family thanksgiving part 3

So in part 1 of this saga, I said I would come back to some of my Aunt's toys that are upstairs. I'm starting with a picture that I am well aware is not a toy, but it needed to be addressed and this felt like the best time to do that. This was in the room I was staying in. I started laughing when I saw them. Who needs so many Styrofoam Ho Ho Ho cups? I asked her why she had so many and she said she was giving them to her girls for Christmas. At that point she got pulled away and never finished explaining. Since I am still unclear, I'm assuming for Christmas my cousins are getting Styrofoam cups that are only good to use once a year. Merry Christmas y'all!

The amazing discovery was that my Aunt has tons of new, but also awesome old toys. A lot of them I remember playing with, or remember having one of my own. There were also a bunch of dolls and stuffed animals. Now I am all for keeping your kid's toys because they will be totally awesome when they get older. However, there are times when it's ok to get rid of things.

Exhibit A

1. What is wrong with his...her hair?
2. Why are, let's go with its, its eyes painted on looking sideways? With eyes like that I'm already thinking this doll is totally going to wake up and kill me in the middle of the night.
3. Why is it making that face? That is just creepy.

 Exhibit B, Exhibit A's BFF

1. WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?
2. I bet your BFF over there ripped it off because it couldn't get to me. That's right. I locked the door knowing what was coming. Good thing too, because that could be me. 

Exhibit C

1. Holy crap. The lighting didn't help the situation either.
2. What is going on with her hair?
3. This one totally would have killed me. But I put that monkey on top of her so she would rip the rest of his face off instead.

And with that, Thanksgiving has been recapped. I feel that leaving you with that terrifying image is probably for the best. Good luck sleeping tonight, and Happy Thanksgiving!

family thanksgiving part 2

I left off as we were heading downstairs to watch the last Texas vs. A&M game. I am a HUGE Longhorn and was excited as always but also sad for this years game. A&M is leaving the Big 12 so this was going to be the last game (in the foreseeable future) against these two teams. We have a winning record over them, W75-L37-T5, and I was hoping to add another win to that category. 

As the game started my stomach started feeling weird. I wasn't sure if I had eaten something that I shouldn't have (not on the Courtney food plan), or if I had caught some left over germs from my sister, Michael, or Miles. (The 3 of them had been sick over the previous weekend with a nasty case of the stomach flu.) I figured I had eaten something I shouldn't since I had been around them a few days and I hadn't felt badly yet. 

About halfway through the first quarter I went upstairs because it was getting worse. That's when it happened. Vomit city. Unfortunately there were no tv's upstairs and I didn't think I would make it downstairs to watch the game near one of those tv's, and near a bathroom. I could hear everyone downstairs cheering, and seconds later would get an update from my ESPN app telling me what had happened. I made many trips to the bathroom during one of the most exciting games ever! (Because of what was at stake, and because of what happened.) The only upside was we won! We are officially more awesome and way cooler than A&M. I already knew that, but now everyone else knows too.

I was sick all night long. I tried sleeping but that didn't work. I tried rolling over to my other side because my hips were sore, and that just led to me having to run to the bathroom. It was a sad, long, disgusting night. Being sick, even at a relatives house, is awful. All I wanted was to be home, Houston, Austin, either would have been better. The next morning my mom called checking in on me, and asked if I felt up to being in a car. I told her I just wanted to go home. (Insert pathetic, whiny voice here.) We decided to drive to Houston instead of Austin for a few reasons. 1. It was a shorter drive, 2. Miles wouldn't have to be in the car as long or have to get used to another new place to sleep, and 3. Then Rebecca, Michael, and I would drive Saturday morning to Austin to finish our awesomely planned weekend. (We were going to watch the Michigan vs. Ohio State game at a Michigan bar, hang out, and then go to a Master Pancake show at the Alamo Drafthouse called A Very Hanksgiving. It featured a mashup of all of Tom Hanks' movies and tv shows.)

