A Morales Minute

When so much is happening in such a short span of time the events all end up in one long post...enjoy!!! (Or skim through.) My sister Elizabeth got engaged in November and they planned their wedding to be the last day of December, New Year's Eve. So as you can imagine everything had to be done right away. Meeting with the wedding planner, deciding dresses and decorations, and the bridal shower. Elizabeth has asked me to be her matron of honor so I had the excitement of sitting in on the meeting with the wedding planner and throwing the bridal shower. Here's Elizabeth with her cake I made out of wash cloths and hand and bath towels complete with rose shaped soap. The next day was Thanksgiving, which with all its chaos in making it to our mom's houses and shuffling the kids in and out of the car, it always turns out to be a good Thanksgiving. It was good to see Emily and her family for a couple hours before they had to head back home. Our four generation picture my gra...

Jaime is awesome. In every way. He's a great husband, father, friend. He's so helpful to me. He helps with the kids whenever he can. I appreciate that he wants to help me and do things for me. I love him so much and I tell him all the time. Sometimes I think I can't say it enough to truly let him know how much I really do love him. Sometimes just saying 'I love you.' doesn't seem to be enough. There are times I can be driving or even cooking dinner and my mind will just turn to him. I'll think how much I love and need him and what would I ever do if something happened that he wasn't here. I will actually tear up and feel so sad at the thought of him not being with me. I miss him whenever he's gone. I can hardly wait for him to come home. I've heard of women saying they are glad when their husbands go back to work after being home for a while, whether it's the weekend or time off work, and I just can't imagine feeling that way. I remembe...

Tyler , Tyler. Talk about a boy on the run. This little guy i s so stinkin' cute it's hard to be upset with him for long. He's such a busy body. Into one thing and then another. I've seen kids like to play with pots and pans but Tyler really enjoys them. He gets mine out on a regular basis. If I'm in the kitchen cooking he'll happily get out the other pans and hand them to me telling me welcome as he hands them or carefully slides them onto the counter top. Tyler likes to get into my drawer of toiletries in the bathroom. He absolutely LOVES to pull out the deoderant and smell it and say, "Mmmm, good!" He really likes to smell things. My goodness he could spend a while in the candle aisle at the store just smelling every single candle. The boy can talk more than I knew. He'll just say a new word and I won't even know where he learned it and had know idea he could say it. Tyler is really in to cars characters from the movie Cars and Cars 2. E...

Aidan is a sweetheart. He's outgrown his incessant need to get into EVERYTHING and now likes to let me know when Tyler is doing something he shouldn't. Aidan has such a tender heart. He hates getting in trouble. If grandpa just says, "no Aidan." Aidan starts to cry. Just out of the blue Aidan will say, "I love you Mom." The other day I was taking him to his room for his nap and he said "I love you so much!" it melts my heart whenever he tells me. I can be helping him do something and he will tell me he loves me. Aidan loves to watch tv and can work all the electronics to be able to watch what he wants. It's convenient for me sometimes...other times...I wish he wouldn't think he can/needs to watch something just because he knows how. Aidan likes to help do things and likes to be told he's a big helper. He'll remind me that he is a big helper if I don't say so when we're working. Aidan has a routine for bed time, whether...

Olivia is adorable. Her deep, deep brown eyes and sweet dimples are wonderful. She's funny! She loves to make me laugh, which I thoroughly enjoy. She likes to spend time with me, I only wish I was better at it. Olivia can play with anyone. She doesn't care if they are 2 or 11 she plays well with them and they seem to have a good time playing with her as well. Olivia has always had a great laugh. I love to hear it! She likes to go shopping. It's hard for me to not buy something for her whenever we go. She'll be so good to show me what she wants and put it back when I say, "Not this time." She happily responds with, "OK then put it on my Christmas list!" Olivia likes to play with toys. It's hard for her when Lindsey wants to read and Olivia wants to play something like princesses, Barbie, or Calico Critters. When Lindsey doesn't want to play, Olivia will generally come find me to ask to play. Olivia has become quite responsible with helpin...

Lindsey is a wonderful first child. She's everything I'd want her to be. She's beautiful, smart, funny, and very kind. Lindsey is known to be a peace maker. She loves to help her siblings and at times some of the things she does melts my heart. When Lindsey "loves" something she really does with every fiber of her being. She loves dolls and learning about volcanoes. She loves music and is obsessed with a few of Michael Jackson's songs like "Beat It," "I'm Bad, " and "Thriller." She likes to lay on her bed and listen to music on her iPod touch or dance around singing. When Lindsey smiles her face beams. She can bounce into a room with so much energy that I wonder what constantly runs through her mind. When she's around unfamiliar people she acts a little more reserved and shy. She doesn't want to take dance or singing lessons because of the fear of performing in front of others. Even though she has so many friends a...

We seemed to celebrate this Halloween season a bit longer than we usually do. We made some fun Halloween treats Monday for FHE. The following day we delivered them to friends. It was good to drive around and chat and say hello to friends. Even Aidan was in on it.  He kept saying he was "a big helper." It's so cute to see how he's getting to where he always wants to help whatever I'm doing. Mini witches hats They were easy, fun, and cute! The girls' school didn't do individual class parties. Instead they had a whole school Halloween activity Friday night. Ariel, Repunzel, Batman Saturday was our ward Halloween party. They had games and prizes throughout different rooms in the church, chili cook-off, treats, pumpkin decorating, "Monster Mash" dancing, and even a "spook alley" in the theme of Alice in Wonderland. (Yeah I can see how that'd be a spooky theme. :) The kids had a great time. On Halloween the kids were ready to go tr...