Gallery Post - Terrific Toucan

Morgan's Post Xx

Morgan has been asking to use the computer ... she has REALLY wanted to type.. so here is her contribution. Through this "exercise" I learned that her favorite number is 5 and favorite letter is J (for now at least).

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Gallery Post - Get Yer Boots On!

A trip to Target =

A very happy little girl!  We went to Target the other night to utilize one of her birthday cards. 1st (and primary) objective was a new bathing suit. She has to wear her bathing suit a good majority of the day when she has swim-based field trips and any girl knows the difficulty of getting out of a one piece suit with clothes over top - should the need arise. We walked away with two of the three she tried on - a new "tank-ini" and "zu-kini" - not sure why but she calls bikinis zukini's. Both are very cute choices. 

Of course, shopping could not end there, she picked out this outfit - 

And, used part for one toy - 

She wanted this dog last time we were in the store but he was too expensive (I can't believe I forgot about him around birthday time). She walked through EVERY aisle looking at toys and comparing prices - how many things she could get for her money. That was until she saw the puppy toy. He makes puppy noises, rolls over, and snuggles. He was the full price of her allotted funds (and luckily on clearance which made him possible) - but she didn't flinch - he was worth the full investment. Today his name is Woofles (I honestly can't remember what it was the other day). She has advised that his name will change as she likes and he's okay with it - she'll just keep him informed.

Chocoholic Camping...

On this camping trip we completed project sch'more. It was an experiment to say the least and I don't know that we walked away with any "must have" concoctions (perhaps this is a leave a classic alone type thing)... FYI, strawberry marshmallows are GROSS - even Morgan did not like them. 

For our graham creations this time we had:

FAIL - Chocolate graham, dark chocolate filled with raspberry, and strawberry marshmallow. Got the two thumbs down gross report - mainly because of the marshmallow.

Pass - Chocolate graham, milk chocolate filled with caramel, and classic marshmallow. I liked this quite a bit - it's pretty close to the classic, but still just enough of a twist to make it different. Morgan also discovered she REALLY likes the Ghiradelli caramel filled chocolate - further evidence that her picture belongs next to the word CHOCOHOLIC. 

Pass - Chocolate graham, Reese's peanut butter cup, classic marshmallow. Morgan made this and liked it!  Again - pretty similar - but I do have to say I liked the chocolate graham crackers better than the traditional....

Other than that we spent all day Saturday at the lake and within our campsite Morgan found her own little "mini-forest".

 

Jump In!

A 100 degree day = an afternoon visit to the pool. AND, this afternoon equaled Ms. Morgan jumping into the water from the side of the pool and also voluntarily sticking her face in... I was SO proud of her....

A quick pause for this commercial interruption...

I came in the living room this morning (Morgan was eating breakfast and watching TV) to a very enthusiastic little person - 

M: Mama, do you want to get some oxyclean??? 

Me: Ummm, why? 

M: Mama, it take the stains out of ANYTHING.

Me: Oh!

M: Yes! (slight pause) That's what I'm going to get you for your birthday. 

Ha ha ha... Billy Mays lives on... and has sold a 5-year-old on the wonders of oxy clean. But I wonder, can we revisit when I NEEDED to have an iPhone because it has an app for EVERYTHING! :-) ha ha ha

SCH'MORES!

I don't know why but every time that I have thought of s'mores recently (or said the word) I keep saying it as SCH-MORES.... The pronunciation revisitation seems fitting in light of my current weekend plan - on the agenda: camping round 2! On the menu (after an actual dinner of course - well, probably) super fancy sch'mores! 

I answered a post recently about ideas for a s'mores birthday party and then decided that one of my ideas deserved a test-run by it's very own creator - me. I am sure I am not the first to embark on this culinary project, but it's a first for us. The objective - take a traditional s'more to the next level.

My thoughts are this: 

traditional graham crackers are great - but could chocolate graham crackers be greater????

marshmallows are all fluffy and white - but what about those fantastic rainbow ones - just for kicks...

the traditional hershey bar - it's fabulous, but could another type of candy bar add that little extra something...

sauce / syrup addition - is it possible - I think so! In fact, I've kind of envisioned a sort of "Phish Food" (for all you Ben and Jerry fans) concoction - choco graham, marshmallow, chocolate, and caramel... 

So many possibilities - we should have fun testing them out. Morgan is excited about the idea and to go shopping for the ingredients. We'll report back on the results of project sch'more... 

As promised... More B-Day Videos

(apologies for the bad lighting.... note to self for next time)

Friend Inspiration

I have always been fascinated by children and the way they interact with each other. It's just so easy and simple - a look over, hey how are you, I'm so and so... and on from there. They need no more commonality other than I'm a kid - you're a kid - great, let's play!  

Because it had been a VERY hot day the pool had a surplus of visitors, many of which were children, one of which was a little boy who was 5.  I know he is 5 because along with name introductions kids tend to always add their ages as well - hi I'm so and so and I'm this age.  I fully understand why this stops along the way - I'm not throwing my age around any more - ha ha... 

