Thursday, February 26, 2015

Wrapping up 2014

Finally, it's time to close the chapter on 2014 with some final updates and photos. Gotta love the miscellaneous catch-up posts!

Back in early December, I was preparing for a gathering or two in our home and very quickly ran out of space in our fridge for food. With the case of water bottles, never-ending supply of Diet Mountain Dew, kids' yogurt drinks, and maybe an adult beverage or two, there was just never enough room for actual food. So I decided that I wanted a second refrigerator for our garage as my Christmas gift. We didn't need anything fancy, and we found an old one on Craigslist that was perfect. After having it now for a couple months, I'm wondering how we managed without it!


My refrigerator delivery men.

Also in December, the flu had its way with our household. Kaitlynn was the first victim, followed by Connor, then Jeff, and then me. I've never seen anything like it! It was our first experience with the flu ever, well, except for the time Jeff caught the swine flu back a few years ago. And I hesitate to point this out, but I can't help it so here goes:

Kaitlynn with the flu: missed 3 days of school and fever spiked at 103.
Connor with the flu: missed 2 days of school and fever reached 102.
Jeff with the flu: missed 1 day of work, slept for 2 days, and fever reached about 102.
ME with the flu: popped some Advil, fever didn't get above 100, finished up Christmas shopping, wrapped about 2 dozen presents, and continued on as usual.

Yep, that's about how it goes, right?! ;-)


Passed out from the flu.

Sick Sweet Daddy.

On the last day of school before their Winter Break, the kids' had early release so we celebrated by going out to see a movie. Big Hero 6 was really cute! It was fun because the kids wear still wearing their pajamas (for Polar Express day at school) so we felt like rebels when we were out and about.


Big Hero 6!

Early in December, Kaitlynn got on a kick where she started cleaning her room everyday. She would even make the bed! She was super proud of herself and of course, I rewarded her with some money each time to try to encourage the good habit. I guess this girl isn't motivated by money, because the good habit lasted about 3 days!


Proud of herself for a job well done.

It wouldn't be a wrap-up post without mentioning our beloved Houston Texans team and the good season they had last year. With many changes and even a new coach, we really enjoyed the season and especially watching our favorite player, J.J. Watt.


Connor's favorite place to be!

She gets her own seat now but she can still be found in Sweet Daddy's lap!
 
Our family all went to the last Texans game in December (minus Collin so Kevin brought along his buddy Caleb). We had a great time at the game, and we even managed to find ourselves on the Jump Cam! The video below shows our entire section with the Courtrights front and center!
 
 
 
 
 
And one last update for 2014. I haven't mentioned it here on the blog, but 2014 was quite the transitional year for Collin. After completing his spring semester last year at UT-San Antonio, he moved in with us in Katy while working at a firm in the area for a summer internship. When that job concluded, he decided not to return to school. He has really struggled finding his path forward, and he worked a few jobs last fall while trying to figure things out. He was presented with an opportunity to move to North Dakota to work for a firm on their onshore oil rigs doing pipeline work, so Collin made the decision to give it a shot.
 
After the holidays, Collin embarked on his 3-day journey to Williston, ND and immediately began doing miscellaneous warehouse and pipeline work up there. Since then he has been working a ton and seems to be doing good on his own. Only time will tell! But in the meantime, he has endured some seriously cold weather. On one of his first mornings there, our temperature here in Katy was about 50 degrees. Connor wondered what the temperature in Williston was, and when he looked at the Weather Channel app on my phone, it said -26! Yes, MINUS 26 degrees!! I couldn't even begin to imagine enduring a temperature that was 75 degrees colder than where we were (while I was bundled up just for 50 degrees)!
 

 
Pic of Collin before his 3-day trip to North Dakota.
Connor's face after seeing the ND weather forecast.

 

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