A few things I learned and ANOTHER party

On Monday, June 29th I took the morning to take a brief breath before heading out to set up yet another party. Patrick's secretary, Lora, is expecting her firstborn son Gregory at the beginning of August. Because she works with two men, I sort of took over the reins of party planning since, well, since normally men don't throw baby showers! :) And I absolutely love doing anything baby related.

After a lunchtime celebration and a super cute cake, we headed back home where I learned a few new things.

#1) It doesn't matter how old you are, your mother can (and will) still tell you to clean your room! And it doesn't matter how old you are, you will find yourself whining "But MOOOMMMM, I don't WANT to clean my room." Yes, I did. I resorted to the toddler-like behavior that I can't stand from my three year old.

And I STILL had to clean my room! Thankfully, Mom helped :)

And it was while cleaning my room I learned #2--apparently Crayola at one time made a crayon color called Macaroni and Cheese. Here's photographic proof!


I also found a limited edition box of "Multi-cultural colors", presents I had bought for folks for Christmas 2007, three nursing bras, and an assortment of Welcome Baby cards. I am embarassed to say it took a LONG time to clean the room, and I had to promise my mom that I would never let it get that bad again. Horrible flashbacks from my teen years ensued.

While I was grumping around about having to clean my room, Morgan was doing this:

At least ONE of us was having fun!

Big Birthday Bash

Sunday, June 28th, started out EARLY for our family. By 7:30 Morgan was up and outside. Thankfully my mom was right behind her and was the first to hear Morgan's reaction to the swing set. It went a little something like this: (imagine complete and utter wonder in this voice) "Ooohhh, a TREEHOUSE!"








Well, her treehouse is really a swing set, but that's merely a technicality. Mom sent her back inside to get her Papa, and the swinging immediately commenced. While I ran around doing last minute party things, Morgan stayed outside getting acquainted with the swings.






The party started a little early, which was just fine with everyone. We managed to get through the afternoon with only one shower, lasting about 5 minutes or so. The day was overcast and rather gloomy, but we were partying hard and frankly I am glad it was overcast and breezy. Last year we all just about sweat to death!





Can you tell that Morgan likes, no LOVES, to swing?



Alison, Morgan, Lydia, James, Brady, Julia (absent from the picture are Gianna, Shay, Ethan, and Amy T.)

Morgan had 9 friends who came with parents in tow to celebrate her big day. Overall we had about 45 people. It was super fun, exhausting, and simply the best way to celebrate another big milestone.

I thought the folks at Sams Club did a superb job on her cake this year! We had lots of food, but I didn't have to cook a thing. Thanks to my Aunt Dawn, all of the food left over from Joe's graduation was sent south and we fed the army on the $1.25 I spent on potato chips, some dishes supplied by Aunt Linda and James' mom Lori, and the free food.

Morgan is so blessed to have so many people in her life that care so much for her. Everyone at the party has a special place in Morgan's life (and heart) and she still hasn't stopped talking about her party!

Old Fogeys and Firetrucks

I truly experienced my first feeling of "gosh I am old" at the graduation party of my cousin Joseph, the oldest of my younger cousins. There is a 12 year age difference between me (the oldest and only girl) and Joseph, and a fairly substantial age difference between the first batch of cousins and the second.

Joe graduated from Plum High School in Pittsburgh. He is going to attend Community College to obtain his EMT certification. Like my uncle Rick (Joe's dad) Joe wants to be a firefighter. Naturally then, the party was held at the Holiday Park VFD where my uncle is a captain.

We always have a wonderful time getting together, and as the boys grow older, they at least have started talking to me :) Morgan continued to charm everyone, there was cake, so she and I were both happy, and we had lots of fun chatting with my mom's siblings and their families.

Me and The Boys (Jeff-29, Joe-18, me, Stephen-16, Zachary-15)

*absent are my two cousins Andrew and Matthew, the second half of the older crew**

The highlight of the party (at least for me and Morgan) was the chance to get a ride in the brand new, 1.3 million dollar ladder truck that the VFD had just received a few months before. It's always been great having family involved with the fire department. I remember sleeping in the firemen's bunks during my uncle Rick and aunt Dawn's wedding, getting to wear the fire gear as a kid, and just being amazed at how fast Uncle Rick could tear out of the driveway when the fire whistle blew.

A bunch of us loaded up and like kindergarteners were ooohhhing and aaahhhing all over the place. We were pressing buttons, opening boxes, playing with equipment, and just simply had a good time.

Captain PaPa

Lovebirds (SIL Cecelia and brother Jeff)

Uncle Rick took us up to a school parking lot where he put down the braces and raised the ladder on the truck about 105 feet out at a 50 degree angle. We played with the sirens, Dad ran right up the extended ladder, and believe it or not (see the video proof below) I climbed up the ladder when it was about 45 feet extended. For someone deathly afraid of heights, I was amazed at myself! Up wasn't so bad. Once I realized how high I was, down was terrifying! But I was the only other one to do it other than my fighter pilot dad, so I was proud of myself.

