Cort and the Harlem Globetrotters

I'm posting an email my hubby sent out to his business email recipients. Since he was actually there and I WASN'T :(.. I figure his story will be more accurate. It's so much FUN!

Ok, I can't resist. These emails are normally reserved for more economic and/or financial information but please let this father have his moment.



Last night my son, Cort, and I were graciously invited to watch the Harlem Globetrotters at the Ferrell Center at Baylor. Our court side tickets were courtesy of our good friends David Ridley and Robert West with KWTX News Channel 10.



The whole production was a great deal of fun and the crowd was much larger than I had anticipated. Throughout the game the Globetrotters would play tricks on the referrees and with folks in the audience. The entire length of the game Cort kept saying, "Daddy, why can't I go on the court with the other kids?" Well, he got his chance.



With less than 5 minutes to play in the game "Big Easy" came to our side fo the floor, pointed to Cort, and asked him if he would come on down and take a shot for him. Cort looked at me and I said, "Go make a basket!" He pops from his seat and makes his way onto the floor.



"Big Easy" gave Cort the ball midway between the free throw line and the base line. The ref calls timeout and questions "Big Easy" as to whom this child belongs to. "Big Easy" responds by saying that Cort is his son, and can't he see the family resemblance. Then "Big Easy" hands Cort the ball and tells him to take a shot. What follows next makes this father really proud.



Cort shoots. Cort scores. The crowd erupts with cheering. Then, with no prompting, Cort begins to dance a little jig that includeds the following: his fingers pointing in the air, high stepping, heel kicking, and booty shaking. Needless to say, the Globetrotters, and the crowd, broke into laughter and began to dance right along with him. Hillarious!!



Fortunately I have pics of the whole affair. Take a look at the below link to the picture section of the Globetrotter website. Just above the first pic of Cort you will see where you can scroll thru pics 68 - 81.


Thank you for letting me brag a little bit.

It's a Small Town Thing!

Wow! I just realized how long it's been since I've written a new post. Life just took off around here after Christmas, just like it does all of us.

We received a call Tuesday morning that Chad's Grandmother from Caddo Mills, Tx had passed away. She was 88 and had been dealing with Alzheimers for about 10 years, so we know she is in a much better place now... reunited with her husband and enjoying a new mind and fullyabled body. So, we made the trip up to Caddo Mills, Tx to plan and attend her funeral on Thursday.

Caddo Mills is the town Chad grew up in. He spent his whole life until he left for college in the town with 1100 in population, one stop light, one tiny grocery store that's overpriced and about 30 students in his graduating class at Caddo Mills High School which named him the Valdectorian.

I used to kinda secretly snicker and tease Chad about his small town, but I have never been more embraced, taken care of and loved as we were from this sweet little town yesterday for MeMaw's funeral. The visitation in the little Caddo Mills funeral home was packed with people of all ages coming out to show support to Chad and his family. There was food everywhere, flowers galore, people lined up just to give a pat on the back and I think, just to see Chad again.

No one was worried about what they were wearing or better yet, what anyone else was wearing. No one noticed who had on designer boots or whose hair looked perfect, who had on the most stylish outfit. None of that... these good folks had just come from work in their clothes and strickly cared about being there for the family.


At Chad's dad's house, the doorbell rang and rang with people dropping over homecooked casseroles, desserts, salads, or just there to talk, remember and hug. You name it and we had it. Then, for the actual funeral service, we showed up to the church and the sweet ladies from the tiny little First Baptist Caddo Mills, that probably has 80 -100 in attendance each Sunday, had a spread like I have never seen prepared for the family to have before the funeral. They were serving our plates, helping with the children, making drinks, they even had a playroom set up for the kids to go to.

After the sweet funeral done by the current pastor of the 1st Baptist Caddo Mills, we headed to the cemetary. The ride there was the final thought that made me realize what a sweet town my man grew up in. As we were all in a line behind the hurst with our lights on, cars were actually pulling over, men on the side of the street were removing their hats, tractors on the road stopped moving, a garbage truck actually pulled over and the driver inside removed his hat as well.

The cemetary was full of gravestones from names I have heard over and over while in Caddo Mills... generations of families all in one place.

