managed to avoid the sugar high!

The Friday before Halloween we went with the McCords to "Boo at the Zoo". The zoo was open past closing and the kids got to trick or treat around the park, getting candy along the way. At the end (aka the children's part of the zoo) there was a carnival type of feeling with music, a jumpy, the carousel and train ride. The boys had a great time and we have put it on the list of things to do next year.

Finally, it was Halloween night. We met up with the McCords and had pizza before heading out to trick or treat. McCord and Hank were the two most knowledgeable Captain Jack Sparrows you've ever seen and Preston and Ella Kate were the cutest Mickey and Minnie combo. We ran the boys until they couldn't go any farther -- practically the entire way around the neighborhood. (Oh, and it's too bad that we didn't get a picture of the grown-ups in costume! Richard came in full pirate garb as another Captain Jack and Katie really didn't need the red wig as Raggedy Ann!)

It's SO hard to get all 4 kids looking at the camera at the same time!

Poor Preston, he just really wasn't sure about the whole costume thing. He'll have to get some pointers from his brother. :-)

Our 2 adorable Captain Jack Sparrows.

Daddy and Cordy having dinner inside the train car at the Old Spaghetti Factory before heading over to "Boo at the Zoo". Note that Cordy still has his costume on.

Cutie patootie!!! :-)