Coasty Morgans

Brady turns 6

2011-07-10T19:06:00.001-07:00

Happy 6th Birthday Brady
Brady's birthday was last week July 5th. Besides having a party all Brady wanted to do was go to the pool and eat at McDonald's. Done. A pretty easy and low key day.

My kids love cheesecake especially when I make it. Chocolate cheesecake with strawberry sauce all over it. Very RICH but very YUMMY!

We spent the day at the pool with Brady's best friends Grayson, Thatcher & Jonah. Only Grayson isn't in this picture I think he's further down. Alex loves Jonah. Anytime he's around she plays mommy.

We brought McDonald's to the pool. I am not a fan of McDonald's but sacrificed for Brady's day. It was hard let me tell you :)

Brady is all about Legos. Here he is with his lego watch.

Here's Brady with his best buds...Grayson & Thatcher

Now for the birthday party. We did his party about 10 days earlier being that his birthday falls the day after the 4th of July & it being summer.
Of course, a Lego theme. Now I got a lot of my inspiration & ideas off the Internet and also using a friends blog. She did a lego party for her son & I used a lot of her ideas, Thanks Jadi!!!

I wrapped two big boxes with blue and green wrapping paper & then glued the same colored plastic cups on top to look like giant legos. They turned out pretty cute. I made Lego head pops and a lego cake.

These are the lego head pops. Super easy. Marshmellows dipped in melted candy mix from Michael's with lollipop sticks in the bottom. To make the top little piece of the head I just cut out circles from a marshmellow. I should have used mini m & m's. That would have been easier. For the faces I let Brady and Alex draw them with edible cake pens. Very easy but time consuming. I wish they were a little more smooth looking but I think they turned out cute.
If you like marshmellows then you will like these. Oh and to make them stand, I turned lego pieces over and put the sticks in the holders and layed legos all around to support the sticks.

I ordered lego plates & napkins online. For the goodie bags, I used colored bags and cut circles out of the same colored paper glued them to the bag to look like a lego. I put brick lego candy inside with a free lego magazine, lego stickers and a lego toy (that we all put together during the party)

I made these cute lego cracker snacks. Just crackers, cheese and cream cheese. Really cute.

When everyone got to the party they each got a lego toy to put together.

The kids had a good time putting these together. I was glad to have Joe there to help because I am not a lego mom. I can barely follow the directions and put together. But the boys all had directions to help put together. I was impressed because they were really concentrating and going as great job building the toy.

Here's my lego cake. The top pieces are marshmellows, of course. Brady's favorite color is green so we colored it green. I tried making it a darker green but couldn't get it dark enough. I was impressed with myself because I am not a cake decorator but I think it turned out great.
Brady loved it.

We also played a few games, one was lego toss.

Not a great picture but these are ice cube brick lego pieces and lego guys. I made them with kool-aid so they tasted pretty good. I had the kids put them in sprite which made them fizz. It was pretty cool. They kids loved these. After pulling these out of the freezer it's all they wanted. I think each kid had like 6. It was a hit.

Of course, it wouldn't be a party without jumping on the trampoline.

My big 6 year old.

Another group shot.

Dinner was pizza, chips and fruit.

It was a great party...I really loved planning this party and decorating for it.
Brady loved it as well. I will never forget his face when he saw the lego head pops, the cake and the big lego boxes. I think he was amazed that his mom could really do this. Brady loves legos so much that in his spare time whether its 30 minutes or 2 minutes he sits on the floor and puts together legos. He loves the ones that have directions. Its an engineer thing!

HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY BRADY

2nd time around

2011-07-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

This blog entry has nothing to do with July 4th so before I start let me say
Happy 4th of July

Anyways, so last Saturday my wedding ring broke. It has been partially broken or should I say damaged for a while. The band was bent. Like its not a circle anymore but an oval shape. Not sure why this had happened but it did. Its not like we picked it up in a $.25 machine. So anyway...The broken part is the band. There was a crack that pulled the band apart. So a few days later, I think it was Tuesday, Joe told me that we were going out Saturday but it was a surprised. He had even got a babysitter. I of course asked many questions but the only thing I new was that I had to be ready at 6:15pm and be dressed up. Of course, being the smarty pants I am kept saying if you are taking me to Denny's or Costco for dinner could we just skip the dressing up part and wear my jeans and flip flops. I continued during the rest of the week to ask questions but got nothing. So Saturday came, the babysitter arrived and we left.

We pulled up to a restaurant; The Chop House that I have never been to or even seen before. Joe had been there with a few friends before so I just figured he wanted to take me there because it was so good. It was a fancy place with fancy food. By this point I knew something was up but wasn't exact sure what it was. After sitting down at our table, Joe said he had to use the restroom. Probably to much information for you readers but its not unusual for Joe to do this. He drinks too much water :) but he was gone a long time which made me wonder. He finally returned and we ordered dinner. Before dinner arrived at our table, Joe said, "let's get dessert." Of course, I said sure because I love sweets and had no problem with that. But it was very unusual for Joe because he usually doesn't want dessert. He doesn't really have a sweet tooth like me. It was a little odd but I went on with the evening. So dinner is done and we are ordering dessert. Dessert is taking a really long time. That's when I knew something was really up and the thought of him getting me a new ring. I didn't say anything to him but I kept looking around the restaurant just observing. I do notice the Waiter is talking to the hostess and looking at our table a lot. Then they are both over at the dessert bar. As I turn back, our dessert is coming with our Waiter, the hostess & someone with a camera. I'm thinking a little werid but they put the plates on the table; the dessert we ordered and a separate plate with a cream filled strawberry with raspberry sauce drizzled over it with the words, "I love you" written in chocolate with powdered sugar sprinkled all over it. Oh and my new ring sitting on the strawberry. It was very sweet and romantic. I was really surprised that Joe bought me a new ring but more surprised on how he gave it to me. Maybe even a bigger surprise that he took the time to go out and pick out a ring on his own.

So why he planned it this way.........................we don't have a romantic story for how we got engaged. Not that you have to have one. Most of our relationship while dating was spent apart. We dated almost 2 years before getting married but only lived in the same city for 5 months or so. We met in San Diego, then Joe went up to northern California to finish his last semester of college and then got a job in Idaho. We say each other a lot during the time apart but it was very difficult. He kind of proposed over the phone about 2 weeks before he was coming out for a visit. He said he wanted me to have time to think about it because he would only be in town for a few days and wanted to start planning it then. Of course, being that I said yes. What he doesn't know is that I had already been thinking about it and could have given him an answer right then! So anyways he figured since getting me a new ring that he should do it the right way.

Let me just state that I never felt short changed about how we got engaged...just in case Joe reads this :) It was never an issue. But he definitely did a good job and pulled it off. Oh and the ring is gorgeous. I absolutely love it. Nice Work hubby,,,,

Now I have that romantic proposal only 13 years and 11 months later :)

Bike Ramp

2011-05-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

The kids have been wanting a bike ramp for there bikes and we just happen to come across one at our neighborhood garage sale. I do worry because injuries can happen on this but they are doing really well plus it's only 2 feet off the ground.

KEEP READING....A FEW MORE UPDATES

Alexnadria's 8th Birthday

2011-05-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Alexandria turned 8 years old on May 6th. We had a slumber party with 3 of her closest friends. We had a few issues to say but it all worked out in the end. All the girls slept in their sleeping bags on the floor in the Alex's room.

In the morning the girls did each others nails. Alex has a spa kit that she got for Christmas so they used that. They soaked their feet and then painted their nails. It was really sweet.

If you know Alex then you know that she loves animal print; cheetah & zebra. So we did zebra print. We found zebra plates at Target with a pink trim. Very cute. So everything was zebra; plates, napkins, cupcakes holders, cups and crepe paper for decorating.

Alex & Jamiee...being silly with rainbow cupcakes with whip cream.

Enjoying dinner and dessert.

The girls playing in Alex's room with music, magazines and of course, make-up. If you look really close you can see the make up on Alex's face. They all had so much on that I think it was gone by the next morning.
If you can see her bed she even has zebra sheets...of course new for her birthday

A group picture with the birthday girl on top......

Alex loves the store Justice so she got a justice beach bag and all her presents are wrapped inside with zebra wrapping paper.

Riding bikes to school on her birthday with her new birthday outfit she wanted.

Alex loves cheesecake so I made cheesecake for her birthday. Her actual birthday and then birthday party were on different days. yes, some pictures are out of order.

The girls also did a few crafts......
It was a great day for Alex.
Happy Birthday Alexandria. Mom, dad and Brady love you so much!!!!!!!!

Crazy Snow & A New Pet all in 1 week...

2011-01-28T09:09:00.000-08:00

It has been a busy week for us...crazy snow & a new bunny.
Alex & Brady have been talking about getting a bunny for a while and I just keep saying, "oh I will think about it." That has been going on for several months. About a week ago, the kids decided to count their piggy bank money to see if they had enough to buy a bunny and yes they did. So they bought the bunny and mom bought the cage.
She is a sweet bunny. We say she because she is only 8 weeks old and too little to see if she's s she or a he. For now it's a she. The kids named her sparkle.

We Keep her in the kitchen and let her run around when we are home. My hopes are to litter box train her. We will see if it works. If you are familiar with bunnies they poop a lot and all over. Just little pebble looking poops that just keep coming.

She loves to walk all over you if you lay down plus Brady loves it.

Or sit in your lap.

In the same week we got about a foot of snow with a 18 hour power outage. It was a cold night and day but we were thankful that it was only 18 hours and not any longer.

Since it is too cold to go out riding our bike on the weekends, Joe loves to get it out when it snows to take a quick trip around the neighborhood. I don;t think the neighbors are too happy about it.

We made a snowman. We used Cheetos balls for eyes, a carrot for a nose and a stick for a mouth.

Brady loves to chill in the snow

Career Day at Piney Orchard Elementary School

2011-01-14T06:18:00.000-08:00

Today was career day at the kids school. I really like days like this because it is really cute to see kids dress up and show everyone what they want to be when they grow up. I guess you could say that career day is a lot like Halloween...every year it changes. Last year Alexandria dressed like a teacher but now she wants to be a country singer. This is Brady's first year but I imagine next years career will be different. If you couldn't tell, Brady is a firefighter.

Oh and did anyone notice that I finally figured out how to rotate my pictures. It was very easy, I only wished I had figured it out sooner.

Christmas, Christmas Break & New Years

2011-01-07T07:41:00.000-08:00

Pictures are so out of order but I am lucky to have them posted...

Christmas and New Years was great.New Years at some friends house...the kids loved doing sparklers and yes they stayed up until 1:00 am that night. It helped that Brady had a nap earlier that day.

All the kids enjoying some snacks...

Over Christmas break we went to the ice event down at the National Harbor. We had a blast. We were all amazed by the ice sculptures and color in each, Yes, they even had a ice slide.

I think this is Alex coming down.

This is Brady coming down. That was probably the best part.

This is all ICE behind the kids. Can you believe it?

Family pic with the Grinch.

So, they give you parkas to wear while inside the ICE exhibit because it it 9 degrees. I am serious. So cold!!!!! The jackets are kind of nasty because all kinds of people have been wearing them but trust me it was worth it because it is that cold. Hats, gloves, thermal, snow pants...all worth it.

Again...cute kids, more ICE and nasty jackets.

But the kids were pretty warm.

Cute, Cute & Cute.

The Harbor. It was a pretty day out.

Down on the harbor was a weird statue...a giant. The kids are on his head and then his legs and arms are poking out somewhere else in the sand.

If you can see, Brady is actually in his mouth and Alex on his beard.

We also went down to the White House to see the Christmas tree. Not the best looking tree. I think I expected more. Every Christmas, people talk about the White House with its lights and big tree in front. I couldn't wait to see it but I was not impressed. I feel horrible saying that but it's the truth.

