This and That...

This post is comprised of a little of this and a little of that :)

Well, its the first week of December and I'm pleased to say that I DID NOT gain any weight during Thanksgiving! How wonderful! Here are some photos of the kiddos and their visitors from last week.

Here's the kids doing one of their favorite activities with daddy. When Ken comes home from work, Finn always asks if daddy will "put your legs up and toss me into the air??" It's the cutest thing. The kids just love it!!

Part of our Thanksgiving activities included making handprint turkeys like we did last year. But this year, we have markers. The other day, Finn was coloring with his markers and I was on the phone (big mistake). When I came back to him, he's been coloring on his arm, and tracing his fingers on his coloring book, but had a HUGE black line outlining his hand. HAHAHA. Luckily they were washable markers... better than ever!!

Here is our early Christmas gift. When we moved from WA, we intentionally didn't bring our 46inch flat TV... partly because it had been sold to us with our house, and built into the wall and also because although the screen was flat, the back was not. And it probably weighed over a hundred pounds and we didn't have the extra $$ to move it across the country. So for the past 6 months we've been watching movies and TV on our 19 inch TV. A couple of weeks ago, Ken worked a bunch of overtime and seemed to find this great deal for a 50inch plasma tv with a free blue ray player all at the same time. So, we decided to get it. This is our TV set up (with it's new stand). Merry Christmas to us!
Here are a few photos with the grandparents. xo

Doesn't Finnegan look like Isabella in this picture?? Man, it's creepy!!

Which One to Choose??

This part of my countdown to Christmas, I have begun to put together my Christmas Cards. I love Christmas cards... I love sending them, and getting them. I love getting the letters, and photo of my friends around the country, and choosing the perfect one of my sweet family to send to others!! I love addressing them, stamping them, and even putting them in the mailbox, one at a time.

Last year, I used Shutterfly and plan to use them again to create our cards. But I had trouble choosing... Last year, I chose two different styles to send, cause I just couldn't decide. These are the ones I like the best for this years card.

But I also like this one..

But will probably go with this one....

I love the Shutterfly cards because they have such a great selection of modern, yet classical cards. But also have ones that are fun and whimsical at the same time. But I always like that they have ones that say Merry Christmas on them, not always, Happy Holidays. It is always hard to choose which card. And then comes choosing which photos to use! :) But I love playing around with the cards to find the right one. I love choosing a few and putting the photos in and then choosing. So much fun!!

Have you chosen your cards yet for Christmas?? Check out Shutterfly's site for Christmas Card ideas.

Each year my mom puts together a calendar for the family... We're gonna choose from these ones this year!!

Don't forget Holiday Party invites...

Which ones will you choose??

Christmas Countdown

Thanksgiving was a success here at the Morgan house. I successfully completed a full meal and was very proud of this accomplishment. I planned, prepped and cleaned for our three house guests (my parents and sister). And we had a delightful meal. All that was missing was my younger sister and her family. And my dear family from WA that we've celebrated Thanksgiving with for 5 years!

Thanksgiving was a nice holiday for our family. We began by visiting Ken's airplane on base, a treat sponsored by the Naval Base Family Day. We went inside the aircraft and got to see all of the things that he works on... at least simply.

Then Thanksgiving was filled with early rising for bread making, brining of the turkey (which I will ALWAYS do), and the preparing of the dinner. We did some video chatting across the country, and just hung out. It was a beautiful day. There were a few tears, but many smiles, laughter and lots to FB hacking (Beth was busy that day) :)

And now, we are set and now preparing for Christmas. Here is our tree and a few out-takes of my darling children for our Christmas cards.

Who taught her that??

Just like any child, our daughter has proved to be a one of a kind. She may only be 14 months old, but has a mind of her own, with ideas that I KNOW I didn't teach her. Very different from her brother in that she is driven with a drama button. When you take something from her, or she wants something so badly, she throws herself on the floor and plants her face in the floor, crying all the way.

She can't eat without requiring a bath afterwards. It doesn't matter what she's eating, she will make the most un-messy lunch, messy. Grilled cheese gets smooshed into her shirt or down between her shirt and skin. Granola bar or Nutri-grain bar gets rolled into her hair. And anything that is the slight bit "wet" is ALL over her face and hair. Don't get me started on things like spaghetti and the like.

She gets her fingers stuck in EVERYTHING! Drawers, books, Grocery Carts. Everywhere. And it always is accompanied by a fussing and then a loud scream and cry. Then I realize that she's got her fingers stuck somewhere.

She is so unlike what our little boy is, and yet so unlike what my perception of what our "little girl" would be. All the same, her smile brightens a room and her squeal is full of delight!

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day! Here are a few photos of my grandfather when he enlisted many years ago. Thank you Papa Bill for your service in the Korean War.

This is Papa Bill in front of a Japanese Shrine.

And here he is amidst some tents.

In Christ Alone...

The past several weeks this song has been played during communion at church. An old hymn that is so profound.

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save

'Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live, I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween... from Us to You!!

From Luigi and Mario!!

Making Progress...

