Hunting with Cousins

After the big hunt at church we headed home for a quick round of baby napping and then we loaded all of our egg loot and went to Bobby's parent's house for our annual hunt with the cousins.

As seems pretty standard, Elaina took up much of the camera time. She's so cute it's just really hard not to follow her around like a paparazzo!
She's doing a little nose scrunch thing lately. This is a subdued version of it. Rest assured that it's pretty much adorable.
This is also adorable.
Elaina would not keep her little blue bow in....but Bob had no problem sticking it in his own hair. If she weren't so busy trying to scoot around the yard she'd have pulled it out of his head as well.
I love having two perfectly beautiful mocha girls in this family!

The best thing about the hunt at the Morgan's is the money eggs. Counting all the change I think all my boys ended up with moola in the double digits. Crazy! If I had known the prize was that big I'd have been whackin' some kids in the shins and elbowing my way through that yard to collect some for myself. The pay scale for stay-at-home moms is struggling, you know.
G made out pretty well finding one of the big bills in an egg. Five bucks!
Rhett didn't do bad himself but Bobby had some teaching to do. He'd trade 10 quarters for one paper dollar in a heartbeat.
We had a great time hanging with our cousins and with our great planning, we didn't even have to come home with more candy! Egg recycling is genius!

My Lovelies

I always love seeing the boys all spiffed up at Easter. This year I decided to get my money's worth out of Rhett's suit from the wedding and let him re-wear it for Easter Sunday. I lucked out and found Grant a suit with a vest but it didn't happen for Cade. I wasn't about to drop the required coin for something he was going to wear once on Sunday. Here's my crew looking dapper (and beautiful!) for church:

I had purchased Lanie's dress this time last year. I was so pleased that the fit was good and it turned out just yummy with my friend, Leigh, monogramming it for me. I may go bonzo with this monogramming thing. It's just so cute!
I took individuals of everyone: Here's my future financial advisor/accountant:
Here's my future boy-band member:
And my future lawyer/comedian. Can you be both?
Bobby got a shot with Elaina but somehow ended up not getting one with the boys. Boo on that.
And lastly, me and my girl.
I praise the Lord that we have something to celebrate this time of year. Christ's birth at Christmas is always worth celebrating, but without His death and resurrection we'd have no hope! Thank you, Lord for your free gift of salvation!

Easter Eggstravaganza 2011

Our church had it's (mostly) annual Easter egg hunt and Lanie was thrilled to be able to take part for the first time. Really she didn't have a clue what was going on but I found it very cute to sit her with her basket and make her dad walk around and put eggs in it.

She was quite the patient waiter.

It was totally hilarious to her to be in that grass.....or it may have been the wind. As I've stated before, gal can't keep her mouth closed when the wind blows.
She scooted on the ground but was too preoccupied to even pick up an egg.
This is what she had her eye on:
Then, just as she had expected, that crazy preacher bunny hopped over to her neck of the woods and there hasn't been a time in her life yet that she wanted to run more than this very moment.
She was mad at that bunny for being so terrifying and she sat in waiting, watching to see if he'd return.
Then I moved her over to get a picture with her friend Macie and the mood lightened somewhat.....until she poked Macie's face repeatedly and made her cry.
This next picture cracks me up. Caption: "Ugghhh......can you even believe the nerve of that bunny guy, Garrison? Just look at him scaring all the kids."
"Whaa? Look buddy, I wasn't fond of you 10 minutes ago and I'm still not fond of you now. I like you better in your preacher suit."
Lanie and her daddy:
Grandma was there, too, and helped keep her occupied while we waited for the boys to hunt eggs. She did lots of walking and lots of tossing in the air.
The boys met up with their best buds and I was able to snap a quickie. How did these peeps get so big? I miss their fat little baby faces.....sigh.
If there were ever a time to be scared at church this would definitely be one of those times. Do not even think about stepping out into this field while these children are released for hunting. Danger. Danger!!
Rhett made out with a bucket full of loot. That's one thing he needs is a bucket full of sugar.......as if God hadn't already made him with a permanent sugar high.
He saw his buddy, Micah, and that always makes him happy!
All three boys had a great time hunting their eggs. This is Cade's official last year at the church hunt being that he's a big, bad third grader. Apparently you age out once you move up to fourth.
Another great year of egg hunting! Now I'm stuck with the task of monitoring the candy intake which isn't easy when you still have a kid that isn't above hiding and eating his fill. I'll let you figure out which out of control one that is......and just a hint, his hair is neither brown nor straight.

Happy Hunting!

In the Swing

We are now right in the middle of baseball bedlam......and I'm actually enjoying it (most of the time!). I have 3 very different players this year.

First, Mr. I-realize-I-have-potential-so-let's-practice:

It's amazing what listening to your father can do for your hitting (an inside the park homerun, 2 doubles, and a triple so far this season!)

Then there's Mr. I-want-to-play-infield-but-practice-is-overrated:
Grant has made some progress this year but his heart's not there yet....and that's okay. He's got nothin' but time. I'm super thankful that these two are on the same team this year. It makes the logistics of baseball more manageable. And it's cute.
Wow. Then I have Mr. I'm-pretty-much-a-professional-already-and-I-look-good-diving-and-sliding:
Watching this kid gives me lots of laughs. He's quite serious and tries very hard. He loves every day that's a day with one of his "big games" and is fighting mad when it rains on game day. A little growth and lots, LOTS, of practice and he might make good of the self-confidence he carries onto the field!

