Spring Break: California 15

We headed back out to California in February to escape the cold and to celebrate Grandma Zenz's 60th birthday!

We successfully surprised my mom with a party and by bringing Michelle and Bryan with us.  The last few weeks before the trip we mostly stopped talking to my mom on the phone because we didn't want to accidentally ruin the surprise.

(here she is walking into the surprise)

We had a great day at the Living Dessert Zoo.

(always on the Zebra - with her Zebe)

We got to feed the giraffes.  It was so cool!

Finley loved the parakeet tent.  There were about a hundred birds flying around and trying to get into our pockets to escape!  Pat kept telling stories of his parakeet, Pippin.  Ha!

We had to enjoy dinner on the patio since it will be a few months before we can do it back in Minnesota.

The girls swam everyday and wore themselves out so naps were amazing, too.  The weather was perfect all week.  It was above average and we enjoyed each day with sunny, 85 degree, skies.  

Cannon balls - Fiona's a little late to the party!

The mountains look red each morning as the sun rises onto them.

We took the convertible out for a spin - sans kids!

Parks had us dreaming of summer here

The boys stopped by mid-game of golf to get some refreshments and hugs from the girls.

Our last full day, we discovered the Riverside County Fair and had to check it out.  It was so much fun!  Fin and papa enjoyed mountain views from the ferris wheel.

Flights are getting easier and easier with these two!

Parts of the grand canyon

It was a great trip!!

Finley is 5

Finley had an awesome birthday celebration this year - it lasted a whole week!

We started with detroit style pizza out in Buffalo with Aunt Moosh and Uncle Bry.  Norm's pizza took it to a whole other level.  Finley got to have rootbeer out of a bottle for the first time.  She looked really classy! ha

Then Fin had her friend birthday party at the Way Cool Cooking School in Savage.  It was such a great party and our first not at home so I totally enjoyed just showing up for the party and leaving without doing any prep or clean-up.  

Party-goers got to decorate their chef hats and then the 2 chefs lead the kids through all parts of meal prep for homemade pizza (yes, they even made their own sauce with garlic!), monster cookies, and cupcakes.  It was the most organized party.  At home, we have flour everywhere and things spilled out of the bowl.  They had everything wiped up and sanitized anytime it was out of place.  

Then the kids got to eat their creations!

Finley requested unicorn cookies at the start of the party.  Well, we didn't plan for that, but one of the chef's just whipped up this white chocolate unicorn cupcake topper for EVERY kid while we were opening presents.

Blowing out her candles

Grandma and Grandpa Morgan and Aunt Nini came into town after her birthday party and we celebrated with mexican.  She was so shy when the wait staff was singing to her, but loved the sombrero.

Then it was off to the Mall of America for ear piercing and some rides!  She chose pearls, just like mom and Grandma.  And, she didn't even cry!!  She reminds me everyday to clean her ears.

She was soooo excited to have the birthday cupcake on the door to school with HER name on it!!  

I asked her the same questions as the previous 2 years and none of the answers surprised me this year:

(see previous year 3 and year 4) 

Favorite Color: Purple

Favorite Toy: Legos

Favorite Fruit: Cantaloupe

Favorite TV Show: Tinkerbell - Word Girl or Odd Squad

Favorite Lunch: PB & J

Favorite Outfit: Elsa Dress (her halloween costume!)

Favorite Game: Matching (she beats me every time)

Favorite Snack: Granola bars

Favorite Animal: A Wolf

Favorite Song: Shake It Off by Taylor Swift

Favorite Book: Kit Kittredge American Girl books

Favorite Friends: Quincy, Maria, Emma, Ava, Maddy, and Khyrianna

Favorite Cereal: Lucky Charms

Favorite Thing to do Outside: Swings

Favorite Breakfast: Caribou with papa

Favorite Dinner: Pizza

What You Want to be when You Grow Up: Cheerleader

Family Update

We had our family pictures taken last fall.  I am in love with how they turned out, and lets just say its a miracle we have some great shots because Fiona ran around like a crazy women for most of the shoot.  

Here's what's new with us:

The girls are getting along much better these days (just not last weekend...).  Do they still fight? Yes!  But, it's a little farther between that a year ago.  Fiona is less into wrecking whatever Fin is playing with and actually joins in sometimes.  They actually play together really well when it's pretend - their favorite things are to play school, birthday party, or restaurant.  Oh, and fort building, of course!

