Merry Christmas

We had a nice Christmas, despite the cold that Chris brought home for all of us about two weeks before. Poppy and Dewitt came to visit. About a week before it snowed and all the pictures taken where of the snow, check out the slide show. It stayed cold enough that by the time Poppy and Dewitt got here there was still enough on the ground for us to have a snowball fight, a rare treat for people from Louisiana.

Poppy and Courtney painting.

How to break in new hockey skates if you are pressed for time...

This is one dedicated hockey player!

Courtney's Halloween Costume

Courtney was certain when we looked through the costume books that it must be a Cinderella dress with no poofy sleeves in green on the bottom with pink on the top. It can out a little big with a few sewing mishaps. Determined to do better, I tried again in the smaller size.
This one came out neater and smaller so she prefers it. She told me she will wear this one this year and the other one next year. Either way I have conquered the princess dress and won. And with some clearance fabric we can stock the closet with them.

Another Wake Forrest game!

They let fans down onto the field.

And Courtney tackled me!

Courtney's Dance Class

This is so much fun to watch! the class is titled Creative movement and there are defiantly creative dances going on. I laugh almost the whole time.

Courtney's Quilt

Now that she has a new bed we were in need of a new blanket, so I decided I would scrap quilt. Cathy brought over some lovely fabric that was originally bought to make dresses for Courtney. I found some applique tulip patterns in a library book, one book had like four or five tulip patterns. I had an idea in my head that I found in a civil war quilt book. For those of you who know about quilting; it is a double Irish chain, I used strip methods to make it faster, it is all machine pieced, even the applique. I have no idea how I will quilt it yet or the backing I will use.yet, although, I am thinking flannel. This is my first attempt at quilting.

Chris has an MBA Now!

His Mom and Dad came to visit and celibrate with us!

We went to a Wake Forrest football game and they won. Go Decs!

Fun Playing On Baba

Courtney has been taking pictures again.

This is her new pony rainbow Dash.
She had all the ponies lined up and was snapping away with the camera.

If she takes a picture of you, it is hit or miss if it will flatter you. And it might not even have all of you in the picture.

Courtney is a Pony.

I have tried in the past to put Courtney's hair in a ponytail to which her response was, "No,I am not a mommy." But the other day she came to me and asked me to put her hair in a ponytail. We were getting dressed to go somewhere, she putt on her tutu dress. I asked her if she was a dancer today an she said, "No, I am a pony,"as she pointed to her hair. Evidently she want to be just like her My Little Ponies.

Uncle Cecil and Kevin come to visit!

We had a great visit with Uncle Cecil and Kevin. The pink suit is a new swim suit with floaties incorporated into it we got for Courtney that she thought would be fabulous attire for an evening out for dinner.

Courtney's new bed.

Chris and Courtney worked hard to get it put together.

Courtney got her own roller skates.

She found them at the thrift store on a sale day, so they were half off; only five bucks.

A Visit from the Freshes

We went swiming and bowling and took lots naps. And discovered the secret recipe for coca cola!

We played and played and played Lips, the Xbox competitive karaoke game. We sang and sang, sometimes well and sometimes not.

Courtney and Uncle Pate watched alot of movies together. She got him up to date on all the kid movies he missed durring his deployment.

Courtney Cuts Curls

After seeing me get a hair cut and then seeing me"fix" it or soften it around my face myself in the bathroom with our sheers, Courtney decided she needed a hair cut also. Even though I didn't want to cut it she insisted, and so I thought I would take this oppurtunity to trim the hair that kept falling into her face. I left the bathroom for a second and Chris stopped me asking me to sign something,. I warned him that Courtney was in the bathroom with sheers, but he insisted and sure enough Courtney had taken care of a few of her curls when I got back to the bathroom. I saw the hair on the floor, but wasn't sure where it had come from, as I combed her hair more fell to the floor. So I spent a little more time trying to even things out, but it is so curly(thank goodness) it was hard to tell that it was uneven.

Entering New Phases With New Dresses.

After playing at a friend's house who had a drawer full of fancy dress up dresses Courtney wanted one of her own(darn that peer pressure!) Courtney finally got her new fancy dress after throwing a fit (screamed all the way out of the store, after I pried the dress out of her grubby hands, She was a little tired)in Target for a white dress that Mommy thought was ridiculously expensive for the quality. On a recent trip to Marshall's we found a more resonably priced dress among other things. Baba said, "At least it isn't pink." He is also comforted by the fact that when we went ice skating Saturday she want black hockey skates.

This is the Sleeping Beauty doll (photo by Courtney) that was in the adds in the DVD case that she asked Chris for.It was on clearance for only seven dollars. The dress changes colors depending on the fairy she holds. Courtney likes the movie. It is really cute to hear her try to say Merriweather.

Courtney smiling big with her new doll.

Courtney and Doll watching Sleeping Beauty movie together. I noticed last night that she has already added pretty blue lipstick (read marker) to Sleeping Beauty to make her pretty. That's my daughter.

These are the shoes that she just had to have. I can't stand shoes that go between my toes, but once they were on (let's see if they fit) there was no getting them off.

The week after camping we took a little trip to Atlanta. GA. We visited friends and relatives. Thanks to Cora and Andrew for their hospitality, they have a lovely home and great (fun)kids. We had a great time, although despite having the camera in my purse I forgot to take it out and take pictures. I didn't get a single picture the whole weekend!
Since then it has been business as usual. Playing with Courtney, tending to a veggie garden and Baba is back in school. When you spend two weekends away there is a lot to catch up with at home. We are looking forward to a visit from Aunt Kat and Uncle Pate and a hockey tournament in Charlotte, in June. And in July Courtney will take six days of swim lessons. And mid August Chris will finish school.

Spontaneous Camping!

A friend of mine enrolled herself in the Pickard Mountain Eco Institutes Cob building workshop http://www.pickardsmountain.org/. She needed help watching the kids so with only a day notice Courtney and I went on a camping adventure. (Chris was busy with a residency at school and work wanting him to be in two places at once.) There were little people to play with, chickens, pigs and goats to look at, and even a dip in the fancy pool(at the founders house which was way better than our accommodations.)

The fancy pool was the highlight for Courtney and the first thing she asked for the next morning when she woke up. That brown dog followed us with a stick always wanting to play fetch even in the pool.

After two days of roughing it, who wants to wear clothes. But look MaMere I am protected from the sun.

Fun in a sandbox, anyone? William, 3, and Ellias, 19 months, join Courtney for a roll.

The potty that I kept referring to as the tree house potty, to make it seem more appealing. But Courtney would have nothing to do with it. We had to drive her to the gas station for the major stuff and put her portible potty seat on a bucket for minor stuff.

The kids hanging out, outside the "kitchen." A two burner propane stove on a piece of graniteon barrels and a laundry sink in a doorless garage sized building.

Here is the eight man tent that we slept in.