Oh yes folks, this was my view from the bottom!

Yikes!

Morgan had a great time. She rang the bells and watched the lights. In all honesty, she was the best one about wearing her seatbelt and not touching things. The adults, on the other hand, were not the best of role models :) But hey, we had a great time!

We returned home utterly exhausted. Thankfully the swing set was up, and Morgan was asleep so it was going to be a big surprise Sunday morning.

Under Construction

On Saturday, June 27th, I awoke to see this in my back yard...

Morgan and my dad had hit the yard early, apparently trying to get in a few laps in the pool before construction began on Morgan's birthday present from my parents....a swing set. Of course, Morgan had no idea what they were building and that surprise would not be unveiled until the next morning. The goal was to have the structure up and ready for Morgan's birthday party on Sunday.

The "Foreman" and the Engineer

Little Helper

Are these directions in English or Swahili?



While I left to eat croissants and fruit at a baby shower, the fearless construction crew pressed on, not hampered by the fact that the only power drill's batteries were bad and everything had to be hand turned/ratcheted in. About 4 hours in, I returned to see this:

Yes folks, construction was moving slower than expected. We had to move to plan B and while most of us jumped in the car to head to Pittsburgh to attend my cousin's graduation party, Patrick stayed behind with our friends Josh and Anna to continue construction of the playset. They were aided by my aunt Linda and uncle Ricky (Dad's siblings) who showed up with some power tools! They did finish up the playset about 10 hours after beginning. It was truly a labor of love.

All the waiting was worth it...

Friday, June 26th was both a happy day and a very sad day. I've already blogged about the loss of our dear Ellen, and my heart can't take another post about sadness, so I'll focus this post on the OTHER event of last Friday.

Every night we chat live with my parents in Florida using our webcams and Skype. If you've never used Skype before, I suggest you check it out. It's a free service you can use to make phone calls or connect webcams anywhere in the world. We've talked to my father while he was visiting friends in Belgium. The call was crystal clear, the video was perfect, and our 30 minute call was F-R-E-E! But I digress...

Because Mutti and Dad live so far away, we normally get 2 or 3 weeks a year when we get to physically be in the same place. The webcam is great for them to see Morgan grow up and for us to be a part of their daily lives. But Friday they drove the almost 1,000 miles from Florida to spend the week with us. It's very convenient that Morgan's birthday is so close to July 4th :)

All week we had told Morgan that Mutti and Papa would be at her house. I don't think she really understood that, however, until my parents' dog Pfeffer came running into the house. Morgan did a double take...looking at Bailey (our dachshund) and then to Pfeffer (Mutti and Dad's dachshund) before she realized that Mutti and Papa were finally here! Just to clear up some confusion....Mutti is the German short version of "mother". That is what I call my mom. When Morgan was born my mom insisted that she did not want to be Grandma or Oma but that she wanted to still be Mutti. So that's what we stuck with. Hope that helps!

I was looking for pictures from that evening, but I guess in my extremely over-tired state I didn't think about taking pictures the night they got there. Don't worry, there are PLENTY of pictures to show in later posts. By the time I get you all caught up, you will be wishing you never wanted to see a picture!

Next up....party #1 and a cool ride.

Two New Firsts

As I mentioned in this post, Morgan started public day care on Thursday, June 25th. We all know how that ended up, but I wanted to share pictures of those "firsts" and I hope that this is the last time we hear stitches and Morgan in the same sentence! I must also mention that in my panic I must have mis-heard the ER doctor about how deep Morgan's cut was. After talking with those that know, Morgan's cut must have been 3 MILLImeters deep, not centimeters. Sorry for the confusion!

This picture is 4 days post stitches. It acutally looked worse the next day, when the bruise was really visible! Thankfully, she's been good not to pick at the scabs or the Dermabond, and it is looking really good. I anticipate a small scar.

Lots of catching up to do!

Wow, it's been a long time since I last updated (not including yesterday, which was pre-planned to post). There has been a LOT of things going on, lots of fun, lots of pictures, lots of things to report.

The past ten days have been busy, busy, busy! We started with two firsts, a much anticipated arrival and a very say goodbye, moved to two parties, a surprise ride, a princess birthday, and finished up with a trip east, blueberries, friends from afar, and fireworks over the Washington Monument.

My plan this week is to try and get you, my faithful readers, updated on events as they occurred over the last week and a half. Bear with me, as I also am returning to work (yuck) and undoubtedly will be swamped there.

So....without further ado, let's get started :)

Remembering Why...

I thank God for my life.

And for the Stars and Stripes.

May freedom forever fly,

Let it ring!

Salute the ones who died.

The ones that gave their lives,

So we don't have to sacrifice

All the things we love...

~Zac Brown Band

Thank you Dad. Thank you Chris. Thank you Josh K, Matt S, Bobby K, Joe K, Matt B, all Veterans and our servicemen and women around the world. I cannot think of a better place to be spending this Independence Day than in Washington DC. Pictures to come later! May God continue to Bless America.