The whole experience made me stop and think about two things: First, I'm so thankful that Chad had the experience to grow up with these folks who truly treat each other like family and stop everything to bless those who need it. I honesty think it is the first time I realized what made him, HIM.. This small town that raised him modeled service and just loving people.
Secondly, It made me think about how our generation is becoming so busy that I'm afraid we're getting away from serving others and blessing families. I'm sure I'm just speaking to myself here. I hope that even in the larger towns, we'll always form and keep our special bonds with our dear friends and will give them a "small town" feel when it's needed! It sure blessed me!

New Year Resolutions!

Let's have some fun and talk about our NY resolutions. I know, it's that time of year. The time we all try to say what we want to do and then fall off the bandwagon a month in. I'm sure guilty of that. BUT, because it's tradition, I feel like I'm going to make some anyway.

1- Chad and I decided to go on a cash only basis for our spending. I feel like there was a sign given to me from above when I lost my debit card last week. So, now, I have no choice but to use cash. I'm not the best cash spender. I'd way rather swipe a debit card than worry about having cash, but I think we decided that it'd be something we'd like to try for a while. It's really not about "charging" things as we typically don't have a problem with that... but more about keeping up with the family budget.

2- I want to be a better mom. I think I'm pretty decent at setting time out for my hubby.. In fact, I think we spend quite a bit of time together and enjoy it. But, I feel like I need to give my kids more one on one time and focus on them individually. More single kid date nights, etc. I also need to improve my patience with them. They're just kids and they really do need to ask mom 100 questions each. I also want to spend time showing them things and taking them to new places. Even just places around our community and surrounding areas that are interesting. A trip to a Mexican Beach might be nice too!! I'm sure I could squeak that under the "being a better mom" resolution.

3- I'd like to make some improvements on the house. I really want to focus on painting some things, replacing some things, cleaning out some things.. You get it. All of the things that take time and effort.. and money, of course.

4- I want to cook more decent meals. I "prepare" things and we all eat around the table each night. But, Preparing a meal and cooking a meal to me are two different things. Anyone can "prepare" a box of mac and cheese and baked potatoes, but cooking a meal takes a little more thought and effort. My kids really need to broaden their horizens with what they eat, and I feel obligated to help them do it by offering a bigger variety.


Thanks for letting me share. Anyone else have NY resolutions?

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

I can't believe Christmas is already here again! I LOVE this time of year, but am always a little sad when it's over.

Last night we took the kids to see the lights in Belton. If you've not been, you must go. It's terrific. While we were viewing the lights and talking about all the hard work that went into putting them up, a conversation started about how special the Baby Jesus must be to have everyone go to such lengths to celebrate his birth. We laughed and talked about how crazy it would be if we all had such enormous birthday parties celebrated by so many people on OUR birthdays. It just reminded me that through the commercialism and stress of Christmas, it's about Jesus and Only Jesus. As long as we can stay focused on that, Christmas will always be a special time of year.

Happy Birthday, Jesus and Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family. We literally couldn't be us without you!

In My Opinion....

Christmas this year has brought up a lot of interesting thoughts to me, and I'd just like to share them... well, because I can!

1- Target really needs to fix their exchange policy. I was reading it today. While I love their product and think their store is great, how can they not exchange ANYTHING without the receipt. Now, I understand return for cash, but EXCHANGE should be doable. With Walmart returning and exchanging just about anything you can dig out of the closet, how can Target not improve their plan?

2- People should not be buying their 6 year old an Ipod or cell phone as a Christmas gift. It makes it that much harder on those of us who are unwilling to buy them for our 11 yr old... and furthermore, Kids should be kids and get kid stuff while they're young. Quit making them grow up so fast!

3- The movie theaters really need to have some late morning shows. I mean, why can't they open at 10:00? Especially at times when they know kids will be home from school. Don't they know Preschoolers nap starting at 12:00 when they open? I'm telling you, a morning movie for the kids would be a huge success.

4- We all need to curve our spending at Christmas time. My sweet friend, Angela, had such a great idea and really got me thinking about giving money to others less fortunate. Why do we spend so much money trying to buy each other presents and hope to get presents while people in other places.. and in our own country for that matter, are barely eating. Something just feels wrong about that. We all need to step back and take a look at our consumerism. If we'd all do it, it'd make it easier on the whole bunch. It's hard to explain to kids why they get one gift when their best friend is getting a phone, ipod, laptop and Vera Bradley purse all in one morning.

