Happy 27th Birthday, Brian!

Call it a coincidence, or a birthday wish coming true, BYU played Air Force yesterday, and our family went down to Colorado Springs to celebrate Brian's birthday and give Morgan a taste of what she's been brainwashed with since birth. And, we are happy to announce, BYU won. It's a good thing, because it would have been a long drive back from the Springs if they had lost.


Morgan was so overjoyed when the players took the field, she said, "Mommy, take picture of Rah, Rah. Take picture!" So, here's the picture of "Rah, Rah".

Our true Cougar fans, Brian and Morgan. Notice the sun is still shining at this point. Sadie and I wimped out halfway through the last quarter and waited in the warm car.

Here we are, all sporting our Cougar Blue! Too bad we had to keep our jackets on to stay warm! 43 degrees and shade is not exactly comfortable!

Can we say POOPED?!?! We had left the house at 8 am and when we got back at 9:30 p.m., this is how I found the girls in their car seats.

Morgan really got into the spirit of the game. As the fans shouted, "BYU! BYU!" she chanted "BIU! BIU!" with them.

Overall, it was a long day, but I got an early Christmas present out of it. Brian figured I deserved something for spending 11 hours away from home, with 2 kids, in traffic, and no naps (for me or the girls). He surprised me with new laundry baskets! Lame, I know, but I've been bugging him for months! So, Happy Birthday, sweetie! We love you!

Miracles Happen!

Here's what happens when Morgan isn't hanging on me while I'm talking on the phone. Earlier this week, I talked to my mom for about 25 minutes and Morgan entertained herself the entire time! Plus, she let Sadie sleep in the swing and didn't wake her up! Hard to believe, I know!

Yes, she made a race track with her Golden Books (thanks, daddy, for teaching her how to "properly" use her books), several Lego objects (this day was birthday cakes for Brian's upcoming birthday), and ALL, yes, ALL of her felt pieces from her quiet box. It was great fun sorting them back into their packets. Oh well, the good thing is she is learning to play by herself and for that, am I ever grateful!

Tuesday...

...we made a vacuum. While I vacuumed, Morgan played with her blocks. Then, she wanted her own vacuum--out of blocks. So, I tried, and this is what our final project looked like. Oh, the wonders of Legos...
It's a good thing she didn't want me to make a broom and mop today. I would have been stumped!

Also, here are a few pictures of the girls' latest photo shoot in their PJs. Morgan is in this phase of holding Sadie and then wanting their picture taken. Isn't digital photography great? We have such cute little girls...

Happy, Happy Sadie!

Sadie is, by far, the sweetest baby! This week, she has started blowing bubbles (raspberries, I think is the technical term), in addition to cooing and giggling. I took a couple of videos for everyone to enjoy! The first one, she doesn't do much, but I thought her hands behind her head was too cute. In fact, just look at the picture...that smile, those hands! The second one is much cuter!

As Promised....

...here is a video of what Morgan and I spend most of our playtime doing. Yes, I have a Bachelor's degree from one of the nation's best Business Schools, and I spend my days building bridges with Legos. To be more exact, Legos are too small for our family (and will be for awhile), so we play with Duplos. Would I trade my profession? NOT A CHANCE.

As Brian says, I'm expanding my skill set. Given the supplies Morgan provides me (i.e. her leftover legos), I build as many bridges as I can until I no longer have enough pieces to make them symmetrical. That's my OCD coming out.

Now, I have experience in the ABC's: architecture, business, and construction. (Really, I'm just getting good at singing the ABC's! I think Morgan knows about 4 different versions/tunes now!)

Here are her "boats" as she calls them. Basically, whatever type of creation she makes that day is a "boat".

Building Bridges

This afternoon, I was kind of bummed when I called Brian and he said he would be home by 6:00 (lately, he's been coming home at about 5:15-5:30), so I thought, well, let's make the best of it. It was just after 4:00, so I needed to "entertain" for 2 more hours. Sadie needed to eat, and I needed to "distract" Morgan for awhile, so I told her she could bring her blocks and train set into the front room. She was so excited!
I sat on the couch, feeding Sadie, with the news in the background. I looked down, and Morgan was intently building her train tracks and "boats" (unfortuantely, no pictures--it would have ruined the moment). Absolutely no care in the world, other than to make sure she constructed her masterpiece just as she wanted. Then, when she had finished the train track and boats, she asked me to build some bridges for her train to go under. She seems to be obsessed with going over and under bridges right now.
Anyway, it was one of those warm your heart moments when you just want to freeze time. One of those moments that reminds you why you love your life, just how it is, even if you wash bottles, sweep the floor, and build lego bridges day in and day out. If you have a child that thinks you're the greatest, it all seems to be worth it. And, I'm pretty sure I'm the greatest bridge builder Morgan has ever known. Even better than Daddy.

Why I Want to Move to Arizona

Or anywhere else in the world that doesn't believe in changing the time twice a year!

Besides being closer to family and friends (which would be the real reason), I am sick of the time change thing!

Yesterday, both girls were up at 5 am. Sadie, of course needed a bottle, and Morgan kept saying, "I want breakfast! I want breakfast!" So, Brian got up to tackle the girls. I stayed in bed, because not long after Morgan stopped, Sadie stopped as well. I assumed she had fallen back asleep (it's actually one of my favorite things about Sadie right now--most of the time, give her 5 minutes and she's back asleep). Anyway, so I got out of bed at about 5:15 to find Morgan eating a bowl of Kix and Brian playing with Sadie on the floor. He had already fed her a bottle--such a great dad!

