My Thanksmas

by Kaitlynn Courtright

I had a super time with my family in Michigan for our annual Thanksmas celebration. I wanted to tell you all about it.

First, I got to spend some special time with my Nana. I don't get to see her much so I soaked in all the time I could get with her. And did you know I can say "Nana" very well? Yeah, it's an easy one for me.



I also got to eat lots of yummy food. That's what Thanksmas is all about, you know. Of course, I tend to be rather picky so I usually stick with the basics. Bananas are one of my faves these days.



I got to enjoy lots of playtime at my Aunt Patti and Uncle John's house.



Probably, no, definitely my favorite thing the entire trip was hanging out with my cousin Ryan's big puppa. His name is Riley and he is at least 3 times as big as I am.



No matter what was going on the entire week, I mostly just wanted to play with the puppa.



But enough about me. Let me introduce you to some of my cousins. I usually only get to see them once a year so we have to soak in some good quality time together during Thanksmas. This is my cousin, Lennyn. She is a couple months older than I am and we had so much fun hanging out together.





One thing I'll say about Lennyn: I think she likes my Daddy. She always smiled really big when he came around. (I don't blame her. He makes me smile, too.)



Back to my cousins.... I was lucky enough to get 2 new cousins this year. Caleb (here with his Nana)



...And Leighton.



Leighton has a big brother just like I do. His name is Liam. Connor and Liam have a lot of fun together doing boy things.



Our entire extended family of 30+ people is hosted by Aunt Patti and Uncle John every year for Thanksmas. Aunt Patti always finds everyone a place to stay so that we don't have to pay for a room somewhere. She is the hostest with the mostest!



Of course, I was super thankful to have lots of fun family time during our trip.



I love getting one-on-one time with my Mommy and Daddy.





I also got to play with my big brothers a lot. Except when they were busy preparing the Thanksmas feast.



The only bad part of the trip was the day after our Thanksmas celebration. Daddy and Kevin got really sick and spent most of the day Friday doing this:



Luckily they both recovered quickly and then it was time to head home (after a quick stop at McDonald's).



Oh, and one more thing. Did you know that the big Chicago airport has a play area for kids? How cool is that? Mommy sure wishes they had one of these at every airport!





After a quick bus ride back to the car, we made it home. Yay!



I sure had fun at Thanksmas! Now, I'm off to start making my list for Santa!

Happy Thanksmas!

The Courtright clan is up in Michigan enjoying some wonderful family time with lots of relatives on Jeff's side. It's our annual Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration combined into one, or as we like to call it, Thanksmas. So from our family to yours, Happy Thanksmas everyone!

In the meantime, enjoy this sneak peak of our annual holiday photos.

Kaitlynn's Obsessions

I was thinking about writing an update on Kaitlynn recently, and I realized that most of the things I would write would start with "Kaitlynn loves..." because she has so many obsessions these days. So here you go, some of Kaitlynn's recent obsessions...

• Being outside. She hangs out by the front door and whines/cries until someone finally agrees to take her outside to play.

• Our Cozy Coupe police car. Every time we go outside, she runs straight to the Cozy Coupe and pulls it out of the garage. She alternates between pushing it down the street and getting in herself for a ride.

• Going to school. Every Tues/Thurs, she runs right into her classroom and never looks back.


• Brushing her teeth. She would brush her teeth for 30 minutes if I didn't pry the toothbrush away from her chubby little fingers.

• Her nap mat. She uses it at school for naptime, and for some reason she starts squealing and gets all giggly everytime she sees it at home. She demands (in her own way) that I unroll the mat so she can lie down and roll around on it.

• Sitting in those car racing video game seats. When she sees one, she runs right over and makes the sign for "Up!"

• Puppies a.k.a. Puppas. EVERYTHING is a puppa. Babies, giraffes, teddy bears, you name it. When she sees one, she does a quick intake of breath before exclaiming, "Puppa!"