A closer look. The trains in front of the tree were cool. Brady and Alex just wanted to watch them all night.

Christmas day....Stockings. Brady already had the helmet and costume but he got the arc light for iron man in his stocking so he had to put everything on for the picture. I love how you can see his eyes in the eye part of the helmet.

We also went ice skating. The kids do a pretty good job.

Back to Christmas...Brady got a superman and wolverine action hero plus a robot iron man.

Brady really wanted a K'NEX (did i spell that right)roller coaster. That was the one thing he asked for. It took Brady and Joe 2 days to put it together. It had 565 pieces. I almost got the one that had 1032 pieces but opted for this one. Thank goodness. But it is pretty cool.

Alex and her stocking, She loves Taylor Swift, nail polish and head bands.

On Christmas we stayed home and hung out in our PJ's. It was great. My own attempt at a family Christmas day picture.

Alexandria wanted a Madame Alexander doll with some doll clothes. She still loves dolls. I really like that because she is getting older and no longer likes the princess things but still like dolls. I hope it will last a long time.

Still loves dolls but also like cheetah print...a jacket and blow dryer

Christmas Eve...cookies and root beer for Santa

I thought the turkey turned out nicely so I had to share.

Christmas outfits

Sitting on Santa's lap....

Brady on Santa's lap

In early December, we made Christmas cookies, a gingerbread house....

and a gingerbread man

Jacksonville, Florida

2011-01-07T07:07:00.000-08:00

In Early December we took a trip down to Jacksonville, Florida. My younger brother, Aaron was in Radio City Christmas Spectacular show. The show was wonderful and I thought that Alex & Brady would enjoy it. I was right. It was a great show and my brother did a great job. He is an awesome dancer. The drive kind of sucked. It was a 12 hour drive. The kids did a good job traveling however, Brady had a few issues. He had so much to keep him busy but of course, nothing did. All our movies, books, coloring books, notepads, a ball, cars, his favorite toys, my IPOD but nothing worked. At one point during the trip he asked if I would read the road signs to him and I did for 2 hours straight. Brady has been learning sign language in kindergarten and loves to come home and teach us. At one point on our trip because he was so bored he decided to take his clothes off and sit in his boxer shorts. Once we looked back at him he was signing cow and mooing. You probably have to be there but it was so funny. Anyways we did make it and had a great time.

pictures are out of order... The show has real animals in it. One of which is a camel.
2 camels, a donkey and a couple of sheep. We took a fairy ride from our hotel to the show. It was really beautiful & cold.

On the fairy...the kids in their antlers and Santa hat

Just cute...Brady was so done with pictures...I think that is his worst favorite part about the holidays because my camera is always out.

In the evenings we spent a lot of time playing pool. The kids have never played and really loved it. They added that to their Christmas list last minute.

The water front in Jacksonville.

Jacksonville Beach

Look how beautiful the beach is. White sand and gorgeous water. It was so cold but I fell in love with Florida. At least their beaches anyway.

Again, so beautiful

Sorry I could not get enough of the beach. It made me miss Monterey.

Family picture

Uncle Aaron and the kids.

ATV RIDING

2010-11-15T13:36:00.000-08:00

We took out our ATV again a few Saturdays ago. We found a closer and better place to ride it so hopefully we will be able to ride it more often. We bought the bike over a year ago and this is our second time taking it out. The kids love it as much as we do. They even want there own bikes. Joe taking Alex out for a ride while Brady and I wait our turn.

Doesn't Brady look like a mean biker dude!

There is no place for Brady's little feet except by the steering wheel

My first time riding the bike with the kids. Last time I rode by myself but this day I was feeling confident. I have to admit that I didn't think I would enjoy riding as much as I do.

It is hard riding with the kids because our helmets smack into each other. But it's worth the ride. Plus, this place we found has a big open place to ride so we are able to go as fast as you want.

That's my thing...speed

which would explain my awful driving record.

TRICK-OR-TREATING

2010-10-31T18:18:00.000-07:00

What a great Halloween day we had. After Church and later in the afternoon, we all made dinner together. We made "Mummy Calozones." I found this recipe in one of those Halloween books among many other recipes and decided to try it. It looked complicated but ended up being pretty easy. We used Pillsbury pizza crust with just pepperoni and cheese. It was really tasty and very appropriate for the day.The kids loved sprinkling the cheese
The Mummy before cooking it,
The finished product.

SO SO SO YUMMY

After dinner and before heading out, we watched "The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."
The kids before Trick-or-Treating....
Brady is Wolverine & Alexandria is a CheetahWhile trick-or-treating, Alexandria ran into her friend, Larissa. She was excited to hang out with a friend.

We also went trick-or-treating with some friends, The Reckners.

Isn't this the cutest little giraffe you have ever seen.

The kids Treating-or-Treating....Alex, Larissa, Brady, Grayson & Thatcher

After Trick-or-Treating, Alex, her friend Larissa and dad decided to stay out a little longer. Brady was tired and cold so we came home and had hot cocoa.

Joe and I went as pumpkins...so traditional and so super easy. No fuss and it worked.

Usually the kids keep their candy separated and every time they want a piece, they dump it out, find a piece and put it all back. This year, I suggested that we just combine it into one. They went for it. All there candy filled this pumpkin. Lots and lots of candy.

So, it was a great Halloween...we had a blast.

Until next year...

Happy 38th Birthday Daddy

2010-10-31T18:12:00.000-07:00

Joe's birthday was yesterday the 30thhappy 38th. There really wasn't room for 38 candles...
I made a Oreo cake. Super easy and so yummy. I think the filling is too much because it should not be so thick. It looks like a giant cookie.
Yesterday was also Brady's last soccer game for the season which meant getting your trophy. That is so important to the kids.
Brady is sad it is over as well as Joe. Joe loved being the coach and Brady loved playing. It was great dad and son time.

For the last game, we sprayed Brady's hair orange since there team name was

"the orange crushers."

a better picture of the orange hair.

Just a cute picture of the kids with their pumpkins and Halloween shirts.

Happy 38th Joe

An Update....

2010-10-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

Life has been really crazy in the Morgans household and I have been really bad at updating my blog so I thought I would post a few of thew things we have done in the last month. We went to a pumpkin patch and picked out some pumpkins.
Lots and lots of pumpkins.
We also bought some hay to add some decor to the front of our house. The Alien lights up.
That's the best part. Next year we will have to put a spaceship out.
I also painted a spider-man face on the pumpkin. I think it turned out pretty cute.
We carved our pumpkin.
Just too cute!

We went to a fall festival at church this year and the kids did a cake walk.

Brady is dressed as Wolverine without his mask and claws.

Alex is dressed as a cheetah. She loves this costume so much that she wants to wear the dress as an outfit. Of course, w/out the ears, tail and whiskers.

Alex and Brady with some friends from church.

Noah, Grayson, Alex, Brady and Thatcher

My little man had surgery about 1 week ago. he had some major dental work down. The dentist had to pull a tooth and put a spacer in. He also had 2 root canals w/caps and 2 regular cavities. What an awful mother I am to allow this to happen. Seriously, I should not even share this with people. Most adults don't even go through this in a life time let alone a small child. I know it's not my fault. Apparently, all the cavities are in between the teeth which means flossing is a must. Bedtime now takes that much longer to do now that flossing has to be done.

Anyways, because they pulled the tooth the dentist gave us the tooth so the tooth fair could visit. Brady was pretty excited and he did great through his surgery. He is such a trooper. I was so emotional and worried about Brady during his surgery that the doctors were more concerned about me then Brady.

Alex's 2nd grade class took a field trip to a play called, "arithmetickle." I know I spelled that wrong. It was a cute play about math. Very interactive for the kids.

Mom was a chaperone.

Brady's kindergarten class also took a feild trip but to the Balitmore Maryland Zoo. It was a lot of fun. This is my group visiting the giraffs and completing there assignements while at the zoo.

A few Fridays ago, the kids were off from school so Joe took the day off too so we could tour a little of DC. We walked over to the white house. We did get closer than this.

World War II Memorial

The Abraham Lincoln Memorial

One of many museums.

Alex is doing cheer leading and loving it. I am not sure how I feel about it. She does a great job but it is a serious sport (is it a sport?). Practicing 2-3 times a week with a game on Friday or Saturday and competitions throughout the months. Crazy and hectic schedules. But she does love it.

Here is her entire team getting ready for there first competition. They did a great job and did win first place.

Alex in full uniform during homecoming week. She is so beautiful

A closer look...Just precious.

Another season of soccer for Brady and for Daddy as a coach.

Brady sure does love playing soccer and is getting better with every season. This was his 3rd season playing and he scored many goals.

The teams name is the "ORANGE CRUSHERS"

This was Joe's 2nd season as head coach and he loves it as much as Brady loves to play.

Joe does such a great job with all the kids.

My precious little soccer man

a field shot...Brady is #3

Brady giving me the thumbs up.

So I hope to get better with updating now that life will be even crazier with the holidays approaching :)

Our trip to the big city...New York City

2010-09-13T08:21:00.000-07:00

More pictures and details below

2010-09-08T09:46:00.000-07:00

My brother, Aaron lives in New York so we figured it was time to make a trip out to visit. I have never been to New York but have always wanted to go. I am so glad we did because we had a great time. We stayed with my brother in his apartment which was nice because hotel prices were ridiculous. We even had free parking for our car. What a deal.

We started our day by riding the subway. Uncle Aaron lives about 6 blocks away from the subway

I kept telling the kids not to touch anything because the subways were so nasty and smelly. I had sanitizer wipes in my purse and went through so many in the 48 hours that we were there.

Our first stop was central park. We walked around, climbed the big rocks, bought a hot dog which wasn't very good. Many people have said that you have to buy a hot dog from the vending guys. Seriously, there is one on every corner. But I don't think there hot dogs are all that great.

Family picture...The movie "Enchanted" was filmed in front of this fountain.

The fountain again...in the back ground, the boat house is where the movie, "date night" was filmed. Pretty cool.

We also did the paddle boats in central park. We had to trade off riding in the boats because only 4 people at a time. We also saw little baby turtles in the water.

We also went inside Belvedere castle in central park and this is the view from the top of the castle. Isn't it gorgeous. It was such a beautiful day. No rain only sun and shine. A little breeze as well but helped out because with all the walking the heat would have just ruined it.

Uncle Aaron on the top of Belvedere castle with Alex and Brady

We also went to the museum of national history. It was pretty cool. The kids really enjoyed it.

This part of the museum was really cool because they had different scales...this one was the your weight on Mars but they lots more like your weight on the sun.

This is Alex's...on top

This is Brady's

The dinosaurs were really cool at the museum. I think the kids enjoyed it the best.

So I have researched how to rotate pictures but for some reason my computer will not let me so again, turn your head.

The empire state building

The Ball that drops in New York every year. Doesn't look the same now, does it.

I think I expected more when I saw this. Not sure what I really did expect but I know it didn't live up to what I thought,

I love Macy's...Just though this was neat. I believe it is a 8 story building as well as 2-3 streets long.

Not the best picture but in Time Square there is a Toys R Us. Naturally we went in and let me tell you I was shocked. It was like an amusement park. It is 4 stories tall with a ice cream parlor downstairs with a Ferris wheel in the middle of the story that is as tall as the building. There places throughout the store to get pictures taken with different characters like Dora, spider-man etc..There also a giant transformer in the store and a huge dinosaur moving and such...Oh and you could barely walk around or even take pictures because there were so many people. What a store.

We also wanted to see the "Statue of Liberty." We bought our ferry tickets to go across to the Statue. We were unable to actually go inside on the pedestal or crown portion because I guess for that you have to purchase tickets online 4 weeks in advance. We did not do that but we did get a ferry ride across to get a closer look.

