The Big 3!!

This will be the last post of the year! Hope you've all enjoyed catching up with us and welcome to the newcomers via our Christmas card.

Morgan turned 3 at the end of November. On the invite list was only 1 kid younger than him, therefore, he was the 2nd shortest and didn't stand much of a chance at Ele-fun.

Maeve was king (or queen) of the little people.

Morgan received many nice gifts, predominantly centered around Disney's Cars.

Patrick (2 yrs old) mastered the party blowouts!



Then the two of them dove into Morgan's new Leapfrog computer.

Morgan and Mom before the madness.

Parties are tough with young kids because of the "nap factor". We elected to skip Morgan's nap and have a 2pm party. Everything was fine until after the guests left, we sat down for dinner and Morgan became a demon possessed because he was overtired. Mom rubbed his back and he fell asleep on her lap at the dinner table at 7pm.

Then we transferred him to his new "big boy bed" (a twin mattress).

...And snapped a few more photos, because he was out cold!

Hope everyone had a nice holiday! I don't know what pics are in the queue, but this is us thru November. Enjoy!

Mystic Village

We went to Mystic Village one morning. They have a nice duck pond, but they do not have any duck food (at the moment). They used to though, so this is a bit of a mystery. Can you see the duck head peeking thru the fence, to the right of my hand? On the ground, there are duck food pellets, so I will gather them up (and get my hand nipped in the process). He will have to battle all the other ducks for these pellets.

I rationed the pellets out to Morgan, allowing him several throws. However, this entertainment was short lived...

Moving on from the ducks we encountered a grassy area with a wealth of leaves.

And it was on!

If I'm going to dish it out, I have to be able to take it too!




It was quite the battle and we entertained many shoppers at the village that day.

By the way, they have many nice shops at Mystic Village, but do you know how many the two of us went into? I bet you can guess...NONE!





We close the post with a block tower completely constructed by Morgan. I helped it stay up, but he built it all!

The Zoo

Morgan and Dad are checking out the zebras; Mom might be checking out something else...

As you can see, by this time next year, we will be taller than a giraffe!

Morgan and Mom posing for their annual shot with the camel.

Here are some benchmarks for animal jumps. Go, Morgan, Go!

Morgan outjumped them all, it was pretty amazing. Unfortunately, it happened so fast that Mom didn't have time to switch the camera to the video setting, so this is all we have, you'll just have to come visit to see it with your own eyes!

It was "ride a giant lizard (with minimal supervision) day" at the zoo. The lizard played nicely with Morgan on account of the T-rex on Morgan's shirt.

Halloween/Ink Hands

Argh! Who goes there?

Don't be scared! Would you like a pirate hug?

Craft time! We have blank paper, ink pads; what shall we use for stamps?

HANDS!!

Around The House

People usually see objects for their obvious use, kids...not so much.

Later that evening we went to work, constructing a bank that was given to us by a man at Home Depot (finished pictures not included).

Drive that nail home!

Why are all the couch pillows on the floor?

Bonzai!




In late October, (yes these are still Oct pics) there was a warm spell, which led to a resurgence of ladybugs.




Morgan did not welcome this revival with open arms.

Hasta La Vista

Pumpkin Picking and Painting

Here we are still in October...my parents had come out before they dashed off to FL for the winter. We all went to a farm to pick some pumpkins for the season.

There was a hayride out to the pumpkin patch

Please remain seated while the ride is in motion. (Morgan!)

After having picked our pumpkins, we made our way over to the gourd launch!

Morgan: Two hands on the launcher;

Me: One hand on the launcher, one hand on Morgan.

Snuggle Break!

Checklist: pumpkin, paint; newspaper and smock to contain mess...GO!!

Get Dirty!

Bask in the creativity!

We used Crayola washable paints and after having painted, we put the pumpkins outside. I think it rained 2 days later...all this hard work, as if it never happened.

A Nite at Home with Dad

When Missy works in the evening, here's a look at some of the things that go on...

Come inside the fort! There's room for all!

You can even stand up! That's quality.

The first crack at corn on the cob.

(I'm taking this picture...who's got skills?)




Letting him take the reigns on his own

There are many different card games, this is a variation of 52 pickup, it's called 52 line up (double deck).

These photos are brought to you from early October.

Swamp Yankee Days

Sometimes playing with the blocks doesn't mean building with them, on this September day, it entailed placing every block on the table!

Yeah, let's take another second to admire that.

Alright, let's go to Swamp Yankee Days...oops. Hang on!

There are all sorts of country fairs in the summer. This particular one had a self-fulfilling prophecy of essentially raining itself out. Saturday was a great day, I forget now what we did then, but Sunday was our day to check out these festivities. Fortunately it was warm enough to play in the rain!

We did many laps around the tennis courts splashing in the puddles, since there was minimal legitamate entertainment.

This post was a brief one...we'll be retiring to the fort for the rest of the evening.