Pictures to go with new post!

New Post!

It has been way too long since I have posted. No excuses…just haven’t done it. I hope to do better because this has really been the only journaling I have been doing  (or not doing). It’s hard to believe all that happened since that last post. Just 3 weeks after that post devastating tornados hit our hometown. We were safe but it was way too close! It was so moving to see so many people come together to help. There were several times I would just cry at seeing a caravan of power trucks going down the road or reading the stories of things going on right around us. I was so proud that Chandler wanted to go out and help with clean up and that he and Richard were able to do that. I remember feeling so helpless and going out and buying stuff to donate and cleaning out the kids toys for a toy drive but feeling that it was so inadequate! The town was so weird for weeks after. Roads and neighborhoods closed off and guarded by police and then National Guard. The church parking lot across from Evan’s daycare was set up as a command center. Insurance RV offices set up, Tide Loads of Hope being in the mall parking lot, radio stations not playing music but giving out information and people calling in with needs and those needs being immediately met. We were without power from that Wednesday-Sunday but I don’t even remember it being a burden at all! I will never forget those feelings. The town is slowing showing signs of rebuilding but there is still a lot to be done! It’s just unreal to me that there are still so many houses and businesses that haven’t even been touched as far as clean up. I am so proud to be from Tuscaloosa and to have witnessed such love and generosity. Now for family updates…

Chandler finished his JV season at Northridge and got to play varsity for their summer ball season. He also played with a Post team over the summer. He didn’t really enjoy it too much and was ready for a break when it was over. They have started practicing for this season and he should be the starting catcher. I hope they have a good year! Other things to note in his life…he turned 16 in September and got his driver’s license! So crazy! I was a little worried about his test but he took private lessons a few weeks before and I think that helped a lot! It has been great that he can drive and take himself places and even help out with Hudson some! Last year was really tough on me with seminary and the ball schedule. He is driving the Dodge Durango that was once driven by me and then Richard. New tires and a new radio and he is happy with it. He is a great kid and I am so thankful for that!

Hudson played baseball all spring and had a good season. He made all-stars again so we had another summer of traveling and stuff for him. His world series was in South Haven, MS and that’s always a fun place for baseball. We stayed in the same hotel that we did when we were there for Chandler when he was 8. They have an indoor and outdoor pool and the kids had a blast. They didn’t make it very far in the tournament and we were able to come home and unpack and repack to head to the beach the next day. That fall Richard put together a travel team and they played in a couple of tournaments and then Hudson played fall ball at Kentuck, too. He is playing basketball now and just really loves it! Their team is pretty pitiful but he loves to play. He will be playing travel ball only this spring. He just turned 9 in December and it already saying he can’t wait til he’s 10. He is doing great in school and loves his new I pod touch!

Evan was a true ball park kid last year. She loves it and has fun wherever she goes. A couple of weeks after it was all over and settled down, she would say in this pitiful voice, “I want to go to the ballpark” She is so much fun! She loves to paint, color, do stickers and it is so fun to watch her play with dolls or barbies. She is defiantly momma’s girl and is stingy with her loving to anyone else! She loved swimming and the beach this summer! She wanted a hair wrap from the beach because her cousin Sydney got one a few weeks earlier. Her hair has grown so much this past year and she will let me fix it most of the time. She is very hands on with picking her outfits and loves to just wear leotards, bathing suits, and dress up clothes. So very girly! She moved up to Primary this year at church and does great! She sings the songs and participates! She also started gymnastics a couple of weeks ago. She really likes it so far even if right now it’s just jumping on a trampoline and doing forward rolls. She sure looks cute doing it! She loves when she gets to play with her cousins and says they are all her friends. I am so glad that we all live so close to one another and they can grow up together. There are now 12 total on my side (since the addition of Charley Bec Sprayberry in August) and about to be 5 on Richard’s as Russell and Jill are expecting a girl in March!