We stood in line for about 1 hour before getting on the boat. The line was long and slow because you have to go through metal detectors before getting on the ferry. Of course, It always beeps when I go through so I had to be search with a hand detector with my arms and legs apart and everyone watching because what else was there to go.

The view from the line and getting on the ferry

View from on the ferry.

the kids on the boat

More views...

more views from the ferry.

Our trip to New York was Great and I can't wait to go back. Thanks to Uncle Aaron who spent the weekend with us and showed us around.

We Love You!!!!

First day of Kindergarten...

2010-08-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

Today was Brady's first day of kindergarten...he was so cute. He woke up very excited and so ready to go about 1 hour early.

He was happy but mom was a little sad.

I was excited for him because he is so ready to start school. He's so excited about making new friends and learning new things but I was sad not to have my side kick around with me all day long.

So happy and sad all mixed into one.

We often ride bikes to school so here he is ready to go.

He is such a big boy now, I can't believe it.

Both kids in front of the school sign. Alex is still wishing it was summer with no school. I am so hoping that things get better really fast.

MY LITTLE KINDERGARTNER

Brady meeting his teacher and a few new friends.

ONE LAST PICTURE AS

BRADY WAVES AND SAYS, "GOOD-BYE MOMMY."
As he leaves me in tears at that moment and right now as I am posting this.

Movies...just Brady and Mommy

2010-08-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

Brady and I went to the movies today. Just the 2 of us. We saw despicable me in 3D. I am not crazy about the 3D cuzz the glasses are kind of annoying to wear the whole time but we had a blast. We had lots of popcorn and candy. It was lots of fun...

Despicable me is a great movie, so if you have not already seen it then I recommend doing that.Too cute....

The glasses are bigger then his head.

First day of second grade...

2010-08-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of second grade. How cute does my little girl look. Of course, she had to wear her signature color, PINK. A pink vest, pink skirt, pink boots and a sparkle leopard school bag with pink trim.

So does Alex look happy in this picture?

(look at her face on the last picture)

We rode bikes to school. The kids love it and I am also starting to like it...we did ride bikes last year and it has seriously help me lose the extra pounds that I have wanted to lose. So I think we should keep it up.

Alex does not want me taking pictures so I thought I would get one of her cute fish braids.

Alex has been down about starting school. I guess summer was just too much fun for her. Look at her face. She was so upset this morning about going to school that mom taking pictures made it worse.

I think she needs a few days to adjust. Plus, I will save all the pictures for Brady who starts kindergarten on Thursday and is super excited about it.

So update...she was much happier when I picked her up however, was she happy because she loved school or because I was there picking her up and she was leaving? I am still undecided.

Hersery Park, PA

2010-08-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Hershey, PA where Hershey Park is. We had lots of fun. It's a great park...it has a water park and amusement park with rides. It also has a chocolate factory where you get a tour of how the chocolate was made with a free sample at the end. That would be the only reason why the kids did the tour.
So cute...they have a hershey guy, reese's guy and hershey kisses guy walking around the park.

In the gift shop they really sell these 5 LB chocolates...I thought it was neat. It's a huge piece of chocolate.

This was during the tour...totally kid friendly as well as being a ride. It had singing cows.

and chocolate everywhere.

more chocolate

The kids loved this, especially Brady. This camaro has the transformer logo everywhere on the car. I think that Brady thought it was a real transformer. We passed by it several times during the day and Brady kept asking when it would transform.

He loved the car....

It even has the logo on the tires.

This is where we spent most of our time...at the water park. I didn't get pictures because I wanted to play in the water and couldn't bring the camera. I took this picture from the Ferris wheel.

The big blue and yellow circle is a water slide. You go down the tube into this and then out. Joe and Alex loved it.

Better view of the slide.

Hershey park was a great park...I would recommend trying it out. We had a blast.

San Diego, California...the best place in the world if you live in Sarah's world.

2010-08-12T14:07:00.000-07:00

2 days after Busch Gardens we flew to San Diego to visit family. What a long way to go. It took all day and many different modes of transportation. We drove to the Marc train in Odenton and rode for 10 minutes to the Marc train at the airport, got on a shuttle bus to the airport, got on a plane for 1 1/2 hours, 1 hour lay over, another plane for 5 hours, took a shuttle to the rent a car place, drove 2 hours to grandmas house in San Diego, California. Did you get all that. Left Maryland at 1:30pm and arrived in San Diego 12:30am which was 3:30am Maryland time. Same issues on the way back except I think there was no train and instead a taxi ride. What a day but well worth it when we finally spent time with family. Alexandria and Brady with cousin, Jake

Our first time meeting the newest cousin and addition to the family, Henry.

Alex loved holding her cousin, Henry.

Joe with his brothers and his mom.

Yes, he's the oldest and the shortest.

(I love to tease him about this)

This is Seal Beach in La Jolla...La Jolla Shores.

The kids don't like the smell

Swimming with Jake

Uncle Joe holding Little Henry...he is 2 months old and such a cutie!

This is the Morgans side...Joe with his two brothers, 1 sister and mom and of course the kids

Uncle Joe with Jackson...our first time meeting him and of course, such a cutie!

Grandpa Joe with his grand kids

Seaport village...Holding a parrot on his shoulder

Alex with a parrot

Grandma Shari and Aunt Sabrina...Sarah's mom and sister

Seaport village...a little place near the water. I love this place and the weather is always perfect. There is a carousel, many shops, places to eat and a place to just sit and watch the boats in the water.

Silver Strand Beach...the kids are in bathing suits while the adults are sitting in chairs in sweatshirts. A beautiful but cold day. It was great.

It was a great vacation even if it was a little short. We had a blast with family.

Sorry to all our friends that we did not get to visit. I promise next time....

Busch Gardens and Yorktown, Virginia Beach

2010-08-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago we went to Busch Gardens and Yorktown Beach in Virginia. Yes, I only took 1 picture while at Busch Gardens because it was so hot. Let me tell you how hot it was. According to Virginia, it was the hottest record day in history...something like that. It was so hot that taking out the camera to take pictures was ridiculous. We spent the entire day there. Thank goodness for the two rides that involved getting wet. We were soaked. As irritating as it was to walk around in regular clothes and be soaked it still felt good because it was that HOT! The one Busch Gardens picture....

We went to Yorktown Beach to play in the water and found many many jellyfish...Brady did get stung. This one was safe to hold because it didn't have stingers...this is actual someone else on the beach holding this.

There were a lot of them just swimming around

Another family on the beach let the kids use their floats.

Just a cute picture

Happy 5th Birthday Brady

2010-07-05T17:12:00.000-07:00

Just going down memory lane.... Brady at 4 months old

Alex 2 & 1/2 years old...She was such a little mommy

5 months old

Brady...18 months & Alexandria...3 & 1/2 years old

2 years old

4 years old

Today is Brady's 5th birthday...his real birthday. I can't believe my baby is 5. It's so hard to believe that he's getting so big.

We started our day by going to the movies to see Toy Story 3. What a cute movie. We all loved it and recommend it to everyone. Brady is a big Buzz Light Year fan so he was excited to see it. After the movie, we took the kids to McDonald's for lunch, home briefly to do a few things like finish his cake and then off to the pool. We had a great time at the pool playing games with each other...just a great day. Then home for pizza, cake and ice cream. I think I forgot presents somewhere in there. Presents were opened all through the day. He had ours to open from Alex, mom and dad, some from grandmas and aunts. So all in all a great birthday for Brady. Oh and plus a shower at the end of the day with him singing Happy Birthday to himself, So funny and cute (wish I recorded the singing)

(I forgot to take pictures when we were out at the movies and the pool...didn't really think about it until I sat down to blog. We were having to much fun to have a camera in my hand)

After the movie, Brady played a game at the arcades in the movie theatre

Alex got Brady a Zuhu pet per his request for his birthday. It was pretty funny when he opened it because he had to make sure it was a boy Zuhu pet and not a girl one. Alex also got him a basketball outfit to go with it.

Such a funny picture. This year Brady is really into Iron Man among other things...

He wanted the costume, the helmet that talks and the gloves that light up and shoot missiles. Plus, I am hoping this will be his Halloween costume :)

Alex thinks the costume is pretty cool. Look how big the helmet is or is that his head.

Pizza for dinner

So Brady wanted a Soccer ball cake, an Iron man cake, a Spider man Cake, a Ben 10 Cake, a Batman Cake....What am I missing......

So, I said how about a soccer ball cake with Iron man and spider man kicking the ball. He loved the idea.

I think it looks pretty good....It was YUMMY!!!!

I snapped the picture at the perfect time...that never happens.

Happy Birthday Brady!!!! We Love You!!!!!!

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-05T17:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4Th of July this year...We stayed home and did our own fireworks. No traffic or sitting around entertaining the kids and waiting to see fireworks.

The so prefer doing there own. We started by making our own flags.

Brady had a wavy flag.

Alex had a heart flag.

Fireworks.........

Sparklers...the kids love these ones because they can hold them and be that close to the action

Brady with his sparkler....again, love being in the action

Our new buisness...A Lemonade Stand

2010-07-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

So now that our lemonade stand was such a success last week, we decided to make it the real deal. So Joe went to home depot and got some supplies. The kids really loved doing this with dad. I think dad enjoyed it too!The kids picked the colors yellow, pink, red and white.

Hard to see...Alex is helping dad drill in the screws.

More painting.

And more painting.

Brady drilling in the screws. Brady's favorite part.

The finished project.

It was hard trying to design this stand because it had to be light enough for me to pick up and put in my car. Our lemonade stand is a couple a blocks from our house so I have to put it in my car and drive down the street. So, the lemonade stand is partly wood with PVC tubes on the side that hold the lemonade sign and a vinyl tablecloth stapled to the front so you can't the ice chest.

Alex hiding behind the lemonade and Brady waving.

So to update...we have done the lemonade stand twice, a Friday afternoon and a Saturday morning. We have made back the money spent in lemonade, ice and cups plus lots more. The kids are excited to continue doing this. It is actually a lot fun. I have really enjoyed doing this with them.

Lemonade Stand

2010-06-25T18:36:00.001-07:00

Alex and Brady have always wanted to do a lemonade stand...They have been talking about it for about a year now. So, today we are out grocery shopping. No talk about actually doing a lemonade stand today until we get home and I am putting groceries away. It's about 3:15 in the afternoon, I am tired and grouchy. But I decided to put a smile on my face, take the kids back to the store and get our supplies. We got ice, lemonade, lemons and cups. We came home mixed up the lemonade and set up our stand. We live in a quiet little area of our community plus a cul-de-sac so we knew we wouldn't get too many customers. So we decided to head out just down the street on the perfect corner where there is lots of traffic...those coming home from work on a hot and humid day. Oh was it hot. The perfect corner. We made $24.85.

That is all profit. I completely made back what I spent on supplies and then some.

The kids want to do this every Friday afternoon to earn money. I think it's a great idea. They have been plans on what to do with the money at the end of the summer.

Hopefully our community won't have a problem with this. I think this is the perfect opportunity for a teaching moment in making and saving money.

So 2 hours in the hot sun wasn't that bad when you walk away with $24.85.

We even had a jingle for our small business

Lemonade

(clap hands twice)

Crunchy Ice

(clap hands twice)

Sip it once

(clap hands twice)

sip it twice

(Clap hand twice)

Balitmore Inner Harbor

2010-06-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

There are so many things we want to do while living here in Maryland and one of them was visiting the inner harbor in Baltimore. The kids love taking boats rides.

The dragon paddle boats...mom and dad did all the work. It was the longest 30 minutes of my life. My legs hurt so bad afterwards plus with the heat and humidity. I was glad when it was over. After doing the paddle boats we had to go indoors to cool off.

