Posted by Michelle on Dec 17, 2008 in Michelle
My friend Bill sent me a page from the program for a great HS basketball tournament I used to help work on. I was the media director, did the program and helped with other stuff but I tapered down my work with them over the past year because I can’t manage Christmas at home the way I want to and work on the tournament. The prep work was hard but three straight days of 10am to 10pm work at the tournament was too stressful with all my other responsibilities.
But I miss the guys who run the event. I miss watching that much hoops. I miss seeing kids who would eventually go on to play college and professional basketball. I miss being media director and running press row at a college facility – and helping reporters, radio and TV guys.
So read the thanks bottom part of this the page I saw today: Glaxo Holiday Invitational program page. Making me tear up.
Tags: friends, sports, work
Posted by Michelle on Dec 16, 2008 in Hayley, Michelle
I love Peppermint Bark and I had a good version of it not long ago so I tried to find a way to duplicate it. We started with a recipe for double chocolate peppermint bark that I found at the fabulous instructables.com.
The version I’d had not long ago had some small cookie pieces in it so we decided to mix in oreo crumbs (like you’d use to make a pie crust, not actually from cookies) into the dark chocolate part too.
Hayley and I had a blast destroying candy canes in the mini-cuisinart. We had some small snafus but it was fun and of course when you let a child bake, mistakes can happen.
Despite the small problems, it came out looking great and tasted even better! We can’t wait to share it with some friends (and make more!)
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If you try it – we learned white chocolate melts way quicker and that the time between dark layer on the bottom being dry enough to put the next layer down was 10-13 mins. Basically it shouldn’t be able to slide in the pan at all.
Tags: crafts & cooking, fun, recipe
Posted by Michelle on Dec 13, 2008 in Michelle
I went to see old friends Tracy and Sheri who were sorority sisters of mine in college that I hadn’t seen in over 16 years on Wednesday night. We met up at Tracy’s house where the wine and clock hands moved fast and I laughed at memories I hadn’t thought of in a long time.
Sometimes even just a few photos can capture a moment well and looking at these images I’m struck by how much they really remind me of them.
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Tags: friends, photos
Posted by Michelle on Dec 9, 2008 in Hayley, Michelle
We had so much fun making the Halloween wreath we decided to make a Christmas wreath. Joann’s was having a huge sale so we hit them up and grabbed a light up wreath and supplies. Hayley picked all the items, I love wandering through stores with her.
We got out our hot glue gun and got busy. Hayley selected which ones to use and lined up things the way she wanted them and I made sure they didn’t hit the lights too much.
The result was lovely and all for $17!
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Related post:
Making our Halloween wreath
Tags: crafts & cooking, fun, holiday
Posted by Michelle on Dec 5, 2008 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle, More Family
I didn’t have time to take photos during Thanksgiving because I was cooking (and eating, watching football, sleeping, eating, you get the idea) but I took some the next day at the house and stable before Jeff’s family left.
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Tags: family, holiday, sports
Posted by Michelle on Dec 4, 2008 in Hayley
Salem Students and Parents,
We were thrilled with this year’s Reflections Submissions. WOW, we received a record number of entries (more than 6 times what we got last year). It is so fun to see our Salem Students’ talent and
creativity. Thank you for entering. All of you will be invited to a special breakfast after the holidays (details TBA) where we’ll display and return the projects.
The school’s judges (teachers and staff) were allowed to choose 24 projects to send to the Wake County level. Below are the students who were school winners:
Hayley Hillison
(I removed the other names…)
—
She didn’t win on the County level but that’s ok! We are so proud her for her hard work and winning at the school level!! We don’t know which photo it was but we’ll post when we do.
Related post: Hayley’s amazing photography entries for Reflections contest
Tags: crafts & cooking, school
Posted by Michelle on Dec 2, 2008 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle
I’ve just started this and will be adding more soon.
Back by popular demand, the Xmas list for the family. Please let me know if you get something for Hayley on this list so we can mark it off (which means that things with the strike through them are already taken). Call or email me at michelle@hillison.com.
Hayley:
— Wii Game – Guitar Hero with Guitar
— Wii Music Game
— Slippers, size 2. Something cute and funny.
— Ice Dig
— Mayan Dig
— Rock House Guitar for Girls DVD – she’s getting an electric guitar so this would be great.
— Electric Guitar for kids DVD One: Getting Started – ditto
— Meade Telescope
— Electric guitar and amp
— Webkinz – Chipmunk, Deer, Seahorse, Squirrel, Sea Otter, Orca, Clownfish.
— Gift cards – iTunes – she’s getting a new ipod so these would be great.
— Gift cards – Limited Too and Abercrombie & Fitch kids for clothes
— Gift cards – Target for a new bike she wants.
— Cocoa – she loves Ghirardelli double chocolate cocoa. she’d love a cute cocoa mug I bet too.
