Howie & Buddy

Our elves arrived when we got back from Thanksgiving.  This year, Madison Claire's elf, Howie, had a friend with him.  We named him Buddy, and he is Mac's elf!  The kids had a lot of fun finding the elves each morning.  The first day, one of them was in the dining room and the other one was in my office. Mac literally ran back and forth between each room, pointing and squealing, for at least 5 minutes.  Wish I had it on video!  

Madison Claire was always the hunter each morning, trying to find them, and then she would immediately get Mac and show him.  Precious.

Zoo Lights

We had a fun night out at the zoo with our friends the Proctors seeing the Christmas lights! We are so thankful for David, Mandy, Grayson & Addy!  This was also the only time that the kids sat on Santa's lap this Christmas...we had intentions of going again, but it didn't happen.  Mac was very curious :)

State Championship Game

The State Championship game was held in Cookeville, TN at TN Tech.  Mac and I went to see the team off from ECS that morning.  They had a spirit line and prayer for the team before they headed to Cookeville.  

I took a road trip with the ladies from Memphis and we had a fun sleepover at the hotel before the game.  ECS had a good turnout at the game and of course Ryan's parents and my parents wouldn't miss the occasion.  My MaMa Howard even came, sporting the opposing teams colors on accident!  

It was an ugly game.  We played well in the first drive - it took them 7.5 minutes to score but a few blown plays later and not much offense led to a 27-0 halftime score.  The final score was 47-14.

Madison Claire and I rode the bus home with the team after the game and it was quite the experience.  She was so excited to ride the bus and was precious.

Ryan was down for a while after the game - he was embarrassed. He did feel a little better after a few other teams lost by big margins in the state championship game.

It was a great experience but there is more to life than playing in the state championship game.  Hopefully the next time we make it back there we will have a better showing & good Lord willing, come out with Win.  

Thanksgiving

We had a great visit with the McSwains for Thankgiving.  They had had thier fill of our kids for the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.  They had Mac for a week by himself while we were having our kitchen floors replaced in Memphis.  They then had Madison Claire for a week between Thanksgiving and the State Championship game.  The kids had such a great time.  We are so thankful they have such great grandparents on both sides who love spending time with them!

Buddy hates getting his hair cut - seriously screams the entire time when we take him but Gary sent this picture while he was in Nashville.  Apparently all he needs is Papa's lap!

 We took Madison Claire to the movies to see the Jack Frost movie and while we were there, she was excited to see a poster of "Master-tooey". Side note - she randomly started talking about "Master-tooey" several months ago. She would pray for him at night every night and for the life of us we could not figure out who she was talking about. I decided that it might be an imaginary friend because her friend Grayson was talking about an imaginary friend in his attic around this time but ended up giving up on figuring it out. Well...fast forward a few weeks and we got a birthday invitation in the mail that had the little green eye ball from Monsters, Inc. on it. She immediately smiled and said "Master-tooey". I was so relieved to finally know what she was talking about!!

During Thanksgiving, we celebrated my 32nd birthday. We had Calypso for lunch, did some shopping at Green Hills mall, and Ryan and I went to Park Cafe for dinner. It was a great day and once again, I was overwhelmed thinking about how blessed we have been the past year.



ECS Playoffs

The playoffs this year were a fun ride!  We got a first round bye and had home field advantage, even though our season ended at 5-5.  There was some last minute drama after we realized that an ineligible player had played in the FACS game earlier in the season so we had to forfeit that win.  This had potential to impact how the playoff brackets would work but fortunately, everything happened in our favor and we got that first round bye! 

The second round of the playoffs we played Fayette Academy at home. We lost to Fayette 21-20 during the regular season on a fluke night - we really should have won big that night.  I didn't even go to the game because it was cold, an away game, and it wasn't supposed to be much of a game.  I was shocked to get texts from my friends at the game saying we were losing in the 4th quarter.  Well...3 weeks later, we showed up like we should have during the season and won 42-0!  It was great!

The third round of the playoffs, we played St. Georges.  St. Georges won the state championship game in 2011 and we played them the first game of the season in 2012.  We lost that game, 10-6.  We had a great fan turnout for the playoff game and won 27-20 in Overtime!  It was SO stressful!  I spent the entire 4th quarter and overtime with my head in my hands just praying over and over for God to reward thier efforts.  I don't think anyone could really believe it when it was over and we had won.  Ryan was so happy and emotional - it was an awesome night!  WE ARE STATE BOUND!!

And...this is how I found him the next day.  Exhausted from the night before!



Weekend Away

Ryan had a long weekend during the fall, so we set off for a weekend getaway in Nashville.  We had a great time staying in Cool Springs, going to our favorite restaurants and going to the Vanderbilt/Florida game.  This trip we hit Calypso, Chuy's & Bricktops. 

While we were there, MiMi & Papa Steve were in Memphis with the kids.  They had fun taking them to the Peabody hotel to see the ducks.  Madison was thrilled to ride in Cinderella's carriage and apparently they were treated like royalty when they arrived in the hotel and got a front row seat to the duck entrance! 

Happy Birthday to Jacob!

We LOVE our Jacob and were so excited to celebrate his 2nd birthday at his Thomas party in Atlanta!  I don't know who had more fun with his Thomas toys - Jacob or Mac!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Jacob!