Courtney and the Fun Birthday

I am late posting these fun birthday videos from 11.8 . . . enjoy.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Brookhaven at the home of Todd's aunt Dolores. Here is Courtney tormenting Charles by touching him as Mike looks on.
Courtney really liked Todd's cousin Kern and sat in his lap a lot.
Todd's cousin Kensy has a downtown loft apartment in Brookhaven and she gave us a private tour. The apartment is on the Brookhaven Tour of Homes so we were thrilled to get a sneak preview. Pictured in Kensy's kitchen are Kensy's mom Jody, Kensy, Kensy's grandmother Dolores, me and Todd's cousin Kay. This is the only group photo we took all day and it being Thanksgiving I really should have taken more photos. I should note that Dolores spent days cooking and preparing for us and we owe her a debt of gratitude for the love she put into the meal and hospitality.

Planting Pansies

I took a 1/2 day from work today (it's the day before Thanksgiving and the day care was closed 1/2 day) and took advantage of the daylight hours to 'play outside' and plant some pansies. My potted plants were looking terrible - most had been killed in the recent freeze - so I had bought some red and white pansies. Mama Lyn was here and she took photos of Courtney helping me with the spade. Remarkably she has stopped putting everything in her mouth so I didn't have to worry about her eating dirt, this time. As for the above, that's Kitten chasing some bubbles, or 'buh-buhs' as she calls them.

Courtney Discovered the T.P. Roll

So I walk into the bathroom and she has discovered the t.p. roll. She had to climb up onto the magazine basket to reach the roll, and she had unrolled all the paper from it. She kept telling me "up" - she was proud she had climbed up on the basket to get there.

Groupie @ Fondren Unwrapped

Little one screaming while an unnamed teenage band plays in the background (at left) - she really liked the music and crowds at the Fondren Unwrapped event tonight. I was doing something earlier in the evening, and I met Courtney, Todd and Carl at the Fondren event, which is like a big street fair with lots of music, free food, and tons of sidewalking crowds. When I got there I dressed her in my jacket from the car because the temperature was plunging and she was wearing only a sleeper. Later I found her heavy jacket in the stroller bottom...don't know why Todd didn't mention he brought one...he just let me dress her in my too-big hoodie. :-) So anyway back to her liking the crowds - she is always saying 'hey' to strangers and waving. It's hard not to look at and talk to a little baby who is speaking to you. So for me, it's like going to the store with a pint-sized Lauren Conrad. :-)

Southern Miss Blackout Game

Today was the Southern Miss blackout game at The Rock, and it was the last home game of the season. There is a new end zone balcony area where anyone can walk, so I ventured there and took these end zone shots. Southern Miss won convincingly!
Julie and me wearing our 'black out' attire. Todd and Jimmy were also there, but there's not a good picture of it. But they were similarly decked out.
After the game Todd and I went onto the field, which I haven't done in years. We wanted to touch the artificial turf, and watch the band's postgame show (pictured).

The Lil Chair

Since Courtney was always climbing into her car seat and sitting down, we decided to find a baby-sized chair. This one is surprisingly sturdy and even if she falls out of it, she's not falling far. She likes to sit and watch out the window (below), while reading a book (above) and even watches Dancing With the Stars in it (while clapping to the music).

Kitten's First Birthday!

Today was Courtney Kitten's first birthday. She was sick with a bad cold and had to go to the doctor in the morning, but after sleeping most of the day she was able to enjoy her party with all her grandparents and several aunts/uncles. Above, she is wearing her favorite shirt with a cat on it. She will carry this shirt around saying 'cat, cat' so we had an orange and black themed cat party. Also above, she was playing with balloons -her first time to have a balloon - and her hair was sticking straight up.
This is the cat cake I made for her. The eyes are jordan almonds and the whiskers and mouth are licorice. I had intended for it to look MUCH better than this, but that's how it turned out. I also made cupcakes.
Here's Courtney eating her cupcake. She had never had cake before, so it was new to her. She got icing stuck to her hand and tried to shake it off. Eventually she got the hang of it and ate the cupcake successfully.
Here's Courtney enjoying the new swing she received as a present. Todd finished our back yard deck just in time for the party and also installed chains so we could hang Courtney's swing on the deck. She loved it!
Here's the whole birthday party group in the picture - the only person not looking at the camera is the birthday girl. Front row from left is Mike (with sun over his face), Todd, me, Courtney, Lyn, and Breck (standing). Back row is Charles, Kim, Harold, Mary Lou, Ron, Jimmie, Jen. Thanks to all for coming from so far away for the party! Lyn came from Hattiesburg, Mike came from Natchez, Kim/Charles came from Monroe, La., Mary Lou and Harold came from New Orleans, Breck/Jen came from St. Louis and Ron/Jimmie came from Asheville. That's a combined 20 hours of travel time each way!