Daddy's Girls

Christmas yesterday was a wonderfully lazy day. We woke up at 6:00 (well, I was up at 4:30, I was too excited to sleep😁) and Santa Claus came!  The girls got everything they wanted and then some but of course we had to mess with them about all of the coal and switches we were seeing before they came down. We had Nana set up on FaceTime so she could see the joy of them seeing it all for the first time. She was up and dressed and ready for us and said it had been years since she had gotten to see that. Probably since we were kids. I don’t know that she has spent the night with any of the great-grands on Christmas Eve. I was glad we got to do that and lots of people went to visit her on Christmas Day so there were people in and out all day. And no one said a word about them coming inside so that was nice too.  We spent all morning getting Lilli’s aquarium and Katie’s doll house set up which was the top gift for each. They played together, we napped and watched a movie. Poor Kati...

As Gypsy and I sit on the couch at 5:30 waiting for the rest of the family to wake up, I decided I would update my blog for Christmas Eve before I had my pictures from Christmas Day to add to it. Yesterday was a really wonderful day even though it had to be a little different. We drove up to Vivian to spend time with the rest of the McCormicks to celebrate. It was a cold and WINDY day and we are all still keeping visits to outdoors but Capn and Yaya had a plan! They must have worked their butts off all week (it didn’t go unnoticed, we love y’all! 😘 And thank you for all you do to make sure we can get together) to get the WW ready to move Christmas in there. We opened up a garage door so the inside became out and it was perfect!  Yaya cooked for days getting this spread together. We had all the usual snack foods plus Capn’s gumbo that’s always a favorite.  After lunch, Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived on their sleigh! I guess this is what it would look like if he lived in the coun...

We did our one and only (outside of the house) “Christmassy” thing of the season last night with friends. Ashley, Heather and I usually try to do something together at this time of year and I didn’t think it was going to be able to happen but really glad it did. It’s always pretty and we hadn’t seen friends in awhile.  We walked through the lights, had pictures with Santa, the kids ate candied apples, they all roasted a marshmallow and we had hot chocolate. It was a great way to be able to do all of the Christmas things while still staying outside,masked and at a distance. Now we are ready for a nice, relaxing week and getting ready for Christmas!

I’ve been trying to incorporate some of the fun stuff from “real” school into our year and the last day before Christmas break is supposed to be a fun one. So I turned to Pinterest for inspiration and managed to come up with a day that even the almost 11 year old approved. 😉 They woke up to a decorated dining room that was transformed in to the party room. We started with gingerbread houses. I bought them premade which saved the headache part of that process and we got to only decorate while drinking homemade hot chocolate. Next we painted wreaths with a fork and then did our first experiment, snowstorm in a jar. Lilli was done with her painting a little before Katie so I had some word searches and crossword puzzles for time killers. They said they knew I would find a way to work in school somehow! Little did they know they did a lot of math today with all the measuring of things. Then we made homemade snowglobes and did our “fizzy Christmas tree” experiment. Our last project of the d...

I sent gifts for my nieces and nephews when I met Dad for his birthday because I didn’t think I would be seeing anyone before the holiday. That trip was so easy though that we decided to do it again with the rest of the Baton Rouge family.  Everyone but Nana (she isn’t allowed to leave), Daniel (he graduates from YCP next weekend) and Allie were able to make it. Dad, Jen and I all went in together and rented a pavilion for the day. That worked out perfectly because the rest of the campground was packed. But we had 6 covered tables and probably an acre to ourselves with a private bathroom. We got there about 10:00 and had a potluck picnic and exchanged gifts.  We were home by 3:30 but it was a really nice day. It was the first time Matt had seen the extended family since last Christmas. They all live within 10 minutes of each other so the only reason for the day was to see the 4 of us and that meant a lot.  What a different kind of year but you can always make the time for...

I am so proud of my girls for helping to get in the Christmas spirit this week. This isn’t something I would post on Facebook or Instagram, because it’s not about recognition, but this is still a memory book and I want to remember. My office is doing a toys for tots collection and I told the girls we were going to shop for it and I would really like it if they would buy at least one toy with their own money. I didn’t require it but that was all the nudging they needed and chose way more than one toy.  They said they had all they needed and lots of kids don’t. ❤️ We dropped them off today and the box was overflowing!  They’ve also been helping with all my Christmas pop by gifts for my clients and my Christmas baking.  This week we’ve tied tags on and delivered  my 30 pop bys, made 4 batches of sausage balls, a triple batch of peanut butter balls (all but a dozen of those went to Houston 😊) cake balls and 6 chocolate pies. Matt made jerky and I also made a banana pudd...

