Morganisms

"I'm already beautiful but a little make-up is okay if you want. It makes you extra really beautiful. Then you put your arms in the air like this and shout woooo hooo cause you look so pretty!"

-Morgan, age 5

Found!

The lost pictures from Mo's party. :)

I told you about the amazing cake she and Maddox decorated.

And what a great photographer she is.

But I forgot to tell you how incredibly cute she is.

Especially when she had several false alarms and attempted to blow the candles out on her cake sooo many times during that long 'Happy Birthday' song. She'd catch herself and stop herself from doing it each time and was a little shy about it. But oh so happy when she finally got to blow them out at the (almost) end of the song. :)

I love this little girl soooo much.

Mo's Party

I had been procrastinating on posting Mo's party pics because I couldn't find them..... I have no idea where the memory card is with her party pictures on it. So these couple that I pulled for 365 will have to do.

Morgan requested chocolate cake. Pink and purple balloons. And Taylor Swift.

The first two were easy peasy.

Taylor Swift. Well. Turns out she's pretty busy and hard to get for a 5 year old's birthday party.

We improvised with microphone cakes (she had a Hannah Montana guitar last year so we couldn't redo the guitar cake) and a Taylor Swift dance party. Morgan and Maddox decorated the microphone cupcakes 98% on their own. I decorated a little purple cake for Mo, we put a microphone on it. And Mo & Maddman got to decorate their very own cake. I have some awesome pictures of it and as soon as I find them I'll post them. The cake was pretty amazing! :)

We grilled out, did cake and presents, then Mo had a swimming lesson. It was fun to watch her with the kids in her group. (I got pictures there too I want to post! Ugh, memory card!)

After lessons it was back to grandma's house to check out some of the birthday presents. She is already very good at the camera we got her. (Ah. I bet SHE has some great birthday party pictures!) And she got her very own real guitar. She's already gone through 3 (4?) Hannah Montana guitars.

She's definitely a rockstar.

And she's crafty too. Those birthday hats? Made by Morgan! (And she so lovingly handed them out and made sure everyone had the chance to wear a birthday hat.)

I love this little girl!

Happy 5th Birthday, Morgan!

Yikes. Didn't I just post this post the other day?!?!

How is she already FIVE?

Dear Morgan,

Happy 5th Birthday! I can't believe it was FIVE years ago that you were born. Five years ago I was working for I-JAG and came to the hospital after work to await your arrival. Five years ago I excitedly brought your baby pictures to work to show Rusty. Five years ago I became an aunt for the first time. Five years ago I saw your teeny tiny little face and I loved you right away. Just because you are you.

I try to tell you to stop growing so fast, but it isn't working. Every time I see you, you have grown up more and more.

You are a people pleaser. Whenever you come to our house you are a big helper. You love Dakota. We rarely have a conversation that you don't ask about him. You follow me around and want to do what I'm doing. You LOVE taking pictures. You don't know it yet, but at your birthday party Friday you'll get a present from Rusty, Dakota and me that will help with that. :) You like Taylor Swift and Hannah Montana (still) and are quite the little rockstar. While I'm not sure I knew what a computer was when I was your age, you are quite savvy on it. You love your cousin Maddox. You swim like a fish. You requested a Taylor Swift birthday party with pink and purple balloons and chocolate cake. This year you graduated from pre-school and gave yourself a haircut. It was scary at first but you rock it pretty well. You pose perfectly for pictures, but I have to be quick, because when you are ready to be finished times up. You have an extraordinary fashion sense. I like your style. I like your smile. I love you.

Happy FITH Birthday!

Love you soooo much!

-R, H, & Dakota

Show Us: Children's Birthday Parties

Kelly's "Show Us" this week: Children's Birthday Parties

R & I hosted our first "Child's Birthday Party" last weekend. (Don't worry, it was for our niece, not our furry child, Dakota).

I posted about our "twofer" (birthday party AND yard party) here. Here are some details (from both):

I had bought the Yard Party supplies before I knew it was going to be combined with the birthday party (Hannah Montana, of course) so in the breakfast room we used those supplies for the drinks/snacks table.



We had a sign out front, you know, so none of our guests would be confused as to where the party is.... even though all of our guests are often at our house......
I realized I didn't get very many pictures of the "Birthday Party" set up (another reason I'd advise against twofers). She of course had a guitar cake and her own cake table. I love the magnet board in our entry because it was an easy way to put up lots of pictures of her. The chalkboard has the Happy Birthday song on it (you know, in case you forget the words...). Our dining room table was covered in a Hannah Montana table cloth. The party favors were turned into a centerpiece and her gifts/cards were lined up down the middle of the table. Still plenty of room for the kidlins to eat around the table (though most of them ate outside). I completely missed the pinata (and the slip 'n slide). But other than that, it was a great "twofer" party(ies). I guess it was a good crash course in birthday parties for us in case our furry child ever gets siblings.

Check out more @
Kelly's Korner: CHILDREN'S PARTIES!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Morgan!

