Daddy's Girls

We have had a busy week since that meet last Saturday. It sure feels like that was more than 7 days ago. Matt and Lilli jumped in the truck when we got home and headed straight to the camp to hunt the next morning. It was a big day, because Lillian got her first birds in the air. On Monday, she and Matt went to get measured for her new gun that was in too. She’s becoming a real hunter.  Sunday night was our annual Christmas in Roseland lights with Cara, Luke and Josie. We had an early dinner and saw the lights together. I love this tradition, and you’re never too old to tell Santa what you want for Christmas! On Tuesday, we drove down to Baton Rouge to have a quick family dinner and say bye to Daniel and Anna and give them their gifts. They left Wednesday morning to spend Christmas with their family in England. Luke couldn’t go, so they traveled alone and one of Luke’s friends picked them up to get them from London to South Hampton to their grandmother’s house On Wednesday we visit...

It was an extremely early morning today with alarms going off before 5:00 to get ready and be in Ruston by 7:30 for Kathleen’s very first state meet. She was so excited and has been counting down the days for weeks. She was all nerves at the beginning but quickly settled into her groove and did her thing!  She was 1st in vault and floor, 2nd in bars and 3rd on beam. Her scores also won her a medal for 1st in All Around for her age group.  I loved how she was standing just as proud no matter which podium she was on. ❤️ The scoreboard said she actually had the highest points out of all 43 girls at the meet. They weren’t all her direct competition, but I think that’s pretty impressive! It was a big day for her and she ended it with a sleepover with Britney. Great day all around!

We have been in Christmas mode around the McCormick house. It’s definitely different this year though. We haven’t had any pancakes with Santa or done any cookie decorating. There are are no class parties and plans to do something for the season everyday. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t in the spirit in our “big kid” way. They went to a party at Heather’s last weekend. She hosted a “parents night out” and had about 10 kids over. Matt and I took advantage and had a date night and they had a blast. They were texting me asking me to pick them up later. 😊 We hated the reason, but we were glad to the cousins last Sunday. The Plano fam was in town for Rachel’s Moms funeral. It was a beautiful service celebrating her life and we were glad we could be there for them. And the kids were glad for some play time too. Kathleen got to take advantage of being homeschooled and spent the night at Yaya and Capn’s with them. I picked her up right after car line on Monday morning so that we could get home...

I haven’t gotten to hang out with my girlfriends very much in the last few months, so I decided to host a “painting with a twist” type party at the house this morning. Everyone got here about 10:00 and we started with brunch and mimosas. After we were fully stuffed, we all sat down to work on our paintings. I ordered kits from someone I found on Facebook and provided the paint and supplies. We all got to sit around catching up for 2 hours while we worked on them and they turned out super cute!   Lillian did one too the night before. I wouldn’t let her participate during the party because that was mom time. She and Kathleen also had to host the kids that came. There were 6 total and they spent most of the time outside with the chickens and on the swing, but Ashley also brought ornaments for them to paint. When we got done, we also had two games for them to play. The Saran Wrap ball game and also the Left/Right game with a gift. We decided to have everyone bring Christmas socks for t...

I went home Friday to finish up some Christmas things without kids and Matt and the girls stayed at the camp. They went deer hunting that afternoon, and Kathleen got to go to the duck blind for the first time ever on Saturday morning.  It was a successful morning and she had fun! She had had enough by the time they got back though, so Matt and I met for lunch in Plain Dealing so that she could come home. Lillian stayed because Austin was there, but it finally caught up with her too and she took a 3.5 hour nap. And Kathleen was asleep for THE NIGHT by 6:30, lol. All that hunting is a lot of work. Lillian couldn’t miss out on one more morning though before she had to go back to reality today. It was a successful thanksgiving week all around. Lots of love, laughter, good food and a good time. For the Baton Rouge family too. Jen and Ryan spent Thanksgiving in Belize, Jimmy and Theresa got back from New York the day before the holiday, and Janet had already cooked a Thanksgiving meal fo...

It was a wonderful few days at the cabin in Arkansas to celebrate Thanksgiving. It may have rained the whole time, but that didn’t stop us all from having a great time. We played in the tractor shed Rode 4 wheelers through the mud and did some hunting  Lilli got a nice buck Thanksgiving night, and the family all came out to congratulate her. She also got in the duck blind for the first time this season today. Kathleen got to hunt this afternoon, and she gets to go to the blind for the first time ever tomorrow. Lillian also got in the stand by herself for the first time today while Kathleen was with Matt.  But of course the highlight of the visit was Thanksgiving Day and the meal itself. Yaya always outdoes herself with decor, a roasted turkey, a million sides and pies. And Matt’s fried turkey is one of my favorite things ever  And there were no Christmas PJs this year, but there were super cute “duck the halls” shirts.”They only came in kid sizes, so we found something si...