Memories...

Today my friend sent these two pictures to me.  She found them in her email from when I had sent them a long while back. I loved seeing my cute little bug. She is getting so big it almost made me cry to look at them. I love her "big self" indeed - it just goes SO fast...   


Thanks Brianne for sending!!!

Party Wear

One thing that is never a problem for Morgan - finding her perfect outfit... The party outfit (and nails) = 

Party Problemo (1)

Last Sunday we had Morgan's "kid" party.  We did an "off site" party this year at an indoor bounce house place. I knew she would be inviting quite a few kids and I didn't want to manage a group for a home party, plus I was attempting the "easy route" this year. 


Now, as is the case with most events, perfectly easy with no problems - yeah, that's a nice thought but reality was this -


Problemo #1 - Cupcakes. Just one week prior my mom had seen cupcakes at Costco. Perfect. Costco has good cake and cupcakes are awesome because you don't have to slice a bunch of cake. Saturday (day before party) drive to Costco for said cupcakes, do not see cupcakes, ask person in bakery - cupcakes? Bakery person "discontinued as of last week, no cupcakes for you".  Insert sad face here.


Leave Costco and think, think, think. I think - where else can I find cupcakes? Grocery store cupcakes = gross. Cupcake shop cupcakes while good = expensive and not enough time for the amount I need. Cake =  not an option, I've already decided  on cupcakes. ha ha


So - to Walmart we went to buy ingredients for cupcakes. Hours later - vanilla / vanilla cupcakes, chocolate / chocolate cupcakes, chocolate / vanilla cupcakes, marble / ganache cupcakes - lots o' cupcakes. Thank goodness my mom has large counters and two ovens. :-)

The verdict - while time consuming - homemade cupcakes far surpass store cupcakes. Morgan said they were the best cupcakes she's had, can't beat that end result. I guess I'm glad Costco had no cupcakes after all.... 


But wait, yes I did label this Problemo #1, which means there was in fact a Problemo #2! But you have to sit with suspense until I post about that one. Stay tuned!

Seven

Morgan is officially seven. I told her she was seven in the morning and she said - no, not yet. Not until I blow my candle out. Well, the candle has been blown and she is now undeniably seven years old. 


She celebrated her birthday with family and her new best friend - Stripey. She loves this stuffed animal more than I can say she has ever liked anything. Stripey comes everywhere with us (I mean everywhere...) Yesterday he joined us for: 


The morning bday photo shoot.

Breakfast (at which it was decided Morgan really likes breakfast at home, she enjoys the atmosphere of eating out, but not so much the actual food...) 

Shopping for her new big kid bike at Toys R Us. She picked a puppy themed bike, but he was not offended. When we pulled up in front of the store after breakfast she was like - what are we doing here? She had a HUGE smile when she found out it was to pick out her brand new big kid bike (that she was greatly in need of). It is good to have nice grandparents. :-)  It took her a couple of minutes to get used to the size of it, but she was riding around in no time.

Next came presents, cake, and a round of her new squinkies game where you get to say outloud "So Cute" everytime someone gets the so cure card (it stops being cute after a while, ha ha)... She got some very nice certificates from Grandma and Grandpa - so her birthday will last quite a while redeeming them. Plus some money to add to her bank, or spend, or save, or spend (TBD) from Auntie Ellen. 

Then.... Horse riding lessons at her new barn. I found another barn for lessons recently and we had her first lesson yesterday afternoon. She enjoyed her lesson and her teacher (Ms. Jessica) very much. Jessica is a barrel racer and roper - so how long Morgan stays with her will depend on which style she decides she likes best - very far down the road. :-)  Thank you to Auntie Nedra for providing our first few lessons back! 

Stripey watched her lesson from afar... He actually was nicely settled in the barn but Morgan ran over to get me to retrieve Stripey so he could watch.

Afterward dinner at BJ's (where she actually ate) AND got her very own personal birthday pizookie. The best part -  they don't do a mass singing, they just bring you your free pizookie. 

AND THEN... yes, there was an and then. She finished off her evening at Build A Bear workshop. Uncle John took her to pick out a new animal friend and outfits. Because it was Wednesday night she had the store to herself, like her own private BAB shopping experience. So now, Stripey has a friend- Swirly the lamb. They share clothes already - so I imagine they are destined furry BFFS. 

Seven was indeed a GREAT birthday!

Staycation...

Every year I take Morgan's birthday off from work. Since the 4th was on Monday and her birthday Wednesday it only made sense to take Tuesday off too. :-) For the first time in as long as I can remember we stayed in town the whole time. It's been quite relaxing and fun.


We - went to open gym at her gymnastics center..... She actually ran into her friend Emma from school while we were there.

