6th Birthday and Party

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy 6th Birthday dear Morgan, Happy Birthday to you!

Today our little gal turns SIX years old!  Where did the time go?  How is that possible?  She was super excited today for her birthday and especially that her party is actually ON her birthday this year.  We were a little afraid that there wouldn't be a party because most of Morgantown was without power after Stormageddon 2012.  But God smiled on us today and the bowling alley had power!

We started off with a family birthday party at the house.  Aunt Linda, Aunt Karen, Aunt Pattie, Aunt Becky, Shannon, Papa, and Mutti were all there with Morgan to celebrate her big day.

Mama was so happy to make those decorations with her new Cricut cartridge, Cupcake!

Daddy manned the grill with hot dogs and bratwursts 

Morgan and Shannon intently watching TV

Papa brought Morgan a camel made of camel's milk chocolate.  It was super tasty!

She opened presents and we chatted a while before it was time to head to the bowling alley.

The bowling alley was a lot of fun.  We did Cosmic Bowling, so they turn off the lights, turn on the mirror ball, crank up the music and let the kids bowl under black lights.  Lots of Morgan's friends were there and she was super excited to bowl with them.

 Meghan's newest cousins (by soon to be marriage) Braydon and Cadence came.  Below Cadence is getting some help from her mom.

Sisters Gianna and Carina dance to the music

The Bowlers

BFFs Gianna, Morgan, and Lydia, all (finally) SIX

 After the party we jetted home so Morgan could open all the gifts from her friends.  Everyone was so generous!

Josh and Anna came over later that evening.  Josh is helping Morgan build some Legos :)

The final party goers, exhausted but still all smiles after a wonderful day.  

Happy Birthday Baby.

Happy Birthday Baby

Happy 6th Birthday Morgan.  You have brought more joy into our lives than you will ever know.  You are our sunshine, you make us happy when skies are gray.  You'll never know how much we love you.  Please don't ever go away.

Early Birthday at Nannie and Big Pop's!

It's birthday season around here!  As the day of our daughter's birth quickly approaches, we gathered with Patrick's family to celebrate Morgan and spend some great time together as a family.  Big Pop will be in Alaska on Morgan's actual birthday, so we celebrated a little early!  Morgan had a great time at the party, of course.  She got lots of nice presents, including a fishing pole from Julia and Kole.  She had a great day playing with her cousins, being pampered and spoiled rotten, and being around her relatives.

Big Pop manned the grill while Bailey circled below like a shark.

 Morgan and Shay Molly got matching birthday dresses handmade by Nannie

 Look at this awesome cupcake cake!  It was delicious.

 Some of the presents

Lots of family came to help Morgan celebrate

To top off the evening, Daddy, Nannie, Big Pop and Morgan roasted marshmallows by the campfire.

Work In Progress

I am currently working on getting Morgan's Disney trip chronicled on this website.  So check back in the next week to April to see posts and lots of pictures from our time in Orlando!

Memorial Day Weekend

What a wonderful weekend we had together as a family, enjoying each others company, and remembering the reason we have the freedom to do so.  We spent the weekend in Webster Springs with Great-Grandma June and Great-Grandpa Ralph, Aunt Amy, Uncle Chris, Julia, and Kole.

Morgan, as always, had a great time with her best friend.  They were fairly inseparable the entire weekend.  And they hardly fought either!  The girls enjoyed the pool, colored lots of pictures, played with their American Girls, and mother henned Kole. 

Friday afternoon Patrick took the kids to the fireman's parade in "downtown" Webster.  They all had a good time.  The girls rolled down the hill before the parade, danced, and enjoyed the beautiful weather. 

On Sunday we headed over Point Mountain to Elkins to celebrate Morgan's friend Lydia's 6th birthday.  Morgan REALLY enjoyed the bounce house and hitting the pinata.  The party ended just before the rain began and we had a soggy trip home, but it was a good day overall.

Morgan (the youngest), Lydia (the middle), and Gianna (the oldest)

Morgan gets to spend the coming week with Great-Grandma June and Great-Grandpa Ralph because day care will not start for another week.  She is SUPER excited about getting to stay there all by herself.  I know June and Ralph are excited as well, although I am not sure they are ready for all the energy our little gal brings with her! :)  She is also looking forward to the next week when she gets to spend the week with Nannie and Julia while attending Vacation Bible School at Nannie's church.  Morgan's summer sure is starting off with a bang!

Kindergarten Graduation

Today Morgan officially ended her first school year by graduating from Kindergarten!  It is so hard to believe that she is already done with a year of school and will be SIX in 5 short weeks.  My my, how the time has flown by.

The graduates were absolutely adorable today during their graduation ceremony.  Morgan was delighted to have Mama, Daddy, and Aunt Linda there to watch her.  Linda and I got a front row seat, directly in front of Morgan, so I was able to get perfect pictures and video while Patrick recorded the entire thing from the back of the cafeteria.  It was a standing room only crowd for the 49 kids from 2 Kindergarten classrooms.

Morgan and her best friend (and worst enemy too!) Lily

Morgan and Ms. Ferrari, her teacher

Morgan and Dominick

Morgan and Alex (we've known Alex since soccer 2 years ago!)

Morgan and Katie

Below are a couple of songs that the kids sang during the program.  The first is my absolute favorite.  Enjoy!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all my favorite Moms and soon-to-be Mom's!  It's been a wonderful day for me so far.  Morgan has been such a sweetheart, which is not unusual, but she has really been thoughtful today.  This morning, ALL BY HERSELF, she fixed me breakfast in bed.  Her Daddy was not home (as he had run out to get my some donuts for breakfast) so she got in the pantry, got out the Multi-grain Cheerios, poured me a bowl, added some chunked up raw carrots (yes, that's right, carrots) and brought it to me with some day old water that she hadn't drank yesterday :)  I was so touched.

At school she made me a beautiful card and a pretty dish.  I plan to use it as a jewelry dish in my bathroom.  

On Thursday Morgan gave me the most touching note.  She did it by herself, even the spelling.  She brought it over to me, and I almost cried!  She's always had a caring heart, and she always thinks of others.  What a blessing this child has been to me!

We spent the day with my Aunt Linda in Buckhannon, our annual Mother's Day tradition for about 4 years now.  It's always so great to go down there and spend some time with Aunt Linda.  Patrick took a nap, Morgan played, and Aunt Linda and I had a great game of Scrabble!  I got some beautiful flowers from my parents.  Patrick and Morgan bought me some pretty plants.  I got some pretty jewelry from Aunt Linda.  All in all, it's been the best Mother's Day yet!