And She's Off!

This morning marked a big milestone for our little lady. Today she, along with 24 other classmates, embarked on their educational journey as the Class of 2024. Her very first day of Kindergarten!

She was super excited to be going to "big school" as we have been calling it around our house. Yesterday we got to meet her teacher and move in all of her stuff into her classroom. She was happy to see a friend from her day care in her class, as well as a little boy who played soccer with her last fall.

We were up bright and early, much earlier than ANY of us get up, but she actually got out of bed without any fights with us. She put on her uniform with no problem and the only time she was upset this morning is when we informed her that she could not take a sleeping buddy to school with her.

See how excited she is!

Patrick and I both took her to school this morning, although the bulk of the driving will now fall to Patrick. After 5 years of doing most of the day care drop offs/pick ups it will be weird for me not to be getting her. But we are thrilled that Patrick's boss is letting him flex his schedule so that Morgan spends as little time as possible in the after-school care program.

She practically ran up the stairs to the school, leaving Patrick and me in the dust!

We made it to her classroom and we found her seat. She gave her Daddy a kiss while Mama tried hard not to cry (I didn't, but it was hard).

As we left she was already started working very hard on her first "assignment". She didn't even notice when we left!

So it's started. The next 13 years of our lives will revolve around school, homework, field trips, and PTA meetings. It's a whole new world for our entire family, but one that we are ready to take on. If you would, say a little prayer for our gal today as she starts this journey. No doubt there will be bumps in the road, but I hope things go as smoothly as possible for her over the coming years.

I asked her about how she felt about going to school...this was the (non) response.

**At the end of the school day, Daddy picked her up from school. When asked how her first day of school went, she said "Sigh....you don't want to know." HAHA, the drama! She was absolutely exhausted and a bit cranky after school. She fell asleep almost immediately after getting in the car. But she was excited about going back on Friday. I think she likes school so far!**

Valley Worlds of Fun

Today we had the opportunity to "move in" to Morgan's new school classroom. She enjoyed going to see where she will be sitting in her class and seeing some of the kids. She's excited to start school tomorrow.

As a treat for her, I took the day off and we went and met up with a couple of my aunts, my cousin and his wife, and some of Morgan's second cousins at Valley Worlds of Fun for a day of craziness and laughter before school starts.

She had a wonderful time. I think her favorite was riding the small roller coaster with Kendall (age 6). She also got to ride in the bumper cars with her Aunt Anita, who was such a good sport despite probably getting a huge bruise from a "bump" with another car. We golfed, bowled, rode rides, and ate snacks. As you can tell in the picture below, it was wickedly hot (thus Morgan's crazy hair) but the kids had a great time and it was nice to see my cousin and his family since they live rather far away.

She has a very unconventional golf swing. Her Uncle Patrick is probably dying a slow death...

It's early to bed tonight so we can be up for the big day tomorrow. Have a great evening!

Charlotte Weekend

Over the weekend we traveled south to Charlotte for a very special little boy's first birthday party. Ethan, Morgan's godbrother, turned one on July 26th. Morgan was so excited to get to see her Aunt Melanie, Uncle Patrick, and Baby Ethan. Morgan was also excited to stay in a hotel. She absolutely insisted that she sleep in the oversized chair rather than in the bed with us. She got into her "nest" every night and slept with Ethan's starlight turtle, since we left LadyBug at home.

Morgan had a great time in the community pool during Ethan's party. We stayed for about 2 hours and she showed off how well she learned in swim lessons. She still can't swim, but she's getting so much better. I am sure by next year she'll be a pro. Above she's showing off her new swimsuit that her Mutti sent her :)

Morgan absolutely adores Ethan. She had a great time playing with all of his toys with him. Ethan also likes his godsister. She could make him laugh so hard, and get those deep belly laughs out of him.

Here is the birthday boy himself. So. Stinking. Cute!

While we were in Charlotte Morgan made friends with Aunt Melanie's next door neighbors' kids, Dominick and Jacob. She played a long time with both of them. She also learned how to play cornhole with Daddy and Dominick.

Ah cake....what a delicious cake it was. The birthday boy wasn't too into his cake. Unfortunately there was no cake smashing, but Ethan really did enjoy his piece.

Toward the end of the day, after swimming and cake and cornhole. the kids all got out their games and played...um....together?

Morgan got Ethan to laugh the most by blowing bubbles. She blew lots of bubbles and he laughed and laughed.

We had a wonderful weekend, be it all too short. Ethan and his family will be coming north in October for some Mountaineer football, and we can't wait!!

Making Daddy Fried Squash

One of Patrick's most favorite foods is fried squash. He would eat it every day if he could get the squash! Luckily, Patrick's Grandma June grows him some squash every year in her garden. This year Morgan learned how to make fried squash. She loves to help Grandma June in the kitchen, and this was no exception. Her job was to take the sliced squash and dip it in the flour/salt/pepper mixture and get it nice and coated. Then she would hand the squash to Grandma June for the actual frying part. She was so proud that she made Daddy his dinner!

As an added bonus, this job allowed her to get MESSY! She can't wait until she is "grown enough" to actually fry the squash. But for now she's just happy to get her hands dirty in the kitchen. I hope this continues, because her mother hates to cook!

Swim Lessons--July 2011

This year Morgan had her first swim lessons. She loves to be around the water and we feel it's essential that she know how to swim (being ex-lifeguards ourselves). Morgan was really excited to go to the pool and showed marked improvement over the two weeks that she had lessons. She now puts her face in the water without goggles, doesn't hold her nose when she jumps in, is getting the motions down for swimming, and can front and back float fairly well. I think I will have her repeat beginner lessons next summer in the first session and then go from there. Patrick and I will also continue to work with her through the winter at the indoor pool on WVU's campus. Here are some pictures of the Krepps pool fun!

Jumping off the diving board....so brave!

Front and Back Floats

Gliding through a hoop

A forgotten picture in DC

Just realized I totally forgot to add this picture to the posts from our Washington DC weekend. Morgan really enjoyed the fountain at the World War II memorial. She spalshed around in it a bit, cooling her toes and having some fun in the water after a very long, hot day. I love this little girl!

Play Date with Alex

Today Morgan got to go on a play date with a distant cousin of hers in Pittsburgh. Alex's Glamma (grandma) and Morgan's Mutti (grandma) are cousins. We saw Alex four years ago right after the kids had both turned one. Alex is exactly 3 months older than Morgan.

The kids took about 5 minutes to warm up to each other, then they were dashing upstairs to play in Alex's awesome play room. Morgan had a blast playing with the train table and shooting Alex's nerf dart guns. At one point we had to get Aunt Pattie to climb on a chair and get the darts off the ceiling!

It rained most of the day which kept the kids indoors, but we were able to go outside for a while. Morgan got to ride Alex's scooter and make mud pies. She had a great time and we hope to get to see Alex and his Momma and Glamma again before another 4 years are up.

Don't Spill the Beans!!

Bubble blowing with fly swatters....how cool!

Making Mud Pies