Dear Friends and Family,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Morgan family! It seems like just yesterday I sat down to pen our 2010 letter, and here we go again. As always things have been very busy in this household, but we feel extremely blessed to have had another year watching our family grow. As all families we have had our share of triumphs and challenges this year, and we want to apologize to those of you who we have drifted apart from this year while we were preoccupied with some of these things. It is our full intention in 2012 to reconnect with our friends and family both, who are vitally important to us. From the bottom of our hearts we wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope 2012 is a wonderful year for you.
Our first born Gavin is now 8 years old, and is nearly half way done with 2nd grade. Lacey and I are constantly scratching our heads at where the time has gone since we first had our little man, who is now nearly as tall as his father. Gavin continues to excel in school, and really loves all of his teachers and classes. Even as he has gotten older, Gavin continues to be exceptionally sweet natured and thoughtful, always making sure to look after his little sisters and try to serve the needs of others first. After playing flag football the past few years, Gavin decided last minute to try his hand this fall at competitive baseball. Lacey and I were worried the commitment of practices and games might be too much for him at first, given he had never played before. Boy we sure were wrong! Gavin took to baseball almost instantly, thanks to a wonderful coach and an inner drive to improve. He went from a boy at try outs who did not know how to swing a bat or catch, to batting clean-up and making outs in the outfield. His team, the Cardinals won the regular season by going undefeated, before dropping a heartbreaker in the semifinals of the playoffs. To say this experience turned him in to a sports junkie would be an understatement, as exemplified by me finding him on the computer before school looking up sports scores from the night before on espn.com. We are so proud of our not so little man, and the man he is growing up to be.
Ellie turned 6 this year, and her wish was to celebrate at the little girls Holy Grail, the American Girl Doll store in Dallas. We all had a great time packing up the baby dolls and driving up to visit, eat with our babies, and buy them new clothes. Ellie started public school kindergarten this year, and we were very fortunate to have her get the same teacher Gavin had, who she absolutely adores. Ellie is enjoying the experience of going to “big girl school”, and getting to see her brother in the halls. She was also very lucky to be in the same class as her best friend, who she truly does not know life without. They were born days apart, and have truly done every activity together their whole lives. Ellie is doing very well in school as well, and now we have two readers in the house. For fun Ellie loves to participate in cheer, and has been going to classes for about a year. It is amazing to watch her do things that are so tough at such a young age, but she has proven to be really good and it has given her confidence in her abilities. Ellie is a wonderful girl, with a big heart and a really warm smile. Her current career dream is to become the next Taylor Swift, and she performs nightly with her Karaoke machine for all that will listen. We are so thankful for her and all the joy she brings us, and proud of the lady she is becoming as well.
Believe it or not, our “baby” girl Hadley is now 3 ½ and seems to be growing up so fast. She is still going to school at Son Kids, and loving every second of it. She is not too happy she only gets to go to school 3 days a week when her brother and sister go 5, but I am sure she will realize when she is older she wished she could have kept it that way forever. She is very social, and has made lots of friends. In the past year she has gone from a little girl to an independent thinker, who knows what she wants and tries hard to make sure she gets it. Hadley really admires her brother and sister, and tries to emulate all that they do. She has amazing coordination, and can be found racing around the neighborhood on Gavin or Ellie’s razor scooter on nice days. Hadley is also in cheer, and she is doing really well. Since she gets to watch what Ellie does her in her class, she scares the teachers by attempting moves she sees Ellie do while they are trying to teach simpler things to the little ones. While the teachers are teaching cart wheels and stretching to Hadley’s class, she is trying to show them a back bend or some other amazing feat. As Hadley continues to grow, the resemblance to Lacey is more and more undeniable. We went back and compared pictures of Hadley and Lacey at the same age, and you can barely tell them apart. I guess given that, I am going to have to invest in a shotgun soon before the boys line up at my front door. Hadley is the spark plug in our house, full of personality and drive, but also loving and thoughtful. We are so proud of her, and thankful to be able to watch her grow.
With Gavin and Ellie now in the same school, apparently Lacey felt compelled to volunteer for every open position in each class. So needless to say her time is fully utilized helping with reading groups, copying, planning for parties, and helping the teachers when needed. But she truly loves it, and the kids are very lucky to have her. Lacey has also gotten involved in Bible study, and she is taking great pleasure in deeper exploration of God’s word and its teachings. I am not sure where she gets the energy to complete all that she does, but all of us our very thankful she is our wife/mother. We have all gotten to witness firsthand how strong she has been in the face of challenges, and it has taught us a lot about how to handle these with grace and fortitude. Even in the midst of this all, Lacey continues to go above and beyond to make sure the rest of us are all taken care of, and we count our lucky stars for her. She is an amazing woman, always putting her family before herself. Thank you for being the rock of our family.
As for me, things remain business as usual. I am still enjoying my work, and love to get to play with my family every chance I get. I am already looking forward to our big 10 year anniversary trip in the works for this year, as well as our normal beach vacation in Destin. I am extremely thankful I got invited to our company outing to ski in Montana earlier this year, and absolutely loved it like usual. I am eagerly looking forward to 2012 and all it brings, and watching our kids continue to flourish.
As we close the chapter on another year, we want to thank each of you for being in our lives and making them so fulfilling. We hope you know that family and friendships mean more to us than anything, and we appreciate everything we have. We hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas season, and may you be exceptionally blessed in 2012.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
The Morgan Family
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