Fall 2012

Back into the routine of school. Maggie is in 2nd grade and her teacher is Mrs. Goodin. Maggie has buddied up with another teachers daughter, Alaina Alexandrou. They are inseperable. Maggie is back to piano on Wednesdays and both the girls take gymnastics on Thursdays. Morriah is in the 4 year old preschool and her teachers are Ms. Sara, Ms. Winnie, Ms. Shannon, and Ms. Stacy. Morriah has bonded with most of her classmates...Soniah, Emily G, Emily S, Ethan (which I think she has a crush on). The girls had a big birthday party in August where we celebrated both of their birthdays. There were about 20 kids and their families. We had it at the house and Mackenzie's family let us use one of their gigantic waterslide bouncies. The kids had a blast. We bought the girls a trampoline for their birthday which has been used greatly this fall.

Poor dad is so busy working. He has been working 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. He is such a strong provider. He has another month of this schedule but then we will be planning a little weekend getaway for all of us. Some memorable moments: Took Lucy the dog to a dog costume contest. She was a punk rocker. We must've had 20 people stop to take pictures. We loved it so much, we are going to put her in another one next week. We are slightly retarded.

While Lucy was in the car with us, she jumped on to Maggie's lap. Maggie yelled out "Owwwww, you just crushed my nuts." This is when we had a little talk about the privates of boys and girls.

Dad's Aunt Diane is in the hospital. She has stage 4 cancer. She fell and cracked her skull from front to back and is unconcious. Maggie wrote her this letter. We are still praying. The girls are doing great in school and I try to keep them busy. We go to every festival locally and love to go shopping at secondhand stores. We spent last Sunday at Uncle Steves and Aunt Tanya's carving pumpkins and decorating cookies. I love the fall until all the leaves are gone....then it is so gloomy.

Morriah just got her haircut for the first time. She is my minnie me.

My two beautiful girls.....I pray you will stay strong, always being kind and showing God's love through your actions. I pray you will always be close and be friends, just like this picture when you were 4 and 7 years old. I love you my babes.

Beginning Summer 2012

We are finally out of school for the summer. Longest school year ever.....teachers had to stay until June 21st. Well Maggie is officially a 2nd grader and Morriah will be going in the 4 year old preschool. We are looking forward to a few vacations this year. Next week we will be going with the Bells and Hands to Traverse City. In the fall we are looking at a new place called Hocking Hills with caves and waterfalls. Maggie is in a summer camp from 9-3pm Monday-Friday with Mackenzie. They have games, crafts, and weekly field trips to places like Mills Gymnastics, Stevie B's and the Romulus Rec center for swimming. It's nice because I get to spend a little one on one time with Morriah. Maggie just finished her first piano recital. We are so proud of her. She can read music! She is off for the summer but both the girls are in track for 3 weeks. Maggie is improving every week in Long Jump, the Obstacle Course, Softball Throw, 50 yard and 100 yard dash. Morriah on the other hand.......gives us a good few chuckles every time. We have a new addition to our family. Her name is Lucy and she is an English Bulldog. She is such a character. Always having her tongue hanging out and the huge under bite is so comical. She is a great family dog, house-broken and sleeps probably 20 hours a day. Poor daddy is working 10 hours a day and he built our garage while doing this! Such a hard worker. Looking forward to spending time with him next week on vacation. Favorite quote lately: Morriah was wearing a bikini and she kept pulling the top down past her ribs. I asked her "what are you doing?" She says "I don't want anyone to see my boobies." I explained that her boobies were covered. She then points to her ribs and said "no these boobies." She thought her ribs were boobs.

Love, Love, Love my family!

A New Year 2012

Well we made it through another year of the busy holidays. It is so overwhelming sometimes and it really hasn't been the same without my mom and dad being married and my grandpa passing away. There is a small feeling of emptiness but we managed and tried to make the best out of the holidays. So the girls were allowed to ask for 4 gifts this year. Maggie's big gift was an ipod (I know, I know....a 6 year old getting an ipod....but I was tired of having to share mine and it really does keep her busy). Morriah got a Dora kitchen set. They were so fun watching them scream the morning of Christmas because Santa ate the cookies and the reindeer ate their carrots. Santa even left a note to Maggie explaining that this year she had been naughty and nice and he expects her to be only nice next year. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to phase her.

We celebrated the new year at home watching movies and then Dick Clark's ball drop (that's what she said). We are enjoying having a full week off after the New Years before we have to go back to school.

So Maggie's big issues right now is how comfortable her pants fit. She has banded jeans and any type of elastic pants cannot be tight. If she does not like them, she wines....and wines....and wines....until I finally give in and tell her to find something else to wear. After this continues on for 3 or 4 pairs of pants, it usually ends with a full blown breakdown. So I went out to the stores and bought her some new pants. They were not good enough. So I took her shopping and she tried on pants in the fitting room. She found 4 pair that she really liked. When I put them on her the next day....they all of a sudden didn't feel right anymore. So she wined....and wined.... and Gosh Darn It.....We made her wear them ALLLLL day. She threw a fit but after an hour, she forgot all about them. Sweet Jesus....please let this be a little phase that will go away. I cannot even imagine what we will have to go through when she realizes fashion is more important than comfort :)

Morriah's phase right now....is announcing to everyone that she has to go the bathroom. She will not go the bathroom until she comes up to us and says "Mom....Dad....I have to go poop." And it's the same thing we say every time "GO POOP THEN!" I am hoping this is also a phase....can picture her telling her professor one day "I have to go poop."

I can't even count how many times a day these girls make me break out in a full blown laugh, a full blown cry, or a full blown meltdown. I love you girls.