The Big 4!

Allyson said I wouldn't do this post for like 2 years because she thinks I'm the worst blogger in the world. So I'm doing this now (2 hours after the event) just to spite her. :) I'm totally not in the mood to post and I have no clever or witty approach to write said post--but I do enjoy proving her wrong a great deal, so there's that.

That's hardly a good intro for the cutest 4 year old in the world's birthday party.

Here's a better one: Morgan turned 4 today!

She's been anticipating this for quite some time. We only do BIG birthday party's every 4 years, so this was her first. She's certain that everyone has been planning for this, including Fry's who had balloons up in their store on Monday, "...because it {was} almost {Morgan's} birthday."

We went with an animal theme, because if you know Morgan at all you know she is much more of an animal girl than a princess girl.

Here is a picture of the party guests at the front door. Left to Right: Dane, Maggie, Morgan, Jayce & Brooklyn. All cousins. One from each family...only Eric's family decided not to represent in this era of children.

They are all such good buddies, except when they are screaming and fighting with each other. Dane punched Morgan in the nose about 1/2 an hour after the party and made it bleed. Morgan was bawling and saying how much she "hated Dane" and how he's "the meanest person in the whole WORLD!" Then, her nose stopped bleeding and about 5 seconds after that she was like, "Hey Dane, want to play _____?" Best friends again...no remembrance of the offense at all. I love that.

Birthday girl--her animal was Tiger.

She was so pleased to get to wear the birthday hat.

Her animaled-out special plate.

We played games like pin the tail on the Lion, which Morgan won, and a freeze dance game.

THE GUESTS: Each guest got their own animal invitation a week ago, and a coordinating cake today. Yeah, I made them all their own cake. They aren't nearly as good as past cakes I've made, but what I lacked in quality I made up for in quantity. Note to self: JUST ONE CAKE FROM HERE ON OUT!!!!

BROOKLYN=Giraffe

DANE=Lion

MAGGIE: Elephant

JAYCE: Monkey

MORGAN=Tiger

They all got to do whatever they wanted with their cakes. Morgan ate a LARGE amount for such a small girl. Impressive.

GIFT BAGS: With coordinating animal stickers, of course.

I know I talk about Morgan on here a lot. She's such a fireball full of spunk, personality and her own ideas. I love her so much. The other day it occurred to me that she very well could have never happened. She came just in the nick of time at a crazy period in my life and I am so thankful every day that she did. I'd be lost without her.

Happy 4th Birthday Little Miss!

I officially have no babies in my house--weird.

1500 Pieces--Oh my!

Shane and I have a puzzle schedule that goes something like this.

Greer--puzzle

RECOVER

Christmas--puzzle

RECOVER

... repeat...

So pretty much every 6 months we have it in us again to want to do a puzzle. We decided this past Christmas that we shan't ever do a puzzle again larger than 500 pieces because it takes all day and we pretty much ignore everyone around us because we HAVE TO FINISH. So why the heck did I bring a 1500 piece puzzle to Greer? Well, because it was free (handed down from Allyson who apparently had no more use for it) and it was brand new, with plastic still on it. We had to at least give it a try. And unlike Christmas where we only have one day, we had a whole week!

I think we started it within the first hour of getting to Greer and finished at the end of day 3. We didn't work on it straight, but there was some solid time dedicated to it. We got some help from others this year including but not limited to: Jere (who discovered the joy of puzzling isn't as nerdy as he once thought), Porter, Troy, Dad, Eric and some of the kids who thought they were helping but mostly just moved pieces around.

It's always nice to finish because I do feel like I wake up out of a trance and look around like, "Hey, I didn't know you were here!" So when all was said and done it looked like this:

(it BARELY fit on the card table we started on...that added a whole element of trickiness!)

Amazingly enough, we finished with no pieces missing, even though I had to tackle Jody who had stolen the last piece and put it in her pocket. Sneaky, that one.

Some people complained that we shouldn't take a picture with just Shane and I because we weren't the only ones that puzzled, but let's be honest people...95% was Shane and I, so pose we will!

And our final helper was Morgan. She kept herself busy and her complaints to a minimum while we puzzled. This was quite a bit of help. She would also tell other kids to back off if they got too close. She was such an asset.

All in all, I would say my puzzle quotient is definitely filled for a good long while.

We'll see what Christmas brings....

Sleepy Much?

Have you ever had a bloody nose when you were just so, so tired? A few days ago Owen banged his knee into his nose and started bleeding ALL over my couch at the very moment I had just discovered a major leak under my kitchen sink and everything was all wet. Why does it always happen like that?

Anyway, I think Owen thought he might be dying. He keeps getting really freaked out by little injuries and majorly freaked out at the sight of blood. So he starts screaming all panic-like "I'M BLEEDING!!!!" and Livy is screaming equally as panicked, "Oh my gosh there's blood, MOM, there's blood, there's blood!!!!"

So we got it all cleaned up and got Owen settled on the floor to wait for the blood flow to stop. After soaking through about 5 tissues and complaining that it was taking so long, he was finally on his last one. We went to tell him he was good to get up and we found him like this:

I told Shane I thought he was faking it. So we tested it out:

"Hey Owen, look at Jersey!"

"Hey Owen, do you want a cookie?"

"Hey Owen, check out this rocket!"

...and when he didn't respond to that, we knew he was asleep.

I guess he was pretty tired. Kindergarten will do that to ya!

First Day 'O School...

So we have a big, brand new kindergartner at our house!

What a stud. :)

And don't forget his experienced older sister.

What, don't all 2nd grade girls wear things like this and pose like this for their first day of school pictures?

Gigantic flower. check.

Scarf. check.

Jeggings. check.

Gladiator sandals. check check.

**And for the record, I let her pick out her entire first day of school outfit. She told me it was the best day of her life. She was so giddy looking through clothes she could hardly contain herself. I'm so not a girl.**

Seriously? Is this girl in a JC Penny's ad or what?

Next year this one won't be eating Cookie Crisp (what? it was on super sale and it's the first time in my entire life that I have bought it, so sue me.) Anyway, if you're all done judging :), next year Morgan will be right along side the others for her first year of school!

Oh. My. Gosh. Next year my nest will be empty all day.

What's a girl to do?

:)