Happy Merry Christmas New Year!

Yeah, I didn't get around to sending out Christmas cards this year. What else is new?  I suppose we can just "blame it on the rain, yeah yeah!"  Ahem.....  so here follows my cheap, (free) substitute to give you all an update on the Morgan family for the year.

Brandon and I.....well we're pretty boring and definitely not as cute as our kids!!  We're pretty much the doing the same old, same old.  Brandon is still working, taking classes online, serving as the ward Elder's Quorum President and in general being everyone's favorite.  We all fight for his attention when he comes home at night.  He had lots of fun this year coaching T-ball for the very first time.  I had to laugh out loud when I overheard one of the moms raving about how great he was with the kids....(wait for it).....she said he was "just so patient!"  Okay, okay, all snarkiness aside, he really is great with kids.  It's just a lot harder for him with other peoples'.  Now that I've embarrassed him let's move right along!  In his almost non-existent free time he loves to read and due to traveling for work has branched out to audio books this year.  I of course am just busy raising babies and loving it.  Oh, it's so crazy here and you wouldn't believe the amount of diapers we go through in a day.  But I've said it before and I'll say it again; I have never done anything so rewarding.

Parker was the T-ball star.  He took it oh so very seriously, of course and is already looking forward to next year.  Parker has also been excelling in school this year (Kindergarten age).  We've decided to homeschool and it works so well for us.  I love getting to see those lightbulb moments every time he learns something new, and to get to love and smother and praise the heck out of him when he does.  And now because I'm the mom and bragging is my right.....Parker is reading at a 2nd grade level; he can identify compound words, consonant blends and digraphs, (yeah I had to study up on that before I could teach it) and alphabetize by the first letter of a word, and knows about nouns - common and proper.  He can also identify "doing" or "action" words.  In math, he has mastered the addition facts of adding 0, adding 1, and the doubles facts, (2+2, 3+3, etc.) up to 9+9.  He has also mastered the subtraction facts of -1 and -0.  He can graph, knows the days of the week, etc., can count by 1's 2's and 10's, count money using pennies and dimes and tell time to the hour/half hour.  In geography he has studied maps, landforms, (rivers, mountains, etc.) and can name and identify the oceans.  He has memorized his address and three poems so far.  Yes, my buttons are bursting with pride as I type this.

Parker is also the bestest big brother a family could ask for.  He loves to help out and is so sweet with his siblings.  He is the only one allowed to hold Emma at his whim, and complains if her diaper is poopy because then he doesn't get to change it.  ;)  He helps out with chores - he especially loves to make beds and steam the kitchen floor.  What a guy.  I tell you, the lucky lady that lands him someday......

Parker also learned to ride his bike without training wheels this summer!  Woot woot!!  And it all happened in about 5 minutes.  Brandon's cousin Luke, (who is 6?) must speak his lingo better than I do....it seriously only took a matter of minutes.  And then guess what the little stink did?  Watched me take the training wheels off his bike, and proceeded to take off Andrew's while I wasn't looking and then taught him!!

Andrew is the family funny man.  He LOVES to tell jokes right now.  Have you heard the one about the chicken who crossed the playground?  To get to the other SLIDE?!  Ka-ching!  Life is always a party with this kid around.  (For one of my all-time favorite Andrew stories from this year, see here.)As was mentioned previously, Andrew ALSO learned how to ride his bike without training wheels this year, (big boy things tend to happen in twos around here!).  Oh these boys were so proud to show their Daddy.  To be fair, we really did need to give the credit to Dad for teaching Drew...he needed a little extra help.  He is sooo funny.  So very different from his big brother.  Parker was all serious, riding around all tense...Drew just kind of chilled in his seat...if he fell over, he let it all go; didn't even brace.  After he'd mastered it, he rode around a few times, hopped off his bike and let it fall and gave us a bow.

Andrew has really come out of his shell this year.  The boy who we had to bribe and beg to talk is now chatting our ears off.  If you don't listen just right he'll grab you by the cheeks and make you listen.  He also, (sniff sniff) has started to become quite the Daddy's boy as generally the things Daddy does are way more cool than Mom.  ;)  The boys have all taken a particular interest this year in model rockets.  And boys being boys, they also love bugs.  Drew more especially than Parker.  Drew is the one actually willing to touch them.