Life jackets are so attractive....

We took a water taxi from the inner harbor to Fort McHenry.

About a 15 minute ride.

It was such a beautiful and clear day. So hot and humid. But at least we had a slight breeze at times which was nice to cool off.

WOW...look at those guns!

Brady and Alex in jail. So, I asked the kids to get inside this cage so I could take a picture until I shut the door, just a little to get the full affect and they both were freaking out. But you can't really tell in the picture. They look like they are enjoying it.

I wasn't really crazy about touring Fort McHenry at first but was pleasantly surprised. Before walking around we watched a 20 minute video about the history of Fort McHenry. It was very interesting. I was happy to have gone and toured this historical landmark.

Father's Day

2010-06-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

For father's day the kids wanted to make Dad a smiley face pancake. I am the worst at making pancakes. For some reason they never turn out right but today they did. Did I mention that this was pancake #4.
Whip cream for the hair, eggs for the eyes, sausage links for the nose and bacon for the smile.
Too cute!!!!1

Alex's Dance Rectial

2010-06-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

Alex had her dance recital last weekend. She was in 3 dances; tap, jazz and a ballet. She is a beautiful dancer. I know I may be bias but I love to watch her dance. She is so graceful. Dancing is in her blood. Brady had a hard time watching the 2 and half hour dance recital but we made it through. He was excited to give her flowers afterwards.
It is definitely different seeing her in make-up because she does look so much more grown up.
Again, picture rotation issues. I figured out how to do it but my computer won't let me.
Just rotate your computer.

Too much has gone by....

2010-06-13T19:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, it has been just over 2 months since I have blogged. I have been so busy and so much has happened but I decided to just blog about the really important things that happened. So read on and on and on.

Brady's Early 5th Birthday Party

2010-06-13T18:34:00.000-07:00

Brady's real birthday isn't until July 5. I know that is still 3 weeks away but with school ending this Tuesday and everyone having different summer schedules, we decided to do his party early with hopes that everyone would be able to come. And we succeeded. All his friends were able to come and it was a great night. Again, picture needs to be rotated...but being that we had his party at the pool we decided to make it a little easier and do cupcakes.

Oh and the theme other then the pool was iron man. So we put iron man rings on each cupcake.
In our neighborhood we have several community pools but the mushroom pool is the best for kids. Well Brady has been in love with the pool since day 1. He was so upset last year when it closed for the season and he had to wait 6 months for it to open again.
I think he had been planning his birthday party at the pool all year.
So here is Brady with all his friends.

Here are a few of his friends in front of the mushroom. You can see Alex in the background being the center of attention kind of like Brady at Alex's party....

We were very lucky because the weather was expected to have thunder and lightening around the time of the party. We had a few thunder issues where we had to exit the pool but it worked perfect because the kids got to eat pizza and have cupcakes. So it didn't interfere with the party and the kids still had plenty of time to swim.

This is a smaller part of the pool for the little ones. So some of our friends hung out there.

Brady taking a break and enjoying some food with Grayson.

Brady and Ethan eating chips and fruit. Another friend of Brady's Justin is in the background with his sister Kaylee. Kaylee is in Alexandria's first grade class at school.

More chillin and eating...

Singing Happy Birthday to Brady...I had a candle but forgot the matches so we just sang.

My 2 sweet little babies. I think Brady is tired of the camera and just wanted me to take the picture.

More friends, Sisters Evelyn and Lily.
I thought the chocolate faces was too cute.

Brady with Ethan and JJ being boys.

Boys will be boys

The kids love playing in the pool with dad.

The birthday boy...almost 5.

I am sure this early birthday thing is a little confusing. We did the same thing last year. Last year he thought at his party he turned 4 and his real birthday he turned 5. It took a little explaining to convince him that he was still 4.

But I think it's good this year. He seems to understand a little better now.

opening presents....

more presents.....

We missed sharing a birthday with you, Cambria.....That was an awesome party last year. Brady still talks about it. We miss you guys.

Thanks to all Brady's friends who came to his pool party. You all made it so special. Brady had a blast with all of you.

So now we wait for the real day.....

Brady's Soccer game

2010-06-13T18:24:00.000-07:00

Brady had another season of soccer. He loves soccer and couldn't wait to get started again. Joe was his coach so that made it even better and more special. Brady looked forward to every Thursday night for practices and every Saturday morning for games with dad. Brady is holding his trophy. Last Saturday was the end of the season soccer party. We had it at a pizza place here in town called "Italian Market." The kids ate pizza, hung out and received their trophies from their coach. Brady definitely got the hang of soccer. This was his second season playing...Last season he was a little unsure of what to do and how to play. But this season he completely understood and did really well. He can't wait until the fall to start up again.

Brady's Preschool Graduation

2010-06-13T18:12:00.000-07:00

Brady had his preschool graduation about 2 weeks ago. It was the cutest thing...all the kids wore caps and gowns. So precious. They walked out in a line to their seats, sang some songs and waited toi hear their names to get their diplomas. So cute that I almost cried. Just so precious and hard to except that I don't have babies anymore. Well brady Brady has not been a baby for a while but now it is completely official. He's a little man about to start kindergarten. ***If anyone knows how to rotate pictures on the blog, please tell me because I can't figure it out.*** Uncle Aaron happened to be in town so he was able to attend. Brady loves his Uncle. It was nice having some family around. Living so far away makes it hard having family around for important events.

This is Brady's friend from Preschool, Vihuv. I hope I spelled that right. They became great friends on the first day of school. They are always together when at school.

We are off to kindergarten in August. That will be a big day for both Brady and Mom.

Alexandria's Birthday Party

2010-06-13T17:39:00.001-07:00

Pictures are backwards according to events...

A few years back when we lived in Monterey, California one of Alex's best friends had an indoor camping party and Alex loved it. She said it was so much fun so we decided to give it a try. So for dessert we had smores instead of cake. Joe set up our camping stove and the girls roasted marsh mellows. The girls loved it.

I said roasting but it was more like marsh mellows on fire.

Alex being silly. When she gets around all her friends, she definitely turns into a different kid. A little crazy but then again 7 7 year olds made it a little crazy but so much fun.

They all couldn't wait to get started.

Opening presents...and if you notice Brady fits right in. He wanted to be at the party. Not sure if it was because there would be so many girls or he wanted to be the center of attention. All the kids just seemed to ignore him but he loves his sister and he had to be at her party.

Each girl brought a sleeping bag and pillow.
They played in the tent and told stories. Joe even told a few scary stories later in the evening.

Again, Brady being the center of the party. I think this was Alex's party :)

For dinner we had hot dogs, chips, watermelon and root beer. All Alex's idea. The kids roasted hot dogs in our pretend fire. I had a accent light that sits on the floor with colored transparent sheets to change the color that we used as our fire. We put sticks around the bottom to make it look more real. The hot dogs were on roasting sticks and the kids ate them off that.

One last picture of the kids in the tent.

When the kids first arrived, they decorated pillow cases to take home. I gave them each a white pillowcase and they could decorated it with fabric pens and iron on patches. I found the idea on line and it turned out to be really cute. Time consuming because I ironed on all the patches but they turned out really cute.

Alex had a great party and has made some really good friends here.

Thanks Anita for the indoor camping party idea. It was a great party and thanks for sharing all the things you did.

Alexandria's 7th Birthday

2010-06-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

Alexandria's school put together a talent show and Alex decided she wanted to be in it. It just so happened that the performance was on the night of her birthday. There were many practices involved but it was definitely worth it because she was fantastic. I was so proud of her. I was pretty shocked when she approached me a few months back wanting to do this. Alex is very shy and for her to perform a dance in front of many people was really being brave for her and stepping out of her comfort zone. The decorations for the talent show were poster boards that the kids made. Alex did a dance to the "Kim Possible" song so naturally her poster board was a picture of Kim Possible and few other characters from the cartoon. Alex's costume was exactly like Kim Possibles and of course, I sprayed her hair orange like Kim Possible.When we got home from the talent show, we did cake and ice cream. I made a chocolate cake and decorated it with "Littlest Pet shop" toys that we had.

Hopefully you can see what this is...a tree with grass, flowers and clouds. That's a frog in the grass and a monkey in the tree hanging on a vine.

I did the best job I could. I am not much of a cake decorator.

Before going to the talent show, Alex opened her presents. She has been wanting a stereo for her room. She has probably asked for this for the last 2 years or so. We finally bought one for her. Not sure why it took us so long but now she has one. We also got her a "Taylor Swift" CD. She loves Taylor Swift.

It's hard to imagine that she is already 7 years old. She is growing up so fast maybe that is why it took us so long to get her a stereo for her room, not because the cost but for us it opens up a new stage of life. But I am glad that she still likes barbies and dolls. I think we are safe for a little while longer.

So it has been a little over a month since giving her the stereo and can I say that it's what I wake up to every morning...So loud that I am calling from the kitchen to turn it down.

We love you Alexandria and Happy Birthday

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!

2010-04-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was a crazy day....many different things happened throughout the day but nothing to terrible until about 6:15 pm last night. Joe was at a meeting so the kids and I were outside with the neighbor kids playing. There were all playing in our driveway with a frog that they had found. There I was sitting in my chair enjoying the nice weather when I see something moving out of the corner of my eye. It was a SNAKE. Now if you know me at all then you now that I am terrified of snakes. It can be almost worm size and I am moving out. So, there it is about 2 1/2 feet long and almost 2 inches thick (of course I am guessing on size but it was a significant size). Big enough for me....

It's moving around and starts climbing up a tree on the side of the house. I am in the middle of the street screaming. I know ridiculous but so true. Joe's gone so he's no help to me. Of course, I want it dead but I am not doing it so I asked one of the neighbors kids to get their dad to help. To the rescue he came with a rake and shovel. He managed to get it out of the tree and he killed it. Now I believe it's against the law in Maryland to kill a snake but I don't care.....

After all this, I find out that they have actually seen quite a few snakes on our street in the last couple of years and he has killed a few. I am finding it hard to walk outside without running to the car and jumping in. I am ready to pack up and move to Ireland because there are no snakes there. I don't even visit the reptile house at the zoo. That's how scared I am.

No pictures...I am sure you can guess why.

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T17:42:00.000-07:00

So, yes the leprechauns visited our house with green hand and foot prints on the walls and floor, and confetti up the stairs to a pot of gold (candy). We had corn beef and cabbage, green kool-aid, and a fruit rainbow. It was a great day. Of course, my kids had cute green shirts but for some reason I forgot to take a picture...

Happy St. Patrick's Day couldn't decide which picture is better...I think they may be the same.

Rainbow Cupcakes

2010-03-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

Every Sunday is our baking day...the kids love to cook with mom. We usually make a treat that we have never had before or we do something simple but tons of fun. So this past Sunday we decided to try a recipe that I found in the family fun magazine, rainbow cupcakes. I didn't think it would work because my recipes usually end in disaster and frustration. I always follow the recipe but it fails to look like the picture until this time. It worked. The kids were so excited. The topping is whip cream...suppose to be a cloud.
And here's the rainbow. Really cool and yummy

Valentines Day...My Birthday

2010-02-16T17:08:00.000-08:00

I had a great birthday/valentines with the family. We went to dinner the day before, did some shopping and had cheesecake ( of which I love).

Just another birthday and just another year older.

I feel old. Yes, I am still pretty young but age has hit me. Is that because when I wake up in the morning my body aches, when I bend over to pick something up my body cracks, I see wrinkles every morning when I look in the mirror, I can't stay up late anymore....I am not totally sure but I think it has something to do with the fact that in less than 6 months my baby will start kindergarten. I will have both kids in grade school and it's time for mom to decide what to do with her time. I wish I could go back to my 20's.