Sunday was church (and seeing two more friends in her church class), swimming, and an Aces game. The Aces always have a special 4th fireworks show, but they weren't playing on the 4th so they did it on the 3rd.  Morgan was also lucky enough to get a ball. We were at the front near the visiting team dugout so when they came in they would hand kids a ball (at least in the beginning they did). She would wait until the 2nd out and get ready to head down to wait and try to get one. She got a wave once from a player but no ball. At the very last inning she was heading back to our seats and a boy in front of us handed her a game ball. He had gotten two that night, one for him and one for his brother and his mom noticed Morgan going down inning after inning trying to get one, so he offered his up to her. It was such a nice thing. Grandpa told his mom she did good raising him and I have to agree.  Morgan loves her ball... 

It was a great fireworks show too. I don't know when I've had to crane my neck up to watch them. Morgan also ran the bases afterward, needless to say she feel right asleep in the car.

4th of July - we slept in - made breakfast - watched Mr. Popper's Penguins (her favorite penguin is Nimrod) - went swimming in Grandma and Grandpa's pool (and worked on her cannonball) - made smores in their new firepit and then had an emergency run to firework watch #2. I had asked her in the morning if she wanted to watch fireworks again and she said she was good - she had seen them at the Aces and they are loud so that was enough for her. But when it got close to firework time she told Grandma she wanted to see them so they made an emergency trek up the street to the top of the hill where it overlooks town and were able to see them perfectly. Good to know for next year..

Today we slept in again (late nights in a row have added up) and then headed up to Sand Harbor at Lake Tahoe. I didn't dare try it for the 4th and was a little worried about today - it fills on busy days and if you can't park in the lot you have to seek out another beach. We got in no problem and found a spot right near the water.  We finished our afternoon with a stop at Yogurt Beach - a new frozen yogurt shop in town that definitely beats the other one we have.  Then home for showers (including Stripey the tiger) and early bed. Early bed was a request of Morgan's - she wanted to make sure she is well rested for her birthday tomorrow. T-12 hours to 7!!!!

Summer Is Here...

Summer is officially here... Yesterday was Morgan's last day of school - she is now a second-grader. She said goodbye to her classroom and her very favorite reptile Poseidon. 


We find out her new teacher next week, she is very hopeful it will be Ms. Lolli, but either way she'll be fine. 


In the mean time she has six weeks off, her birthday right around the corner, Girl Scout day camp, sleeping in, swimming, and lots of other great summer events to look forward to.

Rodeo

Thursday night we went to the rodeo, Morgan's first time actually sitting in the arena and watching all the event. She liked the barrel racing and bull riding best, plus the pony herd that ran around.

And, was lucky enough to run into a nice lady who let her try roping.

Ragamuffin & The Dog

This last weekend we went camping. I have one theme that is common throughout camping photos - ragamuffin status. At camping showers are optional, so is brushing ones hair as you will see modeled below. Camping = freedom from grooming. A much welcomed freedom for a 6-year-old... She is a proud ragamuffin.

We also brought the mutt... Okay, we never really call her a mutt. She HATES baths - but she actually went fairly far into the lake (she also hate swimming) and got cleaned up a bit so while one gets dirty the other gets clean . Fair trade I think.

The Lonely Puppy

Yesterday was Morgan's "Author's Tea" event. They have been writing and illustrating their own books for the last month or so and this was their day to show off their creations to parents. 


Morgan's book is "The Lonely Puppy" and you can see her "brag" piece below about the book. :-) 


The sound quality is not the best - DVD to come from the teachers this week - I'll repost when I get the updated version.

It's Been A While...

I know it's been awhile... And my blog tells me so. 


The last post was April, the background of snow.


I'll get back to it - hopefully someday soon.......


until then here's some pictures: 


(thought I would finish in a rhyme didn't you.. ha ha)


Morgan and her "pig" balloon... 

During Easter we made a bunny cake - my first chocolate one ever. I always think of Grandma Dutra when I make a bunny cake since she is the one that taught me. So they make me especially happy!

We were busy with Girl Scouts. Our final 2010-11 meeting wrapped up just a couple weeks ago. We had a good year and did a lot of fun trips. Next year is going to be even better and they will be BROWNIES! :-)

 Took a really long day trip to Six Flags for Girl Scout day. Highlight of my day - Morgan is too short for any of the big coasters still..... Okay that was not really the highlight, but I was secretly grateful. This was her first big trip with a friend and she LOVED it.  We did it all in one day - drove down in the morning, stayed all day, and then were home right after midnight. Normally I might not have set such a schedule - but a birthday party and GS meeting the next day said - one day it is! 

Managed to have a little Spring Break time. It just so happens the week of Spring Break was also the week of focus groups at work. Groups that were scheduled for the evening hours - luckily I was able to have a couple long lunch breaks to take her to lunch, and on one day golfing with Brandon.

And this..... this is a recent picture that I could not help but take. I saw her sleeping like this and instantly was brought back to when she was a baby. She would sleep flat on her back with her arms up like this right near her face. (when she slept that is...) 