— Breyer horse figurines – she likes the ‘traditional’ and ‘classic’ lines. (but not the plush, pony gals, wind dancers or mini-whinnies lines).
— Bendaroos
Please no other stuffed animals if possible than webkinz. We are drowning in stuffed animals.
Also no need to get any DVDs, we get them all as they come out for free. Thanks for understanding!
Michelle:
— Hero Hot Dog Steamer
— UNC hat
— CD: Very Best of The Spinners
— UNC canvas. Etsy rocks, it is all handmade items from sellers. However you have to have a paypal account to buy from there – paypal is simple, it is just a way to pay for items online using your credit card, without having to give your credit card out to smaller vendors. Ask Jeff worst case 🙂
— Letter H typewriter key necklace – More from etsy, in notes add to change it to a 24 inch chain.
— Ice Cream maker
— Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book
Jeff:
— Battlestar Galactica Season One (the new series)
— The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two B
— The Complete Peanuts 1967-1968
— Star Wars Force Unleashed for the Xbox 360
Tags: holiday
Posted by Michelle on Nov 19, 2008 in Hayley
We woke up this morning to a distinctly colder temperature. The kids even got some flurries at school. I was messing with my camera phone and took some cute photos of Hayley in her adorable hat and scarf. (And yes, she picked out that completely unmatching shirt and pants – and then insisted on sleeping in it. That’s 10 for you.)
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Tags: school
Posted by Michelle on Nov 17, 2008 in Hayley, More Family
On Sunday we met Hayley’s first/bmom Gloria in Greensboro with her husband Scottie and Hayley’s half-sister Faith. We had lunch, looked at some old photos and then took the kids to play at Celebration Station. It was a really pleasant visit. The bumper boats were a highlight for Hayley, she and Faith squirted all of us various times to their ongoing hilarity. I had my cell phone camera on and taped all four adults getting sporadically drenched.
Unfortunately some of my photos didn’t come out – the light is odd in those neon flooded places and a very strange woman who took a photo of the group and cut half of us out (i can get not being able to focus but aim??) So hopefully Gloria will give me a copy of that one and some other to add to this pile.
Videos on flickr have that little play icon in the lower right corner so you can tell they are video. They will play in the slideshow but it will be pretty crappy because it isn’t met to be looked at in that big size of screen. So if you go the page that is easiest to see them all, you can see it there.
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Tags: adoption, family, fun
Posted by Michelle on Nov 14, 2008 in Hayley, Michelle, More Family
Hayley was a ball girl for the UNC women’s basketball team for their first game of the season against NC Central last week. They are over in the Smith Center for the year since Carmichael is being re-done, so it was a new big venue for her third year of being in the regular rotation at ballgirl. My mom came with us so it was extra fun.
As always Hayley was great. The staff on the floor asked her for more help than any of the other kids, all of which who were older. She cleaned up messed, asked refs if they needed water or towels, ran errands for the staff on the floor.
Right after halftime she ran over to hug one of the assistant coaches, Coach Tracy Williams Johnston who is a friend of ours, as they were leaving and I happened to catch it with the camera. There is something so nice about seeing someone genuinely happy to see your child and hug them.
That leads into the hysterical post-game story. Hayley has new basketball shoes my mom got her and she gets them signed each year by various combinations players from the men’s and women’s teams at UNC. So after the game, she sees Coach Hatchell still on the court talking to people and wants to get her to sign the shoes. She takes off with my approval and I see her over there, now with Coach Tracy our friend. And then they are gone into the tunnel area that connects the Smith Center court to the rest of the building.
I’m not too worried. She’s around people who know her and knows her way around the court. So my mom and I pack up our stuff and wander over to get her so we can leave. However, she’s not in the tunnel and I have a feeling now she’s gone back to the locker room with Tracy, which normally I just talk my way into but these are Smith Center security guards – not the easier going Carmichael guards. They acknowledge that Hayley is back with Tracy in the locker room but won’t let me back and won’t go get her.
I ask them if I could have Cat Greene go back and get her. Security says who – I tell them she was the head manager for the women’s team forever and is now helping on the floor. But the guy looks at me like he’s clueless. Again, you drop Cat’s name at Carmichael and the sea parts.
So we are just stuck waiting until a guard finally takes pity and hollers back to another coach out in the hallway. Tracy comes out with Hayley, laughingly telling us she kidnapped Hayley and might not give her back.
Of course all this time, Hayley has been wandering shoes in hand around the UNC women’s locker room having them sign her shoes. I’m not mad and I wasn’t really worried, it was just hysterical to me that my kid can get places that I no longer can and that she goes back into their locker room as if it was just the local gym, not a basketball powerhouse program.
We are leaving as Rashanda McCants gives her five and thanks her for helping. Hayley smiles probably not grasping she is an All-American, a future WNBA player with a NBA player for a brother. And in a way, I’m glad that she likes these girls and this program for who and what they really are. I love the influence these girls have on her.
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Tags: family, fun, sports, unc