Finley just turned 5 and is the sweetest thing.  She is still as creative and imaginative as ever.  I think she could play independently for 8 hours if I let her.  She plans elaborate birthday parties with invites, wrist bands, and favors - creating all things out of construction paper, ribbon, and glue.  She has recently gotten into legos and can follow the directions without needing us.  She is still a great sleeper and most days still takes a nap.  She has really gotten into her kids Zumba class at Lifetime and begs us to go every Thursday night.  We are looking forward to "big girl" gymnastics and soccer this spring.  Finley is much less picky at meals, but would pick cookies anytime over vegetables.  She has made some great friends at pre-school this year, but we are also hoping to meet a few girls in our neighborhood once the snow melts!  Finley has started to read sight words and loves the Kindergarten   work books Aunt Nini gave her for her birthday.  She is so excited for homework at Kindergarten next year.  Ha.  She has grown to 44" tall (80th %ile) and 39# (50th %ile).  She loves Jesus and has a heart for animals - hoping to get a hamster this summer (what...? we were thinking about a dog...)

Fiona is the picture of sugar and spice.  She can be so loving (at night as we are leaving her room she often says "I love you guys, mom - you forgot hugs and kisses!) and so feisty the next minute!  Her curly-crazy hair fits her personality perfectly.  She has recently perfected a deep belly laugh and it is contagious.  Fiona is still obsessed with Zebe and has collected quite a few other zebra things as well.  Pillows, clothes, and toys!  Fiona can also play quite independently if it involves her babies.  Last month, I finally snapped and moved them all down stairs because they were taking over our house!  She has all the makings of a daycare center down there and enjoys putting them all down for nap and waking them up to go play outside (complete with snow pants and gloves).  She has started using the potty, but poor 2nd child we haven't stopped our lives for an all out boot camp yet.  She is doing great at it, despite our inconsistency.  Fiona still loves that thumb.  Send orthodontics money now.  We are hoping to get her involved in swimming or music class this summer.  I can't believe it will be just her and I next fall when Fin is at school.  In the last few weeks, she is finally tall enough to turn her door handle which means she can get out of her room in the morning and we sometimes have a little munchkin breathing on us next to our bed at 6:30am.  She loves her family - especially sissy and her daddy, oh and also her "2 grammas and 2 granpas", also moose, bwian, nini, enin, and uncle greg.  She loved having the cousins sleep over for Thanksgiving.  This child just might refine Pat and I into saints - we'll see!

I continue to love being a momma to these 2 girls.  I feel like we are over some of the terrible twos and I don't have to spend so much of my day breaking up fights!  Our move has done wonders for decreasing my stress levels.  Previously, I was in charge of most daycare and school drop-offs and sat in rush hour both ways always running behind.  Now, Pat is so close to work that he does almost all transporting to school and my commute to work is SO much easier.  I love that we are both home by 5 most nights.  This winter, our Lifetime club has really been a life saver.  We go as a family a few times a week or I take the girls with me during the day.  I am training for a 5k in February out in CA (yes, for me, this requires training!).  I joined a moms club in Sept right when we moved and it has been great for this introvert to meet more moms in our new town and a great motivation to get out of the house on Tuesdays this winter!  We've also wrestled with finding a new church (man, do we miss Eagle Brook), but have been welcomed to a church just down the hill and have joined our first Lifegroup with a bunch of other young families.  It has been really good for my heart!  Just like Fin, I am hoping to meet a few good neighbors on our block when the snow melts!  I don't take for granted how blessed I am to be able to work at a job I still mostly love and be at home with my girls on the other days.  I am slowly turning this house into our home and the list of projects seems to only grow, but I don't want to rush and settle just to have things done.  Plus, snuggling in front of the fire watching Parenthood and Homeland with Pat is sometimes more important.  

Pat continues to have an amazing job - it has been such a blessing to our family.  It has provided a good balance of life and work and his boss has proven to be a really stand-up guy (a rare find).  Pat enjoys his 8 mile drive to work and the ability to meet us for lunch.  Pat has been training for a half marathon in California in Feb and has braved a lot of the running outside in the mild December and late January temps.  He has done some running with the Lifetime run club and was even mistaken for a high school cross-country runner!  Pat loves to wrestle with the girls when he gets home at night and can always cheer the girls up when they are crabby.  Now that football is nearly over (Fantasy anyways), Pat is under orders to start studying college basketball stats for our upcoming trip to Vegas with Moosh and Brian on the opening weekend of the NCAA tourney in March.  We both spent most of late December and early January listening to Serial podcasts, sometimes even together, on the couch, and in front of the fire! As Finley gets older and her love for rides increases, we are all glad Pat loves them as much as she does.  They will be roller coaster buddies this summer and we may even get a pass to Valleyfair.  