I made the mistake of responding to a jury duty questionaire a few weeks ago (in my defense, I’m 38 and it’s the very first time I’d ever gotten a summons so I was clueless- didn’t realize I had a choice) I attempted to be excused by writing a letter to the Judge saying we homeschool but he did not care so I was stuck between going and a bench warrant. 🙄 I explained to someone in the office that I had no one to keep the kids and she said she was sure he would excuse me and made it seem like I could go up there and be out in 15 minutes so the kids rode along. Well, that was NOT the case. We get there and spend 3 hours in a room (at least they let the girls be in the hall) with about 60 people with ZERO Covid precautions. I was FURIOUS. On top of the fact that it was 4 days after Thanksgiving and I know at least half of those people were with a crowd days before. So when we finally got released (oh, and no court that week, they didn’t need any of us 🤬) I called Matt to say I really did...

After two long weeks of quarantine in her jar with a mask, Coco is out!  And she’s already up to her usual mischief. She made a mess in the dining room with m&ms and filled the advent calendars with toys and treats. They got mini toy dogs yesterday, hatchimals today and there are Hershey kisses everyday. They’re always so excited to see what will be there. And of course they had to write their letters to Santa for her to deliver I hope they were good enough 😉 It was a good way to start the day yesterday before poor Katie had to go get allergy tested. We’ve been throwing medicines at it for months and she was up to a minimum of two, sometimes three a day and we didn’t even know what we were treating. Between that and that one day at deer camp back in May that kind of scared me, I wanted to figure out exactly what she’s allergic to.  The test was miserable for her but she handled it like a champ! We got the special treatment with 2 doctors coming in to talk to us after beca...

We had a perfect 2020 Thanksgiving! I have to specify that 2020 part because the “perfection” is relative but it really did turn out to be a good day. We missed Chad, Rachel, Austin and Josey and the girls and I only went for the day because the rain in the forecast for the rest of the week isn’t going to make it possible to stay outside, but the time that we were there was very nice.  We got there about 9:00 and Matt fried the turkey while the kids watched the Macy’s Day Parade outside and Yaya, Hailey and I got to hang out. The other guys got back from hunting a little before lunch and we all sat down together to eat.  It was very sweet that Rachel planned her meal for the same time and we got to FaceTime with them at the table. We visited for a few hours after and the girls and I came home because we needed a nap. Even Lilli slept! It was a good day. I wish I could have been longer and we were all spending 2 or 3 nights like usual, but for 2020, we’ll take what we can get! ...

Yesterday was opening weekend of duck season in Arkansas and (just like everything else this year) it looked a lot different. It’s typically a guys weekend and several friends would be in town but not this year. Matt has been wanting to take the girls deer hunting so we made plans to meet him in Plain Dealing after he hunted on Saturday and Sunday for him to take them each one on one. Lilli went first and she got a special treat because Austin was there with Chad too. We didn’t realize he was going until he called from the car Friday evening so that got her even more excited about her weekend with Dad. Since there wasn’t anyone in town, there was even room in the duck blind for her to go. It was her first hunt and she loved it! She said there’s more action than a deer stand (even though she loves that too) and she didn’t have to be as quiet. 😉 While they were playing up there, Katie and I had a good Mom and Me day. We watched the LSU game, got ice cream, went for a golf cart ride, wat...

We usually go to Baton Rouge the weekend before Thanksgiving so that we can celebrate my Dad’s birthday but of course this year we had to make other plans. He turns 70 tomorrow so we couldn’t let such a big birthday pass without seeing him. I’ve been working on his gift for about a month. I don’t have all of his friends phone numbers so I got their Christmas card list from Janet and sent a letter asking people to mail a card for me to collect and give to him all at once. They have been coming in for weeks and this morning I woke up extra early to be able to cook and still be on the road for 6:45 to meet him to give them to him. We met at Indian Creek recreation area right outside of Alexandria and had a brunch picnic We had cheese grits casserole, sausage balls, a fruit tray, and of course there had to be cake! He loved his box of cards  and a few of his friends even sent gifts. I think I collected 43 in all and am waiting on several more that are coming from last minute people. I’...