A new phase of life I guess you could say.

She finally did it

2010-02-13T17:07:00.000-08:00

About 2-3 years ago, Alexandria got her ears pierced. It ended up being a complete disaster. 2 days later, she woke up in the morning to 1 of her earrings out of her ear and sitting next to her on her bed. I of course put it back in causing lots of pain and bleeding. Not such a great idea. But to make a long story short it pretty much scared her for life until now.

Alex said she would try again when she was 10 years old, until she asked me what I wanted for my birthday. Naturally I was excited because I know deep down inside she really wanted them pierced. She decided that she would do it the day before my birthday, which is today. She woke up this morning and said, "let's go to the mall to get my ears pierced." So we did. She was so scared but happy at the same time.

I was very proud of her for this because I know it hurt.

2 MONTHS BEHIND...........

2010-02-11T17:43:00.000-08:00

Yes, I realize that I am 2 months behind in blogging....I guess that means that I did not even blog about Christmas or the visits from Grandma and Uncle Aaron. Well, we had a great Christmas and visits with family. So anyways......................

We have had terrible storms lately. When we moved here, people said that it only snows 1-2 times a year if that. WELL, they lied. This winter we have had a total of 72 inches on record of snow (not my count, the news count). So these pictures are a mixture of Decembers snow storm and the 2 storms we had this week.

December snow fall...I beleive at least 2 and a half inches.

The kids playing in their tunnels.

Alexandria and Brady love when it snows. It was a lot of fun the first few times and now it's just getting old.

February's first snow storm. Lots and lots of shoveling

I believe this was close to 3 feet or so. You can barley see my car.

Again a fun tunnel. If is kind of fun because the neighbor kids did the same thing so the tunnels

kind of connect with drive ways in between.

All I can say...Snow...Snow...Snow... and more Snow.

Snow clothes are so much fun. The kids can barley move in their jackets because they are so thick. Alexandria's pink ear muffs are so cute.

By the time you get the snow pants, scarves, jackets, hats, shoes and gloves on (am I missing an essitential item of snow clothes) you are too tired to go outside.

Alex trying to make her way home through the snow.

Just playing and enjoying life........

Our house.....I will post inside pictures later this week.

Now, if you noticed there are no pictures of us (mom and dad) because Joe and I are digging all the snow from our cars, the driveway and the street.
We live on a cul-de-sac with 7 other houses. Our area is hard to explain but there is a half circle with 8 houses or so and 4 cul-de-sac that connect around that half circle. Because we are residnelt HOUSES and NOT TOWNHOUSES OR APARTMENTS we are the last to get plowed by the city. Well that pretty much means that we WILL NOT be plowed. So we were on our own. After each storm, all the neighbors got together and were outside digging everyone out. My guess is that with the last 3 big storms our neighbors and us dug about 3 blocks.

Easy to walk but not easy to shovel.

I am trying to like NOT love maryland.

Oh and gthe news says more snow Sunday or Monday...

First snow day

2009-12-12T18:41:00.000-08:00

Yes, it has already snowed here. All the locals say that it only snows about 2-4 times in the winter each year and not until late January or early Febraury. Of course, we move here and it's a record breaking snow day and hasn't happended in 25 years....Snow was only about 2 inches but it was cold and wet. The kids loved it. We had snow ball fights all day long.
We also got our snowboots and snow pants out with our sleds and enjoyed 3 hours of sledding without even leaving our house. We have the perfect hill on both sides of our house.

We made a snowman with raisin eyes, a carrot nose and leaves for hands.

The kids love the snow. It is so beautiful to just sit and watch it fall. Of course, I did not get that joy....I put all the snow gear on went outside and had tons of fun with my kids. Oh and we did enjoy hot chocolate insde after all the playing.

If you've read my comments on facebook or should I say complaining....I am cold as well speak. My hands are always cold. I have always known that I was a California girl but now I realize that it is a must that we move back, THIS COLD SUCKS!

It's Officially Christmas

2009-12-02T11:11:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's that time of year...AGAIN! The leg lamp is up and has been up for a few days. This time of year is always exciting because of this lamp...I realize there are others reasons that make Christmas wonderful but just go with me on this... When we first got the lamp in California and put it up it was pretty close to the actual movie. You know when the father puts it in the window and walks outside to see what it looks like while he's yelling to his wife to move it more to the left and his son, Ralphie is rubbing the leg up and down. Well, yes, it was so close to the exact scenario in California...here it is a lot different. Not to many have said much except for a couple of people and they don't even live on our block. Oh well...we love it and I guess we are definitely the crazy people on the block from California. Brady is doing exactly what Ralphie does in the movie...very cute.
A family portrait, of course.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2009-11-01T16:44:00.000-08:00

What a night...Halloween was so much fun. We went trick-or-treating at the mall during the day and then trick-or-treating at night.

Alex and Brady with the neighbor kid. Alex was a cheerleader and Brady was Batman.
Brady could barely see out of the eye holes of the mask. It was really funny because he kept running into things.

Trick-or-treating at the mall.

Carving pumpkins. We also cooked the seeds but they didn't turn out so good. I think I cooked them to long.

It was a great Halloween

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE

2009-11-01T16:33:00.000-08:00

Joe's birthday was on Friday...the day before Halloween. We had so many Halloween activities to do that day that we celebrated his birthday several different times during this past weekend. I guess that's what you do when your a dad, put your kids first even on the day of your birthday. One of our Halloween activities on dad's day
Yes, I need to figure out how to turn the picture around so just work with me here.
So, the kids gave Joe a Popeye shirt. Popeye was in the coast guard and so is dad so it's kind of funny...anyways, I always make Joe a homemade apple pie, crust and all every year for his birthday and this year was no exception. So with all the Halloween craziness, I managed to make a pie and yes, I forgot candles so I used a tea light candle. So stupid but it worked.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE
CAN ANYONE GUESS HOW OLD HE IS?

Brady's first season of soccer

2009-09-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

Brady started his first season of soccer. He is and was so excited. It was really cute to see him out there playing and having fun. There are 7 kids on the team...4 boys and 3 girls. It's a good mix. This was his very first practice with all the gear. He had the cleats (did I spell this right ?) and shin guards

Brady's first day of school

2009-08-31T17:45:00.000-07:00

Brady started school today and yes, it was so cute. It was so sweet to see him walking into his classroom, looking back at me and saying good-bye. I was sad until I got home and realized I had a few hours to myself. So it's all good....... Brady in front of his school.
Alex and Brady...he's so excited to be going to school just like his big sis!

Again, Alex and Brady on our deck.

A big day for all.......kids in school and mom gets a few hours to herself

2009-08-25T17:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Alex's first day of first grade....she had a great day at a pretty great school. Well, except for the lunch issue, I have already complained on facebook so I won't here).

Anyways.....

This school has their very own music, art, science and PE teacher. Alex's last school wasn't like that and either was the school I taught at many years ago. So, I was impressed with all things this school had to offer. Hopefully it will live up to the expectations that I have.

stay tuned............ Alex in front of the school sign. Alex has her outfits planned out for the next 2 weeks. She is quite the fashion diva. She has done as far as having the hair style picked out with the outfit. I was kind of upset that this school didn't require uniforms because uniforms made my life easier last year in kindergarten. But so far it has been OK.
Alex with mommy and Brady. There was no crying from mom, but I was very sad to see her go.

So, I have no idea how to rotate this picture so, please.....just rotate your head.
All students at Piney Orchard Elementary have a locker. Alex thinks it's pretty cool. There are no locks on the lockers so it's really simple and neat for the kids.

The first of preschool for Brady is next Monday...he is so excited he can barely handle the wait.

Another Year....

2009-08-05T19:23:00.001-07:00

Today is our 12th wedding anniversary. My younger brother, Aaron came down from New York to visit, see the house and watch our kids so we could go out. So a big thanks to you, Aaron.

It's been a wonderful 12 years. We have been through so much in life and to see where our lives are now is amazing. I am so lucky to have such a great husband...and when I say WE, I mean HE has been through so much. Putting up with me is difficult....to say the least. But with each year, our lives get better.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JOE...I LOVE YOU

Not the best picture but you get the idea...

WE FOUND A HOUSE...YIP YIP HURRAY

2009-07-22T19:01:00.000-07:00

YES, WE FOUND A HOUSE. WE SIGNED THE LEASE AGREEMENT YESTERDAY AND ARE MOVING IN TUESDAY THE 28TH. IT'S A GREAT HOUSE IN ODENTON, MARYLAND. IT'S ALMOST THE PERFECT HOUSE...PERHAPS THIS IS WHY WE ARE IN A HOTEL FOR SO LONG.
FOR US, FINDING A HOUSE TO LIVE IN IS SO DIFFICULT BECAUSE I CONSIDER SO MANY THINGS BESIDES JUST THE BASIC NECESSITIES. WHEN MOVING TO MONTEREY, WE FIRST MOVED TO PRUNEDALE. BEFORE SIGNING THE LEASE AGREEMENT, I KNEW THAT WE WERE NOT SUPPOSE TO LIVE THERE. SOMETHING WAS SCREAMING NO TO ME BUT I IGNORED IT. OF COURSE, WE HAD MANY ISSUES, SO THAT EXPLAINED THAT. WHEN MOVING TO MARINA, I HAD THE WARM AND FUZZY FEELING WALKING INTO THE HOUSE. IN FACT, I THINK I HAD IT DRIVING DOWN THE STREET FOR THE FIRST TIME.
WELL, IN ALL THE PLACES WE LOOKED I DIDN'T ONCE HAVE THAT FEELING SO I SAID NO TO ALL AND KEPT LOOKING. THEN ABOUT 1 WEEK AGO WE SAW THIS LISTING ON MILITARYBYOWNER.COM AND SCHEDULED AN APPOINTMENT TO SEE IT. I WALKED IN THE FRONT DOOR AND IMMEDIATELY HAD THE WARM AND FUZZY FEELING. JOE THINKS IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE HE'LL ASK "ARE YOU FEELIN' IT." EVERY TIME WAS NO UNTIL THIS NIGHT.
THAT IS THE BEST FEELING OF ALL KNOWING THAT YOUR SEARCH HAS COME TO AN END AND THAT YOU KNOW THIS IS THE RIGHT PLACE FOR YOUR FAMILY.

Morgans Cross Country Adventure

2009-07-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

We began our cross country travels a little behind schedule. We were suppose to leave early Thursday morning and drive straight to Las Vegas but we didn't leave until 4:00 pm and we made it to Bakersfield, California. We finished loading the 28 foot truck that (thanks to the few guys from church who helped us) we completely filled from top to bottom front to back with no room to spare. We filled both cars with stuff that it was hard to find room for the kids. What a day but we got it done and we were on the road... June 26th we left Bakersfield, CA and headed to Las Vegas, NV. That was a 4 hour drive getting us to Vegas early enough to check into our hotel and hit the pool. What a hotel and pool. We stayed off the strip in the Northwest part of Las Vegas in a new hotel called The Aliante Station. We love Vegas. Most people don't but we do. It was the first place we owned a house, I got my first "real job" as a special education teacher and our daughter was born. Vegas has a lot of meaning to us. But we stayed in Vegas for a day and a half, hung out with grandpa and played in the pool. What fun.

Just a cute picture...

You want or need a challenge in life try driving cross country in two cars with 2 kids and a cat. Oh and add a few hermit crabs. They are easy...so easy that we left them in the car for 2 days in the heat.

They survived

June 28th we drove straight to Burley, Idaho. That drive was 600 miles and took about 10-11 hours. We have friends in Idaho that we were visiting. Plus, Joe and I have fond memories of Idaho. Burley was the first place we lived together as a married couple. This was our first house (duplex). We paid $325.00 a month. What a bargain even though we could barley afford it back then. I bet you could rent the same place today and still pay $325.00 a month. That was 12 years ago and Burley has not changed one bit.

