Daddy's Girl

For her birthday, Daddy got Morgan her very first real golf club, a driver. He's so excited to be grooming a golf partner he could hardly stand himself. He got out the practice balls, and showed her the stance...

And the following is what happened...

All I can say is Uncle Patrick Strain, we might need a few lessons! :)

Happy Birthday Morgan!

Dear Morgan,

Happy Birthday baby. Today you turn four years old. My, how fast time has gone by. I still remember when the nurse handed you to me, how sweet you looked and how much I loved you then, and now. At four years old you:

--just graduated to a "big girl" car seat with no harness straps
--attend preschool, and have been for over a year
--are learning to write your name
--know your alphabet and numbers
--love to play with your Barbie dolls
--think playing outside is one of the greatest things in the world
--love to play in the mud, in your best party dress
--like to watch the Penguins of Madagascar, Phineaus and Ferb, and NCIS :)

I love the way you love to sing. It doesn't matter if it's a song I know or one that you have composed yourself, I just love to listen to you. You are so tender hearted. You often think of your friends and their feelings well before yours. You still love to dance your way through the day, often making us laugh with your little hip swaying moves. You love to be a big girl, but still love to snuggle with your Daddy every night before bed. My favorite part of the day is when you look into my eyes and tell me you love me. There are not enough words in the world to describe my love for you. No matter how old you get, you will always be my baby. I wish for you the very happiest fourth birthday, and many, many more to come.

Love,

Mama

Kennywood

Today we continued the birthday party celebration with our annual trip to Kennywood in Pittsburgh, PA. Morgan's Mutti's family hail from Pittsburgh and we always try to meet up with Morgan's great-aunts and uncles for a day of fun at the park. This year was no exception. The Birthday Girl was in good spirits as we started the day. We hit the Kiddie Land rides first while the big boys went on all the roller coasters.

Morgan and Jessie (yes, of course Jessie had to come along, but Bullseye stayed in the car) had such a wonderful time on all the pint sized rides.

(please take time to notice Jessie in the passenger seat of that helicopter)

Riding her 'hog

On the swings

Morgan's favorite ride in Kiddie Land was the Jr. Phantom roller coaster. She is definitely her Daddy's girl when it comes to rides! They had a blast.

She also enjoyed some time on the bigger rides, getting to ride the Whip (the bigger sister to the Whipper Snapper that she is riding above). We made sure to ride the carousel, one of the oldest rides in the park.

Morgan and her Papa


And yes, Jessie had to ride her own horse on the carousel!

After a long, fun, and HOT day, we headed back to the picnic tables for cake and presents! Morgan had a wonderful day. She played hard and laughed harder.

And at the end of the day, she made it just out of the parking lot before falling asleep. As we were walking out of the park she told me "Mama, my legs just won't go anymore." Happily exhausted!

It's Party Time!

Today we gathered family and friends together to celebrate Morgan's fourth birthday. As evidenced above, we had a Princess and the Frog themed party complete with a southern ruffled dress and a lilypad and frog on the cake!

Morgan had five classmates from preschool (including Coen, the boy Morgan says she's gonna marry....when she isn't gonna marry James), her teacher Ms. Christine, and five of her good friends from "way back" to come to her party. The kids had a fun time making candy necklaces for their craft, running in circles (literally), playing in the woods, playing on the playground, and blowing the horns I put in all the treat bags. In a sudden misjudgement on my part, I passed out the treat bags BEFORE we opened gifts. Note to all you parents reading this: DO NOT make this mistake, especially if you put horns and whistles in the treat bags. Yeah, not a good move. But it was hot. And I was tired.

Morgan's first gift, a new scooter from Nannie and Big Pop!

Princess Tiana

Making Candy Necklaces

Aunt Amy saved the day by decorating Morgan's cake with the lilypad and frog after I misplaced the cake topper. I think she did an awesome job, and Morgan loved it.

