Giving is Better than Receiving

We were lucky enough to get to adopt another family this year. It is true what they say, giving is better than receiving. I think my kids, at least the older two, really got that concept a lot more this year. We got to hand deliver the gifts to our family who has been allowed to live in the managers trailer in the trailer park. Such a sweet family. Such grateful kids. And an awesome experience for us. We had the most fun shopping for them this season.

We found this family through 45 & Hope. It is an awesome organization that helps feed the homeless along 1-45, and supports them year round. If you would like to see how you can help or volunteer you can go to their website: http://www.45hope.org/.

We have been so blessed with so much more than we deserve and it is nice to help when we can. It was a great start to our Christmas.

For the Blog Book...

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 2^nd 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 

Christmas Eve Eve

Today was a busy, but fun packed day. I can not believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve already. Time definitely snuck up on me.

Today as a Morgan family tradition, everyone met at the French Tea room for lunch and pastries. I had a doctors appointment so I had to miss, but Frank was able to get off early and took the kids. They had a blast eating lunch with their cousins and Grandparents.





When they got home we made cookies for Santa. And made a Big Ol' Mess in the kitchen.


After cookies, Frank and I gave the kids their Christmas gifts from us.

I love Gavin and Hadley staring the gifts down while Ellie poses for the camera....This picture just makes me laugh.


They were so excited to unwrap duffel bags.


Little did they know we had hidden their Big gift inside. Their reactions were priceless....especially Hadley's. I don't have a good picture but she was jumping up and down screaming, "This is what I've always wanted!"

Ellie noticed there was something extra inside first...she and G got Kindle Fires.


And Hads a purple LeapPad.


After presents, we got ready for Church. We had our Christmas Eve Eve service tonight. It was WONDERFUL! The kids all sat in Big Church with us and I loved listening to them sing the carols.


The service helped us bring our focus back to what this season is all about. HIM!! I hope that the next two days are filled with focusing on Him and not the hustle and bustle of everything else.

Merry Almost Christmas Everyone!!!!

A Robber....

I was up all night. I couldn't go to sleep as I thought of the next few days and all that we have planned. Was going through it all making a mental note of a few things I still needed to do. I finally fell asleep around 12:30 or that was the last time I looked at the clock anyway.

 At 2:30 I was awoken to a noise in our room. I sat still as my heart started pounding. I waited a minute longer to see if I still heard it again and I did. So I kicked Frank under the covers to wake him up like any wife would do. "What?" I asked him to listen. He immediately jumped out of bed walked around the room in a sleep walk stance and said, "The kids aren't in here." He apparently thought that I thought it was the kids. He never turned the light on...so in my head I am thinking the robber hid when he heard Frank get out of bed. I turn over and watch the alarm monitor sensors to make sure none are moving. There was no more noise and an hour or so later I fell back asleep. Maybe it was just the fan breeze hitting presents.

4:15 rolls around and I wake up again. This time to someone in my closet. I am thinking now that maybe we have a mouse in our house. We did leave the door open yesterday for awhile before figuring it out. Maybe one came in the house and decided to come in our room. Maybe I need to ask Mema and Pepa for their friendly trap. I think about how I am glad I bought cheese at the store yesterday because we will use it to trap the mouse. I finally fall back asleep.

6:15 loud splashing coming from our toilet. OH NO...NOT  A STOMACH BUG. Which kid is it?!? Frank jumps up before I even have to wake him and runs in there. He walks back over to me...."It's not a kid.......It's.......RATSY."  Also known as Cauliflower- Santas thoughtful gift last year. Seems that she finally figured out how to escape, had a ball coming downstairs and into our room to scare me and got caught in the toilet. I don't know how long she has been out of her cage. I don't know what all she has destroyed.....but this girl likes to chew so I am sure I will be finding things she has gotten into for awhile.

 

Her First Tooth

Funny how things happen. Today at a play date my friends and I were talking about loose teeth. We were wiggling Ellie's. They moved a little...but not a lot. We have been wiggling or trying to wiggle teeth for over a year now. Most kids Ellie's age have lost teeth and she has been waiting patiently. Seriously, a couple times a month she has me feel to see if any are loose. Today I told her one was loose. So tonight before bed she asked me, "Can you pull it?" I was not trying to pull it, I just thought I'd give it a good tug to see if I could loosen it a little. It wasn't THAT loose. To my surprise I pulled it out!! We were all going crazy. My baby girl finally lost her first tooth and she couldn't be more excited. I still remember the day she got that exact tooth that she lost today. It was her first tooth. We were moving into the house we live in now on her 6 month birthday and my Mother in Law found the tooth as she was watching her, but didn't want to tell me because she wanted me to find it on my own. :)
Since loosing the tooth fifteen minutes ago, Ellie has asked me how she is going to eat now, and can't wait to show her friends because they may not recognize her. Ha! And most importantly, she is SOOO excited because her name gets to go on the chart at school now!! Before bed she proclaimed,  "Today was the BEST day EVER!!!!"
I wonder what the Tooth Fairy will bring her tonight. I am not sure if she was prepared for her to loose a tooth already. :)

For Those Who Have Been Asking...

Here is what Clark has been up to since I last posted about him.

He was very naughty one night and exchanged the stockings for the kids undies and then had his hands over his mouth laughing about it.


