Christmas 2010

 Well, Christmas has come and almost gone. Girls not staying in bed...still spinning from the fun couple of days and the excitement of Christmas. We went to Barbee ("Papa's church") for Christmas Eve candlelight service and a special Children's Christmas "Interactive" Service. It was pretty neat. [My letter that comes between J and L and also beings my first born's name isn't functioning on my *eyboard tonight.] The children that came were given costumes to participate in the reading of a special version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas with the nativity. As you can see the girls were angels. We open presents with Papa and Jason & *atie after church. Then there was a late night for Mom and Dad as we prepare everything....and our message from Santa said he wanted grilled cheese sandwich with his coo*ies and chocolate mil*. Girls wo*e up this morning excited and presented were opened. *ailey's highlight was the Lego house which she spent nearly 4 hours putting together with the guidance of Jason and Mar*. Lexi's highlights are the Strawberry Shortca*e remote control car, which will run you over, and the zhu zhu pets trac*. Well, just wanted to get a few pictures posted for you to enjoy. Merry Christmas!

Kailey's things to share

Kailey drew this not too long ago. I thought I'd share and in turn have it documented. This is what she thinks God looks like.
Ahhh, God to a kindergartner.



The next pictures are the Family Tree she had to make for school. Of course, Mom waited until last minute because of the pictures and search of the some of the harder ones. And we didn't have a picture of Zoey, the other "cousin dog".

My New JOY Item

I tend to find a new JOY item every holiday. There are tender memories associated with JOY (see here) but I wouldn't trade those memories. I actually re-read my post about my JOY ornaments before writing and had forgotten about the bookmarks. When I saw the JOY item I instantly new exactly where I was going to put it. When I get past all the "birthday" and get to the "Christmas" decorations, I will hopefully get another picture up. I hope I am able to keep the meaning of JOY in the forefront of my mind this season. 

 

I have a Mom story to share. One of my college roommates has returned to SBU as a professor in the Education Department. On one assignment, a student wrote about a "spelling hangman" game that she remembered. She had to give a reference for her game and she wrote, "Mrs. Osterberg." Our God is a God of details. This student had Mom in 3rd Grade and remembered this game for her assignment. (Who remembers that!) She is now in college, with a teacher that had met Mom. She could have gone anywhere and had any teacher! My roommate posted on my facebook wall, "Your Mom's legacy is still living on!"

 

Don't worry Katie. I got one for you too.

Happiness in November

There's a little girl in our life that is very special. Her name is Lexi. And she made November happy for us. Dad called  her a turkey when she was in my belly. He'd say, "She's having a turkey." Due on Black Friday....of course, her parents have worked retail for years. She's a compliant second child in many ways. But can beat to her own drum in many other ways. She's precious. She's our Lexi and she's now three.
Happy 3rd Birthday Lexi! (She was so funny...I don't know if you can see her expression before we started to sing. She had said "Are you going to sing Happy Birthday to me?" Partially thinking she might not get sung to, but also HEY YOU NEED TO SING TO ME!

Kailey's Birthday

Wow! I'm really behind! I'll try to catch you all up. I know my extended family enjoys reading and seeing the girls. I'm trying to keep up! Kailey is 6! I can hardly believe it. Oh, I haven't done first day of school yet, either! ok, one at a time. So much has happened since the day Kailey was born. She is very kind and compassionate (we believe she acquired the compassion trait from helping take care of Mom.) While she does have a few really good friends, she is a good friend to many. She is starting to show some leadership characteristics at school. She knows the answer to most questions her teacher asks. Her teacher will call on her when no one else knows the answer because she will not boast about answering.

We had two birthday parties for Kailey. One was a family party, and one with her friends. One of the things she wanted was her "WHOLE" family together. Well, she got it mostly...we didn't get Uncle Darrel. She was pretty excited to have Aunt AJ around for a couple of days, as well as Grandma Connie, and Jason, Katie, and Papa.

Halloween and Trunk or Treat

We had to great creative with our Halloween costumes this year. For school, Kailey had to be a "storybook" character and bring the book. We spent a lot of time this summer reading books from the library, especially Eloise. Eloise is a 6 year old girl that lives at the Plaza Hotel. Kailey and Lexi have enjoyed the books and a movie we found on the Disney channel. So we had the idea to be Eloise for Halloween. Shirts were found. Shoes bought by a fill-in Grandma "Mor-Mor" and shirts made by Grandma Connie....who did a wonderful job!

We took our Eloise idea a little bit further...BMPC's 2nd Annual Trunk or Treat event. (A trunk or treat is where people gather in a parking lot and decorate their trunks and hand out candy. They are a big hit because they are a safe alternative to door-to-do  trick or treating. We had a great time in our "Plaza Hotel". I've not heard totals from church. However, I would say I handed out over 300 pieces of candy. Our red carpet didn't work with the traffic flow....