5- The Y needs to have extra late hours around Christmas for those of us who want to go run off those extra pieces of fudge we ate. Wii fit just doesn't always do it for me!

6- Last, but not least, the stock market should NOT be open on Christmas Eve. Let's just think about it.. do we really want to trade stocks while we're broke from overspending? Most of all, the stock market being open keeps Daddys away from families for the day :(

Thanks for letting me share what was on my mind today!
Merry Christmas!

Let's just be honest here....

I was recently tagged by my friend, Angela, with this fun little assignment. Here are the rules:

When you receive the prize, you must write a post showing it, together with the name of who has given it to you, and link them back. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in their content or design. Show their names and links and leave them a comment informing that they were prized with 'Honest Weblog'. List [if you can and/or dare] at least ten honest things about yourself. Then, pass it on!"

To just be honest in no particular order...

1- I am extremely frugal and also suffer from buyer's remorse. I go to the store and buy something and sit around for hours thinking about how much it costs and how I should have spent my money differently. $20 is a lot to me regardless of the item.

2- I hate losing things. I even hate when my kids lose things. If I start to look for something and can't find it, I can't move on until I figure out where it is. If it's bad enough that I really can't find it, it bothers me a great deal. This is the same for my children losing school papers, receipts, ds games...etc.

3- My mom was a strict parent. It wasn't her fault. Because of my dad's job, she did a lot of single parenting, and trust me , I know how hard it is to control four children. BUT, because of this, I think I am extra lenient on my kids. I am not the disciplinarian and don't like to try to be.

4- Some Sundays I don't want to go to church.. I know... Big Gasp! We are every Sunday church goers and to tell you the truth, sometimes a Sunday off as a family would be inviting... which leads me to number 5.

5- I don't like our current Sunday schedule. I miss worshiping WITH my husband and family. Between hubby attending two Sunday schools and me being in choir, I'm not sure how to fix it. I'm working on the solution though.

6- I am very bad about comparing myself to others. That's really all I will say about that. I

7- I don't like to cook. AT ALL. I do cook, but I cook out of obligation and obligation only. I think it goes back to number 1. I just don't like spending money at the grocery store and then my picky kids don't eat what I cook anyway, so I HATE cooking.

8- I am reliving my childhood through my children.. mostly my daughters. It's true. They have opportunities I didn't have for various reasons, and I will tell you that I love making sure they get there and do what they love. I couldn't be prouder.

9- I am competitive. I'll tell you that I LOVE to watch my kids win at whatever they are playing. BUT, I am a quiet competitor. I can hide it very well, but inside I'm just dying.

10- I think I married up. I never imagined I'd deserve a husband that loves me so much and takes such good care of me. That's just the honest truth. Another little honest truth about us is that we chat on the phone numerous times a day. Love that, but some friends think it's a little over the top!

Now, I'd like to tag, Chastity, Heidi and Adrielle.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday. She's probably over in Baton Rouge doing something to serve either my dad or one of my three siblings, or one of her 16 grandkids. That's just the kind of gal she is... a servant.

I don't think I ever fully appreciated my mother and all she did/does until I became a mom of four little kids close together and know all that goes into it. But, my mom isn't just any other mom, she's the kind of mom that had homecooked meals around the table EVERY night. The kind of mom who gave up every one of her Saturday mornings to make the children's choir at church OUTSTANDING, which, by the way, I know is responsible for training me to sing. And the kind of mom who took us shopping on the weekends just for the fun of a girl's day out. I still look forward to those days as an adult too!

First and foremost my mom is a terrific example of a dedicated wife. She has always loved my dad with the uptmost sincerity and been his top supporter. Her love and devotion to him is an example to all wives out there. She's his best friend and would do anything to bless him. What a beautiful example.

I love you, Mom. I miss being able to drop by your house and just visit. I miss you seeing my kids grow up on a daily basis and them getting to benefit daily from your servant spirit. Thank you for all of the hours you put in praying for me and helping me be a better me. It has not gone unnoticed! Happy Birthday! I love you!