There's a new sheriff in town...

Jackson and Natalie (and even sometimes Staci) are so good at taking turns playing what the other one wants to play. This afternoon I went down into the play room and found all three of the kids playing "polly pockets" on the floor. Jackson had the boy one, so I guess it was OK. Most of the time, Natalie is eager to play whatever Jackson wants. He has even convinced her to have a boy themed birthday party and to invite all of his friends. She was getting really excited about it, too... What a sly one, he is! Don't worry, I have told her that she can choose the kind of party she wants, and it doesn't have to include Star Wars characters!

I just created a new blog for the sole purpose of laughter. If you would like to contribute to it, leave me a message with your email address and I'll invite you to be an author on it. I am just looking for quirky and light-hearted stuff. Check it out at www.sharingthelaughter.blogspot.com.

Curse you, Keebler Elf!

I have a few things that I can't resist in life. A 90% off sale just might top the list, followed (only slightly, mind you) by a kiss from one of my kiddos (or Geoff, for that matter!). Oh yeah, and did I mention Keebler Grasshopper cookies? I am never tempted by ice cream or candy bars. I very rarely buy chips or soda pop. But I can't resist these dumb cookies! I usually don't walk down the cookie aisle at the grocery store because they are too tempting, but this week they had these cookies all over the place with the enticing little tag that read, "buy 10 select items and get $5 off your grocery bill". Well, who doesn't want to get $5 off your grocery bill? I had 8 things in my cart that qualified for the discount, and if I could just add two more items then they would practically pay for themselves - so I took one for the team and bought the dumb things. OK, I bought two of them. Problem is... it's been months and months since I had them, or at least weeks and weeks, and now I have to go to rehab all over again. I have even tried the little 100 calorie snack packs of these cookies, but I ate the whole box at once, so what good is that? Seriously, they put an addictive chemical in these cookies that makes you crave them nightly. Am I right? Geesh!!

Cousinly Love

In November my sister-in-law, Chami and her three girls were here visiting from San Jose. My mother-in-law was able to get some tickets to Disney on Ice in Salt Lake (Thanks Maxine!) and decided to take Natalie, Kendra and ME with her! We had a great time together. Natalie and Kendra are really great friends.

You can see how close we were to the ice. It made it a lot more enjoyable that way!

Little Posing Princesses!

Here are a few Christmas pictures (finally) for you.

Jackson got a cool wooden castle with several knights and horses.

It's a Christmas Miracle... Staci actually fell asleep somewhere other than her bed. Since she has outgrown the newborn stage, she has fallen asleep in the CAR a total of 3 times, and this is the first for someones arms. She just crawled up on her uncle Steve's lap and said, "I want to snuggle Steven" and then she fell asleep. Sorry to all the other uncles, but Steve is her favorite!I have to tell the little story of the Baby Alive (on the left). (I just found this picture on my camera, along with a hundred more that Natalie took, so I thought I would use it! Thanks Natalie!) Santa told me that he bought it on clearance back in May sometime and it worked perfectly. But he wrapped it right then, and once Natalie opened it, the batteries were low. So, I went to get new batteries the day after Christmas and when I put them in, the thing was crazy! The doll would just open and close it's mouth and make this weird humming noise. It was possessed, I swear. So, I called Santa and told him how bad I felt about the doll being defective, so he brought the new $40 Baby alive the night AFTER Christmas to Natalie. Well, Natalie didn't know that this was going to happen, and was asleep when I had tried batteries in the old one, and was so thrilled to see another dolly the next day. I went to show the kids what the doll was doing when I put batteries in it, and the STUPID THING WORKED! OH MY! But how can you return a gift from Santa? Yeah, so now we have 2 dolls that pee and poop and cry and need diaper changes. Boy, my lesson learned is never just get something on Clearance way before Christmas, because, first, you won't be able to return it if it doesn't work, and second, it probably won't save you money in the long run!! Not to mention, that by Christmas you may have forgotten you bought it in the first place, or at least where you hid it.
Love the shoes, Staci!

She can sing "Gloria" but she doesn't know when to stop...

Just to warn you - STACI GIVES A REAL SCREAM IN THE FIRST FEW SECONDS OF THE CLIP SO DON'T TURN THE VOLUME TOO HIGH! This is a little sample of Staci singing "Angels We Have Heard On High" mixed with a lot of two year old drama and a little bit of why we here at the Morgan household all know that she's the boss!!

A little catching up on the last month...

Last month we were so blessed to have my mom and dad up here for a couple of days (wish it could have been longer). We had fun seeing a cool children's museum in Salt Lake and playing all day. We love and miss them so much!

There wasn't a moment when one of my kids wasn't moving in the above picture, so it turned out a little bit blurry. Right after this, my Dad said, "There's nothing like an hour with your grandkids to make you feel young again... anything after an hour, you start to feel old REALLY quick!" Hey, not all kids have grandparents who will get down on the floor and play with them. My kids have GREAT GRANDPARENTS who will still do that!!
We also had fun making "gingerbread" houses out of graham crackers. My mom wanted to use real gingerbread, or course, but I talked her into making them the easier way since all the kids wanted to do their own.

Natalie and in her words, "MY GRANDMA!"

Pretty good, huh?

Sneaking a piece of really old candy left over from last year's gingerbread houses.

The pictures at the museum didn't turn out very well, but this one was cute. They had a real helicopter outside for the kids to play in. It made noises like it was going up, and Natalie got quite scared. Of course she did!

These tubes had a fan that blew the balls up and around for the kids to see. Staci could have played with this ALL day!

Happy Birthday to my sweet husband!

I knew the moment I met Geoff that he was the perfect man for me! (Obviously, with how quickly we were married, that is not a shocker to anyone!!) He has been such a wonderful and loving husband over the last nine years and I am eternally blessed to have him in my life! Some of the greatest things about Geoff are his ability to get along with everyone. He never judges people when he meets them, and it doesn't matter to him whether you are a little kid or in your 90's- he is going to treat you like a real person. He jokes around and kids people a lot, but that is one of the things I love most about him. He is also such a hard worker, and has done so much to get to this point in his life. I am so proud of his determination to go back to school and accomplish his goal. It has been a long road for him. Most nights he is up until well after midnight studying, and then up again before the sun to head off to school. And it is very rare to hear him complain about how tired he is, and he never complains about how hard it has been. I admire that quality so much! Thanks for all you do, Geoff!

I love you forever!!