(I know we missed seeing many other friends and we apologize)

This is Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho. The Falls are so beautiful. The kids loved seeing this. There's nothing like it.

It was a full capacity flow over the Falls.

On June 30th, we left Idaho traveling to Rawlins, Wyoming. Along the way we stopped in Evanston, Wyoming where my Great grandparents were born, raised and buried. My grandmother was also born there and my uncle was buried there. It was nice to go and visit their resting place.

On July 1 we traveled to North Platte, Nebraska and stayed the night. This was one of the first places that actually had a place to shop...a wal-mart. So much land everywhere and no civilization. I am such a city girl. I love having convience down the street.

On July 2 we went to visit more family in Omaha, Nebraska. We visited Aunt Judy and Uncle Jim and a few cousins. It was a nice visit. We had not seen them in 5 years since Alexandria was 3 months old.

We stayed in Omaha for the night...resting up for a few more days of nothing but driving

July 3 we spent the night in South bend, Indiana

We arrived in Cleveland, Ohio early day July 4. I really liked Cleveland, Ohio. It was very pretty. Actually our hotel was in West lake, Ohio right outside of Cleveland, So, West lake was pretty. We ate dinner at the cheesecake factory and watched fireworks. That was neat. I am sorry to hear that Monterey didn't do fireworks.
My kids missed doing their own fireworks. That was hard.

We did have fun in the pool...

July 5 we took a day off to relax in Cleveland and spend the day celebrating Brady's birthday. I know I said relaxing but believe it or not it was. It was a great day. We went to the Cleveland zoo, looked at all the animals, had a camel ride and touched a snake, swam in the hotel

pool, went to dinner at red robin, had my very own big chocolate sundae, played with my birthday presents and went to a bed. A very long but fun day.

WE FINALLY ARRIVED IN DC ON MONDAY JULY 6 AT 10:00 PM .

WHAT A DAY AND WHAT AN 11 DAYS.

Today is Tuesday July 14, we are still in a hotel looking for a place to live. We have looked at both homes and townhouses. Life pretty much sucks right now. I am trying to have faith that something will come available.

We did find 2 places we liked this past weekend actually Sunday morning. However, not knowing before looking at them they were already rented. THAT SUCKED BIG...

Now, you all are probably thinking that we must be picky. If so, YOU ARE RIGHT! But everything we look at has major issues...

But tomorrow is another day and i am praying that something will turn up.

we miss everyone in Monterey.

Brady's real birthday

2009-07-07T14:14:00.001-07:00

I promise these are the last pictures of Brady and his birthday....But his actual birthday was July 5th, just 2 days ago. Yes, we were still driving cross country but that day we decided to stay put and enjoy his special day. These pics are so out of order but you can all figure it out... Brady got a spider-man mask and cape for his birthday. He has been wearing it all around. He especially loves to wear it around the hotels we stay at because people think it's cute...
We went to Red Robin for dinner and after dinner a few waiters and waitresses came over to sing him happy birthday. Oh and he also got a free and all to himself ice cream sundae.
He also got a dinosaur puzzle for his birthday. He loves puzzles. This one was brand new and he completed the puzzle in less than 5 minutes. I think that is pretty impressive.

We went swimming in the hotel pool. The kids love swimming in all the pools of the hotels we've stayed. It's a great way to end the evening. Get them all tired and ready for bed.

Of course this was the first event of the day...the Cleveland, Ohio Zoo. They have a dinosaur exhibit. Brady loved all the dinosaurs....

Brady and Alexandria also got a camel ride at the zoo. That was probably the best part of the zoo for the kids. It was pretty neat. Brady's words were, "this is awesome, so cool." He has grown up so much. I remember when he could barely say mom.

This was my least favorite part about the zoo...if you know me then you know that I hate snakes...I am terrified of them. But my kids are not and they wanted to touch it. I had to take a picture because well it is cool. It's the only time that I would ever want them to touch a snake...at the zoo in the hands of an expert.

One last picture of all of us. We had a great day of fun and exhaustion. At this point we are near the east coast on east coast time with only 400 miles left to go.

I wanted to post a few pictures of Brady at earlier ages because he was so cute but with everything packed I figured it was impossible. So, I will post later.

Happy 4th Birthday Brady!!!!!!

DAD'S BIG DAY...GRADUATION DAY

2009-07-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

THIS PICTURE IS HARD TO SEE BUT YES, IT'S JOE. JOE HAD MANY SLEEPLESS NIGHTS STUDYING, MANY LONG WEEKENDS STUDYING AND MANY HOURS PUT INTO A 120 PAGE THESIS...SERIOUSLY, WHAT DEDICATION. I AM SO PROUD OF HIM.
THE FAMILY

THIS IS FAMILY AND FRIENDS WHO CAME TO THE CEREMONY AND THEN LUNCH AT GIANNI'S...JOE'S FAVORITE RESTAURANT IN ALL OF MONTEREY.

JOE'S FRIENDS FROM THE CLASS OF 1996 AT THE CALIFORNIA MARITIME ACADEMY IN VALLEJO, CALIFORNIA.

THIS PICTURE IS FOR YOU JIM...

HERE ARE ALL THE KIDS...BRADY IS THE ONLY BOY, 1 BOY AND 7 GIRLS.

WE THANK EVERYONE WHO CAME FROM SO FAR TO BE HERE IN MONTEREY WITH JOE ON THIS DAY...WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Brady's Birthday Party...computer is working...

2009-07-02T18:50:00.000-07:00

We got a new computer so now I can finally post pictures...it was definitely the computer with the problem and not my camera, what a relief.

More party pictures.

Brady had a spider-man pinata at his party...the kids loved getting all the candy.

This is the jumpy house and Cambria. Brady and Cambria's birthdays are only 1 week apart, so we did a double party. What fun, The jumpy house made the party until...

We had problems with the jumpy house. The kids are lined up waiting for it to be fixed so they can jump.

This is Brady with a few of his friends and his sister with the bunny ears.

The jumpy house stopped working with kids on it...a little scary but everyone was fine and it was fixed pretty quick thanks to dad (and Clint)...

It was a great party with great friends...

Too see the volcano cake explode with dry ice watch below...it is only 1 minute or so,

Good-Bye Monterey

2009-06-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I have no picture but if I did it would be of Alex and I with tears in our eyes as we are driving up our street and away from our house for the last time...We left just over 24 hours ago and miss everyone already. I know that I did not say the proper good-byes. I wish I could have visited everyone individually and express my appreciation of them and their friendship but that would be impossible. But please know that my family was blessed to have lived in the Monterey area and be in the Prunedale Ward. We made such great friends. We would love to stay in touch with each of you...through email and blogs, and even Christmas cards. So, please send me your addresses so I can update my phonebook.

Please know that we will and do miss each and every one of you...We love you all.

Brady's Birthday

2009-06-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture from Brady's birthday party. I am having computer problems and with moving and Joe finishing his thesis by next week, we have no time to worry about our computer issue. So, my friend, Kim helped me out in seeing if the problem was my camera or my computer and it's definitely my computer, but here's 1 picture of Brady on the slide on the jump house.

He had a great birthday especially in sharing it with his cute little friend, Cambria. I can't really say "little." Brady says he's not little anymore, he's a "big boy." It was an early birthday party for both kids because we are moving and will be on the rode on his real birthday. But thanks to all our friends who came especially Cambria and her family and sharing this day with Brady.

I got some really cute pictures especially the picture of the awesome volcanco cake I made with transformers on top. I even had dry ice coming out the top. It was awesome and turned out great but I will post pictures ASAP.

Am I being too picky????????

2009-05-29T19:04:00.000-07:00

I don't have pictures for this post, they are too graphic...

Some of you have already heard my complaining, if so don't read on...

So, many of you know that I am in Washington, DC right now finding a house so when we relocate here mid-July, we have a house to go to instead of a hotel. My search is not going well, actually is really sucks. The first day I was here I looked at 2 houses with my Realtor. Not good. I spent the rest of the day looking for houses on my own (or with my

brother...he met me here to spend a couple of days with me). Seriously, I spent 10 hours that first day driving around and looking at houses. oh and most of that was actually in the car. For those of you who have never been here, the traffic is awful!!!!! This is my first time here. I am staying at the Navy Medical base in Bethesda, Maryland which is the right new to DC. Yesterday, it took me 1 1/2 hours to drive 12 miles. Today, I drove my brother to the airport and it took me 2 hours to go there and back. The airport is only 19 miles away...anyways, day 1 10 hours and day 2 10 hours and nothing.

Every house I look at in my price range is so dirty and ugly. And when I say dirty, I mean tear the house down and start over. So, no I have not found a house and I have even raised the amount we are willing to pay to get a better house and that has not helped.

For 2 brief seconds, I did find my dream house...the owners has been trying to sell it ans couldn't for several months so they were going back and forth about renting it. That's where I come in...fell in love...perfect house. Clean, cute, every wall was painted beautiful colors, the yard was kept up, the price was right, the size was right and then they changed their minds. Good for them...sucks for me.

Best part of the house was THE CLEANLINESS

Well, I feel better now that I have let out some steam.

1 more day here in DC. Who knows what's ahead for tomorrow. Tomorrow could be the day...stay tuned.

So, back to my questions...is it too much to ask for a nice and clean house?

Mother's Day

2009-05-13T08:34:00.000-07:00

My Mother's Day was wonderful. The kids and Joe made me breakfast in bed which was an egg, cheese and ham omelet, hash browns and OJ. Alex also cut up strawberries for me and Brady added two powered dounts to the plate. It was yummy. After church I started my day by laying on the couch all day. And I mean all day. I did nothing. Joe and the kids also made me dinner it was a great day.

The kids did these at church and I thought it was too cute to share.Brady says, I am 4 years oldAlex says, I am 40 years old.

When she asks me how old am I, I always say 29. I am sticking to that but she must have forgotten. I need to drill her just a few more times.

I am 29................

My baby is 6 years old

2009-05-06T20:37:00.000-07:00

Alexandria turned 6 years old today. Times certainly flies by. Here's a few pictures of Alexandria over the past 6 years.

Starting with the most recent... Alexandria wanted a salon chair for her dolls.

And a horse shaped cake. I think I did a great job, especially for me because I am not too creative.

Alex blowing out her candles tonight.

5 years old

4 years old

3 years old

2 years old

And of course, 1 year old

1 year old again...she was such a chunk :)

Ant Farm

2009-05-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

Brady's preschool has been studying bugs and such...so, today they searched outside for different kinds of bugs and insects. They have also talked about the life cycle of butterfly. Of which today it became a butterfly...I don't have a picture but the kids were excited to show their parents. Brady thought that was awesome, his words. But here is Brady's ant farm. He loves it. His teacher also gave them magnifying glasses to look at their ant farms. Pretty cool

They also made binoculars for searching for bugs. Brady painted his blue.

Farmers Market

2009-04-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I took the kids to the Monterey Farmers Market with a friend of mine and her son. I have lived here almost 2 years and have never gone and just recently found out that it existed. It was a lot of fun but I did learn that next time to bring a stroller. My kids have kind of out grown them but Next time, I will bring the double jogger.

Anyways...Alex and Brady wanted their faces painted.
Alex wanted a butterfly on both cheeks.

Brady wanted spider man but that one was the entire face and I knew that would cause problems for me...I already had the small amount of paint on my shirt so, Brady got his spider of his face.

Easter

2009-04-12T18:37:00.000-07:00

We dyed Easter eggs earlier in the week. The kids loved it as usual. What a mess...the dye was everywhere. Alex had Hello Kitty Dye and stickers.

Brady had transformer dye and stickers.