Andrew has also had a taste of homeschool this year.  He is reading on a first grade level this year, and contrary to his older brother isn't shy to show it off!  Funny story, while looking down at the shirt he was wearing in this picture, he insisted that it said, "E-tuck!"  As hard as I tried to convince him that you should read it from left to right while looking at the shirt straight on....for him looking down it was "E-tuck!" and he would hear of nothing else.  Andrew also participates in many of the math lessons, and is learning to write his letters.  I am constantly amazed by how differently two brothers from the same family can learn.  What is hard for one brother is a piece of cake for the other and vice versa.  They have completely opposite learning styles and that keeps me on my toes thinking of different ways to explain things to them.

Drew is also very sweet to the younger siblings....he loves to get toys for Emma... and was a great cheerleader for the T-ball team, (Dad is probably going to get after me here for my word choice....supporter of the team?  What can I say, we cheered?!).  The poor kid was just dying to play, and lucky for him the coach would let him hit around on the field after the games. We can't wait for both to be able to play this year.

Drew is ever steadfast in his favorites the color red and racecar "Light-ming Naqueen!"  He is also a tenderheart and needs lots of reassurance when his feelers get hurt.  ;)  He is also fiercely loyal and kind.

Paige, Paige, Paige.  What do we say about the blonde bombshell?!  This girl is always in the middle of ALL the action.  She also has a knack for wrapping absolutely anyone around her little finger.  She's very insistent that she is just as big as the boys and can do anything they do.  She loves anything to do with princesses, especially Rapunzel whom she pretends to be most of the time.  Daddy, of course is her "Fwi-dyn Ryder"; and she just informed us today that Parker can be a "Fwi-dyn Ryder" too.  Oh, she LOVES those boys.  She loves her sisters too, and is having lots of fun with Claire these days getting into trouble!  She does still suck her two middle fingers....and probably will forever.  This girl has got a will like you would not believe.  She loves loves loves to sing and bless her heart has another year ahead of her in the nursery at church.  It will be good for Claire who goes in this year too....but already this year during the Primary Program she was singing right along from her seat and kept saying, "Mom!  I want to go to the microphone too!"  She is a bit of a bossy britches, but as I said can charm her way into anyone's heart so it usually doesn't cause too big of a problem.  She's a Daddy's girl and Mommy's shadow.

Little Miss Claire Bear.  She has been the. funnest. toddler. EVER.  She toddles around like she owns the place.  She is so funny and usually without saying a word! (She only has a few of those.)  She loves to play babies and giving her her own pretend one usually saves Emma from lots of sisterly TLC.  Sadly, I can't really class Claire as a baby anymore....she's always in on the big kids' action too.  She's had a maddening phase of getting into EVERYTHING this year.  Her favorites are the cupboard where we keep the dishes, (she likes to set the table now that she can reach it) and the garbage.  Unfortunately we've lost a few things to that this year, including I think our Baby Jesus from the kid's manger scene.  Oops!  She even managed to throw away one of the locks I use to keep her out of said dishes cupboard.  She's smarter than your average bear.  ;)  She loves to dance and starts to bee-bop whenever she hears a tune.  Especially the one to which I sing her nickname.  To the tune of William Tell's Overture, "Bear-buh-dee Bear, buh-dee Bear Bear Bear!"  She has learned to show you where her noes, eyes, ears and toes are, (it's SO CUTE!) and is also a Daddy's girl.  Of course.  :)  Fun little side note: the other day I overhear Andrew and Paige arguing over whether her name is actually Claire Bear, (Drew) or Bear Bear, (Paige).  We (I) get a little carried away with nicknames around here.

Emma.  Isn't she gorgeous?!  She has been the sweetest, bestest baby ever.  People are always amazed at how she can just lay on the rug in the middle of all the commotion that goes on around here and play contentedly until she falls asleep.  NOT KIDDING.  And she sleeps all night.  Really almost always has.  She only ever cries if she's hungry or poopy.  She turns inside out with smiles at attention from anyone.  She rolls like crazy, and is currently working on sitting up.  LOVE this girl.

So there you have it.  We wish a Happy New Year to all of our friends and family!  Love from the Morgan family!!

