Playing, Panda, and Pizza

In an unbelievable flash of time I found myself planning my eldest child's NINTH birthday party. Ninth. Nine. The year after eight and the last before double digits. His birthday parties are pretty easy to throw. I let him invite his buds over and then they rough house and play. Easy for me, fun for them!

The party started at 10am with some shenanigans involving fake guns, lots of running and hiding, and the clubhouse. I stayed clear of whatever was going on so I can't be sure.
Then there was jumphousing (which happens at any and all Morgan functions) and a water balloon fight. We gave the boys numbers and broke them into two teams. I had, prior to the game, spent no less than an hour filling up what felt like 762 water balloons for a fight that lasted 0.7 seconds.
The temps were uncharacteristically cool for the end of May but it didn't hinder the water game. All boys were poised and ready.

Noah may have been the smallest kid there but he was hurling those balloons like nobodies business!
Good times, great fun for these buds!
Cloudy skies can't stop the craziness around here!
They settled shortly for a little lunch and the traditional birthday festivities.
I did, however, go non-traditional with the cake and got these PartyPops by my friend Julie. They were all kinds of good. I may or may not have eaten 5.
Given that Cade didn't have a cake to put the candles in we stuck them in his scoops of ice cream. Big wish!
Cade was a fan of the PartyPops.
As was Rayce.....
And Baylor.
Bobby was savoring the deliciousness....
Next up was Bobby and his "Hey boys! You wanna shoot things with a bb gun??" Did he really need to ask six boys if they want to shoot something? Nobody does hanging with boys at a party like Bobby. He's secretly twelve and loving every minute of it.
We implemented the rock-paper-scissors game to determine the shooting order to keep things fair.
Everyone got several turns.
I even got in on the action myself and apparently no one felt confident when the girl got the gun. Whatever.

They were shooting this water jug filled with blue water. They all got a kick out of seeing who shot it where.
After the shooting ceased, we changed clothes and loaded up and heading to see KungFu Panda 2 where they feasted on popcorn and fruit snacks. The movie was a definite "must see" and everyone enjoyed it. It's always amazing to watch the transformation though- you walk in with six perfectly normal boys and walk out with six kids that think they know how to roundhouse kick and aren't afraid to use it. Our evening rounded out with a little pizza dinner at Pie in the Sky. As we entered the 9th hour of partying one of the kids looked at me and said, "Are we going to get a goody bag at this party?" Umm, son, you'll be leaving this party with a bag full of memories. Surely they'll be good ones!

Just a Learnin'

Rhett has been on a learning streak the past few weeks. I've been coaching him for what feels like the last two years on the foot pump while swinging and it just wasn't clicking. One afternoon Bobby spent two seconds going over it and the next thing you know he's swinging like a maniac and giving all credit to his father. Hmmmph.

Here's a goofy mid-swing foot pump picture:

One check mark in his mind's list (and his mind has LOTS of lists).
It wasn't three days after he learned to swing alone that he decided to tackle the jump from the swing. He didn't start out with small beans either. This child has never muttered the word fear.....he laughs in the face of it as I stand beside and gasp.
So far all of our limbs and bones are intact. Knock on wood. Someone please knock on some wood.
A fun series of leaping shots:



Somehow, after all the leaping, I was left with a surly child. I can't recall what his problem was but, frankly, these days, even the smallest disagreement brings on pouting, negotiating, arguing, pouting......who knows.
On to the next lesson: biking. His school had bike day and it was his goal to be on two wheels before the big day. We practiced and practiced and finally he got it. And, just in time to impress his buds at school ( thank goodness because one more day of hunkering over and holding his seat and my back was going to be a goner!)
Up the street, down the street, up the street, down the street.....and only a couple minor wrecks in between!

Got it!
After learning all these new things Rhett said, "Well, guess I've learned all there is to learn now. Don't know what I'll do with the rest of my life." Direct quote. No joke. It's such a travesty when you peak at such a young age. Guess it's all downhill from here.....

Birthday Girl!!

As hard as it is to believe, one year has already passed since we laid eyes on the most beautiful baby girl we had ever seen. It's been so easy adding pink into this family and we were ecstatic to be celebrating a whole year with her. Here's the birthday girl (who is still not walking, barely pulling up, and can't stand to stand on her own! What's up with that??) She's still super cute though:)

Pictures were great for a time but quickly lost their luster when she didn't want to be in the grass anymore. Hey, it's her birthday she can cry if she wants to.
I got all crafty (crafty for me, anyway) and made some of those cute tissue ball puff things for party decor. I was impressed with myself since I'm certainly not even close to being a Martha Stewart.
Add some balloons to the birthday girl chair and we're set! I tried to get glitter ponies, a small pink ferris wheel, and all the disney princesses to come but quickly realized I'm not on Real Housewives of Orange County so I stuck with the tissue balls and balloons from Kroger. Oh well.
Birthday girl didn't seem to mind. Put her in her swing and she's golden!
Here she is with her grandma.
Danielle made the cutest birthday sign for Elaina. It's going to be a yearly staple for our birthday decoration. I loved it!
Here's a pic of the actual crafty person with my birthday baby:
One thing I did splurge on was her cake. I'm always looking for a reason to get an IveyCake so I jumped at the chance for this special occasion. It was strawberry and it was delicious!
The most interesting thing about this cake is that it weighed more than Elaina. I'm not even joking. It was the most dense, heavy cake I've ever seen! It weighed in at 19lbs and Elaina was only 18lbs! Crazy ! Isn't it pretty though??
Elaina would have been happy just playing with her balloons.
She was clueless about what in the world was going on with all these people singing at her and all.
She had her own cupcake but I didn't dare light it until the last second because she's got the grabbiest little grabby hands.
She needed a little coaxing to take her first bite of sweetness. She'll learn soon enough!

She still wasn't too sure about it!
It didn't, however, take her long to smash it to pieces even though very little of it ever made it to her mouth. Babies are always good at making messes. Too bad she didn't realize she just destroyed a little piece of heaven in that cupcake goodness.
The big kids at the birthday didn't waste a minute digging into dessert. They are well versed in birthday parties!
Lanie had only two friends her age at her party: Carris, her bff.
And Ms. Logan who was born just a few days before her.

I did catch her trying to stand up next to the picnic table. Maybe walking really is going to be in her future! (Right now I'm doubting it!)
Aunt Tracie made the party just in time. She had to come straight from work.
Mommy and Birthday girl:
Daddy giving birthday kisses!
Party attendees (minus Logan and Keaton).
She actually enjoyed opening all of her presents. She got a kick out of pulling things out of the bags and tossing them. I love her little smile in this picture!

Dear Jesus, thank you for this beautiful first year of my life. Thank you for this great party with all the people I love, and thank you for a mommy and a daddy that will love me for ever and ever no matter what.

Happy First Birthday, Elaina!