On Easter Sunday, we made a bunny cake. This has become a family tradition for Easter. We did it last year and what a cake. I let the kids go crazy and boy did they...sprinkles everywhere.

But this year, We thought we would actually make it look like a bunny and not a mountain of frosting and sprinkles. It was so cute.

We also did a family egg hunt. I did have 2 golden eggs, really one gold and one silver...same difference. this was the bigger prize inside...$5.00. They were excited.

We hope everyone had a great Easter day!!!

Happy Easter

Talent Night

2009-04-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

Alex and her friend Adriann wanted to sing and dance for our wards talent show on Friday. Actually, Alex wanted to dance and Adriann wanted to sing so they did both together and it was so so so cute. Kim (Adriann's mom) and I didn't really think that they would actually do it but they did. We are so proud of them...I thought that everyone should see how cute it was.

Oh and Brady's talent was seeing how many cookies he could eat that night. Sorry, but I didn't get a picture of that. He's 3...use your imagination.

My Craft it Forward

2009-04-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

I know I am a little bit behind on blogging...well, actually a lot behind. But I am ready to get back into this...

My friend Suzanne took these awesome pictures of my kids. I have posted too many but I could not decide which ones to post so, I thought I would put several. It's been a while since anyone has had to read my blog so, this will cover all that.

I love the brick wall in the background, especially with the orange shirt.

Brady is such a big boy now. I love the hat and Jacket...some of Suzanne's props.
This is probably my absolute favorite picture of Brady...I love his body language in this one.

So sweet!!!!

Just plain cute!!!!!!

Precious

even more precious!!!!!

I love the hat, gloves and hat. Alex had to have them from target...such a girl

The black rod iron gate is really pretty.

I love this picture of Alex. She looks so sweet.

I like how the color pops with the black background.

Again, the black door and the color of her dress just pop.

Thanks so much Suzanne. These pictures turned out great.

I'M BACK...

2009-02-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

OK...I know its been a long time since I have updated my blog and I know that I have been so missed :). I was having issues with my blog so I had to get my good friend, Kim to help me out...THANKS SO MUCH KIM.

But I am back and ready to start blogging again. I was so very behind that I didn't even post Christmas pictures or even a video of the kids countdown to the new year, which was so cute. But life has been extremely busy and now you will all be updated on that, my crazy life. Stay tuned...

2009-01-28T08:39:00.001-08:00

Alexandria's first slumber party

2008-12-14T18:44:00.000-08:00

Alexandria had her first slumber party on Friday night. Times have changed...my first slumber party was when I was 8 years old...I think. One of the girls turned 7 on Friday and wanted to have a few friends over to spend the night including Alex. I was very hesitate at first...she's only 5...but we thought it's only next door. They girls did their nails, ate pizza, watched movies and played games. So, needless to say she had a blast. She was very tired the next day but she loved every minute of being a total girly girl. I am sure this is the start of many future slumber parties.

Fun Christmas Activities

2008-12-11T19:06:00.000-08:00

For Family Home Evening we did a gingerbread house. We manage to do this every year but they always seem to fall down. This year was the best because that did not happen. This kit came with a tray to hold it up. It worked! The kids loved decorating the house.

I think it looks pretty good.We also did jello jigglers with Christmas cookie cutters. Brady is holding a snowman and yes, he is wearing his Buzz Lightyear Halloween costume :) Alexandria is holding a Christmas tree. This was really cute. Such easy but fun activities for them to do.

Grandpa's Visit

2008-12-11T19:04:00.001-08:00

I am a little behind in blogging because grandpa came to visit on Thanksgiving. I should have blogged this before the "leg lamp." ha ha ha But we had a great time with grandpa. We showed him around Monterey. The kids loved spending 4 days with grandpa. We took grandpa to see the sea lions but the gate was closed...no sea lions. but the ocean was beautiful!!!!!

We love you!

"The Soft Glow of Electric Sex Gleaming in the Window"

2008-11-29T19:34:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas...I can't believe it's already December

We like to start off our Christmas season with:So, Joe's family loves the movie, "A Christmas Story." They watched it every year at Christmas and we do to. So, last year for Christmas I bought Joe an exact replica of the leg lamp. If you have seen the movie then I am sure that you will remember the leg lamp. Anyways...it is up for viewing. If you are LUCKY enough to live nearby, please feel free to drive by our house and take a look. We have it light up every night at dark. We will be going out of town for Christmas so you'd better hurry and come by and look. We think it's funny, hopefully you will too!!!!

Brady's new bike

2008-11-24T17:16:00.000-08:00

So, Brady got a new bike. He has been riding Alexandria's old red tricycle for so long so it was time for a new bike. It's a really nice bike and he loves it. Yes, my kids are in their PJ's. We just bought the bike Saturday night and it was already dark outside so we said Sunday morning he could try it out. He didn't even wait to change his clothes. But this bike is big so a helmet is a definite requirement to ride his bike.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2008-10-31T21:26:00.000-07:00

What a night, What a day and what a week...I am glad that the week is over but so happy that my kids had so much fun. Brady and Alex both had Halloween parties/carnivals. Brady's school party was on Wednesday-smart idea. I like having it spread out. Alexandria's school carnival was today. The teachers and PTA put so much time into planning it and it showed. All the kids got to play different games, trick-or-treat, eat lunch and get a pumpkin. It was a blast. I volunteered today at her party. Brady and I both did. It was so much fun!!!!

So, Brady was Buzz Lightyear and Alexandria was Genevieve from the 12 dancing princesses (basically a barbie for those of you who don't know)
We curled Alexandria's hair. It was in ringlets. It looked so cute. We also sprayed her hair pink. At her school today they weren't allowed to wear costumes instead it was crazy hair ans sock day. So we sprayed it pink. But Alex loved having her hair curled. We should definitely do it more...the curl not the color.
We also sprayed Brady's hair-he wanted it done after seeing Alex's. His was blue. But Brady's costume was so cute. I bought inflatable wings for Brady's costume. Very cute. It also came with gloves. He fell in love with Buzz Lightyear since watching Toy story about 4 months and even more since visiting Disneyland and meeting him in June.
Brady in full costume. I love it!!!!!!!

Alexandria in all pink...what other color is there!!!!

This is Alexandria with her friends Kya and Adriann. They are coloring Halloween pictures.

Here's Brady with his best buds. These boys are so cute when they are together. They chase one another and of course, do the boy thing. WRESTLE EACH OTHER!!!!

Brady and Tyson.

The kids with their crazy hair and Halloween shirts.

We hope you all had a spooky but safe Halloween...

Happy 36th

2008-10-30T17:18:00.001-07:00

Today is Joe's 36th birthday. WOW 36. We celebrated with apple pie. Joe request this every year as his birthday cake. of course, it has to be homemade by me crust and all...I think I make really good apple pies. I don't want to brag but I will...

This picture is not so good but Brady was done for the day. He didn't want a picture taken at the moment.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE

My Little Girl

2008-10-26T17:21:00.000-07:00

I am way behind on blogging for the last couple of weeks. So, I thought I would just post all my pictures at once. I couldn't decide on just a few pictures, so you get them all. I tried not to write too much because I have so many.

On Friday Alexandria was 1 of 4 chosen in her class for "Student of the Quarter." We are very proud of her. There was an Assembly for the entire school so each of the kids were recognized. Each class chose about 4 kids. Alexandria loves school. I hope she always does...I know it's just kindergarten but we are so very proud of her and her accomplishments in Kindergarten.
These are the other 3 kids chosen. They received a certificate, pencil, bumper sticker and a Popsicle. Very cute....
This is Alexandria's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Tope. I am really happy that Alexandria is in her class. She is a great teacher and shows how much she enjoys teaching.

Fire Saftey Day

2008-10-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

Brady's preschool had a fire saftey day. The fire department came to his school with the fire truck and talked to the kids about fire saftey. I have never seen Brady so still and in tune to what's being said. He loves fire trucks...
Brady got to walk through the fire truck with the help of a fireman. He really liked it.
All of the kids were pretty good. They all stood there looking at the fire truck and listening to the fireman. They even got to watch the ladder go up and around and then down. Brady is still talking about this. A fire truck is pretty exciting to a little boy.

Halloween Treats

2008-10-26T17:10:00.000-07:00

The kids and I made cupcakes. Well-I made cupcakes and they decorated them. Brady of course, was a complete mess. No matter how much frosting or sprinkles I allow them to use, it always manages to be all over his body-I am not sure how but it does. Alex stays pretty clean. It must be a boy thing. He will do anything to get all dirty whether it's the mud puddles at the park or the frosting of a cupcake.

Boys will be Boys

Alex is completely clean...
Brady just started and already has chocolate all over his mouth.

Pumpkins, Pumkpins and more Pumpkins...

2008-10-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

So, we carved one of our pumpkins the other night. The kids really love doing this. I think that's because they really like reaching into the pumpkin and pulling out the pumpkin guts.
Brady was a little nervous at first but then dived right in.
Alex had no hesitation. She went for it.
This is the pumpkin patch pretty close to home. It's only a pumpkin patch-no other things to do but the kids love searching for their perfect pumpkin.
They had snoopy and charlie brown signs all over the place so I thought I'd get a picture.
The pumpkin carriage.

Fall Break Activities

2008-10-26T16:54:00.000-07:00

The kids fall break from school was a few weeks ago but that shows how behind I am in posting pictures. Anyways, a few of my friends and our kids went to the San Jose Children's Museum and the Oakland Zoo. It was a lot of fun. Brady and Alex loved going places with their friends. This is myself and the kids on a huge frog at the zoo. This is a picture of all the kids sitting on a wall by the children's museum. Some of the kids have their faces painted. That was one of the things to do at the museum.
I love this picture...All the kids looking at the elephants.

Marina Air Show

2008-10-26T16:52:00.000-07:00

So we went to the air show in Marina a few weekends ago. The kids loved looking at all the planes and classic cars. Alex actually got to sit in one airplane. Brady didn't want to. I am not sure why but he didn't. The gentlemen was really nice letting the kids sit and touch the plane. The air show was free so it was a nice way to spend the day.

Our Flag

2008-10-20T09:22:00.001-07:00

Alex's class with many other classes many weeks ago at school painted this flag with their hand prints at the front of the school. I kept forgetting my camera so today, now that the kids are back in school I had to get a picture before the paint started to fade. I think Brady's trying to find Alex's hand print
Alex found her hand print at the bottom. I'm not sure how she remembered exactly where it was, but she did.
A closer look-I still can't believe she's in Kindergarten. I loved having her home during break-it was hard because we had to keep busy but I think she missed school!

Of course, Brady wanted a picture too!

I've been Tagged...by Amy

2008-10-13T20:38:00.000-07:00

So, I am new to the whole blogging thing as well as being tagged...so here goes!

