Boys' Night

As much as I hate to see my boys grow up, it has been so much fun to hang out with them lately. Every once in a while we give them the opportunity to stay up late with Mom and Dad. Sometimes it's to watch a big kid movie; the new Karate Kid was a big hit, (and I personally can't wait to have a Back to the Future night). Other times it's to play games that the sisters just aren't big enough for yet. Their absolute favorite is Monopoly. It is a miracle that this game has made a reappearance in our house; Brandon and I played it once as newlyweds and I vowed never again! My husband is a bit cutthroat about his games. But for these two....well that's a different story. 

Yes, that is a tupperware of raw cookie dough to snack on! 

These two are hilarious!! They're sure to call out, "Chancellors!" when a chance space is landed on, to tell you that, "Things are getting hairy in here!" when the game is getting serious, to remind you that you own the "Body Odor railroad" if you have the B&O, and they each have their favorite spaces that they will always hold out for. Parker loves Boardwalk and Park Place to a fault. He'll get most of the way through a game with only a few properties holding out for the big ones. If those can't be had he loves Tennessee Ave, (pronounced tuh-KNEE-tsee, don't ya know?) and Marvin Gardens, (MAH-ven GAH-dens).  Drew loves S-T Charles place and S-T James place. He also loves to be a railroad man.

They can also be persuaded to play Apples to Apples Jr. but this game is the clear fave. They're so much fun to play with that I don't mind it too much anymore. I love that they're learning to win and lose nicely, (for the most part) and to handle tasks like being the banker. I've been thinking it would be awesome to come across the old version of the game PayDay to teach them some money management skills as well. Life skills aside, just having a good time is great too!

Utah with the Morgans

While we were in UT, we stayed at my parent's house, but used our weekends to spend time with Brandon's family. Both the boys and girls got to have their own special weekends at Grandma and Grandpa's house as well. On the boys' weekend we met up at Scheel's to have some fun before leaving the boys with them. Claire was having nothing to do with the ferris wheel unless she could ride with Grandpa. She is a Grandpa's girl for sure!

 I'm bummed this picture turned out fuzzy, because the boys were so cute together. This is our cousin Tobin, and the boys don't often get to see him, but always have a blast when they do!

 This was the most adorable thing in the world. These two were both a little scared to be riding without an adult. They put on their best brave faces. Parker did have some fun, but poor Paige got off with silent tears streaming down her face. We made sure the next time around to have her sit with Mama instead.

 We were supposed to be making scared faces in this photo, but I think I'm the only one who got the memo. ;)

 This was all the Morgan cousins except our cousin Madison who also lives far away, ready for church on Sunday. What a cute bunch!

 On the girls' weekend they got to go to Build-a-Bear with Grandma. They had a lot of fun and carry these stuffed animals everywhere. Paige's is a cat that she originally named Lisa, but has since decided to call Sparkle Dean Morgan. Claire's is a monkey originally named Agnes, who sometimes prefers to go by Electabuzz. Emma named her bear Margo and is less fickle about names.

 When they got back to Grandma's house they got to play with Aunt Brooklyn's stash of bear clothes, and then later here in Texas each girl was sent their own outfit on their birthdays.

The kids had lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa Morgan!

Visiting Grandpa Murray

Let's do some catching up, shall we? Our stop in UT on the way to TX was a whirlwind visit. We tried to pack in as much fun as we could and see as many people as possible. It's pretty much a 24 hour drive from TX to see our families, so that won't be happening often.

We wanted for sure to see Grandpa Murray. I had been waiting for this visit ever since Noah was born, because Noah's middle name Macks is for this grandpa. We didn't go out to UT the summer he was a new baby, so this was the first time we had opportunity for a photo of the two of them together. Also, we lost Grandma Murray not too long before this visit, and we were really looking forward to checking in on Grandpa. 

This right here is my favorite photo ever of Grandpa. I know it's nothing flashy, but this is how I always want to remember him, and highlights my favorite things about him. Grandpa had heard that Parker was reading the Book of Mormon, and wanted to chat with him about it. He asked Parker how it was going, commended him for working so hard at it, and then started talking about the scriptures telling Parker about the 12 tribes of Israel. Grandpa loves the scriptures and makes an effort to study them every day. When he started losing his sight to macular degeneration, even that didn't stop him and he now listens to them on tape every afternoon. I don't know the particulars of Grandpa's story, but I know that Brandon remembers lighting cigarettes for Grandma and Grandpa as a boy. He says that when Grandpa decided it was time to follow the gospel, it has been with exactness ever since. He wouldn't even drive one mile an hour over the speed limit because the gospel teaches that we should obey the law of the land. He served as a faithful temple worker until his health no longer allowed it, and even now attends as often as he can get a ride. This man shows the light of Christ more than anyone I know. His countenance glows, and he overflows with Charity. I never feel as uplifted, loved and encouraged as I do in his presence. I am so proud to carry on his name and memory in our Noah Macks.

