Football Fanatic

Anyone who has spent any amount of time with Connor lately knows that he has a profound obsession with football. It all started this fall when he attended a few Houston Texans football games. He just fell in love with every aspect of the game: tailgating, throwing/catching/hiking the football, watching the cheerleaders, seeing the pregame activities in the stadium, and of course cheering on our team during the game.



Soon Connor began acting out the entire games at home. He starts by doing his warm ups -- push-ups, sit-ups, running and catching the ball. Then he has to run to another room (his locker room) to change his jersey. Next he has to be introduced as a "football gamer" as he runs out of the tunnel (just like the real players do at the game). He runs out proudly with his arms high in the air. And then, it's time to play. He'll lean over and hike the ball, run, throw, catch, tackle, and sometimes even fumble the ball. He also likes to huddle and call the plays. And sometimes he runs the plays in slow motion, just like on TV. I tell you, this boy LOVES his football.

Playing Connor's version of football is very tiring. It's more about the performance than the game itself. But he loves it so much that he requests to watch "nighty night football" every night before bedtime instead of any other cartoon or kid show. And as he watches the game, he will act out the plays he sees on TV. If a player gets hurt, Connor will hold his side and want to be carted off the field. If one player holds out a hand to help another player up, Connor will request that we do the same. And of course, after a touchdown Connor will do his touchdown dance just like the players sometimes do.

For Christmas, Connor received probably the most appropriate gift from his MeMe and Grand Daddy. To celebrate his love of football, MeMe ordered him his very own Houston Texans football uniform complete with jersey, pants, and a helmet with a chin strap! And Grand Daddy got him not one but two footballs. I wish we had his reaction on video -- his eyes popped and he just yelled, "OH MY!" He was so, so excited. Probably the most successful gift for a little boy in the history of Christmas gifts.

Our only problem? Football season ends soon...


Here's Connor opening his 2 new footballs from Grand Daddy.


Trying on his very own football helmet.


Making his football gamer face. (That's what Connor calls the players--gamers.)


Posing like a true football gamer.


Connor wore his helmet and uniform the rest of the day, as well as the following day, and the day after that.


He even has to wear his helmet with his pajamas before bedtime. We're going to have a tough time getting him to wear normal clothes again.

Christmas at Home

My favorite part of Christmas each year is when we are able to celebrate together as a family. After celebrating Christmas with their Mom, Collin and Kevin returned on Sunday to have Christmas with us. So Sunday was our Christmas Eve and Monday morning was our Christmas. The older boys were really cute with Connor, getting him excited about Santa and helping him set out the cookies and carrots by the fireplace for Santa and his reindeer.

Look, aren't they so sweet?


The next morning, Connor and Kevin were the first ones awake to see what Santa left behind. It appears that everyone was on the "nice" list this year!


Santa and his reindeer seemed to enjoy their midnight snack during their stop at the Courtright house.


After everyone was awake, it was time to open stockings.






And then everyone opened their gifts from Santa. Connor got his Wonder Pets flyboat that he asked Santa for!


Kevin got his favorite video games!


And Collin got a certificate good for a window tint on his car. (In case you can't tell, the older boys were giving me their best "surprise" face for the photos. This one cracked me up!)


And Collin also managed to give me a sad face when he read the fine print on his tint certificate: Must be street legal!


Jeff was on the nice list, too. He got another IPod and the setup for playing it on our surround sound at home.


Kaitlynn's gift from Santa was a new exersaucer. She loved it immediately!


See what I mean?


Oh, and in case you were wondering, Santa was super nice to me this year too! I got my Apple IPhone, and I LOVE it! If only I could keep it away from Connor, ha!

Christmas in East Texas

The Courtrights (minus the older boys this year) headed to East Texas for our Christmas celebration with my extended family. We call it the Morgan Family Christmas because it includes all the folks on my Dad's side of the family. It's always such a fun time!

One of the first things the little cousins enjoy: breakfast grapefruit with Grand Daddy!


The Morgan brothers: Paul, Don (my Dad), Phil, and Mackey.


Ryah loves babies and was helping to feed Kaitlynn a bottle.

Here she is giving Kaitlynn some kisses.


Aunt Michelle with Kaitlynn.


Here's cousin Preslee with her precious Christmas bow! Love it!


Cousin Karlie with Kaitlynn.


The cousins enjoyed hanging out. And yes, that is Connor using my new IPhone. I think he's better with it than I am.


Connor on Christmas Eve. Love the shirt.


Ryah and Connor were discussing who all the presents belonged to.


Connor shows off his pile of presents.


More pictures and updates to come...