What I was doing 10 years ago...
1. Celebrating my first year of marriage to a wonderful husband
2. Attending Idaho State University studying Elementary Education/Special Education
3. Getting up at 5:00 am to catch the bus to get up to ISU for school (i lived 1 1/2 hours from college)
4. Living in Idaho and adjusting to 0 degree weather with snow
5. Working at a scrap booking store trying to make any amount of money possible to help pay bills
6. Going out on weekly dates with my husband and not worrying about children at home with a babysitter

5 things on my to-do list today...
1. Finish last weeks bills
2. Take my kids to the park
3. Hem 2 pairs of pants
4. Sweep up the pile of sand from last weeks beach trip in front of the washer in the garage and clean the kids muddy rain boots from apple picking 2 weeks ago
5. Of course, watch today's young and the Restless that I recorded earlier

5 of my favorite snacks...
1. Trail mix with mm's
2. Big cheese it's
3. Dibs ice cream
4. cookies
5. Diet Dr. Pepper

5 jobs I've had...
1. Jack in the Box
2. Scrap booking store
3. Mystery shopper
4. Special Education Teacher
5. Full-time mom and wife

5 things I would do with a million dollars...
1. Buy my dream home
2. Take my husband and kids on a few vacations
3. Pay off student loans, credit cards and car payments
4. Buy my husband an old classic car to fix up
5. Put some money away for a rainy day

5 things that made me laugh this week...
1. Watching my son get mad because he was tired riding his bike on the way to the park (it's a couple blocks away and he's done it a million and a half times)
2. Watching my son brush his teeth (he puts on a show each morning while looking in the mirror at himself and brushing his teeth)
3. Reading all my friends blogs especially my friend Anita
4. Dog sitting for a friend (because I felt bad that the dog had pooped and peed on their carpet as well as destroyed a book, magazine and a pillow-shouldn't be funny but I laughed)
5. My daughter's day to day being a girl (my kids always make me laugh)

5 people I tag to answer these questions...
1. Erin
2. Kim
3. Anita
4. Amanda
5. Kristi

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2008-10-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

Not such a great picture of our front door-I thought that the glow of the candles in the bags and of the alien would light up better-oh well. I know it's early but Happy Halloween. We are excited for Halloween. October is an exciting month for all kids but it's especially exciting for Joe because it's his birthday month. One year for his birthday, I got him this green alien. So, every year we put it out. One year Joe made a space ship to go out beside it. Sometimes we even put it out for Christmas with a Santa hat. I know ridiculous and sick. But we love it...

Apple Picking at Gizdich Ranch

2008-10-04T18:20:00.001-07:00

Today, we went apple picking at Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville. We planned on doing this for about a week now but we weren't sure we'd be able to go because of the rain. But we made it-it was very muddy and slick but we had a blast. My kids love this ranch. The kids wore their rain boots. Perfect shoes for this kind of activity-of course, I wore flip flops. Not such a great idea. I was sliding all over the place.
We have been to this ranch so many times that my kids could be ranchers themselves :)
Brady was proud of the apples he picked. He kept saying, "daddy help me reach apples." Very cute!!!!!!!
Alexandria was able to reach some but needed help lots from her dad. The kids had to share their dads strong arms in picking them up to reach the apples.

AHH...The racoons won't go away!

2008-09-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

So, I have no picture (the picture would be too embarrassing) but I thought I would share anyway. Last night I am laying on the couch watching TV. The kids are in bed and Joe is upstairs getting his things ready for school. I hear a noise...as paranoid as I am I think someone is outside. Of course not, it's our raccoon friends. They are eating and drinking what's left in our cats bowl-which is not much. I hurry to get the sling shot that Joe had bought for our raccoon stake out a few weeks ago. I am thinking to myself, "I don't need my husbands help. I can get rid of these raccoons." I try and fail many times. Let me also say that the raccoons are about 5 feet in front of me. Seriously, how pathetic am I. I guess that goes to show that some things are just meant for our husbands to take care of........

Saturday Night Fun

2008-09-07T09:01:00.001-07:00

What else is there to do on a Saturday night other than have a raccoon stake out. We have a major raccoon problem here on our court. The raccoons and yes I said raccoons. We are not sure on exactly how many there are. When we first moved in over a year ago we had 2 raccoons of which one was blind. It would hang out in the neighborhood during the day while the kids were out playing. We tried to have them caught but with no success and then we found one dead in the street. Problem solved! Not really because now we have a family of raccoons living behind my house. They dig holes in the backyard, come out during the day to play :-) or come out at night to eat my cats food. If we open our garage chances are one will find its way inside.

So yesterday Joe decided to buy a sling shot to scare it. It was so funny. The raccoons including 1 little baby one-so cute. I wanted to pick it up, it was so cute. But of course, there are wild animals-getting back to our stake out. When it came to the porch to eat Joe would get the sling shot ready and fire. It would run but come back just seconds later. We both would run outside with a flashlight to find it again and fire one last time. We probably spent 1 hour doing this off and on. We even took the screen out of the window to make it easier.

So, we did not fix the problem. They are not scared of us which is a bad thing but time will tell. We will continue our stake out tonight.......

Summer Fun

2008-09-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

It was such a beautiful day yesterday, that I decided to get out the kids slip and slide of which I got on clearance at Walmart for $3.00. Definitely worth every penny! The kids loved it. I had to set it up in my front yard because there was sun. My back yard doesn't really get sun because of the tall trees. In our neighborhood there are about 10 kids including my two so we had every child down slipping and sliding. We were outside for 5 straight hours. No sunburns but the kids slept 12 straight hours last night. That was great :-)

Alexandria got the hang of slipping and sliding pretty quick.
Brady wasn't sure what to do. It was more of a sprinkler for him until about 3 hours into it. He then figured out how to actually slip and slide.
Alexandria trying to act like a diva. She loved showing off to her friends!
The puddle at the end of the slide was where the kids hung out and slashed each other. It was the perfect day.

Labor Day Fun

2008-09-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

Since moving to Monterey our kids have always wanted to do the paddle boats down on Del Monte Blvd next to the Dennis the Menace Park. So we decided to give it a try. The kids were excited until they realized that they had to wear a life vest. Alex did pretty good but Brady was another story. Finally he decided to wear it but only because mom promised him a treat after we had finsihed. A treat usually means stopping by 7-11 and getting some mm's. I know this is wrong but you do what you have to do, RIGHT!

The boats are tough because you can only paddle from the front. So, of course Joe and I sat in the front but I didn't feel good putting the kids in the back without me sitting right there. So, we just did our best and put them in our laps-WHAT A WORKOUT. Most of you know that I am anti-workout :) I think I may a lost a few pounds in that 1/2 hour!
So, later on during the day about 6:00 pm we went to the pier down by the US Coast Guard Station. The sea lions are all over. They like to hang out on the rocks right off the pier. We were standing about 2 feet from them. It was really neat.
The kids of course want to swim with them.
This picture is hard to see because of the shadows, sun and the black gate between myself and the sea lion. I thought it's face was so cute!

Monterey County Fair

2008-08-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, we went to the fair. We went on Saturday afternoon. It was crazy-no parking, lines to buy tickets, lines for the rides and the amount of money they charge for everything. But we had a blast. The kids love to sit on these things. They don't even know what they do. The cheapest thing at the fair and they had no idea its purpose.
Bradys all boy. He loved the tractors. Of course, he had to sit on each one and we had to visit the tractors two times while we were there.
Alexandria's all girl but she also likes to get dirty once in awhile.

The kids loved seeing the animals. I think their favorite animal was the "baby cow; Cinnamon". It was pretty cute. I am not sure when she was born but not to long ago because she was still learning to walk. She was very shakey on her feet. Brady was so interested in what she was doing. He just watched her lay there, walk around the mommy cow and he tried to reach out for her. At least she didn't try to nibble on Brady because he got too close to the pigs and one grabbed his shirt.
The goat was so cute! Brady and Alex got a sticker that said, "I love goats." So cute.
This was one of Alexandria's rides. I guess it was like a swing. She was nervous at first but she loved it.
This was one of Brady's rides. He loves motorcycles. I guess you can say this is a motorcycle :) But he loved it as well.

So another day of fun for the Morgans.

I am so exhausted...

2008-08-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

I woke Brady up by turning the camera on to take a picture so my point of this post doesn't have one OOPS OOPS OOPS OOPS

I will continue anyway! Brady has really never been a napper unless he is absoutley exhausted and I mean complete and utter exhaust. But being that he has gone to school 3 times now, I have had luck with him falling asleep in the car and carrying him from the car seat to the couch. Even in the past he would always wake up while transfering him from the car to the house. So school must be so much fun and take all his energy out of him. So, now how do I get him to take a nap on Monday, Wednesday and Friday when he is not in school?

Hungry Ground Squirrels

2008-08-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight we took the kids to feed the ground squirrels at Carmel Beach. It's pretty cool. The squirrels come right up to you to get a peanut. You have to be careful because they do come right up to you. Whether you are sitting still or walking away.
The kids are waiting for the squirrles to come out. All you do is hold a peanut in your hand and wait about 1 minute. The squirrels come running!

Carmel beach is so beautiful. The kids love rolling down the hill. The waves are rolling, the sand is white and the ocean is blue. Georgeous Georgeous Georgeous...

11 Years in the Making

2008-08-06T17:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Joe and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. We went to RJ's steakhouse for dinner. A yummy place to eat but definitely over priced. But your anniversary is only once a year. Its been amazing 11 years. We have had our share of problems but I think each year you grow stronger and love each other so much more.
This picture was taken 6 years ago obviously before children. I really like this picture of Joe and I, it's probably one of my favorites. I look so young and thin. If I could only look like this again :)
We were married in the San Diego Temple on August 5,1997. This is our engagement picture in 1997 (hard to see, I couldn't figure out how to enlarge it).

My happiness is being a wife to my husband of 11 years now and rasing our 2 children. My life has been truely blessed.

Sleepy Brady

2008-08-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

I guess it was a great day at preschool. When I picked Brady up today, he didn't want to come home with me. His exact words, "No home, stay at school."

Brady's First Day of Preschool

2008-08-05T10:40:00.000-07:00

Brady started his first day of preschool today. He was very excited at first but as we pulled up to his school he shouted, "I don't want to go to school." We think he was confused-he thought he was going to school with Alexnadria. But once we got inside, he was loving it. This was Alexandria's preschool last year so he knew what to expect. I hope he enjoys school and makes new friends.
The school has two birds, benny and tinker. Brady loved looking at the birds.
He found the toys. I was sad and shed a few tears. But I think preschool will be good for Brady. He's so active and curious, he can play and run crazy.

Alexandria's First Day of Kindergarten

2008-08-04T20:34:00.000-07:00

Alexandria was ready to go and so was Brady. He didn't understand that his first day wasn't until tommorrow. So, I decided to pack his lunch too.
Alexandria is 1 of 2 kids in her class with blond hair. Kind of different but ok.

Alexandria started her first day of kindergarten today. She woke up so excited and ready to go. It's the earliest I have been up in a long time. Anyways, she was so cute with her uniform, backpack and lunch box. She wasn't scared but probably a little nervous. Mom cried-I will confess. I was such a baby. But I am excited for this big new step in her life.

Alexandria's tooth

2008-08-02T15:53:00.001-07:00

Alexandria lost her second tooth. I thought the picture was so cute. Another big step in the growing up of my kids. When they are babies, you think they will never grow up and now that they are, I am excited but sad at the same time.

Ward Campout

2008-08-02T15:43:00.000-07:00

Ok so, I don't have any pictures of the ward campout but I thought I would share our experiences from that. We have not been big on camping since having children but decided we should give it a try. The first time we went was a few years ago when Alexandria was barely 2 and I was about 7 months pregnant with Brady. Many of you have heard the stories-locked keys in car, Alexandria screaming all night because she was scared of the wind that blew our tent and so forth. This time we added a child and thought if everyone else is bringing their kids, we can to. Brady pooped his pants twice. Big mess! What's new-he does this a lot however, we have made progress so we thought until last night. Then Alexandria complained of a headache and starting throwing up. That was at about 9:00-9:30 at night. Then after cleaning up the throw up and Alexandria, Brady decides to pee his pants. Mind you we have been standing in front of the bathrooms for 20 minutes because that's where Alex threw up. After going back and forth about going home, we stayed and the rest of the night was not too bad. But what a campout! It was fun and lots of work was put into the planning. Thanks so much Anita!

Excited about School Starting

2008-07-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

Alex and Brady are so excited for school to start. We just bought their backpacks and lunch boxes. Pretty typical-princess and spider-man. But I thought it was a cute picture, both kids half naked. Excited but sad at the same time-both kids starting school next week. Big changes, they are no longer my little babies!