The (Delightfully) Loud Morgans Visit New Year's Eve!

All we wanted was for Anna to stand by Henry so we could get a picture. After I snapped this pic, Anna threw herself down on the floor of Fazoli's in protest, and did not stop screeching until she was placed back into her seat.

Sometimes smiles go too far and make you look like you are in pain. I was laughing really hard in this picture. I guess I was in pain a little. My abs and face always get a workout when the Morgans come to town from laughing so much.

Anna, Jonathan and Henry dining at Fazoli's. The kids were so happy, because we had just eaten at Fazoli's the night before and then we got to meet the Morgans there for lunch. They love Fazoli's very much.

Anna and Henry in the backseat on the way to Publix to get some subs. The trip there was much calmer than the trip back home.

Anna and Jackie lounging on the chair. Jackie was taking a break in the all out Lightsaber BattleFest that took place almost the entire time the boys were awake. When they weren't riding bikes or playing DS together.

Charlie! I held him when he was a newborn at the hospital. I remember seeing him for the first time through the glass window in the hospital nursery. I can't believe he is reading chapter books and just learned to ride a bike without training wheels! He has always been very advanced. He spent very little time in his stroller as a baby. He wanted to get out and push it himself. Before we know it, we are going to have five teenagers on our hands when we all get together for a visit. We think they drive us crazy now....

Apples to Apples, one of the best ways to have fun.

Lara consulting the Apples to Apples rules, only to find out, oh, no, oh no no no! She was WRONG!

Happy New Year's 2009!

Fluxx, one of the worst ways to have fun. Especially the Monty Python version. But it was entirely worth it to hear the fantastic accents put out by Jeremy and Dave. We discovered that if you stick the word Governor (pronounced more like Gov'na) on the end of anything, it counts as an accent.


We were so happy to have Lara and Jeremy and the boys come over for New Year's Eve. You know you are good friends when you can cram 4 adults and 5 kids into one 1200 square foot house and still have tons of fun. And minimal brawling. Jeremy and I got into a little fistfight, but we are okay now. No, I am kidding, it's just the kids that fight. Although, I did provoke Lara with my comments about her beautiful feet.

Last year we got to spend Thanksgiving together, so I am glad we got to spend one holiday together this year!

More Pictures

I swear I rotated this one before I uploaded it! Oh, well. Just turn your head. A LOT.

Dave was at band practice. The kids and I were pretending to be burritos and tacos on a plate. It was all very silly.

Anna just decided to lick my face as we were taking our own picture. I was a little suprised and grossed out.

Jonathan Anna and Jamie, more silliness.

Jonathan was using my hair as a wig. Or a hairpiece.

Again, with the mischief making. This time it involved glitter glue and boxes and markers.

Katie molesting a reindeer.

Lara being....? Sly?

Anna and Jonathan and the only thing that unites them: mischief making.

Anna at the 3-D movie, Bolt. Which was adorable, but I am still trying to decide if we got 35 dollars worth of enjoyment out of it.

Jonathan and Dave at the movies. Personally, I think the glasses add a little something.

Jonathan fishing with Uncle Cory, or as Anna calls him, Uncle CoCo.

Love this picture! How can a little girl be this cute???

Cory grilling up some slabs of brontosaurus for Christmas dinner. It was actually beef, just super-sized.

Christmas Eve 2008

Justine was making Anna crack up!

The traditional sprinkling of the magic "goats" (we had our perennial misunderstanding between the words oats and goats, and Anna further muddled the whole thing by deciding that we were feeding Santa's goats (rather than his reindeer!).

Anna with her cheeks stuffed full of Santa's cookies! The kids remembered that we needed carrots to go on the plate. We always put cookies and carrots out on a plate for Santa and the reindeer. But this year Anna said, "We need carrots AND celery for Santa's goats!" The way she says celery is cute enough to break your heart.

Justine and her mini-me in their pretty Christmas dresses from Nona.

Oh, the confidence that comes from knowing just how darn cute you are!

Anna and Justine with their spoon sunglasses.

Jonathan all snazzy for Christmas Eve service.

Don't I look like I am in good humor while getting dressed for Christmas Eve? I was feeling SUPER happy. And not at ALL stressed.

Anna preparing the magic oats for Christmas Eve. (Recipe: two parts oats to one part glitter. Sprinkle over yard on Christmas Eve.)

My Favorite Gift

Jonathan made me this for me at Pre-K. He painted the little pots that make up Mary and Joseph's body all by himself. I think that no matter what else I get on Christmas day this will be my favorite present from 2008. He brought it to the car after preschool with the sweetest look on his face. The way he gave it to me was precious, because he just was so proud and he expected me to love it. Which I do.

