It's been too long....

Each time I update my blog, I'm apologizing for it being overdue. It's been a busy fall, but things have slowed down for the Courtney's..... well, what I call "slow". We enjoyed football season and of course winning the MPSA AAA Division l State Championship made it even sweeter! Last week, we placed the order for another championship ring! I've decided that we are in the wrong business. Anything that deals with schools is where the money is! Why couldn't I have thought of opening a store that sells school uniforms and work out a deal with the schools making it mandatory that students can only wear that brand??? You would think that any brand khaki pant/short would work, but noooo..... It must have that little "Parker" tag on the side of it! Balfour doesn't make money from Zachary's school off of class rings because I don't think anyone buys them any more, but I think they make up for it with the sports championship rings. I'm not complaining because I'm glad he's been a part of three teams that CAN get championship rings (baseball & football last year/football this year), but these businesses have got a good thing going! No, I am so thankful for the football program at Jackson Prep. I'll never forget when Zachary came home from the first day of practice when he moved up to high school. He thought he was playing in the NFL! He described each and every little detail of how they did things and how their lockers had their names on them! He was so proud and he still is!

Leigh Ashley has had a busy couple of months with her dance team. She has four classes each week, but sometimes there's an extra practice time scheduled. Thankfully, we've got them all four on just two days. They presented "Holiday Spectacular" a few weeks ago and it was great! Nearly killed me, but it was great! I've become good friends with her dance teacher and I volunteered to help her with the organization of it. I also came up with the idea of a casserole sale as a fundraiser to help with the expenses for some of families who needed help. All I'll say is that I learned a lot about people. The very ones who complain about expenses did not help and/or participate. I found out that a lot of it is about people's "priorities" and I'll leave it at that!

Leigh Ashley also started voice lessons last month. She has an awesome voice, if I say so myself! We love her teacher, Winona Costello! Hopefully, she'll be ready in the fall for the state fair talent competition. Not just to compete, but to work on her self-confidence.

It's hard to believe that it's been a year since Mark's kidney cancer was discovered. He's doing great! I think I'm going to have to drag him back to the oncologist for a check up! January 31 will make a year since his surgery, so he's overdue for a recheck. He works out 4 or 5 days a week and eats so healthy! He looks great! Sun-Pine is like a zoo most days, so I'm glad he's in good health!

Well, I'm running out of time to finish all the things I need to do for Christmas so I'm not sure why I'm sitting on this computer! I'm looking forward to spending time with my family. We will have our Christmas at the Courtney's Tuesday night and then head to Laurel on Christmas Eve. I didn't get Christmas cards done this year, so I'm sending out New Year's cards. So..... Merry Christmas!