A Special Visit

Last week we traveled to Dallas for a VERY special visit with 3 of my VERY best friends in the world! Katherine, Dana, Amanda and I have been friends since junior high school. We tried to count the years and came up with about 23 years, give or take a few.

It's amazing to look back and realize everything we have been through together. Despite all the time and distance that has separated us throughout the years, I feel so blessed by their friendships.

Now we've all got families and kids of our own, so we make every effort to get together and visit while our kids play and hopefully become best friends, too. :-) This visit was the first time that our ENTIRE group was able to be together in one place in over 2 1/2 years. The last time was when Amanda and I were both pregnant with Kaitlynn and Alex. That's WAY too long if you ask me!

Our top priority of the week was getting photos of all the sweet kiddos. Amanda is the photographer of the group and managed to get some great ones. These are framers for sure!

We had such a great visit letting the kids play while the grownups talked and ate and talked some more. I went around and tried to snap some pics of the kids. Here they all are in order from oldest to youngest.

Jacob, age 6, son of Katherine

Connor, age 5 1/2

Luke, son of Katherine, age 3 1/2 (almost 4!)

Jackson, son of Dana, age 3 1/2

Kaitlynn, age 2 1/2, giving me "the look"

Alex, son of Amanda, age 2 1/2

Sarah, daughter of Katherine, age 1

Ryan, son of Dana, age 1

Andrew, son of Amanda, age 6 months

Here are just a few more snapshots from our weekend.

Connor and Jacob play SO well together. It just warms my heart they they are becoming such close buddies!

The big kids ate at the kid tables. So fun!

Here are most of the kids in front of the Christmas tree.

They did a book exchange instead of presents.

Love this picture of Jeff reading to Kaitlynn and Alex, only 3 weeks apart!

It was such a special weekend for me...Fun and chaotic, exactly what you'd expect with 8 grown-ups and 9 kids aged 5 and under. And it was just a preview of times to come when we all travel together to Destin, FL next summer! Woohoo!!

Good Luck Charm

By now, it's no surprise that our Houston Texans pulled off a last-second stunning victory on the road in Cincinnati to become the division champs for the first time in franchise history. The local media are calling yesterday's win one of the top 10 all-time football wins in the city of Houston. It was AMAZING! And there was no more excited Houston fan than the 5-year-old in our house. Connor was beside himself during the game, and we all jumped and hugged for joy after that final touchdown that put the Texans ahead!

One of the big players of the day was Ben Tate, the Houston running back that is usually playing behind our top guy, Arian Foster. Last week when we were at the Galleria getting Santa pictures, we were about to head home when we noticed a small line forming at one of the sports memorabilia stores. We walked past the store and were surprised to see Ben Tate just inside the store! Connor was so excited and begged me to let him meet Ben Tate.

That's right, Connor met and shook the hand of #44 himself, Ben Tate.

So there you have it, the true explanation behind yesterday's Houston Texans' division-clinching victory over Cincinnati. Sure, our team is awesome, but Connor is one serious good-luck charm!

Pictures with Santa

This week we made our annual trip to the mall for a picture with Santa. I've been telling Kaitlynn about it for a while now in hopes that she wouldn't be too scared. She made it clear that she wanted "Nonno" (Connor) there with her. Unfortunately having her big brother there only helped so much. She still wasn't a happy camper, but at least we managed a picture without too much drama. So here you go, our 2011 Santa photo:

Here's the 2010 Santa photo. Kaitlynn's expression is exactly the same, haha!

Here are the kids before the Santa picture. I got them dressed and ready in the mall's family lounge since we came straight from school.

And since I purchased the Santa photos, they let me take some pictures with my own camera. Here you can really tell how Kaitlynn felt about Santa!

She needed some love from Daddy to recover after that traumatic experience, haha!

Photo Dump

Connor's buddy Brett let him borrow hair paint for the past Texans games. Fun!

I can't remember what we were making in this picture, but I've been trying to involve the kids with cooking our meals so that they might be more willing to eat at dinnertime. So far it's not working.

Kaitlynn got her first taste of an iPad at a recent Texans game. She wouldn't put it down.

Her Majesty's throne.

Jeff and I had a wonderful date night to celebrate our 6th anniversary last month. What a great night!

The other day I told Kaitlynn it was time to go, so she gathered up her baby, her blankie, and her purse and then declared herself ready. Yep, all girl.

Kaitlynn likes to climb behind the window blinds for a peek outside.

She won't do anything without her babies. I'm open to suggestions on how to handle Dirty Baby. Ick!

Watching TV with her two favorite things: Daddy and blankie.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.



Jeff was hit recently by a driver with 3 cell phones in her lap. You would think with all that technology, she could've been alerted before she ran the red light.



Fall Fashion

It's officially fall again here in Houston. Translation: we finally have some cooler temperatures after the long miserable summer. I get SO excited at this time of year when I get to break out Kaitlynn's fall wardrobe. It makes me downright giddy to dress her in the fun outfits with tights, boots, and coordinating accessories. I've been collecting photos of some of Kaitlynn's ensembles, just like I did this time last year. (I went back and looked at that post - OH my, how she has grown!) So anyway, enjoy these latest Fall Fashions modeled by Kaitlynn herself!

I kinda think she was giving me a dirty look from taking too many photos...

And of course, our fashion show wouldn't be complete unless we included Connor's fall favorites as well.

Thanksgiving Outtakes

Don't cross her or you'll get "the look."

Jeff was giving Kaitlynn a horsey ride and had an unexpected passenger: cousin Matt.

I have no idea what startled Jeff so much ...



But whatever it was, it came back to haunt Kevin a few pictures later.



Courtright Thanksgiving Through the Years

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving 2008

I couldn't find any previous Thanksgiving fireplace pictures, but I did find the following gem from 2006.

Our 3 boys with Nana and Grandpa, Thanksgiving 2006