Uncle Frankie

Last Weekend, on Father's Day, my uncle passed away. Frankie was an amazing man who I feel so fortunate to have had as an Uncle.

My Uncle took a job here in the 70's and moved his family here from New Jersey. My parents soon followed them and bought a house on the same street. We grew up and were raised with them right next door. They moved to Denton, Texas when I was older but we still saw them a few times a year. Frankie was a jolly, joyful man who always had a big smile on his face. He was not scared to talk about God and his beliefs and never said a bad word about anyone. He was always forgiving, and just let things roll off his back. He loved life, loved his family, and lived a great life.

A few months ago he had a big heart surgery that he came out of and was recovering from. The other day my Aunt had told us that he wasn't sleeping well and so they went to the doctor to talk about it. The doctor asked him why he wasn't sleeping and he said, "I am scared I won't wake up." The doctor then asked him if he is a believer and he said "yes, he knows and loves the Lord and knows where he will go when he closes his eyes forever." He then told the doctor that he is just scared to leave "her" and pointed to his wife, my Aunt. To which the doctor told him "she'd eventually catch up with him, she always does." I think he knew the end was near. Last Saturday night for the first time in weeks, my Uncle slept through the night. When he woke up Sunday morning he felt great. A few hours later he had a massive heart attack and passed away.

We all got together this passed weekend for his funeral and to celebrate his life. As sad as we are that he is not here, it does give me comfort to know that I will see him again someday. That this is just the end of this life for him, and that he is in Heaven. I have no doubt that Frankie boy is up there and will be waiting for all of us to meet him there when it is our time. And I am sure he is enjoying a candy bar or two guilt free in the meantime. :) :)

We love and miss you Frankie Boy! But I know this is not the end....

Daddy Daughter Dance

Ellie was so excited to be going to the Daddy Daughter dance. We picked out her twirliest dress and I did her hair. She then walked out of the bathroom and announced, "Who wants to look at me?" (As she strutted around the house.) She told me, "Mommy, this is my first date, I don't know what to do on a date." My mother in law was quick to tell her, "Don't kiss" to which Frank had her reply with, "Too late." Ha!

Anyway, they had a great time. Frank wanted to take her to eat before hand but she was insistent that if there is food at the dance she wanted to go straight there because she wanted to dance the whole time. And that they did. For three hours Frank said they boogied on the dance floor. He said it was awesome all the dads out there with their daughters. There were 180 Daddies and Daughters and as they checked in at the door Ellie exclaimed, "MY DATE!" and gave Frank a big hug. There was a D.J. and Ellie had no problems going up and requesting songs. She requested Taylor Swift, Fearless and Tim McGraw, My Little Girl. So sweet. She came home all blinged up and said it was "The Most awesome night ever." This girl has her Daddy totally wrapped and wrapped around her little finger. How on earth will she ever grow up and find a guy that compares to her Daddy?!?!?! In her little world right now, she'd just assume marry her Daddy. I love that!!

VBS 2010

This past week the kids went to VBS and had a BLAST. It is always a great way for them to start their summer. The VBS is at the church where Frank and I got married. We have been going to this VBS since Gavin was able to and have since invited all of our friends over the years, who have invited their friends. And every year there are more and more friends. It's a big ol' party. It is such fun week for the kids and they really learn a lot. They come home telling me the stories and lessons they've learned. I love it.

Each day of the week they had a color to wear, and one of the days it was yellow backwards day. Ellie was very insistent that I do her hair backwards. The only thing I could think to do was a backwards french braid. It turned out hilarious, but she LOVED it.

Here are all three of them before we left that day:

Gotta love Hadley's face. :) Next year she will be a little more excited because she will get to go!!

8 Years

This Past Tuesday Frank and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary. I really can't believe that it was 8 years ago that I walked down the aisle trying not to cry with butterflies in my stomach.

I knew we were right. I knew we would have a great life. But I had no idea how great it would or could be. 8 years, 3 kids, 3 houses and a lot of life experiences. It's been a great 8 years. I am so happy God chose him for me. I am a lucky girl.