Living Life

You will have to pardon my lack of posting lately. As I said to a good friend the other day, sometimes I have to choose between living life and blogging about it. The way my mind is these days, I probably won't remember a lot of it later, but by george I sure am having fun, and I will remember that!

Here's a taste of what we've been up to.

P Doodle is reading. Yeah, you read that right. My four year old can read. Thanks to the aforementioned BFF. She recommended the book to us, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. And I pass that recommendation on to anyone else who bothers to read this blog and might be interested. It's a miracle working book, and it's so easy. Each lesson takes about 7 minutes, they're simple, completely scripted for you and they work! Let me give you an example of what P Doodle read to me in his last lesson: "See that little shack. Sand is in the shack. We will run in the sand." Sigh.....my little genius. Growing up. Oh, and in case I haven't bragged him up enough, he can also answer questions about what he's read. That's called reading comprehension yall! By the way, this has totally reaffirmed my desire to homeschool, and has boosted my confidence that yes I can!
Babycakes has moved into big-boy-hood by going on the potty. (Insert choir of angels singing here.) Can I just tell you that two in diapers is so much better than three?! And the little genius did it himself. I've tried a few times to get him to do it and received a flat refusal each time. Now, given my current circumstances, I was not willing to make a struggle of it. I do not have the personality it takes to be on top of "training him" to go every hour or so and forcing him to do it. I also didn't want a whole bunch of accidents and frustrations, so I let it go. I figured for now it was just as easy to change an extra bum than to be constantly cleaning my already disgusting carpets. He did show some interest a couple of weeks ago, so we made the special trip to Wal-mart to pick out a potty seat and some special undies, but the interest was fleeting. I let it go again. Then all of a sudden last Friday as I was washing breakfast dishes I heard him quietly say in the living room, "I need to go potty!" in a surprised tone. So of course I rushed in and said, "Yay! Let's go do it!" and he went; then put on his new undies and we've never turned back. He even kept them clean and dry all the way through Stake Conference only two days later, and again yesterday for a trip to Roosevelt, (a half hour drive from our home) to take Little Bear to the doctor. Note: although I was prepared with extra shorts and undies, I was unprepared for the surprise episode of carsickness and he went into the doctors' office bare-chested after barfing all over his shirt, (the smart little guy also caught a lot of it in his hat.....too much info?). What are ya gonna do? I think that a bare-chested kid is nothing compared to the shock of the troop of us all coming in the doors anyway. ;)
This sweet pic is of Babycakes with his Lightning Mcqueen car that we let him pick out as a special treat for easing my sanity just a bit.

Princess P......what is there to say about that little ball of fire? She rocks our world. She's still a midget, but rules the whole household. She is almost never punished and when she is, it isn't without a whole bunch of laughing at how cute she was even while being naughty. She jabbers all the time; most of it is baby talk, (although she does have about 15 clear words she uses consistently) but every once in a while I swear she up and surprises us all by saying something like "brothers" or "computer". Genius. I'm sensing a running theme in our family! She still sucks her two middle fingers, and doesn't let her "B" out of her sight. (Her blanket.)


Little Bear is growing and changing so fast! She loves her tummy time as you can see, and can even roll from her tummy to her back. Genius!! Her most recent visit to the doc brought in these stats: weight 10 lbs. 13 oz., length 21.25 inches. Give them a year, year and a half tops and these two girls will be wearing the same clothes. Little Bear has also started giving us social smiles and melts all our hearts. Her brothers especially love to hold her. Princess P likes to bring her toys and make sure that she is never touching the precious "B".

Are you all envious of me yet? You should be. I have the cutest kids ever.

I'm in a Funk....

So I'm sure you've noticed, I've been in a blogging funk lately. It always happens when I don't have a way to post any pictures. I feel lost if I don't have pictures.....ESPECIALLY for posts about the kids, and really, what's better to post about than them?

But, I thought I'd do a little catch-up post today so I can at least tell you how cute my kids are even if I can't show you.

Let's start with the Princess. Ladies first! We took her to the doctor at ten months, (Whoops! A month late!) and she had gained 3 whole pounds, bringing her up to a grand total of 14 pounds. She has finally in the last week graduated to wearing six month sized clothes, and looks super cute in pigtails. See why I'm lost without pictures???? Insert cute photo here.... Anyway, it's totally hilarious that she's so small, because she out-eats either of her brothers. She'll eat anything, really. And I'm struggling with the thought of her turning 1 next month. It's killing me. Has a whole year really gone by? And, she's still almost walking. She'll do it when she decides she can, I guess.