As I said earlier, we were able to go to the beach for a few days in July. We had a blast! Hudson and Evan ask all the time when are we going to go back. Richard and I have just been working and handling all the activities of 3 kids. We were able to go to one Alabama football game as a family this year and that was a lot of fun. Of course it was also awesome to cheer on our football team all year as they won another National Championship! Roll Tide! So proud to be a Bama fan! This year Richard’s parents got a place on the river in Pickinsville so we have enjoyed many afternoons of fishing, swimming, and boating. Should be lots of fun for years to come. The boys-Richard, Chandler, and Hudson-or as Evan calls them “my boys” have also found the sport of Frisbee golf and have become somewhat obsessed.  Richard swears he’s going to enter a tournament sometime this year. As you can see, all is well in the lives of the Morgan’s. Until next time…

Novemeber...really?

Wow...so much has gone on since my last post. Thanksgiving, Hudson and Evan's birthdays, Hudson's baptism, Christmas, basketball season, the start of baseball season,new calling (1st counselor in primary)and so many everyday things. I think I will do a post of just pictures to showcase all these things but for now I just feel the need to get something up. Everything has been going well. The boys are doing great in school. I am so proud of Chandler for getting up early every morning for seminary, going to school and then practicing/playing baseball everyday after and never complaining or asking if he can sleep in and skip seminary and keeping good grades! Just hope he keeps it up! Hudson loved basketball and he has been doing some fun things. Richard took him to Smackdown in Birmingham in Jan and they had a great time. He and Chandler both got to go to the beach with friends over spring break. So grateful for good friends. Both boys are playing baseball. Chandler's season is about over (they start in Feb) and Hudson's is just getting started. Chandler has had a really good season playing JV for Northridge. Most of their games are double headers and he's been catching the first game and DHing the second. He's been pitching some, too and his hitting has been good. They were having a good season until this last week where they've lost 6 in a row! So frustrating! Hudson is playing 3rd and doing really well, too. Richard is not coaching but he's helping so much he might as well be. Miss Evan is doing great and growing so much! She's potty trained! It was so easy...she just kind of starting going and of coarse day care helped, too but it was a breeze! She's so independent and everything is "I DO IT". EVERYTHING! She loves watching Elmo, coloring, reading books,singing songs, going to nursery and singing at church and going to the ball park. Some funny things to note: In the store picking out her a cute dress for picture day, she took off her shoes and starting pulling down her pants to put it on right then! This morning when I put on her new brown sandals, she said these are boy shoes! She talks so much and is so much fun. Her hair is growing so much. If only she would keep a bow or pony tails in it! Not much else to report right now...just living life. Hope to get pictures up soon.

Congrats Chan

Chandler made his Highschool baseball team! Congrats Chan! Can't wait to watch you play!

SUCH A DIVA

THINGS EVAN LOVES:

1. MOMMY'S HIGH HEEL RED SHOES
2. BATHING SUITS (WORN OVER CLOTHES OR TO THE BALL PARK AND DAY CARE WITH PANTS IN OCTOBER)***NOTE: I DID NOT BUY HER A 2 PIECE, THAT CAME WITH A LIFE VEST THING.
3. CARRYING BAGS/LUNCH TOTES/BACK PACKS
4. HER BABIES (TRANSLATION: PACIFIERS)






THINGS WE LOVE ABOUT HER
1. HER INDEPENDENCE (I DO IT!)
2. THE WAY SHE SOMETIMES CALLS ME "MY MOMMY" EX "WHAT YOU DOING MY MOMMY"
3. ALL THE GIRLY/MOTHERLY THINGS SHE DOES
4. HOW SHE PLAYS TWO, WI (1, 2, 3 AND RUNS)
5. HOW MUCH SHE LOVES HER BIG BROTHERS AND THE WAY SHE SAYS THEIR NAMES
6. THAT HER HAIR IS FINALLY GROWING AND WE HAVE EVEN DONE PIG TAILS AS SAD AS THEY MAY BE
7. WATCHING HER LEARN AND TRY NEW THINGS EVERYDAY

CAN'T WAIT FOR THE MANY GREAT YEARS AHEAD!