• Taking off her shoes and socks. And she'll always announce it when she does this by saying, "Uh-oh!"

• The fridge, pantry, and dishwasher. All big no-nos.

• Her pink blankie from her MeMe. It's her comfort item and everytime she sees it she'll snuggle up to it and say, "Ahhhh."

• Books. Her attention span still isn't great but she loves them anyway.

• Her paci. I have really been trying to withhold it from her except naps or bedtime, but everytime she sees it (or sees my purse, because she knows there's one in there) she will whine/cry and point for me to get it for her. The good thing about this is that it will quiet her down instantly in a "fussy emergency" (as Connor and I call them).

• Our sit-and-stand stroller. Every time she sees it, she gets excited because she knows we're about to embark on some adventure, usually at a local mall. She recently decided she was too big to sit, though. Connor was none too happy about it.

Adoration

I recently posted some pictures showing how Connor had fallen asleep in his carseat with a protective hand draped across his baby sister's lap.




His adoration for Kaitlynn seems to become more evident with each new day. And the feeling is clearly mutual. It just melts me.

One of their new things is to hold hands as they walk together. If I try to join in and hold Kaitlynn's other hand, she literally slaps my hand away with a grunt. And every single time they walk in together, someone always stops me to say how precious they are and how much they adore each other. (And that's why I can't stop taking pictures of them doing this.)







Connor has never been a truly affectionate child except with his Mommy. (No complaints here!) He clearly loves his entire family, but he isn't prone to hugging or kissing them unless they ask (demand is more like it, ha!). I, on the other hand, can get affection from him easily. It's one of the perks of being a mother to a young son, and believe me, I'm soaking it in now while I can.

But ever since Kaitlynn came into our lives, I have noticed that his affections for her rival those for his Mom. It's like there's just something inside a big brother that instinctively kicks in and wants to protect and love on his little sister. He hugs her, kisses her, holds her hand, wraps his arms around her, lies down next to her, and speaks affectionately towards her all the time. And the older they get, the more of this behavior I continue to witness.

The other day I was asking Connor why he loved to give his Mom and his sister so many hugs and kisses. "Because you're my girls," he replied without hesitation. "I love my girls."

On another occasion a few weeks ago, Connor was asking me some questions about marriage. In the past I have explained to him that he'll grow up one day and meet someone that he wants to marry and start a family with. This idea really stuck with him and he seemed confused about why he would ever leave our family, and more importantly, his sister. Many times since then, he has told me that he really wants to marry Kaitlynn, no one else. I told him, "You can't marry your sister, silly! She's already in your family and you're supposed to marry someone that isn't in your family."

His response: "Well I really want to marry my sister because she's so cute. And she has beautiful eyes, too."

Yes, he definitely adores his sister.




And I adore them. With all my heart.

Field Trip

Last week all the parents and kids in Connor's class went on a field trip to a place called the Oil Ranch. It's a big farm/ranch where they host school and corporate events with all kinds of activities like petting zoo, hayrides, train rides, corn maze, hay pit, farm animals, pony rides, etc. So much to do! Although we could've brought Kaitlynn with us, Connor and I decided to have some special alone time together so we took her to school that day instead. Connor must've overheard me talking about it, because he asked me later, "Mom, aren't you glad that we took Kaitlynn to school today so that we could just relax here at the Oil Ranch?" Ha!

All the way to the Oil Ranch, Connor and I were singing in the car, "We're goin' on a field trip; we're goin' on a field trip!" He was so excited, can you tell?? This was the face I saw the entire morning. (Yes, I cropped myself out of the photo. You're welcome.)



The weather was very pleasant and we had such a nice time hanging out with Connor's classmates, their Mommies, and the teachers. It was definitely a successful field trip, especially for some fun one-on-one time with Mommy and Connor.












I love this last picture showing Connor on the train with his teacher (and babysitter) Ms. Mory and his teacher Mrs. Day with her son Colton.