I know I haven't posted in a while, but I was in a little bit of a funk. I think I'm out of it... but we'll see. :)

Who couldn't love this face? Really! What a sweet little boy he is... well, most of the time. Especially if his sister isn't around. :) But the one thorn in our relationship is something that some mothers bring on themselves, and I am one of them... POTTY TRAINING. My sweet cherub showed signs of wanting to potty train at 25 months but I wasn't ready. He showed more signs again at 28 months. So, against my best judgement (because we were one month away from moving) we decided to go forward, knowing he'd regress and all after the big move. I marked it on the calender, May 20th... 3 weeks before our scheduled move. I know... stupid. He did well. And once we moved, we waited several weeks and then started again. We've been in MD for over 4 months, and let me tell you, the potty training HAS not been my favorite part of the moving process. When we've had guests to the house, his training has literally been thrown out the window, and we've had to resort back to diapers. Well, finally, I think we've found a stride and my sweet boy is learning to control his body and use the bathroom like the rest of society. :) And for us, the whole issue (because of the early training, non-consistent training --because of the move, my inexperience with the issue) created a potty training situation that was rooted in a control issue. Good old fashion struggle of the wills and smarts. Finnegan is such a smart boy. We knew he could go on the potty and we knew he knew how to listen to his body. And so when he would go in his pants, we could just get so frustrated. Not that he'd gone in his pants but because he literally knew "better". So in reading how to potty train a definite child (which my sweet child IS NOT -- but defiance is very much a control issue (from what I understand)) and found that one technique is to make the child feel that he has so much control in his life, that he will easily give up control of the potty and follow "protocol". And seriously, like clock work he did it! He chooses the color of his plate and cup for all meals, as well as his clothes (within reason). He chooses who gets in and out of the car first, and what he eats for breakfast and lunch. And all of the choices are between two "pre-approved" options. :)

So with much excitement we move on. He is making progress, and I am having more patience. Knowing that on some levels it is only a mind game. UGH! When did I sign up for psychology?

In other news, this is my sweet eldest, with our First EVER Muffin Tin Monday. Although it wasn't a Monday, but a Wednesday that we tried it. It was fun. He didn't eat as much of it as I thought he would -- as other parents had reported some great results of kids eating everything because it was sectioned out. But He liked it, and I'll keep trying it. If you haven't heard of this or Bento Meals, check out this blog.

http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/search/label/Muffin%20Tin%20Monday

Penny's First Birthday

Here are a few still shots of Penny's first Birthday cupcake bites...

And a video to go along with it... :) Fun times!

Dueling Birthday Parties

This year, because the kids birthdays were so close, we decided to do a two for one birthday party. Penny was turning 1 and Finn was turning 3. So we decided on a Owl and Airplane Themed party. It was split down the middle for the two kids and their respective themes (as seen in the invites that we sent out). Here is the cake that I made for the party... and airplane in honor of my sweet boy. And of course, I don't have a photo of him with it... but that's ok, I suppose. It was super tasty though!!

Here is our duel table of party items... And as I tried to get things set out on the day of the party, I didn't realize that I hadn't taken a photo of the complete layout... stinky! Well, just imagine small sandwiches of turkey and cranberry, a veggie plate and vegan pasta salad. I also had hummas and chips as well for our guests.

Balloons all around for the party guests... they all got to take one home when they left. That was fun!

We did an owl craft and an airplane craft. It was pretty fun. But to get all four kids looking one way was nearly impossible for the photo!! :)
Cake Time!! We sang and cut the cake. Penny wasn't nearly as distructive with the cake as she was on her real birthday.

Our airplane race was exciting. But not everyone wanted to be involved, so Juliette and Finn took a couple of turns.

This is sweet Ashley singing to Finnegan for his birthday.
Part of our treats to send home... since we were celebrating 2 birthdays, we didn't think we could have 2 cakes without having too much left over. So we sent cupcakes in a jar home with our guests to enjoy later too.

Happy Birthday, Monkeys! I hope you had a wonderful day! Planning and hosting your party was so much fun!! I love you both!

Downpour...

It's been raining here all week long. We have had so much rain! A nearby city has has a record of 9 inches in 48 hours!! Unfortunately, our new house didn't do so well in the rain. We found leak in the garage that we hoped was localized... but after down pouring for 2 days straight, it just couldn't hold up. The leak spread to both levels of the house. Both floors have carpet wetness but no watermarks in the paint. We've made a claim with the insurance company, so we'll see how things work out, and hopefully it will be fixed before the next storm.

Meanwhile, I was watching our back door that is a walkout from the basement. The ground is sloped that direction and if the water puddled there long enough, we'd have a bit of a problem. But it seemed that each time we had a downpour large enough to cause a bit of damage there, the rains backed off. Last night I laid in bed listening to the rain simply dump on the house. for 25 minutes straight, I tried to sleep but the rain was so loud and I knew that it wasn't going to be pretty. I knew that if it rained like it was for much longer, we'd have to start sandbagging or using the shopvac to remove the water as fast as we could. I got out of bed and checked the water level. It was less than a 1/4 inch from flowing over the threshold of the door. I came upstairs to wait. And didn't wait more than 3-4 minutes, and the rains immediately stopped. Simply amazing. The Lord knew that it was going to stop. What a comfort! After that downpour I went back to sleep and didn't wake up again until morning...

We have a friend that wasn't so lucky. She checked on the sump pump at 4:30am on Thursday morning when the main downpour started. She watched it for 30 minutes to make sure it was working properly. At 7am she returned to a fully flooded basement... one that had just been refinished most recently from a flood 8 months ago. The walls had been painted, new furniture, cabinets and countertops installed. A beautiful place for a family to enjoy. Was now underwater. If you think of it, please pray for this family.

My dear friend Shawnta, near Seattle, I miss her today!! This is one of the hard things about moving so far away!! Love you friend!!