Random Happenings

I wanted to write a couple of things about Morgan before I forget.

The other day we were shopping at the craft store and Morgan was in the cart.  She won't sit in the seat and face me.  I mean, that is like the worst punishment ever.  She will sit in the big part of the cart and try to stand up the entire time though.  So there we were.  Me pushing Morgan in the cart and telling her to sit down every two seconds... then I saw a wreath of bells.  Perfect distraction for a two-year-old.  I gave it to her and started walking again.  A few seconds later Morgan started singing Jingle Bells at the top of her lungs.  The whole chorus.  I had no idea she knew it.  The girl makes me laugh.

When Morgan wants to have time alone with her dad she says to me, "you be right back, mommy."  She must associate that phrase with me leaving, which totally makes sense.

It was the end of the day and I was ready for Morgan to go to bed (we had been shopping all day and shopping with Morgan just isn't a lot of fun).  She wanted something off of the dresser so she dumped out her clothes basket for the second time and stood on the basket to reach the stuff.  I was so frustrated a made the "uuuuhhhhhhh" sound and grabbed her and told her I was mad.  Then I gave her to Tom and left the room. I'm a great parent, I know (sarcasm intended).  Anyway, I heard her say, "I want my mommy," so I went back in the room and she looked at me and smiled a huge fake smile -- the one that says "cheer up, mommy!"  I started laughing and told her I wasn't mad anymore.

Along with those great stories is the Festival of Trees.   We went on the last day and they had lots of stuff for kids to do.  Morgan's favorite was when she saw the little performer ballerinas.  She went up to the girls and said, "hi princess."  She is so enamored by dancers and pretty dresses so I signed her up for dance classes starting in January!!!  EEEeeeeee!  I'm so excited!

Disney Cruise Pirates Video

I was going to do a few posts about our vacation but to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of reading vacation posts.  I know they're mostly written for the memories and for grandparents, so something must be said.  Instead of a big long post with hundreds of pictures, I made this one minute video of our Disney cruise.

And here are my top 10 most memorable things that happened:

1. Morgan told me, "I'm not a child."
2. My sister-in-law rented a cabana on Castaway Cay and we were lucky enough to hang out there with them (and the other rich people).
3. Cinderella taught Morgan how to wave and curtsy like a princess.
4. Tom and I watched The Help in the theater.  It was my second time and I cried more than I did the first time.
5. I lost my passport before the trip and found out that you all you really need are your drivers license and a birth certificate.
6. Every ten minutes I thought of scenarios on how to save Morgan if she fell off the ship.
7. I ate less on this cruise than I have on any other cruise.  I even only had one lobster on lobster night, and I didn't even finish it!
8. I ran a 5k on Castaway Cay with about 20 other people (out of 2,000) and got a free Disney water bottle later that night -- a total surprise.
9. Always. Bring. Ear plugs. Snoring. Aaaahhhh!
10. I have the coolest in-laws in the world.

Excursions:

Grand Cayman: We took a small boat out to swim with sting rays.  Morgan loved it because she actually got to swim (she couldn't on the ship because she wasn't potty trained).  She was a little scared of the sting rays though.

Cozumel: We rented a Jeep and a driver.  The seat belts were all broken!  We were able to see the island and I would definitely go back and stay a while.  We also searched for vanilla for like 2 hours.  I'm not kidding.  Tom is sometimes all about perfection, and this vanilla search was very important.  And I was totally annoyed after 30 minutes.  But I got a very pretty ring that looks like Princess Dianna/Kate's wedding ring.  It's the most I've ever spent on jewelry (which means it cost more than $10.  Bahahah!).

Family Pictures

We just got back from a tropical vacation where we took a few family pictures.  Here are some of my favorites.  

Happy Birthday Mom and Shy

When my family was visiting, I got to take my mom and sister to get pedicures for their birthday, which happens to be today (happy birthday girls!)  We had a great time and I was told that I needed to get pedicures every three weeks because of my "runner's feet."  Hmm.  Okay.  

Corn Maze with Family

Wow.  Like forever ago my family came to visit and I am just writing about it now.  It was a short visit but we got to go to the corn maze and play.  

Fun at the Park

We are so lucky to have cousins that live 6 miles away and an amazing park really close to us.  Here are Morgan and Tanner playing one day in October before it got cold.

Boise Zoo

Since Tom and I went to the Colorado Springs zoo without Morgan we decided to take her to the Boise zoo.  

We took a conservation boat ride that lasted 5 minutes (perfect amount of time).

Of all things, M liked these metal elephants that sprayed water the best.

Home Staging

I got to go to Colorado Springs for home staging trainer training at the beginning of this month.  Tom came for the last few days, one of which was his birthday.  We had a great time but my camera battery died the first time I tried to turn it on so I got zero pictures.  I stole this one from another girl that was there.  This is a picture of the Garden of the Gods park from the country club we were at for training.  It was so pretty.

Tom flew in on his birthday and it was so windy that his plane couldn't land in Denver so they had to go to Laramie, Wyoming.  He thought he would be spending his birthday night there but they ended up being able to go back to Denver and he made it to Colorado Springs so we got to eat his birthday cake together (okay, I had a piece first -- What?  I didn't want it to not be eaten on his birthday!).

We got to spend time with our good friends, Pete and Karen, and we went to the zoo.  I was in heels and they were hurting my feet prior to going so we only spent an hour there but it was a lot of fun.

Last thing...  We were in the Ross/Chipotle parking lot and saw a fox walk up to a car like it was a tame cat.  It was kind of cool.

Keeping M Entertained

Ugh.  I'm so behind with this blog.  But I update every day at The Turquoise Piano!  So go there if you want to know what's going on.

That said, here are some things that we do to stay entertained during the day.

M begs to go see daddy in his office so when he is available he lets us in.  She always asks to watch "Twinkle Stars" on Youtube.

On one of our walks to see the chickens I taught her how to play hide and seek.  Didn't she find a great hiding place?

She stands on the fence to see the chickens so they don't get her.

Then she runs on the barn porch.  It pretty much happens every time we go there.

This is after a crazy day of farm play.  What a cutie!