Christmas Day

After checking to see what Santa dropped off and enjoying breakfast, we made our way to church. After church, we finished the Christmas baking while the kids played. We joined the Kniery and Kash families for Christmas dinner before wrapping up Christmas Day watching the first of the Harry Potter movies - Santa gave the family the full boxed set. The tree stayed up through the day but will probably not make it through tomorrow.

All dressed up for church.

A&H were not the only kids on the block with new bikes for Christmas.

Christmas Eve

After a delicious ham dinner, we made our way to church for the Christmas Eve service. This year's service went better for Annee Lou (last year she did not feel well). After church we came home and opened presents. Everyone seemed to do pretty well.

Hayden wanted Vanderbilt and LSU football helmets, so we got the full SEC set. They were a big hit.

Grandma Connee got a pretty fancy watch.

Annee is now ready for rain and snow.

Annee got a new watch too!

Nothing says Merry Christmas like a bottle of Maker's Mark.

Annee checking out her new ride.

Checking out presents before heading off to bed.

Merry Christmas!

Grandma Connee and Grandpa Stevie are here celebrating Christmas with us. In addition to celebrating Christmas, we have spent some time in Nashville too. After picking Grandma and Grandpa up at the airport Thursday, we stopped by the Opryland Resort. We were able to catch the Shrektacular Christmas show. We made our way back down to Nashville Friday. We checked out some of the honky tonks on Broadway before catching the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes. One of the highlights was seeing Grand Ole Opry star Little Jimmy Dickens at the Stage.

Shrek and his friends at the Opryland Resort.

Grandma and Grandpa at Robert's Western World.

Annee with Little Jimmy Dickens at the Stage.

Hayden with Little Jimmy Dickens at the Stage.

H, A, & H at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge.

Layla's Bluegrass Inn was my favorite stop on Broadway.

There was panic at Budweiser breweries around the world when their number one customer was caught drinking a Pabst Blue Ribbon.

The gals out barhopping.

Dinner at Jack's Bar-b-que.

Hawks Soar, Stars Fall

The Hawks soared into Christmas break with a 33-8 victory over the Knicks. Hayden scored 10 points. The Hawks have now outscored their opponents 146-42 in their four games. On the girls side, the Shock stunned the Stars 18-12. Annee played pretty well and had 6 points. The Hawks and Stars return to action Saturday, January 7th. The Briarwood Academic Team also came up short in their match against Rockfield on Thursday. Their next match will be Thursday, January 5th.

Basketball, KCCT Celebration, Church, Dance

Have made it through another busy week. Annee and Hayden participated in the church Christmas program on Wednesday evening. On Friday morning we made our way to school early for an awards ceremony. A&H both achieved distinguished status on the reading and math parts of the Kentucky Core Content Test. The Stars posted a big victory Saturday morning defeating the Dream 21-5. Annee had 11 points. The Hawks also won easily posting a 39-8 win over the Lakers. The Hawks have now outscored their 3 opponents 113-34. After basketball, we made our way to Annee's Christmas dance recital. She is doing tap this year after doing jazz last year. Sunday started with Hayden serving as an acolyte for the first time and was followed up with Annee performing her ball girl responsibilities for the Lady Toppers' win over FIU. Highlights for this upcoming week include basketball games on Saturday and an academic team match on Thursday. Below are some pictures from the week. The quality is not necessarily high, but you should get the general idea.

Scenes from the Christmas performance.

Much to our relief, Hayden did not burn down the church.

Our Little Elf.

Christmas Time

It is beginning to look like Christmas here. Well, at least inside. It is looking more like the rainy season outside. We put up the Christmas tree and other decorations last evening. Outside decorations should go up this weekend. Tonight we have A&H's Christmas play at church.

Hawks Hammer Jazz

The Hawks defeated the Jazz 41-9 Monday night to run their record to 2-0. Hayden scored 4 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. The Hawks return to action on Saturday against the Lakers.

Hawks Win, Stars Tie, Hayden Parades, Annee Swims

Wrapped up a busy weekend. The Stars (Annee's basketball team) tied the Sparks Saturday morning. Annee scored the game tying basket. The team played pretty good defense but there is room for improvement on the offensive end. The Hawks (Hayden's team) defeated the Thunder 33-17 Saturday afternoon. Hayden tied for the second leading scorer with 8 points. He picked up four fouls in the first half but did not end up fouling out. In the morning, Hayden and the Colts rode in the Christmas Parade. After Hayden's game we made our way to Nashville. Annee swam in a swim meet this morning. She knocked three seconds off her time in the 50 Back and 50 Fly. Annee swam a 47.61 in the 50 Fly which was good for 34th place (out of 48 swimmers). That is 3.15 seconds better than her previous best. Annee finished 31st (also out of 48) in the 50 Back. The 46.02 was a 3.16 second improvement. She also attempted the 200 Free. It was a bit of a struggle but she did a good job completing it.

The swimming pool in Brentwood.

Annee and Heather reviewing the heat sheet.

Annee finished second in her heat for the 50 Fly.

Annee on the second leg of her 50 Back.

Huskies Triumph at Plano

The Briarwood Huskies academic team posted two victories over the Plano Panthers yesterday. We won game one 17-5 and the second one 13-7. Both Annee and Hayden served as team captains and both answered at least one toss up question (Hayden answered several). The academic team returns to action in two weeks at Rockfield. That should be a tough match. After a quick bite at Culver's, we made our way to Diddle Arena to watch some MBB. The Hilltoppers did not fare well against Murray State.

First Half Action between WKU and Murray State

A Decisive Victory in Game 1