Month 23 in Review

We loved Dec, with the focus being Christmas! With the Christmas trees and decorations, and music, and cookies, and parties. It just goes way too fast.

This month, Morgan became great at putting together her wooden puzzles all on her own! And a pro at stacking blocks (her current record is seven high!). Her communication has also drastically increased and is talking more and more to get things. For example, she will run to the closet door and says "shoes" when she wants to go outside, points to here mouth and says "cheese" when she wants something to eat, and says "waterwaterwaterwater" she wants something to drink. It is sort of nice finally being able to tell what she wants sometimes.

With a few days of vacation around the holidays, we also fit in a couple other fun activities. We went to the NJ Aquarium with our friends the Grahams...it was a cold, cold day, but we still got to see the penguins outside as they quickly were fed and sheltered inside.

We also took the train to downtown Philly to see the 3-D Christmas show at the Comcast center, the light show/Dicken's Village at Macy's complete with a visit to see Santa, and some of the decorated windows.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Christmas was wonderful this year, with Morgan being almost two years old, she really started understanding the holiday. At least parts of it (like unwrapping presents, the making cookies--complete with batter eating, and putting all the interesting ornaments on the tree/especially the ones with a button that plays music.)

For the first time, Mommy and Daddy celebrated Christmas Eve at home; we started the tradition of reading "The Night Before Christmas" and of course putting out cookies/milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

Waking up the next morning Morgan was surprised to see all the presents under the tree. We did stockings first and then watched as Morgan had a great time opening up her gifts (becoming a pro in no time). Two favorites were her rocking horse from Santa and an unmarked brown box with some pieces to her Main Street Village (past experience clued her into what was inside-- check out the video). :)

Then we headed to Grandma/Grandpa Brown's house to celebrate Christmas with the whole family. By the end of the wonderful day, Morgan was definitely worn out.

Year-End Celebration

To celebrate the holiday season and the end-of-the year, each of the classrooms at school have a party. And being the Parent Council Rep for T3/T4 meant, it was Mommy's job to plan it for the room. After a couple stressful weeks, the party was a hit and everyone had a great time...with snacks, gingerbread cookie decorating, goodie bags for the kids, and gifts for the teachers. Although, it was a bittersweet celebration as we wished Morgan's primary teacher Miss Sara farewell and good luck on her promotion to head of one of the infant suites.

Also today happened to be Jr. Gym, so we snapped a few pictures there too. Every Wed. morning, the classrooms participates in an extra activity called Jr. Gym which teaches some fun tumbling, listening, and obstacle course activities. All the kids love it and Morgan gets so excited on these days.

First Snow

This past weekend we had the first snowfall of the year. Hello Winter! It was actually really nice...we didn't have anywhere that we had to be so we took opportunity to stay inside, relax a bit, and put up all our Christmas decorations. What could be better than snow falling as you listen to some carols while hanging ornaments?

We did take a little break to enjoy the snow outside...although "enjoy" may not be the best word to describe Morgan's experience....just take a look for yourself. Perhaps cold wet stuff falling from the sky takes a little to get used to. :)

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday; we enjoyed celebrating in Chicago. Here's Morgan in her Thanksgiving dress at Great Grandma Ruth's house.

Month 22 in Review

Can it really be December already???? Month 22 had to be the quickest yet...most of it was spent enjoying a great visit to Chicago for Thanksgiving.

Before we left, we enjoyed the Annual Harvest Dinner at Morgan's school. All of the family's are invited to participate in a lunch at the center with traditional Thanksgiving food.

Then we hit the road to start our drive to Chicago. Along the way we stopped in Dayton, Ohio to spend some time with our good friends Todd, Cindy and Olivia at the Wright Patterson Air museum (pictures courtesy of them) as well as a visit with Great Grandma Donna.

We had a great time in Chicago visiting with the Reineke family, staying at the McDonald's lodge, spending some time with Great Grandma Ruth and Poppy, having a great Thanksgiving dinner with the family, eating at Portillo's (just a few times), seeing some of the FL7 gang (including .2 and .3) and even having an early Christmas celebration under the trees that the lodge just put up. Then before we knew it, we were on the road again, heading backto PA.

Month 21 in Review

We had a great time this month enjoying the fall. The big event was of course was the birth of Olivia, as well as a fun Halloween. But we also really enjoyed the leaves, various outdoor activities and a really hot day at the Annapolis boat show for Mommy's birthday (her birthday dinner was the largest Maryland crab-meat dinner ever...YUM!) Daddy is hooked...on a boat and the crab meat!

Some of Morgan's favorites this month

Thing: Pumpkins

Music: Dan Zane

Toy: Stroller (Anything can and will get pushed around the house in it.)

Food: Pumpkin seeds (There have a been a few but as of today, I think this one wins out

Books: Love you, Love is a handful of honey, Twinkle/twinkle, Gossie

Activity: Stomping through leaves

Game: Put "___" down for a nap. This is soooo cute. Everything takes a nap...her doll, her cup, her spoon, her book, etc. She lays it down, covers it with a blanket/washcloth and pats it. Sometimes we even get Twinkle, Twinkle hand motions.

Another favorite activity this month is apparently screaming...she is exploring her vocal chords and she is definitely 100% Little Girl.

Happy Halloween

Halloween with Morgan was a lot of fun this year! As you can see she was one cute bee...and with her little "Jump up and down" song she was actually one cute dancing bee...complete of course with a flower candy basket.

The festivities began yesterday at school with a Halloween parade. All the kids dressed up in their costumes and walked around the front circle for their parents...they were adorable. Morgan's friend Jack was a little lion and her friend Emma was Raggedy Annie (a great costume handmade by her mom).

Of course for the little ones there was a lot going on. And for a certain little bee all the excitement was down right overwhelming. But even a crying bee is still cute.

After the parade we went to the pumpkin patch at MerryMead Farm. Unlike the parade, Morgan loved it and was picking pumpkins like a pro. After we were done in the patch, we walked around the farm and actually saw a new calf that was only hours old.

This morning we decorated our pumpkins and saved the pumpkin seeds for roasting...Morgan's new favorite snack. YUM!!!!

And Halloween wouldn't be complete without trick or treating after dark. The weather didn't completely cooperate but at least it was warm, and the rain didn't stop us from going to a few blocks. Morgan really got the hang of ringing door bells and collecting candy, especially after she broke through one of the wrappers and realized what was inside. :)