Babycakes has decided to give being a two year old a good go of it. He doesn't eat anything besides breakfast anymore unless it involves peanut butter, jelly, or something else really spectacular. Most of the time he toddles over to the dinner table, takes a peek, turns up his nose and walks away. This is not normal for him, but P Doodle did the same thing and magically grew out of it when he hit three, so I'm hoping it's just a phase for him as well. But to be fair, he is the cutest darn two year old ever. He's finally found his voice, (although we don't always understand it) and jabbers all the time. He also sings quite sweetly. He sings, "Let's Go Fly a Kite", (my personal fave) a little blurb from Little Einsteins, the "Kite Parade" and "Mr. I'll make a man out of you....." from Mulan. Just that line. I love this boy.

P Doodle is getting too big, way too fast for me. I know I always say that...... Remember from my last post how we told P Doodle about his "special lady" that he will have someday? He's been thinking about her a lot lately, and it's so cute. He was looking at my ring one day and when I told him I couldn't take it off because it says I'm Daddy's special lady, he asked if he could have it for his special lady someday. I told him that he would probably want to buy her one of her very own. So now he's taken to making a list of things to buy her. A ring, a big bed, ("just like yours mom!") and a house. Although he's not sure that he wants to live in the house....for now he's thinking they'll live with us. And for all this, he's said that she's going to buy him a tractor so they can grow real good food. And he'll give her a ride on it. Isn't that romantic? I know I think he'll be a pretty good catch someday. :)

Oh, and if you're wondering why I haven't given any news on Baby4 yet.....it's because we have none. Two ultrasounds so far, and no go. This baby is way too shy, which is odd for me because the other three have all been very not shy. I'm thinking I'll wait a bit before we try and peek again.

And......we've switched to cloth diapers and eating a vegetarian diet. Loving both. Do you think I'm weird yet? More to come later on those I'm sure........for now kisses from Vernal!

A Beautiful Day

I have to admit, I've been a bit down lately. The super cold temperatures here have been getting to me, added to the fact that until this week, my kids have been sick pretty much since Thanksgiving. I've been in a bit of a rut. But today changed everything. Today gave me a bit of sunshine that seemed to erase it all, and give me the breath of fresh air I need to perk up.

Today, for the first time, I heard my baby's heartbeat. Is there any sound in the world better than that? It doesn't matter how many times I go through this; it's a miracle every time, and I feel so blessed and grateful to announce that baby Morgan #4 is on the way!

I get to have an ultrasound tomorrow to make sure that everything is on track, but if all matches up, I am 14 weeks along, and the due date is July 23. Yes, I know, July is a lucky month for us! ;)

Why announce this on the blog you ask? Well, we thought that to show up at Christmas and announce for the third time in five years that I'm pregnant and due in July was getting a bit redundant. We were losing the element of surprise there. So, we thought we'd shake things up a bit. And now we get to see how many of you actually read this blog! (Also now you can question our sanity privately before you call to say congrats! ;)) Rest assured, if you're reading this, you are the first to know. We love you all! Thanks for sharing in our excitement! And feel free to spread the word!

Back in Action!

Hello blogging friends! Yes, it's official! We have the internet at home again, and I am back to the blog! Oh, I can't say how much I've missed it! I've become a horrible picture taker without having anything to do with them. So look forward to lots of fun updates to come....the most exciting being that Paige is due in just four weeks now! Oh I'm so excited that we'll be able to post pictures for all of our far away friends and family!

So just a quick update. What have we been up to? Brandon has become a busy bee. He's recently started back to school through the BYU online general studies program and is really excited about the classes he's taking. He also was recently called as the ward clerk. Pray for me....I have to make it through the sacrament by myself with two, (soon to be three) kids, while he sits on the stand taking meeting minutes before he can come sit with us. He has also become a superman around the house. He's always up to some new fix it project, (believe me, we have plenty of those!) and with the weather warming up he's been doing a lot around the yard. It's fun though, to have a home that we can really spend time making our own!