She got so many wonderful gifts from her friends and our huge families. Highlights included Jessie and Bullseye dolls (From Toy Story 2 and 3), real, red cowgirl boots just like Jessie, a Barbie scooter, lots of Toy Story books and toys, and some really cute clothes.

Everyone has crashed from their sugar highs and are sound asleep. We have a big day at Kennywood tomorrow, so good night from Small Town USA, where one very happy, almost 4 year old, is finally sound asleep....

Pre-Party Pottery Painting (how's that for alliteration?)

Today we kicked off Morgan's party festivities with five of her closest friends at the Wow Factory in Morgantown. This exclusive pre-party event included each guest creating a handprint tile mosaic and playing in the party/play room of the store. Patrick won a party for up to 8 kids back in March, and I couldn't think of a better time to get all of her friends together.

The birthday girl started off the painting, getting her hand painted a lovely shade of pinkish red.

After all the kids had their handprints down, they enjoyed putting polka dots and "hair" on their handprints, which were going to end up being princes and princesses. Morgan's Mutti and Papa joined in on the fun.

When the kids were done, they got to paint the back of their tiles before the day was over. They got a quick tour of the firing area, where their handprints would be set into the tiles.

Then it was off to the park to meet the rest of Morgan's friends for her big birthday bonanza bash (woah, alliteration, two for two!).

Father's Day Weekend

What a wonderful Father's Day weekend we had! This year we traveled to Germantown to see my brother and his wife, met up with our dear friends Jim, Lori, and James Risk, went to Baltimore to spend some time with them, and took the kids to see Storybook Live! (a Nickelodeon sponsored show featuring Dora the Explorer).

We went berry picking first thing Saturday morning at Butler's Orchard, which is near my brother's house. Morgan and James were SO excited to see each other! It had been many months since they had been together, but they both ran up and James gave Morgan the biggest hug. We hit the fields to gather black raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. Everyone had a great time. The strawberries were at the very end of season, so we didn't get many of those, but we had buckets full of blueberries!

Ms. Bossy Britches, pretending to be cute :)


Morgan, showing James how to pick the berries.
Gathering Strawberries

The Risk Family

Best Friends

Picking Blueberries

Morgan couldn't resist the fresh berries.

After we spent TWO HOURS picking berries, we headed over to the South Germantown Rec Park to the great playground they have there. We had a picnic lunch and the kids got to play on the castle and equipment for about 45 minutes. They had a BALL, as Morgan does every chance she gets to go to the park.

Daddies pushing their babies

We hit the car and headed to Baltimore after the park. Morgan enjoyed watching Bolt on her DVD player as we traveled. That is one purchase I will NEVER regret getting! After a brief stop at the Risks, we got back in the car and headed into the city to see Storybook Live!

Morgan and James were so cute holding hands. Morgan wanted James to sit next to her in the theater and they had a great time watching the show. It was definitely geared toward the kids, because the adults thought it was HORRIBLE! Actually, I would not recommend it. For the prices we paid, the costuming and acting was just terrible. But I digress....

Everyone sacked out early on Saturday, after a long but exciting day. Father's Day was spent just hanging out and enjoying the company of our very dear friends. We sure do miss them! We headed home around 3:00 and when we got home Morgan capped off her Daddy's day by falling asleep in his arms. It was so cute.

We have another busy weekend ahead as we have a BIRTHDAY PARTY for a certain almost 4-year-old. Mama is in a total panic, but I know it will all come together by Saturday. We hope you have a wonderful week and look for lots of blogging and pictures next week!

Doughnuts with Dad

To celebrate Father's Day, Morgan's day care had the kids do a craft with their dads at home, then invited all the dads to Place of Grace to have doughnuts with their children.

Here are Morgan and Daddy, working hard on their boat.

The kids got to float their boats at the school during the party and got to show their dads around the classroom. Patrick had a great time and said Morgan loved showing him around. What a great way to kick off the Father's Day weekend!