A BIG Post!

Today Morgan got a letter from the Big Man himself. Not the BIG Big Man (as in God), but the otehr Big Man in Morgan's life this time of year. That's right.....Santa Claus. Kris Kringle. Poppo Giggio. It said she's been a good girl (and she has) and he's excited to be stopping at her Mutti and Papa's house this Christmas Eve. She was THRILLED. Now she can't wait to see Santa at the Mall when she goes. Ah, the beauty of innocent children :)

This is also a BIG post because today Morgan announced "When I grow up I want to be a teacher just like Ms. Christine!" Ms. Christine is her preschool teacher. This is BIG news because this is the first time Morgan has ever stated a profession she wants to be when she grows up.

AND this is also a BIG post because it Morgan's 100th post on her blog! So three cheers for a BIG post!

Christmas Pictures--Preview #1

Here are a few of our beautiful 4 1/2 year old, taken by our friend Brianna at PixByBre! I have a second set that I will share soon. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Cousin!

Today Morgan's cousin, Kole, turns O-N-E! Morgan had a great time at his birthday party yesterday. She loves Kole so much, and especially loves to hug him. Happy Birthday Buddy. We love you!

A little late, but still darn cute!

This past October we gave a donation to our local volunteer fire department. In exchange we received a free 8x10 professional picture. I thought Morgan would look great in her Halloween costume, and boy was I right! We FINALLY got the pictures back today. I'll let you be the judge of how they turned out...

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

Morgan is completely into Christmas this year. She was absolutely ecstatic this evening when she came home from school and proudly told her Daddy that she got a smiley face at school and therefore was allowed to help put up the Christmas tree. She was beside herself with excitement. She couldn't stop jumping around and singing and just having a great time. We listened to Christmas carols, watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and had a great time. The best part of the evening was when the tree was finally all lit (we had a slight problem with the lights...to see it visit our family blog) she ran over and switched off the overhead lights. Then she stood silently and just clapped and clapped. It nearly brought tears to my eyes....the pure joy of Christmas in a child's heart. We were exhausted when we were done with the tree so no more decorations got up, but we'll work in them the rest of this week.

She's so proud she can help take the tree out of the box.

Here she is writing her instructions on how we were to decorate that evening. Step One was getting the tree from the basement....she had a PLAN and we were expected to follow it!

Plugging in the lights and leveling the tree with Daddy

She insisted I take a picture of her with the lit tree in the dark.

Here is a picture of part of our tree that she decorated. Apparently clustering ornaments together in a tight space is "in".

Below is a funny video....I was trying to video her reaction to the lit tree, she thought I was taking her picture!

An Art Lesson with Ms. Lillie

My in-laws have the very good fortune to be friends with a husband and wife team of amazing artists. Over the Thanksgiving holiday week, Ms. Lillie invited Morgan and Julia up to her house for an art lesson. Morgan was so excited! They painted a few pictures for the holidays with Ms. Lillie's guidance. The got messy and loved every minute of it!

The most exciting part of this art trip was the girls got to paint on a piece of slate. Lillie loves to paint on slate, and we have a couple that she has done in our home (including an amazing giraffe duo that she did for Morgan's birth). Lillie drew with chalk on the slates and the kids were able to paint their own snowmen.

I am so proud of Morgan and her finished product! She did an amazing job and it is something I will treasure the rest of my life. Not bad for a 4 year old, right?!

Decorating Nannie's Christmas Tree

One of the Tenney Family traditions is to put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. This year was no different. The girls were beside themselves when it was finally time. Morgan couldn't get off the box. Julia couldn't get away from the ornament box. They were so excited. Even though they weren't listening well, it was so amazing to see how excited they both were over the simple joys of the season. I can't wait to put up our own tree at home!

All cleaned up and ready to decorate in pajamas!

Morgan and "her" tree....Nannie has two smaller trees that sit on either side of her fireplace. The girls think these are their trees. So cute!

What a bunch of cheesers!

Trying to be patient as the tree is unloaded from the box. It was hard!

Trying to level the tree

It was decided that more serious "tools" were needed

The kids, all tangled up in beads

Carefully choosing places for their ornaments

She had a great time, but doesn't quite understand "spacing out the ornaments" :)

Morgan said "Look Mama! I made a M with the beads!" I am so proud.