Trip to Florida (Last month!)

Ok so I am WAYYY behind on blogging, but a lot has been on my mind lately. I did want to post some pictures of our trip to Florida in July.

We started out on the East coast visiting our friends Megan and Justin. I hadn't seen Megan since I was pregnant with Morgan so it had been a LONG time. It was great to see them and see their new house and all that they have planned for it. There was a little bit of Puppy drama, but other than that it was a low key visit and we just enjoyed catching up, watching movies, and playing games.

Morgan has a favorite stuffed Giraffe she calls "buddy". She sleeps with him and has since she was very little. Megan loves to make these cute little stuffed animals and made Morgan another Giraffe. We asked her what she wanted to name it and she quickly said "buddy 2". You can tell by the picture below that she really likes it. In fact it made the top tier of animals that have a permanent spot on her bed. :)

After we left our friends house we drove over to my Aunt Linda's house. Unfortunately, we only had a few hours to spend, but Kevin and Morgan had a great time swimming in her pool as we visited.

Ruca even got in for a little bit. She had never been in water where she couldn't touch the bottom, but once she got a little more comfortable she would swim to Kevin and then back to the stairs.

I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of my aunt :(. It was great to see her. Next time we will have to make it a longer visit.

When we left my aunt's house we drove to the west side of Florida to stay with my parents for a few days.

For Kevin, this trip wasn't all vacation. He had to continue to post on his magazine, as well as, visit two of their advertisers. So it was nice when we got the chance to go out as a family. We made it to the beach once and also took Morgan to downtown Disney.

Morgan was a really good sport about the heat and all of the walking so we got her a special little mermaid Lego set.

One night my mom showed Morgan how to make pizza.

It was a nice break from the day to day and even though I would have liked to spend more time at the beach, I think it was a nice little family vacation.

Rubber Duck Races

Today Morgan and I went with our friends to the park to participate in a rubber duck race. They have you pick out a little rubber duck and then you register it with a number and your name. They split the ducks into different heats. Then the winners of each heat  race for the top three spots and get a prize.

After we registered I ran into a friend from church. She invited us to join her and her two kids on their blanket. Which was great because the ground was a little damp, and I totally didn't think about bringing one.

This is Morgan's racer. We named him Friday after the duck my sister had when she was young. Plus, it IS Friday today :).

While we were waiting for the races to start they had a parachute and hula hoops for kids to play with. When I look at this next picture of Morgan she looks so much older to me. It is kind of freaky.

Waiting for the races to start.

She was excited to see her duck race, but he didn't win. She is still learning to be a gracious loser. She was a little bummed about not winning a prize, but that is just part of life. I would rather her have several of these experiences while she is young so she doesn't expect to be a winner every time.

Touch a truck

Another free event I found was what they called "touch a truck." They had fire trucks and tractors and UPS trucks etc.. They just let the kids crawl inside and touch pretty much everything. Morgan and I met up with some of our friends and spent about an hour hopping in and out of different vehicles.

They also had free balloons, goldfish crackers and pop ice for the kids to enjoy.

Fire hose fun

One thing I am loving about living in Nashville is the free parents magazine. You can pick them up at the grocery store, library, and pretty much any child friendly location. They probably have these in other cities, but since I am a first time parent, I am just learning about it. Each month a new magazine comes out and it gives you a list of events or classes going on every day of the month. Some are free and others have a small charge, but it is just great to know what is going on. I would be pretty clueless without it.

This past week I saw that a neighboring town was hosting a splash day with their fire department. That sounded pretty fun so I called up my sister-in-law and she and my niece and nephew joined us.

The fire department hooked up their hose to a hydrant at one of the community parks and sprayed their hose way up in the air and the kids went nuts.

Here are the kids lined up waiting for the hose to be turned on.

They also had a sand volleyball court. So some of the kids decided to play in the sand.

And then this happened.

So it was time to get back in the water some more.

It is so nice living near family. Of course, their is a chance that they could move out of state, but until that happens will try to get together as much as we can. :)

Strawberry picking

I think it is pretty much that something that one might consider work we now do for fun. Example: Strawberry picking.  That is what we did yesterday.  Morgan and I went with our friends Laura and Jack up into the country to get out of the house for a little while and enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather.

Morgan really seemed to enjoy finding just the right strawberries, but she did want to move from row to row super fast and pass up a lot of good ones that she just wasn't patient enough to find. :)

Morgan loves tasting the berries as we go and I thought it was a great way to switch things up a bit. I think we will got back when the blackberries are ready!

On days like today

Today is Mother's day and even though Morgan is 3 sometimes it feels weird to be part of that "club." Today hasn't been the easiest in the parenting department. She seems to have picked today to try my patience OVER and OVER. I kept getting frustrated. Then I took a step back and thought. Maybe she is just a little more needy today. So I went in her room and asked if she would like me to lay down with her. She happily said yes and within a few minutes she was asleep. I am still a rookie at this whole new hat that is "mother" and I hope that I learn to wear it well.

Morgan is definitely her own person and people have described her to me as "sassy" or "independent" and I think that is very true.

She has to sit in "her spot" when we go to the library for story time. It is the same thing in Primary at church. She has chosen her spot and that it is.

She won't let you call her any type of nickname. If I call her a "cutie patootie" or something she says in a very stern voice "I'm not a cutie patootie! I'm a kid." So I just shrug and say ok.  There have been times where she wants to pretend to be a super hero and save people. Then when I ask her if she wants me to make her a cape. She quickly changes her mind and says "No, I don't want to be a super hero. I'm Morgan." On one hand I worry that her imagination needs a little help, but then on the other hand I'm glad that she loves being Morgan and wouldn't want to change that :)

Today at church all of the Primary children went up front to sing . I noticed that she wasn't really participating, but I just figured she didn't really know the songs. When she came back to sit with us Kevin told her she did a great job and her response was so funny. In a no nonsense way she said "I didn't even sing! I didn't open my mouth once." Her face was priceless. She couldn't understand why we would congratulate her on something she didn't do. I was laughing thru the whole closing prayer.

Morgan also has moments of sweetness. Times when all she wants is to be with you, snuggle and give kisses. Will out of nowhere tell me I am the best mom ever or her best friend and those are the times I treasure.