He must get tired of the humidity and heat because we found him like this the next night in the fridge. Glad he remembered his earmuffs from the North Pole


This silly Elf made a zip line across the living room. We had some excited kids when they found this in the morning.


The kids always like when they find Clark in their room. He was first in Ellie's room taking Barbie on a joy ride in the Jeep.


Next was Hads room, he thought it would be fun to ride the bird in the bird cage. He was very sneaky because all three kids were asleep under the bird cage that night.


He jumped in the Claw Machine in Gavs room.


And this morning he was playing Ellie's guitar by the tree.


Gavin and Ellie both have been writing Santa a lot of letters. Last week Gavin told Santa "You may want to check on Clark because he has been a little "nody" in our house." LOL.

UNREAL

Not what I was expecting to see when Ellie came inside and told me I had to come outside to see something AMAZING. The kids had been outside with Daddy for about 40 minutes when I was called to come out. Apparently Hadley asked Daddy to take her training wheels off. I  had my phone and this was my very first time to see her. I can not believe it!!! She was a fast learner for sure. Please ignore my annoying voice, I was obviously shocked at what I was seeing. :)

Kids Leading Worship at Church Today.....

Today the 3 year olds through elementary age sang on stage and helped lead worship at church. The kids were excited to have Pawpaw and Mema come and watch them. The kids LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our church and I LOVE that!! The children's program is amazing and is one of the many things I love about Woodlands Point.

Christmas Party

Love this time of year and all the get togethers. Last night we had another adult Christmas party and it was nice to get out and socialize with our friends who we haven't seen in awhile.

Glasses

A few weeks ago Gavin told me that when he closes his left eye he can't really see. He told me he can only really see good with his left eye. I really kind of thought it was nothing because how well can anyone see with just one eye open, right? And I have been complaining about my eyes, (which are 20/20 by the way). But I asked him to ask his teacher if he could get tested at the nurse's office at school. He came home and had forgot to ask.

The next Monday I was at school doing reading groups and I stopped in the nurses office and asked her if she could pull him and test him. She asked if he has trouble in school, playing sports, etc.? No, No, and No. I told her just to ease his mind, I am sure it is fine, to please test him. She called me within 30 minutes asking me to call her back. I knew he probably had failed by the message left. She recommended that we see a pediatric optometrist as soon as possible.

So my Mommy worry mode set in. I called and begged for an early appointment and got one the next day. When we got the eye doctor he did lots of tests taking pictures of his eyes. Before Gavin even read the lines he told us there was a problem. His brain is apparently not using his right eye because it is weaker. This has probably  been going on for years and we didn't know it. His left eye has been compensating. His vision was actually 20/100. That means what most people can see at 100 feet Gavin can see at 20 feet. Also known as NOT GOOD. He was given a big prescription for eye glasses. There is only a prescription lens in the right eye. But the doctor wants to give him contacts as he doesn't think the glasses are going to work. He also thinks he will need therapy and a patch over his eye to get the brain to respond to the right eye again.

He was a little apprehensive at the appointment and very scared to get his eyes dilated, but he did great.



It took almost two weeks for the glasses to come in, but they came in today. He was pretty excited to show them off. I guess glasses are cooler than they used to be when I was a kid. We are putting eye drops in his eyes to get him used to drops for contacts. I think those are coming at our next appointment in a month. Usually they don't do contacts until 11 or 12 but he said he thinks he needs them. Needless to say I feel terrible that we never found this out sooner. The doctor said the earlier you get testing done the easier it is to correct. He will have glasses or contacts forever, but we need to get both eyes responding again.
So without further ado...my handsome little man and his new glasses....he looks so much older!

A WEEK FULL OF PARTIES..

Whewww.... I am glad it's Friday. It's been a CRAZY week, but in all good fun. We had dances, Christmas parties, and lots of gifts to put together and buy for our teachers and coaches.

Hadley had her class party on Wednesday. I was happy to go help and enjoy in the festive party for Baby Jesus. They each had a sock Jesus that they rocked to silent night (my favorite part of the party). It was so cute. Hads sat on my lap as she rocked her baby Jesus so sweetly all wrapped up in a blanket and then placed him in the shoebox manger.

Then they decorated cookies and did a book exchange.

I LOVE, LOVE, her school and can't believe this is our 7th year there and third time to have Ms. Judy. We feel so blessed!

Being room mom for two classrooms in "Big School" took up a lot of my time this week month. Organizing the parties, and collecting gift cards and money for the teachers is time consuming. Yesterday was Gavin and Ellie's party and they happened to overlap so Frank came to help, and thankfully we have a lot of great parent volunteers in our classes! The parties were so much fun. The kids had a blast and loved every minute of it. Hadley joined us since she was out of school and got to participate in a lot of the activities too!




Here is one of the gift card baskets I had collected for and put together...I think it turned out cute...


And Today, the kids were excited to give all their "Specials" teachers (Music, art, p.e., keyboarding, and aides) starbucks gift cards that we packaged like a real drink. (Thanks to pinterest). "Thanks a "latte" for all you do for us. Merry Christmas."


Whewww.....

I am really excited to have the kids home with me for the next two weeks. No schedules, no getting up, dressed and rushed out the door. And most importantly, I am excited to share in the incredible gift that we were given, Baby Jesus. I pray my kids really understand and soak in the Real meaning of Christmas! I am sure it was a busy week for everyone and I hope that the next few weeks will be restful for all of you!! Merry Almost Christmas!!!!