She did it!!!!!!!

A little over two years ago two key hallmarks began for Paij and I. The first was Paij decided to go back to school to get her masters. Shortly after that, we found out we were pregnant with Morgan. After a lot of thought and prayer it was decided that Paij would continue with the program she had just been accepted to at the University of Memphis. Paij was able to complete one semester before Morgan was born. I remember the first time Paij went to class after Morgan was born. Even though Morgan was home with Dad, Paij still struggled to hold back the tears as she sat in class. It has been a challenge to juggle two full-time graduate students in the home while caring for Morgan and attending to the many other responsibilities of life and church. I have always been amazed with Paij and how bright and capable she is. My love for Paij has grown tremendously over the last two years. It has been humbling to see how she has cared for Morgan, multi-tasked on a level I will never come close to, and accomplish things in 45 minutes that would take me hours to do. The experience has been a blessing, as the opportunity to pursue an education always is. The experience has also been a blessing in our relationship that has helped us draw closer to each other. Paij finished her masters degree yesterday. Congratulations Paij. I love you.

The stockings were hung

I've been looking for new stockings since I was pregnant, so this is the third Christmas. I had thought about just buying some but couldn't find any that I liked in my price range. So then I thought about making some but I still didn't know what I wanted. After looking at 30 Google image pages, I had an idea. I drug Brent into Hancock and he picked out what he wanted. Here is the result.

I thought it turned out pretty good so I started on number two and just changed the colors around a bit.

On to Morgan's. I knew I didn't want to use the same fringe or cording because I didn't know what would be available when I had my next child. So I kept with the theme but used different stuff.

I happy with the way they turned out.

Morgan lately

So I have been a total slacker when it comes to blogging. I have been taking random pictures now and then so I thought I would post some. Morgan is so much fun and a blast to hang out with, most of the time. She has about 25 words she uses consistently and picks up new words all the time. Some times it's tricky figuring out what she is trying to say but it's so fun when you understand.

She has been getting better at using a fork or spoon to eat with. She wants to do everything herself. However, on this night, her fork was not getting the food in fast enough; she dug in with her hands and it shows. I rarely put a bib on her anymore but I'm sure glad I did this night.

She was pretty proud of herself for eating all her dinner.

We had a fall festival at the elementary school I work at so I took Morgan. She was a little young for the activities but enjoyed watching all the kids and sitting on the fire truck.


The other day I was trying to see if I could interest her in playing in the leaves in the front yard. She wasn't too impressed. When she realized she couldn't eat them, she decided they were worthless and tried to go back inside.


Last Sunday was Morgan's first week in Nursery. Yup, she's 18months. I went to drop her off and she said, "Bye Bye Mommy." After holding back the tears, I went to enjoy a peaceful, uninterrupted Sunday School. She did wonderfully. They said she played, ate her snack, and did the hand movements to the songs. I was so proud. I was trying to get her to hold the picture she drew but she just kept putting it down. So here she is and the picture is on the table behind her.

On to Thanksgiving. Here we are at the Sullengers where we enjoyed a wonderful meal and great company. Cara had it decorated so cute and we had a great time. Thanks guys.

Morgan of course was into everything. Here she got caught trying to pull out more toys.

Kash and Brent were wonderful and did all the clean up. The ladies and Travis, got to watch football and the kiddo's. Travis didn't really help, he just pretended in this picture.

On Friday, we went down to our favorite dive in Holly Springs, Phillip's Grocery. While waiting of others to arrive, we took a little walk. We thought we would catch some shots of little miss independent. We're lucky if she'll hold our hands for 10 seconds. And of course she can hold her drink by herself.

Wizard of Oz

I hadn't been to a ballet in years and I heard this advertised on the radio. It sounded fun so I asked a couple of girls and we went to the Orpheum for the Wizard of Oz ballet. It was fantastic. The ballet was beautiful and the company was great. Thanks girls!

So I know Cara already posted this picture but I forgot my camera so we're sharing pic's.

We have neglected the blog the last few weeks, so it is time for some catch up. Paij had her national certified counseling exam 2 weeks ago. She feels like she did well on the exam(which means she probably missed 2 questions out of the 200 total). She has been pretty busy with her internships and studying for her exam. Morgan loves to be close to her Mommy, and I thought this moment was too cute to pass up on as Paij was studying for her exam.



As hard as Daddy tries, he can't compete with Mommy in Morgan's eyes. I have really enjoyed the last couple months getting to spend more time with Morgan. She is at such a fun stage, and in Daddy's opinion there couldn't be a more cute and fun girl to hang out with. This is a snapshot of Morgan having a good time with Dad.