After a long morning, well for someone who  hadn't slept all night, we left for Houston. My mom was nice enough to let me have the front seat, and my awesome giant brother in law was nice enough to let me lean my chair back some. He's a giant, he has giant legs that need to go somewhere, and he let me crunch those giant legs up. It was very nice of him. When we got home we all ate dinner and went to bed pretty early with the plan of the 3 of us waking up to head to Austin at 7 to make it in time for the game, and my parents would wake up just as early to take care of Miles. I woke up around 6 and checked my phone like I usually do and saw I had a text message from my sister. "Not going to Austin. Sleep in." Wait, what? She came in not much longer after I saw that text and I asked what happened. Apparently soon after I went to bed my parents came in and told my sister they were both sick. Ok, well at least I now knew it wasn't something I ate and possibly left over germs I had caught from the Chicago crew.

So we were Houston bound since the babysitters were officially sick.* No hotel room, no football game at a fun bar, and no Master Pancake Theater. Oh, and no official ride back to Austin at this point. I guess Greyhound could take me home. 

My poor parents kept their door shut all day, and would call us if they needed anything. My mom even told me to leave it at the door and knock. I didn't do that of course, but I thought it was funny she offered that. I did however totally hold my breath every time I went in there. Around 10 we got a call from my Aunt. My Uncle was sick too and felt like death. Not long after we got another call from her telling us my Grandpa was sick. Not longer after that, Zachary only made it halfway back to Dallas before having Jennifer pull over at a gas station to puke his guts out.

I'm sure my family probably hates me now and totally blames me. However, I think it is way more impressive if we blame this on Miles because his reign of terror is way better. Because he got sick earlier and in Michigan, he terrorized 4 states (Michigan, Illinois, Texas, Louisiana), and infected 3 cousins, 1 aunt, 1 grandpa and grandma, 1 great aunt and great uncle, 1 great grandfather, and 2 friends. That's a pretty impressive record for a 9 month old. Those stats are way cooler than mine, so I'm just putting all of the blame on him.

I was feeling better, but still tired on Saturday. We watched the Michigan game, Go Blue!, and tried to make it exciting for Michael. I don't think it was the same though.

After the game there was a great pianist that played for us. He is very talented.

We then went to the park. We tried to convince Rebecca we didn't need to add the car seat to the stroller because the basket thing underneath would totally work. She didn't go for it.

This was the best picture I could take of the ridiculousness that is his hair. It is amazing.

That night we rented some movies and Rebecca and Michael decided to have some wine. Rebecca broke the cork and so Michael found a medieval poking device to try to fix the problem.

It didn't really work so they had to shove it all the way down and then use my mom's loose tea leaf holder thing to strain the wine before drinking it.

Sunday everyone seemed to be on the mend and feeling better. Mom and dad actually emerged from their room. I was lucky enough to have a friend drive me back to Austin so I wouldn't have to take the Greyhound. Before leaving, Miles and I had to keep up with traditions and have a photo shoot. He wasn't having it that day, so there aren't many photos to show for it.

I think his face sums up this trip and Thanksgiving pretty well. Over. It.

*For those of you in Houston, I did want to see you. However, I was terrified I would start to infect the entire city of Houston so you should just be thanking me. Plus I'll be back in a few weeks for Christmas.

family thanksgiving part 1

For the past several years we have all met up in Houston (Rebecca, Michael, myself, and now Miles) and then would drive to Shreveport Wednesday morning. After pigging out, watching football, and a night of recovery, we would drive to Austin on Friday. From there everyone else figures out how to get home, either driving to Houston with my parents and then flying home, or flying straight from Austin. We did it again this year, and had to rent a huge car to accommodate the family which now includes a baby. Babies sure need a lot of crap when the travel. Fortunately, we have had a lot of practice packing up and I think we outdid ourselves.

Ready to go!

My parents stayed with my grandparents, and the rest of us stayed at my Aunt's. She has a bunch of grand kids and has a pretty sweet set up upstairs with TONS of toys. (More on the toys in another post.) It couldn't have been better for Miles! He LOVES balls, and was thrilled that he had so many at once. So we thought it would be a good idea to put him in the container of balls. You know, like a mini McDonald's ball pit.

My cousin and her son stayed with us as well, and boy oh boy did Zachary LOVE Michael! When Jennifer, my cousin, told him he would be sleeping on the floor with her and myself in beds, he had a better suggestion. He thought it would be better if there was a boy's room and a girls' room so he and Michael could stay together. 