Again, not a great picture, but one I wanted to have for memory's sake. Grandma always loved having a porch swing for the kids to sit on and I think it would have made her so happy to see these girls swinging out in the sunshine.

This is Brandon's dear Aunt NaDean. She and her sister Aunt Sandra have always made an effort to be part of Brandon's life and to be supportive of him, and just as I always felt so loved by Grandma and Grandpa for being Brandon's choice, I feel the same outpouring of love and acceptance into the family from them. They are always so happy to see us. When Aunt NaDean heard we were coming for a visit, she opened her home to us and allowed us to stay the night and fed us delicious food. I wish I had a picture of Sandra as well, because she also came to see us at Grandpa's but I didn't get one. Also, I must say that I think that Brandon's aunts are stunningly beautiful and I hope that our girls inherit a bit of that.

It made us so happy to see our dear Grandpa Murray again!

Grandpa lives about 30 miles away from the home we left in Vernal, so while we were there we also made a quick trip out to attend church at the ward we lived in. We got to see many of the faces that we love so much there and it was almost odd how little had changed while we were gone! It still felt like home. It was a visit that was too short but one that we are so glad that we had opportunity to make.

My Love Bugs

For Valentine's day this year the kids finally talked me into making sugar cookies. I know, I know, I'm the sugar cookie grinch, but here's the thing; while they're all sorts of fun to decorate and make, none of us actually like to eat them! At our house there is really only one kind of cookie worth eating, and that is the almighty chocolate chip. But we do have this collection of about a hundred cookie cutters, (usually used for play-dough) and we thought this would be a fun way to party.

Of course all of Paige's cookies had to be pink, with pink sparkles. Funny enough, I think the girl only actually ate one cookie? She does not have a sweet tooth. She loves to do these sorts of things, but not actually eat the treat.

 Drew did his usual thing of doing every single one exactly the same way. The boy does not like variation!

 Claire favored the purple frosting, and was happy to let Parker embellish her cookies so she could spend time licking more purple frosting off the scoop.

 And Parker had to try out a little bit of everything. He is very serious about these sorts of things.

 Emma napped through most of the fun, and when she woke up was happy to nod her head and smile while the other kids decorated her cookies for her. She just wanted to EAT one!

 And some slobber free ones.

 We had intended to have a party with some friends, but at the last minute they got sick and couldn't come. We enjoyed our party favors anyway, (the lips made a fantastic whistling noise!) and made a craft not pictured because I was too busy making sure that every surface of the house wasn't covered with glittery stickers.

Then the kids got leftovers for dinner early, and when Brandon got home from work, we got to spend some time together cooking a nice meal for ourselves. Steak and marsala mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes and green beans! And chocolate lava cake for dessert! Since the opportunity to go out sans kids is rare for us these days, we've found cooking together to be a fun way to have a date night at home.

Christmas 2013

I suppose I ought to feature Christmas on the blog before it rolls around again and I lose the chance! We had a blast this year with our cute little family. It was a quiet cozy Christmas at home with just us and it was SO relaxing. I don't even think we got around to opening presents until the afternoon, but no one really minded. We had a big breakfast and lots of yummy food to snack on all day. We read A Christmas Carol as a family, and in general just enjoyed being together. Here are all of our little ones decked out in their Christmas pajamas.

 A few days before Christmas the kids' great Grandma Judy sent a package for us. We got excited and opened the package early. It was a fun way to break up the wait.

 It was the year of Legos for these kids and they all loved it! The boys also got a couple of other sets from their Grandpa and Grandma Morgan. (I didn't snap pictures of either of the grandparents gifts, because we opened them all via video chat. It was so fun for the kids to do that and I think really helped them understand whom the gifts were from.)

One of the favorite gifts given for me this year was for all of our school-aged kids. They each got their own fountain pen. Fancy schmancy! They got right to work giving them a go.

 This baby was too adorable for words. He watched the big kids well enough to get the hang of this present opening thing down quickly! Being baby #6, his first Christmas wasn't anything fancy, (sippy cups and bathtub toys) but as we were expecting it didn't matter. The boxes and wrapping paper were more fun anyway!

 Miss Claire was over the top excited about her Snow White dress. Each of our girls have a favorite princess. Hers has always been Snow White. She has the pajamas, and a bedtime doll of her. Emma loves Cinderella, and Paige who is slightly less loyal to her favorites, is currently on an Ariel kick. She won't watch the movie however because Ursula is too scary. We even have to skip her song when listening to the soundtrack!