And now.... back to work and school. She has just over one week left and then Summer vacation!!!  I actually have a few days scheduled for a little staycation in the next couple of weeks too.... 

We're both looking forward to some "free" time,  and she of course is counting down the days until her birthday. Seven arrives in T- 20 days.

Two Wheels

This last weekend Morgan asked if she could try riding her bike without training wheels.

She tried a couple of times Saturday night and had the concept down pretty quickly, unfortunately we were only able to stay outside for a short time because it was COLD.

Sunday brought us sunshine and warm weather and after about two tries she was able to pedal by herself with no help. Now she is racing around on two wheels like she has been doing it forever.

She also took her first ride on Grandpa's motorcycle.

On the 4-wheel front, she is also learning to ride a skateboard. And, again for only having done it a couple of time she seems to be getting it quickly!

March - A Recap

Oh this dearly neglected blog..... It appears it's time for another catch up recap. (it's my go to when weeks go by) :-)


* Swim - Morgan transitioned back into classes again with other kids. She was NOT happy the first week (to her defense we did not get forewarning, she just showed up and there were other kids)  but has grown to accept this new change. So much so that she actually swam to the bottom of the pool last week. The teacher threw a ring in (at the 5 foot deep part no less) and down she swam to get it. It was kind of amazing!


* Ski - Try as we might (and sometimes I did not very hard, I admit it) - she only made it up a few times, not as often as I would have liked. Regardless, she got the basics down and seems pretty confident overall. We get discounted ski passes at a local resort for the rest of the ski season (which may have more days to it than normal given this wacky weather). It's my goal to get us up there at least once more before it's time to turn in the skis.


* School - We just finished break. Break went by REALLY fast this time. And, just like last time she got sick. Which, I suppose is better than getting sick during school, but it is a little concerning that this may be a pattern. Her first day back was good, as far as I can tell at least. :-) She was happy and had nothing negative to say, so we will take that as a successful day.


* Cookies - We are finally finished selling cookies!!!!!!!!!  Can I put enough exclamation points, probably not. We love cookie $, it supports so many great activities and trips - BUT by the end of cookie season we (okay I) am tired and done. Luckily I had an influx of individual orders last week that took care of some of our extra stock. We had to cancel our booth the weekend before last because of weather and had only this last week to sell. We powered through and spent about 2 1/2 hours outside the storefront, BUT we sold what we needed to. SO HAPPY!!! :-)


* Technology - We got internet, and a cable box, and a home phone!  We had basic cable but that was it before. I finally caved and bought the package. Internet is becoming more necessary (and trying to do it over my phone is not always the best / easiest), as is a home phone. Morgan understands the iPhone, but I began to worry she would not know how to use it in an emergency, or what if it dropped the call, etc..  I think a home phone is just good insurance.

Weekly Blessing - Week 24

Phinneas and Cat Fish live!!!!  This is a BIG deal in our house. Morgan's beta has lived an entire year.. and our adopted fish catfish has made it almost as long with us.  They get along well together and they stay swimming day after day. 


This may not seem a big deal - but for me it is. We sadly had another nine adopted fish and later a goldfish; all have passed on and were subject to a clockwise burial. (Probably due to my lack of fish care knowledge) But Morgan's are doing well and for that we are thankful! 

Snow Jump Sunday

Sunday we went sledding.. There is a park near my parents house with the best sledding hill. Nice and steep, with lots of speed potential and on this day some pre-built terrain with airlift capability. I don't make her wear her helmet all the time when she sleds, but in this case she had just come from the other side of the park with a HUGE jump. She wanted to try it, and she did 3 times over! It was very large though so every time she hit it right in the middle and flew in the air. I wish I had my camera - she caught BIG air and the sled went one way, she went the other. She kept at it, but on run #3 bit her tongue and she was done with it.

Luckily we found a much smaller "snow jump" that she could happily ride on without potential for injury. I even tried it too - who can resist a snow jump? 

Weekly Blessing - Week 23

We are currently amid cookie season and I just wanted to send a Big HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for your support. Morgan has some good pre-sale numbers and now that we are heading into booth sales she is sure to reach her prize goal. I also have the goal of getting her out to do some door to door sales but unfortunately the weather has not been on our side yet for that. 


I have seen what cookie sales can do for our troop and so this year am trying to sell, sell, sell as much as possible. We were able to fund our entire year of troop activities last year and the girls did some great things like indoor rock climbing, ice skating, food shopping for donation, tour of and cooking a PF Chang's, etc... This next year we not only want to fund our activities, but they are also saving up this year and next to pay for Sharks in the Dark at Marine World. 


It is the coolest thing - you get to spend the night in the shark exhibit and do some experiments, see a private dolphin show and take a sunrise safari ride + admittance to the park for the next day. It's going to be WAY fun. 

Gallery Post - I Was Walking Down The Road