2014 Courtright Family Christmas

After our Morgan family Christmas gathering in White Oak, we returned to Katy to await Collin and Kevin's arrival for our Courtright family Christmas.

The Courtright clan.

The biggest event of this year's celebration revolved around our family's Elf, Jexan. Since this was our first year with Jexan, we weren't sure what to expect. But on the last morning before Santa arrived, Connor and Kaitlynn awoke to a fun surprise from Jexan. It was a letter printed from the Elf himself, thanking them for their good behavior and leaving them with a little breakfast treat.

Jexan's letter and treat for the kids.

I'd say Jexan was quite the hit in our home for his first Christmas season. For the first week after his return to the North Pole, Kaitlynn would spontaneously burst into tears from missing him so much. And as I type this, it is nearing the end of February and Kaitlynn STILL mentions Jexan's absence regularly. How will we ever make it until next Christmas?!

Twas' the night before Christmas...

Setting out the cookies and milk for Santa, and the carrots for Santa's reindeer!

Sometimes Christmas seems like an eternity here at the Courtright house since we celebrate later with the older boys. But it finally arrived and Santa was, as usual, very good to our family.

Santa's delivery.

It was quite a haul!

The kids were overjoyed at their Christmas haul and couldn't wait to dig in. Of course, when you have to wait for much older brothers to wake up and get out of bed, it can be an agonizing morning. Collin and Kevin weren't too happy about waking up at 7 am, and they can't wait to return the favor in the years to come when Connor and Kaitlynn become the sleepyheads, ha!

First up, time to open stockings!

Jeff's oversized Reese's peanut butter cups. 1 pound of candy!

Kevin opens one of his gifts.

Collin planning his revenge on Connor and Kaitlynn for waking him up so early!

Kaitlynn LOVED her Frozen suitcase.

Connor digging into his stocking.

One of my many gifts!

It wouldn't be Christmas without the classic surprise face!

Here's another one. Love the expressions!

Her new Frozen dress (while wearing her new Frozen outfit). It was a FROZEN Christmas!

Kevin immediately got to work on his car installing his Christmas gifts. Boys and their cars!

It was another successful Christmas in the Courtright household and we are extremely thankful that we were able to have our entire family together to celebrate!

Morgan Family Christmas

After our fun visit in the Dallas area, we drove straight to White Oak for the Christmas gathering on the Morgan side of the family. Everyone gathers at my parents' home on Christmas Eve for lots of food and fun gift exchanges, and the cousins disappear for hours at a time soaking in some long overdue fun together. This year we really missed Renee and Ryah. It's never the same when they aren't with us, but we plan to make up for it when we get together in the summer.

First up at the Morgan Christmas, photo sessions with lots of smiles all around.

Makenna took our picture. Merry Christmas!

The 4 Morgan brothers, rarely all together so we have to take a picture!

The Morgan/Courtright/Warhurst couples.

Never get enough cousin time with Robin. BCFs (best cousins forever)!

The Morgan girls. SO awesome to visit with my cousin Meredith this trip!

Another fun couple photo.

My sister Michelle with Augustus Maximus, a.k.a. Gus.

Michelle and Chris

My brother Jeb with his wife Alli.

Next up: Presents! And once the gifts are opened, the kids all run off and leave the grownups with lots of time to (what else?) eat and catch up.

Kaitlynn and Marissa, always having fun together!

Princess Kaitlynn and Princess Grandaddy!

Time for presents!

Connor got some Minecraft books.

Connor and Makenna working on their Minecraft strategies.

Kaitlynn got a princess Snuggie!

BARBIE!

Craft time. Kaitlynn could SO EASILY be one of the MMM (Makenna, Madison, Marissa) sisters!

More Minecraft.

Grandaddy is an avid coin collector and passed on some of his collections to the grandkids.

MeMe with her customized charm necklace - a birthstone for each of the grands!

Uncle Jeb.

This was the Christmas of Frozen gifts, and every single one brought huge smiles!

MeMe and Grandaddy got a canvas photo from Ben and Charlotte's wedding. LOVE!

Couldn't resist throwing this in here. Gotta love how the Morgan boys try to "disguise" the good gifts by concealing them in women's bags. Paul didn't seem to mind at all!

I am so thankful for our Morgan family celebrations every year. We are so blessed with such a big, fun family and I look forward to these gatherings year after year.

Christmas with Friends

Yet again I have gotten WAY behind on our family updates! Stay tuned for all my belated posts to hopefully finish our 2014 updates (now that we're WELL into 2015)!

Back in December, we continued our annual tradition of meeting up in Dallas with some of my all-time favorite friends. My high school besties/BFFs--Amanda, Dana, and Katherine. What would I do without these awesome girls??

BFFs -- Amanda, me, Dana, and Katherine. So blessed by these friendships!

I'll admit, last fall was a tough time for me. With both kiddos now in school full-time and my project at work being finalized, I found myself without a purpose. We had a young adult living at home and I had way too much free time on my hands to focus on things that bothered me. So I found myself in a funk. As much as I wanted to enjoy the blessing of being a full-time wife, mother, and PTA volunteer, those just aren't the things that fulfill me. After months of wondering what was wrong with me, THESE GIRLS helped me find my way. I am SO BLESSED and grateful for these friendships!!

After many years (decades!) of friendship dating back to junior high, a new generation of friendships continues to blossom with our kids. We've always said that when we get together, it's like no time has passed. How fitting that I heard the same words from Connor during this visit to Dallas. These 9 kiddos -- Jacob, Connor, Luke, Jackson, Kaitlynn, Alex, Sarah, Ryan, and Andrew -- have been friends since infanthood and enjoy every moment together. The times together are few and far between, but oh so worth the wait!

First stop of our fun days together -- AirU for some trampoline and dodge ball time!

Some of the big boys waiting for a game of dodge ball.

The girls couldn't stand still for a pic; too much fun together!

Finally, standing still for a pic!

Our gang of kiddos (minus a couple, ha!)

Silly faces

Back at Katherine's house, I told the older 3 boys to strike a pose and this is what I got.

Ryan was the ladies man hanging outside with Kaitlynn and Sarah.

You would be hard pressed to find these kids outside WITHOUT a football!

No shortage of boys around here. Look at that handsome crew!

Celebrating Laine's birthday. Love this group of friends!

Is it just me or is mealtime the only time all 7 boys are willing to sit still? ;-)

Two peas in a pod.

Our annual pic by the Christmas tree.

They don't get to open presents until we get the group photo, ha!

The kids exchange books each year for Christmas. Kaitlynn loves the girly books!

And Connor was excited for something new.

Story time!

I'm not sure how we managed to skip photos, but while the kids enjoyed some playtime, us Moms got out for a fun afternoon of manis/pedis and shopping. This annual visit always flies by and leaves me hoping we can find more time together in the future, and I know the kids all feel the same way.

One final pic before leaving town.

Sweet and sassy girls.