Jonathan

Jonathan is really loving his first Christmas vacation from school this year. He is sleeping past 9:00 AM, skipping baths, sleeping in his clothes or staying in his PJ's all day! Yesterday he woke up at 10:30 and ate Doritos for breakfast. He has permanent bedhead. Everytime I ask him to do anything, he says, but "I'm on vacation, Mama!" Or this morning, when I "rushed" us out the door at 9:45 to meet a friend, he was all grouchy about it and reminded me that he was on Christmas vacation. He keeps asking me why Daddy has to work on Christmas vacation. Dave has to work through Christmas Eve and then he has some time off.
This morning Anna asked him to turn the TV on for her. He told her, "Ok, what do you want to watch? I can only do the little DVDs, not the big ones. You know, Anna, the little ones that are shaped like circles? NOT the big ones shaped like rectangles?" Isn't that funny? He has only learned to work the DVDs. He does not even know the correct name for VHS tapes. It made me feel so old. Because of course, I remember when video tapes were this awesome new thing. We used to rent a tape player and some videos at Phar-Mor. Does anyone else remember Phar-Mor? One time I was there with a friend and we knocked over a huge pyramid of maxi pad boxes. That was so embarassing. We were probably only about 7, but I remember being embarassed. And of course, the employees acted like we were super punky teenagers or something. Little hoodlums.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl! Anna's 3!!!

Anna's ready to go on her new bike with her Dora safety gear!

Anna was getting so angry because she kept trying to pedal backwards and putting on the brakes instead. She was so frustrated!

Dave, Anna and Jamie

Anna and Jamie. Anna said, "Thank you for making these flowers for me, Mama." Isn't that so sweet? Then she acted sort of rude and ungrateful during present time. Oh, well.

Anna with her Aunt Erin, who arrived just in time from DC for Anna's birthday! I was so happy that Poppa Ed was well enough to come out to the table and eat Anna's birthday dinner with us.

Anna was REALLY into beating on the pinata. She loves this baseball and bat set my Mom got her so much, I am thinking about putting her in T-ball instead of dance this year. I might sign Jonathan up also. Anna is a little bit of a tomboy!

Anna with her Uncle CoCo (my brother Cory).

Working on the birthday balloons with Uncle CoCo.

Justine added some final flowers to the cake.

More pictures of the cake. Did we take more of the cake than the birthday girl???

Here's that cake again!

Jonathan opening up a gift Anna got for him on the morning of her birthday. We started this tradition when Anna was born and she gave Jonathan, then 2, a Diesel train engine at the hospital. This year it was a Batmobile and a Batman to go with his Batcave.

For some reason, when I took pictures of Anna, I said, say Cheese! And instead she said, Happy Birthday! Which makes far more sense than cheese, I guess.

Saturday

Anna enjoying the candy cane Santa Claus gave her. Last year, she called Santa "Ho-Hos" This year, she is saying, Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas! in a deep voice to impersonate Santa. What a difference a year makes in a young child's life!

Jonathan and Dave chowing down on their ice-cream treats.

Anna thought my butterscotch-dipped vanilla was "Ewww! That nasty, Mama!" Then when we left the ice-cream shop, a bunch of people were outside smoking. Anna said LOUDLY, "What's that smell?" And then she announced that "only bad guys smoked cigarettes."

Anna went right up to Santa and jumped up on his lap. She told him she wanted a cat for Christmas. (That is NOT going to happen!) I really thought she would be a little more cautious about approaching Santa. She's a 1,000 times braver than last year!

Jonathan was not about to sit on Santa's lap. I told him that was fine, and he just shook Santa's hand like a little man.

Anna wanted to wear her sunglasses even though it was dark. She's just that fabulous!

Anna and Jonathan sitting in the car next to Anna's pinata for her birthday tomorrow. Anna wanted a unicorn pinata. I could find a donkey for 12.99 at Target, and she totally thought it was a unicorn. Jonathan immediately said, That's not a unicorn! It has TWO horns, not one. Thankfuly, Dave thought quickly and said, It's a dualcorn. A unicorn with 2 horns. Jonathan and Anna both accepted this as fact. Daddys can often get away with stuff like this. I believed anything my Dad or my big brothers said at this age. Like you can plant popcorn kernels and grow popcorn trees.

Anna got her hair tangled and caught up in the fan of an unsafe toy. She must have switched it off before it got really close to her head and hurt her. The toy is in the trashcan, and we tried to work this super knot out, but all of the hair just fell out in one big clump. But she still has plenty more hair.

This weekend we went to see Santa at the ice-cream shop up the street from our house. Then we went to the Lightfest at Wickham Park and the kids loved that. Today after church Dave and I got to go out to lunch together alone. We tried a new place The Orchid Bistro, which was really yummy and very pretty inside. The food was also presented beautifully. We split a piece of chocolate mousse cake which was almost too pretty to eat. Almost. Then tonight we went Christmas carolling with church. Now we are at home working on Anna's birthday cake. Amanda lent me all the right tools, now we just have to see if I have the skills to do anything with them! I will post all the pictures tomorrow! (Or possibly tonight!)