Holiday Visitors!

We had a surprising and long over due visit from my good friend Kendra and her precious daughter Molly. Kendra had come in for the weekend to see another friend of ours Becky and her new arrival Tucker and I was so happy to get a call Sunday evening saying she would like to see the kids and me. Molly and Collier had not had the to meet and well it was about stinkin' time! I have to admit, Kendra made me promise not to clean my house because she felt terrible about the last minute invite, but I couldn't help myself. Don't worry Kendra...I made my kids do most of the work! ha! Anyway, we had a very nice time, catching up and watching the kiddos play. I'm pretty sure Molly's favorite part was the cookies! We'll have to do it again very soon...and maybe out of earshot of my eight year old...so I can let you in on all the really juicy gossip!! Thanks again for coming Kendra and Molly...we will have to make it over to OKC before too long, maybe that craft fair in February we talked about!

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday, I hope everyone else did as well! It was so fun to watch Collier with his presents this year because it was the first year that he really understood Christmas and "all it's glory"! He received a ride on motorcycle (or Hog as he likes to call it!) from Santa and well that's all he needed. I literally had to coax him off that thing in order to open the other presents. He enjoyed his other gifts, but he always returned to his "hog" for a spin around the house. He even convinced daddy to take him out in the cold for a spin around the neighborhood...he had a great Christmas, no doubt!
Cortlyn was equally impressed with her presents which included a Nintendo DS from Santa and an MP3 player from us among many others. She loves her music player and of course it's filled with all the songs you never want your child to listen to, but she loves anyway (thank you dance and cheerleading)! D.H. and I got plenty of laughs from her singing out loud because she had the volume up so loud she couldn't hear herself! She had fun with the DS too but unfortunately had to fight her daddy for a turn! I surprised Mark with a new flat screen TV but I'm thinking I could have just bought him his own Nintendo DS and called it good!
We also went to D.H's mom's house that afternoon for lunch and presents, the kids got more than they deserved there as did D.H and I...I love my Victoria Secret P.J's and perfume, thanks MIL! We visited and lunched with my grandma the day after Christmas and I was really happy to spend that time with her, she is just the most wonderful person in my world! All in all it was a wonderful time...one of the most relaxing Christmas holidays we've had in a long time and I was thankful for that.

Christmas Eve

We had so much fun this evening with the kids. Christmas Eve is always at Pawpaw Hendricks' house which is D.H.'s grandpa and paternal side of the family. I've really grown to love this tradition because I've really grown to love most of D.H's extended family. Our kids are blessed to get a special visitor at Pawpaw's house as well...Santa makes a quick stop to visit and hand out one present for each child on this very busy night of his. The kids just love this...well most of them! After dinner and an adult white elephant gift exchange which is always good for laughs, we head our separate ways to wait for Santa on Chirstmas morning! Pictures include Collier checkin' out Santa and then Cortlyn with her cousins Taylor and Kenzie!

Take it to the Hoop!

We finally convinced Cortlyn to sign up for a sport this year...basketball! D.H. and I were so stinkin' excited that she actually said she wanted to play, so we rushed down and signed her up. She went to her first practice back in November and seemed to like it. Her Coach was a little intense, but I thought that would be good for Cortlyn; she tends to be a tad bit too lackadaisical. The first time he made her run laps at practice for not acting interested in practice...I thought it was all over. I was so sure she was going to cry and never return...to my surprise, she sucked it up, ran the laps, and paid more attention at the other practices! I'm thinking of trying this at home as a behavior modification technique!
Her first game was December 6th and she was a starter, both D.H. and I secretly hoped she wouldn't be since she'd never played a game in her life...but too late. She did pretty good...lets just say she was no more clueless than the next kid! She played in two games and her team totally demolished the two teams...game 1 score 46-6 and game 2 score 54-0! We tried to control our excitement so as to say "Winning isn't everything" but who are we kidding, D.H. and I were ecstatic! Cortlyn was on cloud nine...once she caught her breathe.
She had two more games this past Saturday...and once again she was a starter. She had learned some "moves" apparently in the two previous games, because she was playing great defense and even got the ball a couple of times. Then in the second game she heeded D.H.'s advice and "got aggressive"...she scored 4 points! I couldn't have been prouder...and everyone there knew it. So I admit I'm one of those mom's on the sidelines hootin' and hollerin' for their kid! Her team again demolished the other teams, so they are 4-0 so far this season. The best part though is she is having so much fun and D.H. (dear hubby) and I are too! We have four games left this season...we'll let you know how it ends.

Black Friday!

Can I just say that I love Black Friday....I think I wait with great expectations all year long just for this one awesome day of shopping and this year was no exception! I've gone with my MIL and two SIL's now for about five years and each year we all find great deals and usually put a huge dent in our shopping lists, along with our wallets! This year was a banter year for us though...we were at the mall at 3AM and by 6AM my poor SIL could not see out her back window...and we were only half way done by that time. The look on D.H.'s face was priceless...I didn't get a picture of that, although in hindsight I definitely should have, but it was a great time and did I mention the four of us couldn't stop laughing! It was great fun!