 We had special friends join us. This is Molly, the princess bride, in the middle. Molly lives in Florida, and came to spend the week with her family and Mor-Mor, her real Grandma. We had so much fun having them around to play.

"Mor-Mor" was lined up because last year it was SO COLD and WINDY!! This year was BEAUTIFUL!! So she came to church to hold and love on Tyler. Thanks Mor-Mor!

November 5th

This year marked 4 years without Mom. Hard to believe its been 4 years already! Thanks Phyllis and Ruth for your emails. We had our "memorial" meal Thursday evening at Ventana's with Margaret. I couldn't go on Friday (the actual 5th) and they only serve lobster bisque on Thursdays. Lobster was one of Mom's favorites and she really liked the girls' at Ventana's bisque. I'm actually starting to like it!

 This is Tyler's first visit to the cemetery.

Tyler, One week

Our favorite photographer came when Tyler was a week old to take pictures. Here's the sneak peeks.
Go to Patty's website here.

Meet Tyler Wooden Morgan

Tyler Wooden Morgan was born Wednesday morning, Septemeber 8th, at 9:11am. He weighed in at 8 lbs, 6 oz, and 20 3/4" long. He made for a challenging delivery with a face presentation (resulting in the bruising you might be seeing around his mouth, chin, and nose). Doc is calling it a once in a career delievery! I was very close to having a c-section. His chin was pointing up rather than being close to his chest at one point. She was able to move him some and he moved some of the way on his own as I pushed. Anyway, it was a long night! You are probably wondering where the "Wooden" came from....Mark is a huge John Wooden fan. Yes, John Wooden the late, great basketball coach. He has a leadership principle in a pryamid that Mark uses in his management. And actually it was some of his managers who suggested using "Wooden" as Tyler's middle name.

I'll have to post more later. Two girls not in bed, school tomorrow, and a baby crying....my new life.

Hope Floats

I got a daily devotional I had been wanting for Mother's Day called "Jesus Calling," by Sarah Young. I started reading yesterday's reading and got a few lines and took a nap. So I picked it back up last night before going to sleep and was amazed at what I had missed a few hours earlier. I will share it with you for many reasons.

"Hope is a golden cord connecting you to heaven. This cord helps you hold your head up high, even when multiple trials are buffeting you. I never leave your side, and I never let go of you hand. But without the cord of hope, your head may slump and your feet may shuffle as you journey uphill with Me. Hope lifts your perspective from your weary feet to the glorious view you can see from the high road. You are reminded that the road we are traveling together is ultimately a highway to heaven. When you consider this radiant destination, the roughness or smoothness of the road ahead becomes much less significant. I am training you to hold in your heart a dual focus: My continual Presence and the hope of heaven."

I finished reading and had to read it again. I always connect "HOPE" with Mom and her trials with ALS. If she only had read the line, "Hope lifts your perspective from your weary feet to the glorious view you can see from the high road." How she literally did that for all of us to see! Then I looked down to see what the verses were with the reading.....Romans 12:12. Of course! Her verse!

Romans 12:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:8; Hebrews 6:18-19

I have thought about this reading many times today, amazed at the change in my attitude and energy level. Maybe I can make it through the next 6 weeks!

Here's the link to Jesus Calling on Amazon.com to read more about the book.

Mark found this video--He related...

Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day. We celebrated at home...Daddy got a Willow Tree figurine of a Daddy and two girls, and then met Dad at church.

This picture is for AJ and Darrel...they got the girls' dresses in Hawaii on vacation at Christmas. They are super cute. They received many compliments on them at church!

Wednesday

For some reason we just have a lot to share from yesterday. The best was the double rainbow after the random storm we had yesterday evening. Kailey and I were headed out to get milk and ran back in for the camera after we saw the rainbows over our house! The main rainbow was so bright and vivid, the colors were very distinct. I'm not sure I have seen a rainbow like that.

New Pictures

I am working on a new blog post, but have been uploading pictures in the mean time.
So click on over to see our pictures.

To Arkansas we went

We went to Jason and Katie's last weekend to visit and to go to a wedding. We spent Saturday afternoon riding bikes and burning energy from being in the car all morning. We brought the girls' bikes and scooters. They enjoyed J/K's street being very flat, where our's isn't so flat! We even talked Kailey into taking the training wheels off her bike. She tried and gave it her best effort. It will take more practice and building up of her confidence.