 I could not resist posting this picture! Don't you want to smooch that face?!! The big girls were in dire need of new coats this year, and mostly so Emma could benefit from their hand-me-downs. We did have the slightest skiff of snow to try them out with. The adorable knit owl hats you see poking out of the coats were a labor of love from my niece Lexi, in each child's favorite color. Still working on trying to get a decent shot of all of the kids wearing them at once, but they LOVE them and insist on wearing them when we get a chance to go out. Heck, they wear them around the house!

These were just my most favorite shots from my camera. Soon I hope to post some pics from the kids' point of view! Those will feature more of the fun grandparent gifts.

Let Me Sum Up

Let's take the whirlwind tour of November and December shall we? The 1st was Brandon's birthday and we celebrated in our usual way. Dinner of his choice and apple pie. He's more of a pie man than a cake man. 

The finishing touch to Parker and Andrew's Halloween costumes finally came in the mail.  And while they were too late for the holiday, they were still one of the best purchases I've ever made. They'll still be around for next year, and I don't think the boys took them off for all of November except to sleep and bathe. They still wear them a lot of the time. Paige and Claire even got in on the fun by making these crowns to complete the character set.  "P" for Peach and "D" for Daisy.

Noah decided that being upright was more fun than crawling and of course the other kids love to help him practice his walking. He's still not quite there on his own yet, but it won't be long. We've seen him take a cautious step here or there. He's gotten to where he only needs something to hold on to for comfort's sake and he likes to go fast. When he does take off on his own, I think he's going to go right into a run.

 Brandon's folks came for a visit and of course we had a lot of fun.

Brandon and his mom share the same birthday month so we celebrated again.  Chocolate mousse cake this time. MMmmmmm.

We also made sure to launch some rockets in the field behind our house. One of our all-time favorite family activities.

The boys decided that they prefer "straight" hair over the "spiky" look that I usually give them on Sundays.  I like to think of this look as the "Wall Street."  Have you ever seen a more handsome pair of boys?!

I don't have any pictures of Thanksgiving because it was one of those days that was more fun to just enjoy than try to make photo-worthy moments out of. We had a quiet dinner at home with just us. We did go all out with our dinner and I enjoyed spending most of the morning cooking away. When meal time came I broke out my gold-colored silverware, something my Grandma Karpowitz always did for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's funny how exciting little touches like that are for the kids. They went on and on about "solid gold forks!" for the whole weekend. I wish boys! I wish! We all dressed up nicely for dinner and went around the table saying what we were each thankful for. We made a game out of it by having to repeat what each person had said before us and in the end it got silly and fun. When dinner was over we put our jammies right back on and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening being lazy and eating pie. Lots of pie.

Emma Lee. What a girl, this one. She is becoming more and more a Daddy's girl every day. She also picked up a funny way of identifying the time of day. When it's light out she'll say, "Oh! It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!" and when it's dark, "Mom, it's too late!"

At the beginning of December she decided to be a big girl and go on the potty. I was thinking that she was the easiest of them all.  The day that she really decided to be serious about it she got right down to business and didn't have a single accident.  After several days of wearing big girl undies and going on the potty we took her to pick out a "potty prize." Apparently this all lost it's lustre because this week we're back in diapers. This is why I hate potty training two year olds. But we'll be patient and I'm sure it won't be long before she decides to ditch the diapers for good. She'll just about change her own diaper to avoid sitting in anything too long, so hopefully she's not getting too comfortable in them again.

This shot was from a family movie night. I had set out all these pillows to make a comfy spot for myself on the floor, but while I was busy making popcorn it was commandeered by these two. They looked so sweet I didn't have the heart to make them move!

We decorated the Christmas tree, of course and Emma was thrilled to be the one to put the star on top. Sort of.  ;) Sadly I don't have any more pics from the event because I was too busy keeping the kids in ornaments ready to put on the tree. We had a fun surprise this year and Grandma Karpowitz sent us her olive wood ornaments from Jerusalem! We were so excited as we've tried to keep our decorations and celebrations centered on the Savior and that added a fun and beautiful touch to our tree.

The kids insisted that we keep up with the tradition of gingerbread houses. To keep it real, I don't make my own gingerbread. We buy the kit that comes with 4 small houses as that is the perfect number for us since Emma would rather eat the candy than decorate with it anyway. In fact, despite all my warnings of dust and bugs, I don't think these poor little gingerbread houses had any candy left on them by the time December was over.

I'm going to save Christmas for it's own post, but to finish off this one, here's where I found my silly goose one day when all had gone quiet. I looked and looked and called and called and she stayed right where she was, with the door shut I might add, until I found her.

 And then Paige had to prove that she could still fit too.