Bye, bye free time. Hello baseball diamond!

Wrapped

Someone has had her brothers wrapped around her finger since the day they first laid eyes on her. I was doing some garage clean up and set her in the wagon to keep her off the dirty floor.

Then out came Grant and with one bat of the eyelashes and a little grunt, off she went, down the hillside in a wagon ride.
He pulled that baby all over the back yard and she loved every minute of it.
He finally tuckered out and left her sitting for a minute. "Hey.....hey, Bubba? Are you really just going to leave me here? Look at my longing face...."
When out walks Cade. Next thing you know, she's down the hill again. Another wagon ride with fresh legs.
Yep. They're wrapped. They'll do anything to get one of these:
And who am I kidding? So will Bobby.....and me.....and pretty much every extended member of this family. There's nothing like a baby smile to brighten your day!

Mule Day

It's been a couple years since the Morgan Crew has been in attendance as a familiy at the Mule Day Festivities. Baseball hasn't cooperated in the past and we've been forced to forgo our yearly dose of redneck. This year, with the cancelation of the traditional opening ceremonies, we had our morning free so we headed to the parade. Bobby went early, EARLY with the boys and they ate pancakes and then helped work the official Mule Day t-shirt booth.

I'm not sure if having the boys there actually qualified as "help". Especially this one. I'm pretty convinced (after seeing some little Mule Day pins fall from under his cap) that someone may have been pilfering more than he was selling. We ended up with the hat that's in his hand and I'm quite certain that neither Bobby nor myself paid a red cent for it. He claims it was all a perk for working the table.....I think he may have just whoodooied his Papa.
Now this is a bona fide helper. Cade is task oriented, money oriented and likes to do math so this selling stuff at a table was right down his alley. He was in charge of mugs and caps.
And this is pretty much what Rhett did.....played Angry Birds on Bobby's phone.
Lanie and I came later at a more reasonable hour. I really see no need in getting up early, early on my Saturday to eat pancakes. I don't even eat pancakes late on Saturdays. I matched her up with everyone else and let her sport her Mule Day tee.
Even in her Mule Day garb she's the cutest thing I've ever seen :)
I brought out my collector's shirt. It's a vintage piece dating all the way back to 2008 and is one of only who-knows-how-many fitted women's tees. This is the second time I've worn it. The last time was Mule Day '08. I don't want to risk getting it stained or worse yet, stolen. Travesty.
Well, now we can say, once again, "Been there. Done that. And got the t-shirt" and really mean it! I'm glad to have been a part of C-town history. It's always full of great real-life teaching moments like, "Don't you ever kiss your girlfriend like that in public or private for that matter", and "If you date a girl that wears shorts like that.....wait, back up. You will NOT date a girl that wears shorts like that" or "Note to self: It's never a good idea to slash your tiny t-shirt and wear it.....although it does make all of your back tattoos more visible. Hmmm." And really, where else are your kids going to get the privilege of seeing a boat with antlers pulling an outhouse with a deer head?

No where, baby. No where. Yee Haw!

Memorable Misuses

Let's talk about Rhett. Hmmmmm....Rhett (insert head shaking). He's got to be the goofiest kid I've ever had. He makes me pull my hair out some days, has me asking myself, "Am I really having an argument with a five year old right now?" on more than one occasion each day, and EVERY day has me laughing.

His hair, as cute as it is, has become the thorn in my side. It's not actually the hair that's the thorn it's the attitude of the head that it's on. Just this past Sunday I told him we needed to get it brushed for church and he went on a mini rampage. "Hair! Who cares about HAIR??! YOU might but I don't. Why is it always about my hair. Can't my hair just have a BREAK???" I stood there dumbfounded. Then I laughed and answered, "No. It can't have a break on Sunday. And remember all the days this week you've worn a hat (which would be the other 6 days of the week)? Those were breaks".
I had done an installment on this blog before of some of the crazy words he comes up with. Click here to read the last Little Buddy Excerpt. He still hasn't exactly mastered the English language. I mean, really though, who has?
A few of my favorites over the past month or so have been "Ignoying" as in "MOMMY!! I've asked you a hundred times! Are you ignoying me? Uggghhh." I believe that's a improper mixture of "ignoring" and "annoying". And, yes, I'm ignoring because the question is annoying.
"End Structable"- "Listen, people. I've got two words for you: end structable."(insert pompous head bob). In reference to what I'm not sure but I believe that the correct word would have been "indestructible". He may have been referring to his own head because as you can see in these pictures he's about to fall right on it.
And the last one for today, "deathnately". As in, "I'm deathnately not going to land on Elaina when I jump off the couch right over her head! (insert any number of "duh mom" faces) I won't go into the details online but let's just say I deathnately made it clear that he deathnately WOULD NOT do that ever again.
He's such a crazy kid. And, he absolutely flipped completely over the swing on this run, clipped his head and landed flat on his back knocking the wind out of himself. It startled me and I quickly put my camera down to check on the lad. Before I could even get there he was up on his feet and with a slow head nod he said, "Now THAT was totally.awesome!" It was then I had wished I had continued with the pictures. Nothin' says "Mom of the Year" like a play by play pictage of your kid getting the wind knocked out of him. I'm sure it'll happen again if history has anything to say about it.