A Hyland Family Christmas

Oh, minus the family picture!  That kinda stinks.  But here are some cute pics from our Christmas morning.  This was a far cry from where we were last year.  Jill was still in bed asleep at 6 weeks old.  This year we had to wake her up because the boys were so excited to get in and see what Santa had left them.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

And then things got crazy!

Jake and his new iPod.  Thanks Santa!

Josh was thrilled to get an Indiana Jones Kyle Busch M&M's race car.  He is so easy...

Jill's new fold out couch.

Jake and Josh show off their new Hess Trucks from Poppy.  This year's are so cool!  But we say that every year.  Where do they keep getting such cool ideas?

Jill and Auntie Michelle in her new playhouse.

Jill checks out the doorbell.

Then the fountain.  It really works!

And peeks out the window!

Jill and the train

Jill loves the train that we have circling our island in the kitchen.  So everyday she climbs on the stool and stands and watches it.  For hours.  Well, at least for 30 minutes.  I kinda feel bad, but at least I have some time to cook dinner!

Jill watching the train

Jill and Dad watching the train. Sometimes she likes a better vantage point.

Dad and Jill. So cute!

Jake Update

Jake went back to the doc and got his long-awaited cast this morning.  He was very excited that they had the camouflage color he wanted.  Even though he won't be back at school for 2 more weeks, he has tons of signatures already!

We found out from this doc that he has buckle fracture.  The bone is not broken through and not displaced so they want him in a cast for 3 weeks.  We then go back for another x-ray to check on his progress and if it looks good, then he has 1 week in a splint.  That is pretty quick!

And I guess in keeping with the camo theme, this was the letter he wrote to send to Mark (my cousin Kelli's husband who is serving in Afghanistan).  He has been watching everything on the Military channel lately and loves learning about all the weapons.  He is so proud that his "cousin" (as he says) is serving our country and that he flies an Apache helicopter.

It Finally Happened...

Well, honestly, I have to admit I am SHOCKED it took 8 1/2 years, but Jake finally did it. 

Yep, he broke his wrist this afternoon. 

Yes, it involves his new bunk bed, but probably would have happened on the old one.  No, it doesn't involve crazy, irresponsible behavior, shockingly.  It was just an unlucky accident.

Jake was leaning over the side to look at our neighbor MaryAnn below and lost his balance and slid forward off the bed. I guess I should say a prayer of thanks that it was just a wrist and nothing more serious.  The urgent care doc said it is the most common injury they see at this age and is pretty minor.  We are going to the orthopedist as soon as one will see us.  We'll see about the upcoming basketball season and Tae Kwon Do.  We may have to take a little time off.

Jake shows off his splint.  Trust me, it took us 2 full hours to get to this point.  He collapsed into bed exhausted at 8:30 tonight.  It was a tough afternoon.

Cute Jill Video from Alabama!

So, due to the snowfall, this video never made it on the blog.  But I wanted to go ahead and put it up because it is so adorable. 

It makes me think she really is a princess because she looks like she is waving to her people while she rides on her horse.  And she doesn't do the typical wave up and down, but turns her wrist so it looks even cuter!

Snow in Houston?!?

I know, you must be thinking this is a joke, but no jokes here!  It really did snow.  A lot! 

Okay, so not a lot, a lot, but enough to make snowballs, a small fort and make it really feel like winter!  It even stuck around for the whole day.  Then the sun came out and it started melting, but refroze overnight into ice as the temps dipped to the mid to low 20's. 

As usual, the city was paralyzed and schools got out early, Justin's office closed down for the day.  You know, the general, "We have never seen this before what do we do?????" panic.  We can handle hurricanes and torrential rainstorms, but not *SNOW*!  Okay, enough mocking... for now.

Here is our winter wonderland as the snow really starts coming down.

More shots.

Jill and I went to see what it was all about.  Apparently her.  (see shirt)

The boys with the neighborhood fort.  Yes, there was only enough for one group effort.  This was the day after when everything had slightly melted and it was really crunchy!

THANKSGIVING IN ALABAMA! Part 3

Here are Thanksgiving meal pics.  The family sat in the garage and feasted together. 

Also included are pics of the kids shooting BBs.  We saved all our cans and bottles and set them up for a shooting good time!  Later we brought out some pieces of cardboard for bigger targets.

And then, for the kids at least, the best part of the trip, the campfires.  We played games, sang songs, roasted marshmallows and told "ghost" stories.  What a fun time!

The Family Thanksgiving

Cousins Betty and Jimmy Blankenship, Chuck and Joann Reynolds, Harriet Harmon and Bill and Richey Queen.  Bill, Joann, Harriet and Jimmy are the last 4 remaining cousins in the Radford family line.  It was great for them to be able to get together again.

The big group picture.  The only ones missing are Julie and her family.

Uncle Aaron helps Josh line up a shot.  Josh actually eventually learned how to sight himself.  He is getting good.