Jason and Katie also took the girls to to the Wild Wilderness Drive Through Safari, you can check it out  here. Their pictures and videos are posted up on the Shutterfly site. You can look here. Thanks Jason for adding the pictures and videos that way. Hope its easier for all of us! Thanks also for a great weekend. It was fun and good to get away. And our proof we were at a wedding. :)

Kailey's Preschool Graduation

So we have finished last year of preschool, and her second preschool graduation. This one gets her the good stuff....to kindergarten! She's very excited and ready for kindergarten. We've been waiting until the last minute to find out about summer school. Our district offers a going into kindergarten summer program that we have heard great things about. We enrolled her as soon as we could only to wait to see if they would go on with summer school because of funding. We found out a week ago, that summer school would go on fully funded (which means FREE to us!). Kailey had a wonderful teacher and aide, that was just what Kailey needed. Her classmates became good friends and I know she will miss them.

Mother's Day

We had a good Mother's Day here. Breakfast was made for me, consisting of eggs, blueberry muffins, bacon, bananas and strawberries. We went to church with Dad at BMPC today. We had lunch with Margaret, Ronald, Brandon and Andrew at Ventana's in ES. I was able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon in the sunroom scrapbooking. Here's the pictures of the girls and I. I will add pictures of my "loot" soon.

I am so blessed with healthy girls, a wonderful husband, and a Mom that left a legacy of Motherhood to me. I am so thankful for the "other" moms that I have been blessed with, an additional Mom that has made a place in her life for me, and so many others that desire to help and fill the role in any way possible. Thank you!

A New Life with the Morgans

I've found a new way to share videos and our general pictures that I hope works out well for all of us. I have tried a couple others, but I'm into simplicity! I hope that it works out well.....

lifewiththemorgans.shutterfly.com

Blast from the Past

In a conversation with Dad last week, he said his neighbor had brought him some cookies that he didn't "need". I got them on Monday and brought them home not really looking at them. I opened them on Tuesday to have one. I was so shocked, and had to sit down to eat a couple. They were the same sugar cookies as the cookies I remember Grandma Vera making, minus the sprinkles on top. I don't think I've had those cookies in quite some time. The memories that came back to me of eating them were at the house on Willow. Mark said he remembered his Grandma making sugar cookies that tasted like these too. I have one left...I'm going to go enjoy that now.

It's a.....

Our sonogram was today. I was very nervous this morning and going in. I cried when I first saw the image on the screen and saw arm movement. They really were tears of relief. Mark commented that seeing the images on the screen for a sonogram is something that he can never get tired of seeing. It's hard not to look at them and be amazed at God's creation...so well thought out and planned. Intricate. There will be a new color taking over our pink household....blue. It's a boy! Mark thinks he has it already planned....Carolina Blue room with navy blue. He'll play hoops and soccer...and his name will not be Roy.

Have you wondered about us?

You're probably thinking, "What is going on with those Morgans? I haven't seen a blog in ages!" Well, me too. It has been a while, and there has been plenty going on....as always. Our biggest news, if you don't already know by now, is that there is a Morgan #3. He/She is due September 20th, and if you follow birthdays like my mom did, you know that Kailey's birthday is the next day. I am actually due on 9/20 for the second time. Not sure how one manages that....Tuesday we have our first sonogram and hopefully will find out what our third child will be. We are all just praying for healthy, and don't really have strong feelings either way. Well, I say that, but Mark wants a boy, but we are happy either way. I have two reasons for a boy as of Thursday. 1) A boy wouldn't make Lexi so much a middle child, as a girl would. 2) Mark can finally have the chance to take a child to the bathroom 4 times in one meal at a restaurant.

Kailey has about a month left of preschool! We have been to kindergarten round-up. So she got to see the school and a little bit of it. She is signed up for summer school, a transition to K program. But we are having to wait to see if the state is funding it or not. She has recently learned her address and phone number.

Lexi is in an independent stage. I think learning to potty in the potty, which by the way, is a froggy potty, has sent her over the edge. She wants to do most things by herself and its us being patient with her (which can be hard for Mommy). There are tantrums. There is crying. But we are all learning how to make it better and understand what it is she wants. She is doing pretty good at the potty, even out and about. She really doesn't like to wear pull-ups, but you can talk her into them at naptime and bedtime with her panties over them.

Well, my time is over. I have to go give baths....more to come. Sooner, rather than later, I promise.

If it has bananas in it, its still healthy, Right?

So I've been looking at these ripe bananas for a couple of days. I didn't want to make banana bread, because there's a half of loaf still in the fridge. I went looking for a banana recipe today, finding this one. Its pretty exciting because I'm pretty sure I've never made a cake from scratch. EVEN the icing! The other problem I have had last Saturday, and today too, is that when I want my 9 x 13 pan, its being used!

It's pretty good if I do say so myself. The only other opinion around tonight is Mark, and he said it was good too. There's still plenty so come over to help us eat it!

Mommy Money

We use "Mommy Money" here at our house. Yes, its bribery. But sometimes, necessary.
The website is difficult to find, so here is the link. I'll add more later and our "Mommy Money". My pictures are not on my laptop here because it crashed this week and they are on our external hard drive. But maybe that's a better place for them.....
 
http://www.festisite.com/money/#0,59