Morgan's God-brother

Morgan is excited to announce that her Godmother, Melanie, and her husband Patrick welcomed their first child, son Ethan, today around 4:29 PM weighing 7 lb and 14 oz (2 ounces more than Morgan herself). Mama, Daddy, and baby Ethan are all doing wonderfully!

Morgan is super excited to meet her God-brother and we will be traveling to Charlotte in a few weeks to meet this little guy. Until then, we send lots of hugs and kisses to Ethan and his parents.

4 Year Check-Up

Just a quick update to let you know our spunky gal is growing like a weed! We had her 4 year check up earlier this week. Morgan weighed 39 lbs (75 percentile) and was 40.5 inches tall (also 75 percentile). Dr. Troischt is very happy with her development to date, and although she wouldn't talk to him at all she did talk to the three nursing students that were in the room with us. We've manage to continue our trend of only seeing Dr. Troischt once a year, and hopefully this year will be no different. Mom and I decided that Morgan is all legs because even though she is only in the 75th percentile for height, every 4T dress is very short on her. Another good report from the doctor!

Fun at the Park

Happy 4th of July! We are spending Independence Day this year with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Cecelia in sunny Maryland. It's been a quiet and hot weekend. We did brave the heat yesterday to head out to Morgan's favorite Adventure Park near Uncle Jeff's house.

We visited the King Dairy Barn MOOseum, where Morgan got the chance to milk a (fake) cow. She did quite well! She also got to play in the milk barn a bit. We headed over to the park where she ran her Papa and Mutti ragged.

She learned how to climb the ropes to get into the structure this year, a feat once conquered was repeated over and over. She got very quick at it.

We didn't get to stay long because it was so hot, but Morgan had a wonderful time and is asking to go back soon. We hope you all have a happy and safe 4th of July!

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....