HALLOWEEN 2010

CHANDLER WENT TO A HALLOWEEN PARTY THIS YEAR WITH HIS FRIEND FOSTER. THEY WENT AS RUSSELL BRAND AND KATY PERRY. NOT SURE THAT HE LOOKS ANYTHING LIKE HIM BUT WE TRIED. I DON'T THINK HE COULD SIT DOWN ALL NIGHT IN THOSE JEANS BUT I WANT TO BORROW HER WIG!



HUDSON IS REALLY INTO WRESTLING RIGHT NOW SO HE WANTED TO BE HIS FAVORITE, JOHN CENA. EVAN WAS A PIRATE BUT SHE WOULDN'T WEAR HER HAT AND INSISTED ON WEARING THOSE HOT PINK SHOES. SHE SURE GOT THE HANG OF TRICK OR TREATING PRETTY QUICK THOUGH.

LONG OVER DUE UPDATES BY PHOTO

SCHOOL STARTED...CHANDLER FIRST DAY OF 9TH GRADE! HIGH SCHOOL!

HUDSON FIRST DAY OF 2ND GRADE

CHANDLER TURNED 15 AND GOT HIS DRIVING PERMIT!

ALABAMA FOOTBALL IS IN FULL SWING

WARNING TO PARENTS OR ANYONE WHO TAKES CARE OF KIDS

Saturday evening I was playing with Evan in the living room as the rest of us were discussing what we were going to eat for dinner and going to yogurt mountain afterwards. Evan was sitting on one of those big huge bouncy balls. You know the ones in Wal-Mart that your kids can’t walk by the bin without getting one out and bouncing it! I was sitting on the couch holding her hands and she was sitting on the ball bouncing up and down. She started laying backwards on it while I was still holding her arms and I would pull her back up. We did this a couple of times and then she went back really hard and I kept her from banging her head on the floor and then she rolled over off the ball and started crying hysterically. Evan is tough! Usually if she gets hurt, she whines for a minute but gets over it quick or doesn’t even cry at all. But she was crying big…I mean big tears down her face, snot everywhere. I thought she had hit her head or something until I saw her holding her right arm against her body and pointed to it with her left hand just boo hooing. She was pitiful! After giving her a few minutes to calm down I realized that something was really wrong so I called doc in the box to make sure they did x-rays or to see if I just needed to go the emergency room. They did so at 7pm Evan and I headed to the dr. So much for yogurt mountain. I just knew DHR was going to interview me b/c they wouldn’t believe that she broke her arm on a bouncy ball! Every time I would move her she would just cry I know those people in the waiting room were like I don’t feel good would you please shut that baby up. All except for the lady beside us in the motorized chair that called out to Jesus for help every few minutes…she kept talking to me about Evan and how she knew someone blah blah blah…Anyway…after waiting and x rays, the Dr tells me that Evan has nursemaid elbow. I had never heard of such and if you haven’t either, here’s the Wikipedia link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nursemaid's_elbow When wonderful Dr. Lovely (yes that’s his name) explained to me how it happened, it made perfect sense and I knew that I had done this to my sweet girl. About 3 min after he put it back in place, she was moving her arm, giving me high fives, and knuckle bumps (chan taught her that) and was a happy laughing child! It was amazing! I could not get over the quick transformation and I was so glad there was nothing more serious wrong. Dr said it would be very likely that this would happen again so to be careful and make sure you pick her up under her arms and all that. I just can’t believe I had never heard of this before. So to all you moms, dads, babysitters out there who didn’t know about this pretty common injury, glad I could enlighten you!