This year was no bore,
I can't believe you are already FOUR!!

Dear Morgan,
You had an amazing third year of life. You grew up so much this year. You started talking and acting like such a big girl. Uncle Rusty and I (and Dakota) had so much fun with you this year. Some of my favorite memories from your third year are:
-during a car ride home after a day of sledding and eating at "Grandpa Kev's" you said, "That was the BEST birthday party ever! I'm soooooo happy!"
-you are usually the only little girl at our house and when the Peasley & Carson boys & Maddox were all rough housing you said, "What are they talking about, it makes no sense?!" I told you they were playing football and you said, "Sports is a naughty word!" I agree, hunny!
-whenever you spend the night with us, one of the first things you do in the morning is greet Dakota by rubbing his face and talking baby talk to him. When he is naughty you say, "You stop that, Dakota Buckingham!!" Do you have an ornery Buckingham in your preschool class? :)
-and it is much more fun to talk to you on the phone this year. It fills my heart to hear you yell, "I LOVE YOU, AUNT H!" over the phone.

Here are pictures of more of my favorite memories from your third year. Happy Birthday and I am excited to see what changes and fun memories your fourth year bring! Could we just make this year go a little slower though? LOVE YOU!

Love, Uncle R & Aunt H

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Twofer

Twofers are great for all sorts of things; parties not included.

This weekend, we hosted two parties in one at our house. We had planned on having a yard games party (Yard Games Extraordinaire, to be exact) at our house, then with my niece's 4th birthday being so close, decided to combine the birthday party and have them at the same time.

Don't get me wrong, "both" parties were a ton of fun. And I would host birthday parties for my niece, nephews, (or anyone else for that matter) ANY time. I just would not try to combine the party with another party... you know, at the same time!

My sisters and their kiddos came to spend the night Friday night. It was nice to have a little help finishing things up. I thought my little sis was going to decorate the birthday cake that was all ready for her... she informed me she decorated it last year, it was my turn this year. So we were up past midnight decorating a Hannah Montana birthday cake. Thank God my friend Jen was here earlier in the day Friday to do the first frosting layers and to give me a break! :)

The birthday girl, of course, had to rock out in her Hannah Montana pajamas with her momma as she prepared for the big day.

Once the cake was ready (you know, past midnight) we had everything up and ready to go (details pictures to come in Friday's "Show Us" post).

The yard games party was super competitive. With a ton of games planned (did I mention I'm married to a PE teacher?). Things went okay, but I would not suggest organizing games, score keeping said games, getting food on the grill, participating in the games, oh and try to be a good "host" while doing all of this.

I would suggest getting all of the adults to participate in the games though. There are some great pictures of my mom in the gunny sack race! (I did post them on the world wide web, but only in a "private" album for the party guests to see on facebook... sorry!)
Like I said, very competitive (did I mention, I took first in my heat?) :)
Break in the "Yard Games Party" for Birthday party. The birthday girl loved her cake and the boys seemed to as well. Here is my niece with all of my nephews. Okay, two of the boys are not technically my nephews, but they might as well be!
Birthday girl opening presents. This is the Hannah Montana Karaoke she got from Uncle R & Aunt H. She later told me her favorite "present" was the pinata. I completely missed that part of the party (which is why I would strongly discourage anyone from twofer parties!).
After the points from all most of the games were tallied, prizes were awarded for the first place losers (they weren't impressed with the "so sorry for your loss" card and the horseshoes prize (you know, because they were so close but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades....):
And the champions (what.... just because I won doesn't mean it was rigged.... perhaps you'd like to be the official scorer next year?):

Of course the P families always bring the party and stick around to celebrate until it is way past bedtime. I am so glad they did because we didn't get to enjoy the yard party lights during the day! :)
Thanks everyone for the great weekend, and I promise, if you join us for yard games next year, we'll have the porch finished (finally) and your children will not slice themselves open on the porch "posts."

quotable

Rusty & I don't have any children, but if we did I would love to have this book.
I'm seriously contemplating buying it and changing the title to:
"My Quotable kid niece, nephews, & friends' kids."

Morgan (3yo) was pretty quotable this weekend:

Me- Do you like our porch swing.
Mo- It's nice....
....little bit later.....
Mo- I don't want to make you a problem, but could you and Uncle Rusty build me a real swing set in the back yard?

Me- What do you want for lunch?
Mo- A hamburger but only ketchup.
...after I give her the hamburger meal....
Mo- What is this? I don't want meat or bread. I want ONLY ketchup.
(for the record, she did just lick the ketchup off and did not eat the meat or bun...)

What are some funny things your favorite kidlins say?

great

It was a great day for......

waking up next to my favorite niece.

eating popsicles on the porch swing.

for breakfast.

playing dress up.
playing at the "castle."

eating ice cream. with sprinkles.


playing in the meadow.


picking dandelions.


chasing bubbles. giant bubbles.

catching sun rays.



cooling off in the sprinklers.


kettle corn.

on the porch swing.

dog walking.

hugs.

kisses.

and lots of love.