Happy Birthday James!

Yesterday, Morgan's very best friend, James, turned three. Since James' grandparents live in the Pittsburgh area, they came to PA for the weekend. Today we met them at Chuck E. Cheese for a fun birthday party. Morgan has been looking forward to seeing James for a couple weeks now. She would always ask how many more days until the party, and knew when she got up today that she was going to see James. She really misses him being around. We had a great three hours playing, getting lots of tickets, and visiting with the Risk family, as you can see :)

All dolled up and ready to go.

The Birthday Boy shaking hands with Chuck E.

Morgan and James, best friends who have missed each other.

Pizza Time!

Whee!


Enjoying a birthday cupcake

Don't ask, I have no idea! :)

James liked his monster wash cloth!

So Cute I Can't Stand It!

Another WVU Football Weekend

We had yet another gorgeous weekend here in WV....I for one am thoroughly enjoying the "indian summer". The skies were crystal blue, the temp was near 80, and the football team was ready to play! This weekend we finally got to see the Mountaineers kick some butt on the field. It was a good game. Our little Mountaineer cheerleader had a great time at the game, visiting with Josh and Anna, Big DB and Aunt Cecelia, and Matt and Melisa. There was no shortage of attention for our little Miss this week! She had fun at the game, as always, and knocked out early that evening.

Football just isn't football unless you have a Zul.

First Down WVU!

Man, I love this smile!

Enjoying the game with "Aunt" Melisa

Matt was drawing a picture of Belle for Morgan, to which she promptly told him "It would be better if she had glass slippers"! She's hilarious.

And the Heavens rejoice!

OK, maybe that is being a little dramatic, but I can say that this Mama rejoiced. Why, you ask? Morgan, without any prompting or tears, actually PLAYED soccer today!!! I couldn't believe it. No begging, no crying, no kicking of the feet (OK, that's what I normally do :), no complaining, nothing. She was so good today. I was so happy that she finally played soccer. Admittedly she's at the bottom of the list as far as skill, but she actually participated today. I can't stop smiling.

Before practice, when I thought we were going to start our "war on soccer"

Listening to Coach Tim

Picture proof that Morgan actually played soccer!

After practice, kicking the ball around with Big DB

Apparently she felt the stick was essential to kicking the ball.

Below is a little video...it's grainy (not sure what happened) but you can see Morgan playing. So cute!

Diva? Princess?

Apparently so!

Fun in Charlotte, NC

This past weekend our family took a long weekend and headed south to Charlotte to visit Morgan's godmother (and my dear friend), Melanie and her family. Melanie and her husband Patrick welcomed Morgan's God-brother, Ethan, on July 26th and we were going down to meet him for the first time. It's not too far from home, and we were really excited to go.

Morgan had an awesome time. She had the run of the place. She greatly enjoyed visiting with the 4 kitties in the house, playing with Ethan's toys, picking out his outfits, and generally enjoying the attention of all 4 adults in the house.
At the park in Aunt Melanie's neighborhood

The weather was simply beautiful. After our Saturday morning at the park and playing with baby Ethan, the girls headed out on an adventure, leaving Uncle Patrick, Daddy, and Ethan home to watch golf (snore!).

Building a very odd structure at Discovery Place in downtown Charlotte with Aunt Melanie

Bravely walking the rope bridge....I went and just about fell flat on my nose.

Getting ready to watch a 3D movie about sharks. It was the first real 3D movie she's seen, and it was so much fun watching her reach her hands out to "catch" jellyfish or "touch" the turtle.

Her favorite spot in the entire center was the water table. I was not surprised. She had a ball!

Playing percussion "instruments" at Discovery Place

These ducks walked almost up to Melanie and Patrick's front door to get some bread. Morgan had a great time feeding them.

Morgan learned how to play UNO, which she was very good at! She and Aunt Melanie must have played 50 games :)

Morgan was very sad to leave and is already asking when she will get to go back. We'll make a pit stop there in December on our way to Florida. I think we are all excited about that!

Morgan's Baby (God) Brother

The main reason we went to Charlotte over the weekend was for Morgan to meet her God-brother, Ethan. He was born July 26, 2010. We were so excited to get the chance to finally meet him after weeks of attempting to get everyone's schedules to coincide. I was a little worried that she'd have a meltdown over the weekend, but aside from a brief mini-meltdown at a store she did great!

Posing for her first picture with Ethan. She was good with him, and wasn't jealous at all when Patrick and I held him. All she cared about was that someone was paying attention to her, which was always the case. She's not spoiled or anything.

Her favorite thing to do with him was to show him the toys on his bouncer. She was most fond of the ladybug in the center that played music. Which she felt needed to be played OVER, and OVER, and OVER!

She loves him, even though he is a Carolina Panthers fan :)

She was so sweet and gave him a bunch of kisses.

Ethan with Morgan's elephant Rocky (Ethan's nursery is done in elephants).