Just waiting around for food to be ready.

The best part about this picture is that it looks like Rebecca is feeding Zachary.

After pigging out on delicious food and watching hours upon hours of football, some of us got ready for bed, and we went upstairs to play some more!

Michael and Rebecca made up a great game called Peoples. They of course didn't tell Zachary it was made up, and he really wanted to play. Michael would never deny someone to play something ridiculous he made up that makes no sense. Enjoy the video of them playing Peoples. Can you guess the rules? Don't worry if you can't. I'm pretty sure they were made as he went in order to make sure he won. You can also hear Miles making his favorite noise in the background.

Of course Miles wanted to play. He watched how the game went and totally thought he could take on his dad.

After Miles went down we all went down to watch the Texas vs. A&M game. And that, readers, is where I will stop for now. So far we were off to a great start! Great food, family time, Peoples, what could go wrong?

happy thanksgiving!

Let me start of by saying, yes, I am aware that I haven't been around for 20 days. Have you missed me? I bet so. Well I am currently lying here on my couch figuring out the best way to blog about our Thanksgiving. It was...memorable to say the least. Check back over the week for all of the installments. While I get everything figured out, I will start with a fun activity I found on Pinterest that I did with my class. We discussed writing how-to's, and wrote our own! We created our turkey feathers by coloring on a coffee filter with markers and then dipping the filters in water to make the colors spread. It turned out pretty cute!

This poor turkey had a little trouble...

I love how happy he is to catch a turkey and how terrified that turkey is after being caught.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Check back for the saga of our Thanksgiving trip.

training has begun

Everyone should know training has begun again for me. I signed up for the 3M half that's at the end of  January. This is the one I found out about last year AFTER I signed up for the Livestrong half. This one is mostly downhill which is amazing since the first half I did was designed by a masochist. Hills the entire half, and a huge one the last mile. Seriously? Anyways, training is in full swing. I got another new pair of shoes (I think this is now the 4th pair I've bought since I started running.), a new running watch, and am in the market for some better cold weather running clothes. 

Yesterday I did my long run, only 5 when I was supposed to do 7. It was a hard run so I cut it short. My legs were tight, my stomach wasn't cooperating, and it rained the entire run. The rain I kind of enjoyed, it's the other things that stopped me short. Having hard runs sucks. It makes me worried that I won't be ready for my half. I know I will be, but having tough runs makes me wonder why I decided to sign up for another half marathon. Amy is already trying to convince me to sign up for another half that is for women only a few months later. Maybe I'll do it to keep me in top shape for the Run to the Sun again this year. Either way, I know it will all be worth it as I run across the finish line with a huge smile across my face. 

1 year anniversary

Well, it's officially been a year since Luna went missing. I totally figured she would show up by now. I guess I was wrong. You always hear these amazing animal stories, they rescue their owner from a fire, alert Timmy someone is stuck in a well, etc. I guess Luna isn't as cool as those animals. The best thing she could do was snag crickets in her mouth, sit next to me if she felt I was good enough, and occasionally pee on my bed, in the sink and in my papasan chair.

Oh Luna, you have been missed. Maybe it's time for me to get a new, non-peeing on furniture, cuddly cat. Maybe not. What if she comes back? I know she would totally hate having another cat to have to deal with.

In memoriam.

i heart college football

Another one of my awesome parents gave me tickets to our game this past weekend. The seats were awesome! Not only were we on the 40 yard line, and in the 38th row, but we were on the for real seat sides! I've only experienced bench seating when watching college football. Well, no longer. I was in seats with a back and arm rests and everything! This must be how the rich live. The downside to sitting on the fancy side? It was so quiet! I'm used to screaming, chanting, singing along, high fiving strangers...I guess yelling isn't something fancy people participate in. Something they do participate in? Sitting quietly and watching the game. It was strange. I still had a blast though!

The alumni band was there playing at half time, along with alumni baton twirlers! Watch to the end of this first video, I like the booty bump the old lady does with her baton.

This dude tried over and over again to throw his baton super high and catch it. His old hands must be out of shape because he missed it more than he caught it. The people on the fancy side were more into the baton man than the game. Way more yelling at this old dude. 

All in all it was a great time. Hook em!