Vacation

We went to Chattanooga, TN for Hudson's world series. Love Chattanooga! Like I said in an earlier post, they didn't do very well so we were started playing on Friday morning and were done Monday Morning. Since I was off all week and Richard was off Tuesday and Wed, we decided to stay another night in Chattanooga and have a mini vacation so we checked out of the hotel we in (our reservations were only til Mon) and checked into one just down the road. I caught up on laundry while going back and forth to the pool with the boys while Evan and Richard napped. Later that evening, we drove to downtown Chattanooga and walked along the river and through downtown. It's so pretty there!

The dress was getting too wet so we had to take it off!

The next morning, we packed up and checked out of the hotel. We went to the aquarium and imax in Chattanooga thanks to some free tickets from a friend! Then we drove to Atlanta to a Braves game. They were playing the Padres. Usually when we go, we don't have very good seat but Richard wanted good ones so we were about 16 rows behind the Brave's dugout. It was cool to be that close! My sweet little Evan even made the jumbo tron twice! After a trip to the wonderful QT we started home and got home a little after midnight.

She had just woke up from a nap! I know this pic is blurry but it looks like he's looking right at us!

I enjoyed the rest of the week off and Friday we went to Alabama Adventure with my mom and sisters (minus Ashley plus Collin) and all the kids except little Clay. It was so hot but a lot of fun! Thanks for the treat mom!

I love going on vacation with my family. And although it can be stressful and I can be a complete butt sometimes, I still love it! Can we go somewhere now?

Lazy Days of Summer

What does that even mean when your a full-time working mother of 3, 2 of which are very active in baseball, the wife of a husband who works full-time, runs his own business, and coaches a baseball team? While we were very busy this summer, we were able to enjoy some "redneck" summer days. Note:Chandler would not participate, either not home or in the air conditioning playing X-Box.

Baseball

What a year of baseball it has been! Let's see...Chandler started playing in Feb for his middle school team. They had a great year and came in 3rd in the city/county tournament. Of course we were upset they didn't win it because they really could/should have but that's the way it goes. He had a great year playing catcher and received the defensive award at their sports banquet. His coach told how many innings he played (I don't remember) with no errors. Right after that season was over, he started playing with a travel ball team and they played a few tournaments from April-July. This was no so fun. Lots of rain delays and rain outs. When they did play, they did well except for the last tournament in July in Panama City. They stunk it up there!

He also played for his future HIGHSCHOOL team, Northridge, in their summer ball program. This involved workouts everyday at 11am at the highschool and then practice later that day and about 2-3 games a week. Thank goodness for my mother in law who helped out a ton with the transportation! This was fun and they did well. Chandler was able to pitch more than he ever did with middle school and he did really well. Other than that, he played catcher of course. I think we are really going to enjoy this team in the spring but it sure will help when he can drive himself! So, we went from watching games in the freezing, freezing cold to the burning up hot!

Hudson played this year at Kentuck and Richard was his coach. Their team did not do so well. Hudson had a good year and was able to play some different positions. Richard had the opportunity to coach the 2nd all star team again and stupidly said yes. They played in 3 tournaments and didn't do really great in any of them but they had a good time and loved the traveling. It was a good opportunity for Hudson to meet new people that we haven't played with before and he really improved on his hitting and had some great defensive plays. We went to Chattanooga, TN for the world series and they had a blast. Again, lots of rain outs and rain delays and that was frustrating but as long as they got to swim at the hotel, they didn't care!

A picture our sweet friend, Shelby, took of herself. :) Too cute not to share!

I just love Evan's shirt with her accessories to make it somewhat fit! And, no I can't get a picture of her without that "pappy" in her mouth!

So funny! Richard bought this mustache in a gumball machine! I told Chan he was porn star fabulous!

The little sisters of the ballpark. These girls loved entertaining Evan and were so sweet!

I love baseball and the time it gives us together as a family! I hope my boys always love it and always want to play. Richard is hoping Evan is a softball player!