Sunday, January 31, 2010

Happy Birthday Granny!



Today is my Granny's birthday and although she doesn't have a computer and may never see this I just wanted to tell the world...ok, maybe not the world but tell the 5 of you who read this blog, what a wonderful Grandmother she has been.

My papa died almost 2 years ago and we miss him terribly but when he was alive there was not an event that they didn't attend of us grandkids. They were always there to support us kids. One of my favorite childhood memories is having them spend the night with us Christmas Eve. There was never a need for them to stay with us because we lived in the same small town, but we looked forward to them being there with us Christmas morning to open our gifts. We've continued that tradition in our little family having one of the grandparents spend the night with us, now it's something Maclaine looks forward to every Christmas. This year, guess who stayed with us...yep, it was Granny! We loved having her.

For Christmas this year, my granny gave my sister's and I a hand written "book" all about her life. What an awesome gift! I've learned so much about her by reading that. She was an only child raised by older parents during the Depression and World War 2. I found it facsinating! No wonder she washes out disposal cups and re-uses ziploc bags more than once :). It sounds like life at home might have been kind of boring being an only child and all so she spent her days outside playing with the neighbor kids. I loved hearing about all the shananigans her and her friends got into! They really knew how to play back then...no TV, no computers, no cell phones...just pure fun!

My granny has always been an extremely thoughtful person. She's had many friends in her life and continues to keep up with those friendships. Unfortunately, she's lost many of them throughout the years due to cancer and other illnesses but she still has her group of girls who she goes to lunch with on a regular basis. She would do just about anything for you. She's a behind the scene kind of woman, she doesn't brag about herself or put the attention on herself, but she's done many kind, wonderful things in her life that I probably don't even know about.

Those are just a few of the fond memories I have of my granny, I could go on and on....

I love my Granny dearly! She's the only grandparent I have left and I hope we have many more years of making great memories.

Happy Birthday Granny! I love you!

Here she is last May with the girl grandkids at a Mother's Day tea....



Here's my Granny and Papa at their vow renewal party, I believe this was 2006...



These next two pictures were taken at Maclaine's 4th birthday party....



Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Birthday and Good News!

As we were celebrating my "bestest" friends birthday on January 19th, we found out some wonderful news. Did you know that you could eat for free Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner on your birthday? Yep, you can! For Shannah's birthday we decided to try something new so we went to Liberty Market in downtown Gilbert and as we walked in we were told by a very sweet girl that if we were celebrating a birthday that we could get $10 off of our meal! We also found out that Joe's BBQ across the street gives a free birthday meal and so does Joe's Farm Grill. So, if it's your birthday anytime soon you should check out the freebies...don't forget your license though.

Here's me and my BESTEST!



Here she is with her other bestest, Nikki....they recently went to the Ellen show and were actually shown on TV quite a few times...they're almost too cool to hang with me now :)

Friday, January 1, 2010

Happy New Year!

The Morgan's New Year's Eve was spent waiting for an hour and a half at Outback which actually flew by. We love people watching especially when it's drunk older folk with their sparkly shirts on. That wasn't very nice was it?

Let me start over.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner at Outback then went to get some ice cream to make some shakes. The plan was to come home and play the Wii or play board games or possibly roast marshmallows outside.

BUT....

Guess what we did? Maclaine laid on her little couch watching a movie drinking her shake, I sat on the couch in the other room knitting, and Ty sat on the chair flipping through the channels. Maclaine was out by 10:30 and I pried my eyes open with toothpicks to stay awake long enough to give my honey a kiss at midnight only to immediately turn over and fall asleep. We are party animals!!!

Clainey took a VERY close picture of Ty and I....


Silly kids....


"I can make it until midnight...I've stayed up that late once..."


Starting to fade....

Good thing we had the little couch covered because Maclaine was so tired she spilled her shake all over her and the sheet...

Our little star-pupil!

I signed Maclaine and I up for a sewing class a few days after Christmas so we could put her new sewing machine to the test. I started getting a little worried the night before that we had bit off more than we could chew. I opened the pattern that we were going to follow the next day and honestly I wasn't sure if her sewing machine was up for the challenge. I brought a back-up just in case.

Well, I'm proud to say that Maclaine was the first one done with her project and the sewing teacher called her "their star-pupil." They were just as shocked as I was that the little purple sewing machine made it through the whole project. It's a perfect little sewing machine for someone who's just learning.

Here's Maclaine cutting out her pajama pant pattern...




She sewed these pants pretty much all by herself, I only helped a little...

Knitting looms...so relaxing!

My mom gave Maclaine some knitting looms for Christmas and I'VE had so much fun with them! I find it to be very relaxing and it keeps me from falling asleep on the couch at 8:00 :)

Here's my first project...

I made a "ski cap".

This was the only yarn I had in the house, I think it would have been cuter with some thicker yarn but since Maclaine is always hot it worked out perfect for her. It's a nice air-conditioned hat...






I used the red loom for this project...


Here's the packaging in case you want to buy any looms...I highly recommend them!

Christmas morning!

"Merry Christmas, baby girl..."


Maclaine asked Santa for Frosty the snowman...who would have thunk it!


She's been wanting a crimper for quite some time, I tried to hold off as long as I could...she's an 80's girl at heart!


I found a Zhu Zhu pet...


and some accessories....


She got a keyboard from Grandma and Grandpa...


She didn't waste any time putting on her new clothes and wanting her hair crimped, "OOH LA LA..."


She also got a sewing machine, already sewing on Christmas day....


"Hmm, what could it be...?"


It's a "just like you" American Girl doll...


"Thanks Grammie Lin and Papa Fred..."


This girl is spoiled I tell ya!

Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve is always my favorite part of Christmas! We go to church and then our whole family comes over to our house to celebrate Jesus' birthday by eating Mexican food, birthday cake, and enjoying each others company. This year we didn't do the annual singing around the fire like usual, we'll have to get back on track next year because it was missed by the kiddos and missed by me as well!

Here's a TON of pictures to show you our night!

Our girl Clainey with my nieces Aubrey and Mallory at church...


All the cousins before the fancy clothes came off...


My sister DeAyn and her family...


My sister Jamie and her family...


My sister and brother-in-law Kenny...


Nieces Aubrey and a very sad Ellie, she misses her dog....


My dad and Lin...


My mom and George...


Kiddos playing outside...


My granny, Ty, and Ty's parents...


My mom and me...


My dad and Lin with Clainey girl...


My sister and her oldest Mallory...


My mom and Clainey girl...


My mom and George with Tapia kiddos...


With Clainey...


Granny & Donovan..."Here's the church, here's the steeple, open the doors and see all the people..."


Granny and kiddos....


Aubrey and Mallory...


Brother-in-law Mikey and my nephew Donovan...


"Happy Birthday to you...."


"Happy Birthday dear Jesus, Happy Birthday to you..."


Clainey reading to Granny..."twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house..."