Cooking with Connor

This year was the first year I felt like I actually had some time to contribute some Christmas goodies and snacks for our family celebration at my parents' house in East Texas. So Connor and I decided to make some Christmas cookies with some fun cookie cutters we found at the store. (We were inspired after making some cookies with his good buddy Jacob during our December trip to Dallas!)

So one day before Christmas, I put Kaitlynn down for a nap and then Connor and I began to make our cookies. I rolled out the dough, Connor cut them into shapes and added sprinkles, and then we baked them. We had quite the assembly line going. At one point, I was concentrating on rolling out the dough (minus a rolling pin, not an easy task) and I noticed that Connor was busy chatting away as he sprinkled his cookies. He was explaining what he was doing along the way. And then I kept hearing him say, "Welcome back" and then "We'll be right back." Then he asked me if I would talk while I was making the cookies. "Talk?" I asked, "What do you mean? I'm busy making cookies." He explained, "But Mom, the people on the cooking shows always talk when they are cooking, so you need to talk to the people." So apparently, we were in the middle of a cooking TV show with an audience and I didn't even know it!

From there, we proceeded to conduct our very own cooking show as we finished up the cookies. And it's obvious that Connor likes to cut to a commercial break because he kept saying "We'll be right back" followed by "Welcome back!" But my favorite part was when I would transfer the pan of cookies to the oven, because Connor would say, "We're just going to pop these in the oven now."

I guess I've been watching a little too much Racheal Ray lately??

6 Months

Kaitlynn turned 6 months this week! She weighed in at 19 lbs 10 oz (95th percentile), measured 26 3/4 inches (90th percentile) and her head was 16 1/2 cm (90th percentile). I always think it's fun to compare her size to Connor's size at this age; he weighed 23 lbs 4 oz and was 27 1/2 inches long. So although Kaitlynn is catching up, Connor was still quite a bit bigger at 6 months!

Here are some additional fun facts about Kaitlynn at 6 months:

• She is wearing size 4 diapers and size 12-month clothes. (I know that sounds big, but Connor was wearing size 6 diapers and 24-month/2T clothes at this age. No kidding!)




• She loves to sit up and stand on her legs, but she stills needs lots of support for now.




• Her 2 bottom teeth are still coming through. She is constantly wanting to chew on things and puts everything in her mouth.




• She still hates to be on her tummy, although she recently started to tolerate it a little better.




• She rolls over both ways, but usually gets stuck on her tummy and wants to be rescued. And as soon as I rescue her, she rolls right back into the same position!




• She is eating solids pretty well now, usually 1 fruit and 1 vegetable per day. And she HATES peas. But I guess I can't blame her.




• She is still pretty stingy with her laughs, but she smiles easily at just about anyone.




• She is a great sleeper--most of the time. When she is in a strange bed she wakes up several times during the night. But at home she has a good routine and sleeps from 7:00 pm until about 7:00 am with about 4-5 hours of naps during the day.




• She LOVES television. She watches TV with Connor and it really holds her attention. And she does have a favorite show: The Backyardigans. When she hears the theme song she will pop her head up and crane her neck to watch. Too funny!




• I've started teaching her some basic signs and words like I did with Connor, and she seems to be picking them up. When I do the sign for milk, she will open her mouth like she wants a bottle. When she's on her last bite of solids, I will do our sign for "One more, all done" and she just smiles and giggles because she knows she's almost through. It cracks me up.

Even though we had family and sibling photos taken last month, I went ahead and took her again to get her 6 month photos today. They turned out much better since she actually smiled this time. Here's a sneak peak.

And here's some other recent pics showing what she's been up to.

Connor still adores his baby sister.


Having fun with Daddy.




Last weekend was the first time she fell asleep on her tummy. I was surprised since she usually hates it so much.


She went to her 2nd Texans game this month and slept right through it. The tailgating wore her out I guess.




I recently gave her one of those Gerber biter biscuits. She seemed to like it but they are so messy!

Weekend with Friends

This past weekend we traveled to Dallas for a brief Christmas visit with my great friends Dana and Katherine and their families. We had so much fun watching the kids play and catching up. We sure missed Jerry, Amanda, and Alex though. Maybe next year!

Here's some pictures from the weekend.

Kaitlynn and Daddy enjoyed some playtime.


Kaitlynn loved playing with Jacob, and he was so sweet with her!


Connor and Jacob played so well together all weekend.


The Dads were sweet enough to watch the kiddos while the girls did some shopping and talking (uninterrupted for once)!


The kiddos at dinnertime.


Dana, Katherine, and I during our girls' afternoon.


Connor was so excited that Jacob played football with him. Jacob was an awesome tackler!


Look at these sweet kids! Future best buddies!