HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORGAN

She's 3!!!!

Morgan is getting so big. Last night she helped make cupcakes to share with her friends at school. We actually had a snow day today and school was closed, but she is looking forward to taking them in tomorrow. So we had a great time relaxing at home together. And made sure to eat a few cupcakes of our own. :) After singing "Happy Birthday" of course. Morgan even blew out her own candles this year and right before she took her first bite, she looked down at her lap as if saying a prayer and said, "Happy Birthday to me." She was so cute.

She is really excited for her birthday party on Saturday! And is helping with all the last minute preparations. :)

Big Girl Bed

Last night was our first night in the Big Girl bed.

Yesterday during Morgan's naptime, Daddy ran a few errands while Mommy stayed home. Half-way through nap, Mommy heard some noises that sounded like furniture moving upstairs. Since there is only so much noise an almost 3-year old can make in a crib, Mommy crept upstairs to check things out. And low-and-behold there was Morgan, out of her crib, creating havoc in the room. All of the soft things from her inside the crib were stacked in one big pile...at least she knew climbing out of the crib might hurt when you hit the floor. ;) As nervous as we were to give her complete freedom, we knew it was time for Morgan to graduate and Daddy had one more project to add to the afternoon...assembling the toddler bed. And wouldn't you know, it was our best night of sleep all week! Apparently the bars were hindering her beauty rest. She slept straight from 8pm to 8am...with no escapes! Here's to hoping for a repeat performance tonight. :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

We had a great "Christmas Day" at home before starting our drive to Chicago, with a quick stop in Carlisle.

Morgan loved Christmas this year and was the perfect age to enjoy all the excitment. We started a few traditions such as reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas," leaving special cookies for Santa that we made ourselves (honey drops rolled in powdered sugar) & carrots for the reindeer and singing Christmas carols on the way to school each day. Her big gift from Santa this year was her kitchen set...but perhaps her favorite gift was the Dr.'s kit from Mommy and Daddy.

While in Chicago we had our big Christmas dinner with the entire Reineke family. We also had some time to just hang out and relax.

But not too much R&R...over the next few days we also fit in a number of fun activities including the zoo, building a gingerbread house, eating at all sorts of places (the picture above is us eating cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory), swimming in the hotel pool (Morgan is becoming quite the little swimmer!), playdate with Noah and Fred (FL7 - Philie and Abby's older boys) at Monkey Bizness, and seeing the new Harry Potter movie.

Then before we knew it, it was time to hit the road again...with a quick stop at our friends the Klopfensteins...making it home just it time for New Year's. HAPPY 2011 EVERYONE! :) Wishing you all the best in the new year.

Tokyo, Japan

In mid-Dec, Merck Japan brought Mommy and her two coworkers/friends (Kelly and John) to Tokyo to present to their doctors. The flight was long and the trip was exhausting. But Mommy, Kelly and John managed to fit in a little fun too. :)

We had 1 free day and hired a local guide to show us around the city including 2 ancient temples (Asakusa and Meiji jingu shrine - we saw a traditional wedding here), the famous Tsukiji fish market, Hamarikyu garden, a tea ceremony, an open-air market, a river cruise and some quaint districts along the way...yes we fit a lot in for 1 day.

That evening we also got tickets to see the very interesting art of Kabuki at the Nissei theater (a highly esteemed type of Japanese theater with elaborate make-up and costumes in which all the actors are men and they specially train their voices to have a very unique high-pitched sound)...we definitely didn't fit in and were completely lost with the storyline, but it was fun all the same.

Our hosts (Merck Japan colleagues) were very excited to have us visiting and enjoyed taking us to a hibachi grill (laughably American) and "Ninja" (sister restaurant to the famous NYC location, which was laughably touristy)...but they tried. Every other part of our experience was totally authentic Japanese....it was amazing.