One of the fun things Morgan has started doing lately is hiding. She has gotten rather good at it too(most of the time). She often gives herself away by whispering "hide" to herself as she is tucked away in a corner somewhere. It is a fun game that can go on and on.



And to keep up with all the other Halloween posts here are some pictures of Morgan, along with a shot of her and her friend Caroline, and of course, Mommy. Contrary to what many complimented, Morgan did not dress up as an elephant for Halloween. Her friend Caroline had this awesome robot costume as you can see.







And to wrap things up, here is a video of our little pride and joy. She can say over 20 words now(most of which are only discernible to Mom and Dad). In addition she is fluent in jibberish, which really has us intrigued when she gets on a role. Sorry that the video is a little dark. Morgan and Daddy were playing in a homemade tent and Daddy shot the video from inside the tent. Enjoy.

Camping

While driving home from a fair for high school students at the University of Memphis Saturday afternoon, Brent called and said "So, do you want to go camping tonight?" It was already 2:30pm mind you. Being the loving and accommodating wife that I am, I said sure. We got down to Wall Doxie State Park by about 5pm. We set up camp, went for a nice walk, made dinner, had a fire, and then tried to sleep.


Morgan wasn't the most cooperative but she didn't do too bad. It started raining around 5am and didn't stop, so our morning plans were cut short. We packed up and made it home by 9am. We had a nice breakfast, showered, and watched conference. It was great to be able to spend some time together without life's other distractions. I doubt we'll be camping again any time soon, but I'm glad we went.

Teton Trek

We visited the Memphis Zoo this weekend for the member's only preview of the Teton Trek. We met some friends there at 8am to beat the crowd. We are glad we went early because the lines were really bad when we left at 10:00am. It was really cool. They have three baby grizzlies. They were so cute and playful with each other. They didn't even seem to notice all the spectators.

They also have four wolves who were very active as well.

They have this beautiful lodge with two floors and a big walkway that goes up and around the exhibit with a waterfall and stream. They are also going to have a place for Elk, however it isn't finished yet.

Thanks Seth and Angie for braving the early morning. It was great to spend time with you guys. We look forward to visiting the zoo again and watching the cute little grizzly cubs grow.

Walk at School

One of my internships this semester is at Greenbrook Elementary School. This week, we joined "iwalk Mississippi" in a little walk around the school, and I do mean little. It was about a quarter mile and the kids did great. My poor counselor was out with the flu so this became my responsibility. Monday, I decided we needed a something to get the kids excited about the walk, and since gators are the school's mascot, I found this picture of a gator walking and thought we could make a sign out of it. We added the hat because the kids could wear hats while they walked. So the counselor assistant and myself, busted this poster out. It is about 10 feet tall. We got 550 goodie bags ready, blew up and tied balloons around the school, and organized the parents. The newspaper was there and everything. http://desototimes.com/articles/2009/10/04/news/local/doc4ac6a384a6a89513667752.txt I think it was a pretty successful event if I do say so myself.

Happy Birthday to me!

So I know it's a few days late but it's been a busy week. My birthday was on Tuesday and it was fabulous. I had to work but had a great day playing with the students. It was made even better by my husband bringing me these beautiful flowers to work.
Then, when I got home and had more flowers waiting for me on my porch. Thanks Jen, they're beautiful.

When I came inside, I saw this awesome sewing machine cake that my wonderfully creative husband made for me. Not only was it so sweet that he went to that effort but it also tasted great.

I then took a short nap and Brent decorated the house with balloons and streamers. It was fun and Morgan loved it. She is still enjoying the balloons. Unfortunately, we did not take a picture of that or of us out to dinner at my favorite little Mexican place called La Hacienda. We had a couple of friends over to eat cake with us and then I got to open my presents. I got spoiled.

Morgan was helping me and loved to read the cards.

Thank you so much honey for making my birthday such a special day. I love you!

Morgan's new do

Her hair has finally gotten long enough that I can do something with it. It's not much but she usually leaves it in and it at least looks like I tried. I don't do it very often but when I do, people usually love it.

One little pony

Or two little piggies

Fun in the Sun

Morgan loved the beach. She wasn't the biggest fan of the sand but she loved the water. The water was about 83 degrees and the weather was about 86 degrees. We couldn't have asked for it to be any nicer. We had a wonderful time enjoying the white sandy beaches. Enjoy the pictures.

Family Pictures

Thanks Kash and Cara!