The great part about the interaction (at least in this case) is that it seems to inspire bravery and or notions that may not have been there, in Morgan's case - dunking her head. This particular friend was dunking his head multiple time, and jumping in from the edge of the pool. His brother came over at a later time to show us that he could do flips and hand stands under the water - all of which interested her greatly.  

Morgan was so inspired she started blowing bubbles and dunking part of her head. When we got home to take a bath she even decided to lay down in the tub and let the water almost cover her (the eye area still remains off limits). Ever since then she has been talking about this boy and his brother - and the fact that they could do all of these things... she has yet to go for the big dunk, but every little bit of motivation helps!

The VERY best present EVER.

Because Morgan just had her birthday she is in birthday mode. She knows that mine comes next and so she was asking the other night what I wanted for my birthday. My first answer was a bike  - to which she answered ummmm I don't think I can get you a bike mama. 

Fair enough, okay then - I want whatever you want to make for me - I'm sure I will love it (and I will). She started thinking and then said - I know... I am going to get you the best birthday present EVER. She started to explain, it will make dinner for you and I so you don't have to cook, it will clean the house, it will do special things for you.. etc.. etc.. etc... this very best present EVER had a very extensive list of things it was going to do to make my life easier. 

I thought in my head - what could this be - the perfect husband perhaps??? A very obedient and hard-working child??? NO - it is in fact a robotic dog... well... that will do too - needs less attention than a husband and no child labor issues. ha ha ha If only this robotic dog really did exist!

4th of July (or 3rd)... :-)

Morgan's first experience with fireworks was at Disneyland circa 2006 - AKA the BIG BOOM. She did not enjoy the fireworks one bit and referred to them as the big boom(s) -  I will say they were loud fireworks. Three years later she has come to enjoy fireworks quite a bit. 

I have had lots of adults say - fireworks, eh seen um... not too concerned with seeing them again. This I do not understand. I have watched fireworks for most all of my 30+ years (yes, let's just leave that plus alone - I still have one more month until it really qualifies) and still enjoy them every time. To me, 4th of July without fireworks is just not 4th of July. 

I would love to find a place that still allows self-made firework shows, or even the ability to run around with sparklers. I remember watching fireworks at the end of Grandma Dutra's street (and the firework hut by the train tracks a couple of miles away) - it was so neat to see them set off right there at the end of the street. As of writing this I am making a new goal to (just one time) find such a place to take Morgan to. 

This year had a special flair of different and old school to it. In past years we have gone down to Sparks - they always have great fireworks, but there is  something "not so special" about it... For this weekend we went camping at Lake Davis and were able to drive down to Portola (about 15 min. away) and watch the fireworks. What I enjoyed most about it was that we got to sit in the back of the car. In front of us - nothing but a giant field, the sky, and some trees. 

The only downside for me was that they were on the 3rd, not the 4th. It really is not a big deal I know - but I have my hang ups about holidays happening on the actual day - it's kind of like new year's eve eve -  just not the same feeling as the actual eve. 3rd or 4th made no matter to Morgan though - she enjoyed them just the same. She was running around (ok actually standing around - we're not that relaxed) with a smores stick cooking marshmallows with fire on the 4th - so maybe that counts as an impromptu sparkler? 

Birthday Video(s)... Spinning Princess

I forgot that I took a couple of videos on Morgan's birthday... I'm uploading one tonight - will add the other tomorrow. (turns out I don't have Quick Time Pro - so no rotating capabilities for me at home)...

BIRTHDAY!!!

Pancakes and Golfing (including a hole in one)... Swimming and Chuck E Cheese... Presents, Ice Cream Cake, and Packaging Dress Up = Morgan's 5th Birthday.

FIVE...

Morgan is now officially 5! She is quite excited to be 5 - I am totally wondering where the time went. I seriously had a moment at breakfast where I thought I might cry - looking over across the table at a big girl who just a little bit ago was a tiny baby. She has grown and changed so much (I know that's the point) over 5 years and she's no longer a baby or toddler - she's a little girl. 

I have been thinking quite a bit about many of her firsts. Making and feeding her first food (carrots), watching her military crawl (she never really crawled in the "normal" crawling way) turn into walking, the first time she actually slept alone (7 months post-birth), her first trip to the ocean wobbling around on the beach, taking a trip on an airplane all the way across the country before she was 3 and being the best travel partner anyone could ask for (I have to laugh as I remember her freaking out that we were taking a car that was NOT ours - this trip also involved her first lesson in rental cars), riding on her first "big kid" roller coster in the front car - holding her hands up straight in the air, remembering the way she used to call hotels hotel-os, seeing her write her name for the first time, and how excited she was to discover that this year she could touch the bottom of the pool (in the shallow end). 

I love all of the adventures we have had so far and the fact that she is always ready for another one. I love what an amazing, smart, articulate, inventive, creative person she is. I constantly admire the way she views the world and how carefree she is - I hope she keeps a bit of that with her throughout her life.  I could not have been more blessed than to be given my MorgyBug! I am beyond proud to be her mama!!!!