6:15 rolls around and Sadie is ready for her first morning nap. So, we convinced Morgan to go back to sleep also. The catch...she wanted to lay with Daddy in his bed. I am not sure how much Morgan slept. I just remember her still singing the alphabet song when I finally snoozed.

Church is from 11-2, so of course, it is nap time during Sacrament meeting. Overtired Morgan screams, in the middle of the meeting, "No Mommy, I'll be quiet!" Out to the car for time out.

I assume nursery went okay because the leaders never brought Morgan to us.

We get home from church and Morgan falls right to sleep for naptime. I decided I would let her sleep a little bit later, in hopes of fixing this sleep deprivation mess. So, at 4:00, she woke up, stepped out of her bedroom and saw that I was holding Sadie. Then, there was the following for the next 45 minutes. I should have locked her in her room, but I actually cooked dinner and stayed in the other room, so I wasn't bothered by her screaming in the front room. Plus, this will be great to show her when she's older!



By 7:00 bedtime, both girls were ready for bed. In fact, Sadie didn't even take her last bottle, she was that tired!

Crazy Halloween!

Here's some pictures of our Halloween. Nothing too exciting, but the ward party and trunk-or-treat went well and it's over! Now, I can relax!

Typical of Sadie, she never got dressed in her pumpkin costume...she slept in the sling almost the entire evening! Quite convenient, actually!



We had a table decorating competition and all the Primary kids went up on the stage to present their artwork. Even though Morgan had no idea what they were doing, she followed all the kids up and stood, front and center, on the stage. When the audience clapped, she clapped right along with them. It was pretty cute!

Can you tell I was a little preoccupied directing a Ward Activity? I never took the tag off of Morgan's skirt. I noticed when we were completely DONE cleaning up the gym!

Here's Morgan, fairy princess wings and all.

Here I am with the girls. Yes, this was Sadie's costume. By the time she woke up, we were starting to clean up the activity. I didn't see any point in changing her into a costume for one picture, in the front yard, nonetheless. This picture is just before we went across the street to our neighbors at 8:30 to show off Morgan.

We spent almost an hour over at our neighbors, and this is what Morgan did to entertain herself for about 15 mintues. When she was done blowing out the candle, she'd say, "Nittaya, please lite cake again, please." Nittaya, our neighbor, showed her how it's like blowing out the candles on a birthday cake. In fact, she even sang Happy Birthday to get Morgan going. We have lots and lots of fun with the Mergenthals.

Halloween is Almost Over!!!

Halloween is probably my least favorite holiday. I really hated trick-or-treating as a kid, and now, as an adult, I hate answering the door every 15 seconds for 4 hours straight. Add to that, my favorite candy is chocolate, but I can't have it too often because it gives me terrible heartburn, so, why should I even bother celebrating???

As a mom, with a very energetic 2 year old (who claims to love Halloween--but ran away from Curious George screaming at the top of her lungs like she had been stabbed by the nice monkey at the Children's Museum today, right after she had waved and said "hi" to him from afar), and as Activities Committee Chair, I HAVE to celebrate. In fact, my mom will be very disappointed to learn that I brought my decoration box up almost a week ago, and it still hasn't been opened. It's just not a priority, sorry.

Anyway, back to the details of our Halloween.

Last Saturday, a friend and I decided to take our kids to "Boo at the Zoo." However, we scrapped the idea when we read signs to park in the overflow lot for the overflow lot (translation: we would be parking in lot #3, and then being shuttled to the zoo). Bad idea, we thought, so we took them to the mall playplace instead. Hence, the pictures of our children sort of dressed in their costumes, playing on the breakfast foods. I'm sure people thought we were really strange, because Cherry Creek is the higher end mall in Denver. So, here are some pics.

Morgan and Pen on the cereal. Pen is a bumblebee, sans wings. Morgan, a fairy, sans everything but the leotard.

Here's the "almost fairy," as we'll refer to her.

On Monday night, for FHE, we decorated our pumpkins. Here's Morgan and I with her and Brian's works of art. You can't see it in the picture, but the middle sized pumpkin has earrings (two on the same side).



I'm hoping to get a picture of the girls on Halloween night. That's if I remember, all while planning a Halloween Trunk-or-Treat that welcomed over 300 people last year (missionary opportunity, not chaos, right?). But, in Colorado, why does it really matter? This is probably what Sadie will look like when we take her out, anyway (okay, maybe not the sunglasses--that's Morgan's touch). Otherwise, she might freeze!

To all of you that enjoy this coming Friday, for reasons other than birthdays (Happy Birthday, Mom!), I can't wait to see cute pics. And to hear great stories about your toddlers running away from Curious George (oh wait, that was MY toddler!).

Shower Time

This morning, Morgan decided I didn't need to take a shower. As I was getting everything ready to take a shower, she insisted that I wasn't going to take one. "Well," I told her, "If Mommy takes a shower, I will be happy. If I don't take a shower, I will be sad. Do you want Mommy to be happy or sad?" She decided she wanted me to be happy. Until...

I got into the shower. I turned the water on, and she came running over to the shower, screaming, "Mommy, be sad! Mommy, be sad! Out of shower!" Then, she proceeded to open the curtain, thus spraying water over the floor. I continued to take my shower, and when I got out, I told her, "That was not good behavior and now Mommy is mad," at which point, Morgan sat in timeout.

Needless to say, I think I will be locking the bathroom door when I take showers now.