I've just been waiting for baby #3! Did I mention it's only about 4 weeks away. Someone asked me the other day if I was ready to be done, and my response was, no way!! It has absolutely flown by this time, and I'm not ready yet! I mean, yeah, I'm huge, and uncomfortable, and I'd like to hold my little angel, but things are crazy around here, and I haven't even begun to get her room ready yet. We have yet to get a crib mattress even! I guess that's the project for the coming weekends around the house.

Parker is also anxiously awaiting Paige's arrival. He pretty well gets what's going on. He's cute, he likes to talk to my belly and see her kick. He says he's going to help me change her and put her jammies on when she gets here, but he does NOT want her in his tubby. We'll see how he is once she's here. I think he's going to be hugely jealous. Thank goodness for good weather though! The boys can't get enough of being outside, and I love being able to send them out to the backyard and watch them out the window. Those two could dig in the dirt for hours!

Drew is still our silent little sweetheart. We've finally got him saying momma and dada more, and occasionally we can get ni night, and a few others, but other than that it's just smiles out of him. It's funny how different the two boys are already. They definitely have their own personalities.
Anyway....that's us in a whirlwind. More to come! This blog needs some updating badly, especially the pictures!

BIG NEWS!!!

Sorry for the lack of posts, I can only get to a computer every so often, but we have big news. We bought a house! Yay! Unfortunately, I can't post pictures yet, but hopefully we'll be getting the internet soon and you can all see. It's so nice to have our own home sweet home. It's three bedrooms, two bathrooms and has a huge fenced yard that the boys can play in. The boys absolutely love it. Parker calls it the "big boy house", and Brandon and I are having fun doing projects to make it our own.
So if you're wondering, the boys still share a room, (I think they'd prefer it that way, they're so used to it) and the other bedroom is soon going to be filled by Baby Morgan #3!!! That's right! There's another one on the way! We feel so blessed and excited to be at a point in our lives where we can be settled and focused on what's important. FAMILY! And we're so thrilled to be adding to ours. I'm due April 20, and we'll know what the baby is around Thanksgiving. I've been feeling pretty good so far, (at least no throwing up) and feel lucky to be doing well enough to keep up with the boys. So in case you're wondering... the baby will be born in April, and yeah, that's right, Parker doesn't turn 3 until July. I think I'm in for it!! But it's the best kind of busy to be!! Hope this news finds you all well and happy! More updates to come soon, hopefully!

Alive and Kickin' in Vernal!

Okay, so I really don't post that much anymore....it's sad, I know, but we're still around! I've finally got a minute to post, so I thought I'd give an update. We're pretty much all settled in now, and we love Vernal. Our ward is awesome, and we've been finding more and more things to do all the time. Especially now that the weather's warmed up! :) The boys and I love going to storytimes at the library, and playgroup at the park. We've also been joining the ladies in the ward for a walking group at the church parking lot every day. It's so fun, all the kids bring bikes and toys and play while we walk laps around them, pushing the little ones in stollers. We're really anxious for the new rec. center to open up near us that has an awesome swimming pool, (and hopefully some aerobics classes for mamma!) Also, when the weather gets warmer, we're looking forward to playgroup at the splash park.

As I said, our ward is great, and for the first time since we've been married, I don't have to play the organ, which is a huge bonus. I think Brandon would go nuts with the boys alone during sacrament meeting. All four of us end up in the foyer for at least part of the time as it is. Parker has gotten over his phobia of being left in nursery, and has a great time in there.....now only 9 more months before Drew can go too!! (and yes I am counting down to that) I get to teach relief society once a month, which has been good for me. I learn more myself than I can get across to everyone else I'm sure, and it helps me get to know everyone and their names a little easier. Brandon just got put in as YM president, and his first week in got to go on a 15 mile hike this last weekend. I think he's still recovering.... He's really excited about this new calling.

Other than that, it's same old, same old for us. We're trying to put down some roots for once, and toying with the idea of buying a place, but the real estate market out here is crazy. Can you believe they want $200,000 for a 3 bedroom double-wide?! So we'll have to start small for sure if we do it. We're thinking 3 bedroom condo. We'll keep you posted. Hope you're all well and happy! I'll try and post some pictures of the boys soon!