Our Busiest Week of the Year

It seems like I am blogging daily, but thats just how this week goes! February 25th (Wednesday) was JD's birthday, February 26th (Thursday) was Morgan's birthday, and my birthday is this upcoming Tuesday (March 3rd) Needless to say, there are lots of occasions to blog!

Like I said, Morgan's birthday was yesterday, and I just cannot believe how much I love to see that girl smile. I would give her gifts everyday if it would not A) cost ridiculously lots of money and B) spoil her into being a little priss. Anyhow, our day started out pretty normal, except I felt guilty anytime I wasn't giving her my undivided attention since it was her birthday. We didn't do anything real special until around 6 when my family came over and we went to dinner at this little Mexican restaurant, they had all these crazy desserts for Morgan to choose from since it was her birthday, but we ended up just getting a bowl with 3 cherries in it because we knew she would like that best anyhow!

First of all, I have a bone to pick with all of you (Rachel and Lindsay) who blog about decorating cakes and yours are beautiful, and you have never said a darn thing about how hard it is! I think, it is very likely I made the UGLIEST cake out there. I know its bad because I have told JD about a trillion times I was making a monkey cake and he still had to ask what it was because he didn't want to assume it was something else and hurt my feelings! And yes, I do realize this cake is likely to end up on websites about how NOT to do a cake, but I don't even care!

She didn't quite understand the whole blowing out the candles thing, but being the ham that she is, she was more than delighted to have us all crowd around her and sing Happy Birthday!

Morgan made out like a bandit, she always does on holidays, because as I said, nobody can resist that smile! I am a little sad though, because I forgot to wash her face before presents, so she has one filthy mug in all these pictures, but oh well, she's still stinkin cute!

Opening the Kitchen:

Reading her very cool Grover and Elmo hide and seek book:

Look Mom! A Dress!

A Sesame Street Doctor's Kit (the stethoscope is Cookie Monster and he says, "Ooooh, strong heartbeat, but just in case, eat two cookies and call me in the morning")

This is an Elmo doll that asks for hugs and when you hug him he says all sorts of gushy Elmo-esque things:


Holy Moly! Food for my kitchen!
You can't hardly see the gift in the picture, but she is riding on a tricycle she got from her Grandparents. She loves that thing, within 10 minutes she had gathered up all her new toys and put them in the dump bucket/basket on the back of the trike!
And last, but not least in my book: I LOVE this picture because look at how well my Mom's wrapping job is foiling Morgan AND Darci. So great!

Where's Waldo?

So, today is JD's birthday and we have no birthday wrapping paper! So Morgan and I spent a good hour or so (which is absolutely amazing considering the attention span of a 2 year old) drawing on the back side of our Christmas wrapping paper. She helped for a while, then started telling me what to draw, so, everything on here except the "I love JD" in the middle, and the swirlies, are all things Morgan told me to draw. There is lots of cool stuff, I am sure you can see that all on your own. BUT, for some good old fashioned Where's Waldo fun, can you find:
1. My interpretation of Morgan yelling "POPCORN POPPING!" (I will give you a hint, its the first line of the song that I drew)
2. Our "little table" as Morgan calls it, the coffee table
3. An AWESOME big truck.
4. A strawberry
5. And a "fook (no thats not a swear word) and poon"

Moments like this

I have to admit, every few months, I get reminded of the overwhelming responsibility it is to be a parent. My Morgan is so happy and playful, and funny practically all the time, that its easy for me to just coast through being a Mom enjoying this perfect time in our lives when I am entertained all day by the person I love so very much. Before I was a Mom I didn't know it was possible to feel that strongly for one tiny little person. And it seems, after a few months of me just doing things the way we do around here, I will find myself in the middle of a panic attack, realizing how wonderfully perfect my daughter is, and I want to do everything in my power to keep her that way. So many of our moments together hold so much pure joy, they seem to be the mirror image of how happy I would feel to be sitting with our God. I am so terrified that everyday holds the possibility of pulling her further away from Him, and molding her to be less like Him. But, then there are moments like tonight, when I can relax a little, and realize things are going just great for now, because my nearly 2 year old daughter (all on her own) said this prayer tonight:

"Father, Howie outside, and Keegan, food, Mom, Howie, Dad. Jesus, Amen"

Seriously though, a single prayer has never made me feel such peace and happiness as that simple statement of thanks from my little girl (even if she says she's thankful for the dog twice and me just once). And I pray, with the help of our Father in Heaven, she continues to say prayers like this for the rest of her life.