We usually go to the place we had our rehearsal dinner at to celebrate, but this year we stepped out and went downtown to Marks. It is a really neat little restaurant that is in an old church. It was beautiful, the food was yummy, and it was a very romantic little place.

2 more years and we make it to ten- CRRRAAAZZZYY!

I love you Babe!!

Blueberry Picking

Love, Love, Love this time of year. Love this little Blueberry farm where we have been going for as long as I can remember. This year is the best I can remember. There are tons of blueberries, nothing was harmed in the freeze, and you can just see the excitement all over the faces of the family who own the farm as they check everyone out. The kids had a ball eating enough blueberries to turn them blue, and we came home with enough to freeze for hopefully the entire year. We made a blueberry buckle last night and enjoyed it this morning. YUM!

A stranger attempted a family shot for us..ha...

And I attempted a picture of Hadley and Frank, but she wasn't interested:

Then she peaked to see if I still had the camera out and I caught her:

And this morning we enjoyed this, click here for recipe:

Cabo Wabo

Last Thursday I left for a girls trip to Cabo. To say we had a blast would be an understatement. We had so much fun lounging by the pool, eating, walking the beach, eating, painting pottery, eating, doing rifle competitions (which I won the last day and have no shooting experience AT ALL), dancing, and Eating some more. Did I mention EATING?? It was an all inclusive resort and I think I put on a sold 2 pounds in four days. We pretty much woke up, put on our swimsuits and then spent the entire day outside by the pool and beach until an hour before our dinner reservations when we'd go back to spruce up for the night. I got caught up on all the trashy magazines and managed to read about half of Eat, Pray, Love (which I still can't seem to get into). I am so thankful for the time away with the girls, the memories and even closer bonds that we made, and the beautiful place we were able to go. The weather was perfect. The trip was perfect. It was my first, but I don't think my last trip to Cabo.

Schools Out for Summer and Catching Up...

Can't help but sing that song when you say, "Schools out for summer." We are thrilled here in the Morgan house hold to be DONE with another year of school. G came down with a fever last week and missed the last three "fun" days of school. As bummed as he was to miss, he is stoked to be on Summer Break. I was room mom this year for his class and left on a girls trip before school got out so I did make it by to give his teacher her end of the year gift on his actual last day. :)

Here is G on his first and last day:

Ellie and Hadley finished up their preschool classes three weeks ago. All three kiddos had a great year and I can't believe next year I will have G in First Grade, Ellie in Private K (then Big kid K when she is 6), and Hadley in the 2-3's. Wow, time goes fast.

E on her first and Last:

And Hadley Faith:

In other news, Gavin's flag football team made it to the playoffs...and Gavin made the winning touchdown and tackle to bring them to their Superbowl. And guess which team won??? You guessed it. G was so thrilled to have EARNED a trophy and not just be given one for playing. And according to Frank he was super excited to have the pizza buffet after the awards ceremony. I was out of town on a girls trip and got the text saying they won. I did have a mini meltdown at the breakfast table and had to wipe away the tears as I was so happy for him, proud of him, and felt a tad bit guilty for missing his big game. But Frank did send me these pictures from his phone so I could see what went down:

Which brings me to my long weekend, which I will post about soon.... I just returned from a fun trip with three of my girlfriends. We had planned a trip to Cabo a few months back and were supposed to go in April, but ended up postponing until June. So, I just returned from a relaxing, beautiful get away with the girls and am so thankful they invited me along for the trip.

While I was gone, Frank managed to take them to Galveston for the day, the country club pool, and lots of restaurants by himself. To say he can handle three kids just fine is an understatement. Thank you babe for taking off work so I could go have fun, and for being the wonderful Husband and Daddy that you are. Here are a few pics from their weekend:

Today they woke up with just me and have been asking all day what all we are doing. "What's next, what else can we do..."...and summer has just begun. I think they may be a little disappointed that Daddy is back at work.