Aaron helps Owen line up a shot.

Jake the marksman.  He is pretty darn good.

Me, Jill, Courtney and GranDeb at the fire.  Jill has learned how to smile at the camera!  How cute and cheesy!

The group getting ready for s'mores.

Kiki, the s'mores lady.

Scott Parten and Mary Carlton at the campfire.  MANY thanks to Scott who loaned us all his fishing gear, his 4 wheeler and his time the whole trip.  It wouldn't have been nearly as fun without him!

Michelle and Scott at the campfire.

Courtney and Anthony at the campfire.

Justin and Jill

Jake and Michelle

Josh and GranDeb

PawPaw and Owen

Tomorrow I am going to put some more random pics up.  Just cute ones for fun!

THANKSGIVING IN ALABAMA! Part 2

As promised, more pics from our trip to Alabama.  These include fishing and horseback riding.  We fished just about every day and I think every person who fished caught at least 1 of their own.  That was exciting, usually we catch none between all of us!  Yay for stocked ponds!

Jake the fisherman.  He was out as often as he could be there.  He caught the most of all of us on the trip!

Team Hyland, as they dubbed themselves.  Jake would catch and Josh would throw back (since Jake didn't want to touch the fish and Josh didn't like the boring part of waiting for a bite).

Here Valley takes Jake's first fish off the hook.  Many thanks to Valley who really got Jake going that first day.

Jake agreed to hold it for the picture, but I think this was the only one he touched.

Tony helps Josh show off Josh's first fish of the trip.

This pic was so cute I just had to include it! (thanks Courtney!)

The less enthusiastic fishermen entertain themselves by playing pirate. Actually Justin enjoyed fishing and removed my fish from the hook for me (I didn't like that either).  Here he was on dad duty so mom and the boys could fish.

Jill tries it but doesn't like it!  Don't worry, Aunt Judy, we used hand sanitizer afterwards.  And after the cows, too.

Not to brag or anything, but look who caught the big catch of the trip!!!!  Yay for my 5-ish pound bass!!!  We put him back.  On our next trip he will have made more for us to catch!

Auntie Kiki took Josh for a ride on John Wayne.  Sadly, I think this was my boys first time up on a real horse. 

Then she took Jake.

Then I took Jill.  She enjoyed every animal we saw in Alabama.  Minus the fish above.

Owen didn't quite enjoy it as much as the other kids.

The family on the 4 wheeler. 

Tomorrow, look for shooting,campfires, and other exciting updates!

THANKSGIVING IN ALABAMA!

Oh this was a great Thanksgiving this year!  The whole Moriarty Family traveled to Alabama to see my mom's side of the family and to spend 6 days basking in all that a small, quiet piece of the heart of the deep south has to offer.   There was shooting, fishing, 4-wheeling, tractor driving, horse riding, cow feeding and campfires with s'mores!  The boys didn't stop the whole time we were there!
Tim, Debbie, Courtney, Anthony, Meemaw and my whole family flew from Houston to Jackson, Mississippi.  We then rented cars and drove about 2 1/2 hours east to Demopolis, Alabama.  Kiki, Aaron and Owen drove from Austin because they are insane.Well, it technically was because they wanted to camp, but I still say they are insane.  Michelle and Scott flew down from NYC, via, Philly and LA to join us there (long story involving Scott helping out with Cole Hamels' pitching camp).

It was so great to see Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Betty and their daughters, Julie and Stephanie.  Jimmy is Meemaw's little brother, but his kids are my age, so we grew up together.

Jimmy loves his ranch and tending it and Betty is the best cook I have ever known!  I never leave there without bringing home at least 5 recipes.  This time I bought her church cookbook to bring home and still added some more in the margins!

Julie and her husband Valley Harrison have 2 daughters Molly Katherine (6) and Hillary (4).  Stephanie and her husband Scott Parten have 1 daughter, Mary Carlton (2).  It was so much fun to see them all (some for the first time) and others again!

So needless to say, many pictures were taken and they are all on several different cameras.  Reconciling all of them is going to be a major undertaking so, bear with me as I post stuff over the next several days.  I will try to go roughly in order.


DAY 1

We didn't waste any time the first day.  We wanted to play right away.  The gang goes out to feed the cows.

Jake helps Uncle Jimmy take some hay to the pasture for the cows.

Josh feeds a cow by hand.  Uncle Jimmy lamented that the cows will be spoiled when we leave since we did this every day for 5 days.

Jill wants in on the cow feeding action.  This was her favorite thing to do while we were there.  She LOVED the cows!

Then all the cousins came over for a visit and that was fun.  The little ones are Hillary and Molly Katherine, Julie's daughters. 

This is Jill greeting Mary Carlton, Stephanie's daughter (next to Mary C).  Mary Carlton just turned 2 so she and Jill were buds.

Julie with her daughter Hillary and Mary Carlton.