Jacksonville, Florida

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

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

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

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....

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 :)