Life is good - and even when it's not, we are thankful to have each other.  Moving is tough, even months later.  Creating a life in a new place is lots of work but also a great adventure.  We've all needed to stretch and grow in areas and knowing we have the support of family makes it so much easier.  We made a bunch of family goals for the new year, one of which is to make exploring (and travel!) a bigger part of our lives.  We can't wait to see what this year hold for us!!

Where Have We Been?

Well, unintended break from the blog.  I was pretty sure it had tumbled to the bottom of the priority list last fall after our move, but at the end of the year I was sad not to have a years worth of photos and stories to look back on...so, the blog lives on.  

Here is one gigantic dump of photos covering our adventures from October through December.  

Finley ran in her first Fun Run.  It was .5 miles and she had a great time training with her papa in our somewhat hilly neighborhood.  

Finley was Elsa (so original, we know!) and Fiona was the cutest little kangaroo (with a joey in her pouch)

Pat took the girls out, while I dressed as my usual witchy self to hand out candy.  It was cold, so the girls only lasted about an hour.  I had the pleasure of meeting some new neighbors and sneaking some of the candy out of the bowl.

Finley completed another session of gymnastics - this time at a new gym.  We all loved it and she has since been back for gymnastics camp over winter break.  Her most proud moment was mastering the monkey bars.  

In the next session (when she's 5 years old!), she will move into the BIG gym with all of the other gymnasts!  

We've made the journey back up to Blaine a few times for random events and usually try to fit in going to our old church since we miss it so much.  Dinner with old friends afterwards is a bonus!

We made our annual November trip to see Grandma and Grandpa Morgan in California.  God bless tablets.  Flying has become so much more enjoyable with the girls.  

La Quinta is surely one of the most beautiful places and we are so lucky to get to visit every year.  This is the view out my parents back yard.  

We said we were going to take a year off from Disneyland after last year's puking party, but who can resist Christmas Disney??  I guess not us.  Grandpa Zenz can't either.  Finley is very into roller coasters right now, so she couldn't get enough of the Toon Town coaster - riding it 3 times in a row!

And she loved Splash Mountain!

I turned 33 and we celebrated with a very short hike and a trip to the outlet mall!

Our weather was PERFECT.  Finley figured out how to zwiggle on our way to pick some lemons and grapefruits

Cart path sprinklers are hard to resist!

Back home, we had cousins up to visit for Thanksgiving.  It was such a fun weekend!!  On Saturday, we picked up a tree at a new-to-us farm.  The tree was one of the longest lasting, most beautiful we've picked out (and also the most expensive...)

It was odd that we had more snow for Thanksgiving than for Christmas

December was really warm, but the sun only came out like 2 times.  Not my favorite.

We attended the tree lighting ceremony in our little downtown.  The celebration was small, but cute. Finley met a real live reindeer.

It was our 3rd annual trip to the Childrens Theater Company - the first time with Fiona.  We saw The Grinch.  It's one of my favorite holiday traditions!

It was the 3rd annual Santa party back in the old neighborhood.  Both girls were fearless and told Santa exactly what they wanted.  Fiona said "my babies!"

We celebrated the Morgan family Christmas in Chicago.  It was a fun-filled weekend with Christmas lights, our favorite southside foods, a live nativity, and a visit to Navy Pier!

The night before Christmas was laid back this year - church service and then a spaghetti dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.  The night capped off with a reading of Twas The Night Before Christmas with Grandpa.

The next morning, our sleepy heads slept until 7 (we thought they'd be up way earlier to see if Santa came!).  It was a crazy morning of ripping open toys before we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa Zenz's for Christmas day celebrations.  

Fiona got her very own robe and Fin showed her how to tie the belt.  

This is how we all felt after Christmas.  And then, a large portion of the family got a stomach virus that pretty much rendered us useless for the weekend after the holidays.  Praise Jesus the girls did not get sick.  But Pat and I were down for the count.

On NYE, we had a low-key dinner party at a friends house with kids included.  I made another chocolate cake for the celebration (I'm thinking chocolate cake on NYE is a new tradition for us - plus its so good the next day!)

Happy 2015!!!