Daddy's Girls

One year ago to the minute I was sitting in a waiting room at Houston Methodist Hospital with Yaya, Capn, my dad and Shanon; anxiously awaiting news about how Matt's heart surgery had gone. In about an hour I will find out that everything went well but then the long journey of recovery starts. We had already been away from our girls for three nights, with eight more to follow. It was one of the most trying times of my life and I wasn't even the one going through it. Fast forward one year and today he is healthy and recovered. While  he will always have different restrictions than a person without a heart condition, if you didn't know about it, you would never know. I thank God that he hurt his knee and the doctor caught this. And that surgery was successful. I'm thankful for our family that took care of our girls.All of the nurses assumed I would be going home when they heard we had young kids, but I had never even considered it. I'm thankful for our family and frie

The McCormick kids (and their parents) had a great couple of days in Arkansas for Thanksgiving. From playing in their new cave, to the big kids riding the new kid sized four wheelers from their Capn, it was non-stop fun. Of course the highlight of the week was the Thanksgiving meal.  How nice to have the family gathered around the table and being able to talk about what we are thankful for. We sure do have a lot! And no trip to the camp would be complete without hunting! The guys duck hunted every morning and Matt took Lilli deer hunting Thanksgiving afternoon. I love this tradition and I love our family! 

Most people love this time of year. Getting ready for a big Thanksgiving meal spent with family and friends, followed by Christmas decorating and all the joy that comes with the holidays. While the men in my family may love that stuff (even if they don't admit it;) this is truly the best time of year for them because Duck season is open! These are some happy boys in the duck blind this morning. And we are all getting packed and dressed to head up there to spend the next few days with them. And for most people the decorating comes after Thanksgiving, but not for me! I spent half the day Friday decorating my house. But who gets the praise? Daddy! When the star goes on top of the tree. But I don't mind, I love that they are daddy's girls. :)

We had a great weekend in Dallas at the Gaylord Hotel's Ice! All the McCormick ladies and all of the kids got to go and it was definitely magical. There were a ton of people and some of the lines were long, but other than that, it was perfect. The ICE was the main exhibit. It features two million pounds of hand-carved ice sculptures and 2 story ice slides. It's theme this year was "The Night Before Christmas" which is very fitting considering Yaya has read that every Christmas Eve since her boys were little.  It was FREEZING, 9 degrees to be exact.  So you couldn't stay in too long but it was very cool to see.  The line was so long that the kids were almost ready to give up at one point and just skip it but Yaya worked her magic and got us straight in. Then, Hailey and I took the kids to Cookies with Mrs. Claus.  There was singing, dancing, she read Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and everyone had milk and cookies. The atrium of the

We had Katie's Friendsgiving at school today and it was a big change from last year. Last year she cried the whole time because she hated being in front of so many people. This year she smiled, waved, and sang every song. It was very cute and I was glad we got to go since it's her last year. I can't believe that after seven years we only have a few more months at First Friends.  We got a little gift from Lilli's teacher too.  I asked her why Mom and Dad are 3rd and Katie's not on it. But she assured me that mom and dad really means all family. And they are in no certain order. :) And once we got home, the tree went up! (I know, I know Yaya :). We are going to the Gaylord for a weekend of Christmas cheer tomorrow. And I wanted to be able to continue the spirit the second we walked back in our door. I love having my tree up and usually do it before Thanksgiving. If we ever have people at our house I will wait until after, but until then, it's fair game! Love this

Yaya took us to the new Shreveport Aquarium after school today and I must say I was impressed. It's not as big as what you find in a big city but it's a great addition to kids activities in Shreveport/Bossier and the kids loved it. There were some cool tanks. I was especially impressed with the eels and shark tank but the best part was for sure all the touch ponds. Katie was a little nervous at first but by the end I had to drag her hand out of the water. And of course Lillian was in from the start and had plenty of questions because she never stops learning. They touched sea stars, shrimp that cleaned your hand (like the one that cleaned the tank in Finding Nemo), sting rays and jelly fish. Katie's favorite was the jelly fish and I think Lilli loved the sting rays.  It was very cool and we will definitely be going back. The restaurant inside looked like it might be good to check out too. Next time!