Christmas Eve 2009

First Christmas Present this year.

I decided to do things a little differently this year. Instead of opening all of our family gifts in the evening we spread it out and opened half the presents in the afternoon and half of them after church and dinner. This seemed to work well for our little girl, who started out opening her gifts very delicately and methodically. Morgan was adorable and hysterical throughout the process! This first gift she insisted on removing each shred of paper a piece at a time and taking each to the trash can before removing another piece. We quickly decided to bring a trash bag into the living room so she would not keep leaving and going to the kitchen to throw each piece away. This first present was from Grandma and Grandpa Simpson, a Fisher Price Little People Castle complete with horse, and as you can see from her reaction, a HUGE hit! I was glad I decided to break all the gifts up into segments to open. It gave Morgan a chance to enjoy her gifts a little more since she wasn't too overwhelmed all at once.
Hopefully, we can do the same thing next year... WITH Daddy present!

More pictures to come of Christmas Eve and day.

For The Love Of Horses

On a very chilly Wednesday afternoon a few weeks ago Morgan, Meme, and I went to watch the daughter of a friend during her riding lesson. Since Morgan loves horses and all we thought it would be something really fun for her to watch.

Not only did Morgan love watching Tabitha ride Sugar, Morgan got to ride Sugar herself!
She went two and a half times around the ring and enjoyed every minute of it. While sitting up in the saddle Morgan, at one point, leaned over and grabbed the reigns all on her own. The riding instructor was so impressed. She said normally she does not start children with riding lessons until they are four, but thought Morgan would be ready for lessons at three. If Morgan continues with her affinity for horses we may have lessons in the future. She seems to be a natural born equestrian!

Morgan getting on Sugar

(Tabitha is in front in the riding gear,
her Mom is in the black jacket,
and the riding instructor is in the blue sweater,
& Sugar the horse)

Posing for a pic
(Morgan, Mommy, Tabitha & Sugar)

Riding around the ring

BORN TO RIDE!!

Just Some Pics

Halloween Pics

Morgan is obsessed with horses so it was only appropriate for her to be a horse for Halloween. This was her first year actually going trick-or-treating, but she picked up the concept immediately! She has her daddy's sweet-tooth and has been enjoying getting the occasional treat. Mostly she love chocolate of any kind, but had a particular affinity for M&M's which she calls "emenies".

The Little Flower House

How very exciting yesterday was! We started off our day later than usual (thank you for letting Mommy sleep until 0740 this morning Sweet Girl!) and we woke up to gray cloudy skies and...RAIN! YEA! I can not remember the last time it rained and it was so nice to have the cool wet weather. It did not last long...today it is in the high 80's bright and sunny, but I digress.

The most important thing that happened today...
Morgan received a special package in the mail this afternoon, a book and DVD from Daddy. He bought an adorable lift-the-flap book while in port in Japan called, "The Little Flower House", at least that is what he thinks it is called. The book is written in Japanese which he had a friend, from back in his Black Knights days, translate.

Morgan was so excited to get her book in the mail and loves looking through the pages. We have watched Daddy reading the story more times that I can count now. It is amazing to see how excited she gets when the DVD starts, she loves watching and hearing her Daddy.

For those of you that do not know, Michael read ten different books on video for Morgan before he left on deployment. Actually, he did not read ten books, he read two books and SANG the rest. Watching those videos is as much a part of our daily routine as things like getting dressed, brushing teeth, and sitting on the potty.

I think having these videos for Morgan has helped a little dealing with the physical absence of her Daddy. They are certainly no replacement for the REAL thing, but in the mean time they have helped to fill an empty spot in her world. If for any reason, you or your spouse are away from your children for any length of time, I highly recommend video taping that parent reading books. I have seen first hand how very special they are to Morgan now and I know she will cherish them when she is older.

With out further ado...

The Little Flower House

A special package for Morgan from Daddy

Wow! This is tough to open.

Still working...

Success!

DVD and translations included...yea!

Checking out the pages

Here we go

Listening intently

Looking for Bitty Bee

Blowing kissy's to Daddy at the end of the video.

Mental Note

Never leave coffee unattended in my house!

(good thing it takes me all morning to finish a cup...it was cold by the time this happened)

Oops! How did that happen? Must have been elves...or a toddler...

Definitely a toddler! Honest, it was an accident!

Mommy, are you sure it's not for painting?

OK, I will clean it up. Sorry, Mommy!

Where Has the Time Gone?

Dearest Morgan Jo,

I can not believe the changes in you over the past few months. It is hard to believe you are twenty months old now and soon to be two years! You are growing into quite the little girl, so sweet and so much fun. You have such a zest for life and your smile is intoxicating and contagious. You have had your moments in the past few weeks. I can see that you are testing me, wondering how I will react to your less than perfect moments. Please know, I am new to all this Mommy stuff and I am learning the best I can.

I am having so much fun watching you learn and explore the world around you. You are so curious and I can not believe how quickly you learn new things. I am not sure where this love affair, with all things horse related came from, but it has been a lot of fun for me to see you get so excited when you see one. We will see where this love heads over the next few months and years. Maybe you will move onto something new, but for now I am loving every moment I watch as your excitement grows.

These next few months (well, really years) are going to be difficult with Daddy gone sometimes. I know you do not understand right now, but I will do my best to try and make things as normal as I can here at home. When you are a little older I know you will understand why Daddy has to be away from us for little while. One thing you must never forget, is no matter where in the world Daddy is, he is thinking about you all the time, loves you more than the whole wide world, and misses you more than he could ever explain.

Happy 20 Month Birthday Sweet Girl!

We Love You So Very Much!

Mommy

A Girl and Her Horses

Miss you Daddy!!

Mmmuah!

A little horse reading...

A little horse playing...

A little horse snuggling...

A little horse riding...

and more riding...

and riding...

and riding!

Equestrian Firefighter?

It's possible, right?!

Could she be any cuter?
I am rather enjoying Morgan's recent love (read: obsession) for all things horse related.
I hope it is not just a phase and she goes on to have a passion for riding!

Kisses For Daddy

Love and Miss You Daddy!!
Stay safe and come home soon!

Mmmuah!

Mother's Day Weekend

On Mother's Day weekend we did a bit of touristy traveling here in California. On Saturday, we went to visit Hearst Castle. If you've never been, it is a must see! We had a great time and the castle is beautiful! Bring Benadryl if you are allergic to flowers even in the tiniest bit, my face swelled so I could barely see, my eyes and nose were runny, and I couldn't stop sneezing from the beautiful flower gardens, but it was worth every minute! I won't go back without allergy meds though! We even stopped in Paso Robles for a little walking around and a yummy dinner. We can't wait to go back to check out some of the wineries!

Then on Sunday, we went to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. First we drove down, what seemed like, the never ending road and ended up at Crystal Cave. We had a wonderful time exploring the cave, but the walk back up the hill was a little tough. After the cave we drove to the LodgePole Restaurant on top of one of the great big hills and had a wonderful time exploring the path and eating a yummy dinner. It was a long and tiring day, but so much fun! We even got to see a baby black bear!