...and it's finally Christmas

All the build up, all the excitement, all the planning, all the work...

All the fun!

Christmas Decorations

We had a lot of fun this year making decorations for the house.

Morgan's thumbprint 'lights' on her footprint tree

 

 

Morgan, Russell and my Dad working on a wood project at the DIY Wood Studio

finished product from the DIY

She made this one all by herself!

footprint angle

Playing with the nativity scene - this was the last gift my mom chose just before she died

Swedish Jul Magic

My mom 'bequethed' her collection of Tomten to Morgan. My dad has given them to Morgan for the last two Christmas'. This year we made a big deal of reading the Tomten and feeding them. She understands that the collection from Kat is just a representation of the Tomten that lives with us and that it's important to take care of our tomten so he does not cause mischief throughout the year.

For those of you non-Swedes reading this a Tomte is an elf that lives on the property taking a care of everyone. The Norwegian word for the same being is Nisse, the Finish is Tomtu and Santa's elves would be the rough equivelant.



 The Tomten like to eat grain - so we fed them oatmeal. And they need to be fed once a year, usually at Christmas time.

Morgan was shocked I tell you, SHOCKED that the oatmeal was gone!

Visit with Santa

Morgan was SO excited for Christmas this year, she believes with all her heart and soul in the Magic of Christmas. She visited Santa and was in awe, but she did get her wish list out in a whisper: a unicorn, castle and snow globe!

The photographer loved Morgan in her dress coat and hat



Morgan's comment afterwards, "I had to hug carefully so I didn't squish him!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Baking

Morgan is more and more helpful in the kitchen, she loves the measuring and stirring, but leaves the stove-top and oven to me. I was looking at old pictures the other day and came across her very first time helping in the kitchen


She was a big help making Christmas cookies this year - even developed her own way of dipping the  peanut butter/pretzel cookies in chocolate.

A Bit of History

Morgan got dressed up for our party last night. She wore the dress her Aunt Maria wore for Easter 1971. Another bit of nostalgia - It being Dec 1, Morgan got to snap an ornament on the advent 'calendar' that Jim and his siblings used growing up. It's been haning on the dining room wall for a week and Morgan was stopping daily to inspect it. Late last week Jim stopped her to talk about the biggest star, "Daddy, I KNOW! The biggest star goes on the top and then it's Christmas!" She has discerned that all for herself.

Easter 1971: Dan, Maria and Jim (3yrs)

Maria

Morgan



Morgan and the Advent Tree

 

Clothes Shoot

This is what happens when there's no clothes shoot on the second floor, but there is one in the kitchen. Morgan's favorite Saturday morning 'helping' is moving the clothes down to the kitchen, then throwing them down the shoot to the basement.

At Dance

Morgan has started ballet.

Halloween

Morgan's first Trick or Treating with her best friend Raggedy Ann

I am SO ready!

Morgan was just short of pounding her cutlery on the table, "I am so ready to eat!"

Almost a year...

We are getting ready to inter my mom at Fort Snelling. Morgan and I painted a box to be buried.

Early October Weather

October 4!
The last time we saw snow this early was in Alaska!

I took the thermometer pic on May 18!
It will be interesting to see what winter will be...

She riding her bike!

 We started Morgan on a Strider balance bike a year and a half ago, she rode it off and on through the summer and fall - then 10 months off for winter and she rode it a few times this summer. The end of August we gently pushed her into to riding her 'big-girl' bike that has NO training wheels. She and Jim have gone out in the afternoons - usually once a week to practice. This is where she's at as of the end of September. I am totally SOLD on kids learning to ride this way! Morgan even gave her strider to one of her teacher's daughter's in celebration of her being so good at riding a bike!

The first video was shot last summer



And here she is now

Labor Day Weekend Fun

We've had a quiet weekend at home - well actually Morgan has been quiet, Jim and I worked like crazy on the house (see the house blog for those updates). Morgan's treats were going to various parks. On Saturday she chose the new playground equipment at our local elementary, Horace Mann.

First off I'd like to say that she is enjoying picking out her own outfits - she felt like a princess in this one!

Here she was LadyBug Girl saving the park from the Monster!

She's a bike rider!

She's transitioned from her strider to her 'big-girl' bike

Troubles with Idioms

You know the old saying...An idea just flew in/out of my mind? Well, here's Morgan's take:

As she running into the kitchen
"Mom, mom! An idea just flew up my nose!"

Aon our way to the Roslansky family reunion

Other current Morgan-isms: vocab words for the week - original and completely
Mom - this is my original idea; Mom, this is my original paper
Mom - I completely just learned that! Mom - I completely think that it's grass not rocks (comments on a section of land in the train yard)

I can hear it in my head!

I introduced Morgan to the group Anonymous 4 on our drive to Eagle River yesterday.



After hearing this she stated:
I can hear it in my head! Can you?
(me) Yes, and I can hear it in my heart too!
YEAH! That's what I mean, I think God is talking to me in my heart. Can Dad hear this in his heart too?

Of course then in 4 year old fashion she was utterly distracted from our conversation by a painted bowling ball made to look like a bee!

Playing Baseball

Morgan has been very interested in playing baseball. She developed her own equipment with a squeezy heart ball and a tube of bubbles for her bat.






I decided to indulge her and buy a kiddy bat and ball - she's really quite impressive! We then added bases for her to run. They put her over the top a few times because she thought she was losing each time she would run and Papa would get the ball. When she realized that she could win by running the bases before Papa got the ball and got himslef back to the pitcher's 'mound', things really got fun!

Apprentice Painter

Morgan wants so much to help with all the house work, so why not, we let her join in when it's OK
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The next few clips are of her stenciling her cieling fan blades. We were at Lowes and she saw a 'girlie' fan with pastel blades and butterflies - I was tempted to get it for her, but the long term use of it outweighed giving her the pretty thing for her room. Inswtead I told her we could paint the blades with butterflies (which we can repaint or just flip over later when she outgrows the cute factor)

Papa's beach

Our daily swim