Two dollars and forty seven cents gets:

I have to be quick because I should be doing schoolwork, not blogging, but I just couldn't resist. I went to Walgreens to pick up a pack of index cards for flashcards and all their Valentine's stuff was 75% off so I grabbed a box of chocolates, and Morgan grabbed herself a tiny one, and that was that. Well, we get to the counter and the cashier is like, "This bear was 20 bucks, I'll give it to you for a dollar." I was like, "NO WAY!" So, even though it will just take up space in my already small house, I bought it anyway. And the grand total was $2.47. Nice, eh?

Happy Valentines!

I took this picture to put on Morgan's homemade Valentines, and I just think it is the cutest. I just wanted to post it because I just think my kid is too perfect sometimes, and I wonder how the heck it happened!

Look Mom, Snow Man!

Those are the four words I have heard about 40 times a day since Tuesday morning. But you have to admit, it is one cool snowma-lady. Complete with ponytail and evergreen skirt, with a coordinating rock necklace accessory, they just don't get much cooler than that!

It all started when Monday afternoon the rain turned to snow and I had one excited girl. Which is so strange to me, because over Christmas she hated, absolutely hated the cold snow! She would not stop asking to go out in the snow on Monday night, and she even disappeared into her room only to come out with gloves,shoes, and a hat on, all ready to go! She eventually got over the disappointment of not being able to go out Monday, and was so very very excited to get outside Tuesday morning! We headed outside and it was beeeee-u-tiful! So nice outside, we ended up shedding our coats after playing for a bit. Well, without further ado, the pictures:

JD and Morgan, with the coolest snow person EVER, and Howie sniffin things out:

I was trying to teach Morgan to be a model and say ta-da! She kind of has it:

Morgan and her #1 pal exploring:

And I just had to put these pictures in because Howie is having so much fun! The poor dog has learned to play catch with himself, because we entertain him so little. But he does a pretty good job at entertaining us!

Any Ideas?

Well, as a general rule, I have always expected JD to be the one "in charge" of Valentines day and our Anniversary. This year I started thinking, "What the heck? This is a holiday not only about the greeting card scam, but about mutual love. Its not just husband-buy-your-wife-flowers day" So, I am trying to come up with a plan for this year, and so far all I have accomplished is getting a baby sitter. Anybody have any good ideas?

P.S. We just got new batteries so I will be able take pictures again, so no more boring photo-less blogs!

Be Cool, Stay in School (or go back to a trade school cause that counts)

I just signed completed my first module in my program for medical transcription. I gotta be honest, I am a little bit scared. There is a lot of stuff to learn, and it is a huge commitment. I mean, I have to not only learn what the ligament is that connects my foot bone to my leg bone (and yes, that is as extensive as my medical knowledge is currently) but I also have to learn how to spell it correctly! Who wouldn't be scared by that?

But, I am also so very excited! It has been a long time since I have been actively involved in learning anything. Learning to be a Mom and learning along with Morgan has been enough for me so far, and I would be happy with that forever, but there is nothing wrong with expanding my knowledge further. And I am very excited to do that, and to challenge myself with all this new stuff.

Plus, if you would have asked me two months ago if I could keep my house clean and organized as well as I have this last month, I would have told you it was never ever going to happen because I just couldn't do it. But I've learned when you expect more of yourself, you can do it. Its not impossible to add one more thing to your plate, you just have to figure out how to fit it all on there! (go to golden corral if you don't believe me...haha so corny)

I won't go on, just thought I'd write a quick blurb since blogging is basically my form of journaling and scrap booking. You know, for posterity's sake, so I can explain to the kids exactly why I was crazy in 2009!