Baby Cate Is Grrrreat!

Weighing in at 18 pounds, 12 ounces and stretching to a whopping 27-inches tall...Baby Cate had her very belated 6 month check-up on Monday. She is in the 85th percentile in both height & weight. Her lungs are clear (finally!), but she may have allergies...so she will be taking a daily dose of Zyrtec to see if that will clear this congestion she has had since basketball season. (Her ears are all clear, so that is a relief!) She will be doing more food (because the baby girl likes to eat!) -- cereal & a jar of fruit/vegetable twice/day and cereal right before bedtime. She still drinks more than most babies her age (as I'm sure you've heard me saying upon inquiry if she is hungry, "Is she awake? Then she's hungry!") Most babies her age consume about 30-ish ounces/day. She's been over that mark for quite some time...more like 40-50 oz. (Piggy!)

I was told that she is about a month away from cutting teeth, despite drooling worse than a St. Bernard...and got a prescription cream for her eczema (which will help with the drool rash on her chest that is so well protected from her "Morton chin.")

Just two days shy of being 7 months old she hit not one, but TWO major milestones!

ONE: "Dada! Dada! Dada!" Can be easily heard/understood now. (And I was working so darned hard on Mama...dang it! Reid wins this race again! And I'm crying foul!!! No fair!!! She should have said Mama first -- especially since she is sooooo much a Mama's girl, unlike Elizabeth who was definitely a Daddy's girl at this age!!!)

TWO: Those darned Star Wars toys were on the other side of Elizabeth's "dance floor" (AKA: Candyland game board carpet)...and she crawled her happy action right across the dance floor to get them!

Awesomeness!

This picture was snapped a few days earlier as she was "kissing" Yoda. And my kissing, I mean gumming his ear/head/body...

Alex's Birthday Party!

Alex was thrilled with his birthday party, much to my delight. Even better was how easy it was do make his yummy cake (not counting that I "cheated" and used a box mix...the cake part could have been better, and would have been had I not be cheating, but my icing is scrumptious...makes me want to whip up some more right now just to have a sweet snack!

So, it was a white cake with buttercream frosting, you can never go wrong with buttercream!

When packing to go to Mom & Daddy's you would have thought this was my first time making a cake at their house...totally forgot my off set spatula, which I can't do a cake without. (You might have also thought I was raised by wolves as there was no such thing to be found in their kitchen...so off to the "outlets" in Flatwoods Reid & I went to buy a completely over-priced and not great quality for the price off-set spatula at the Corning Ware Outlet. What a racket!)

I was also quite fortunate that Mom had a Fiestaware pizza plate, as I neglected to pack mine. The track was part of our gift to Alex...the decor on the cake was all just piped on with round tips -- except the leaves of the trees that were done with a star tip. The Thomas toys are bath toys (also part of our gift to Alex, but not nearly as cool as the Star Wars gun that E picked out for her "red headed boy, Alex".) I don't know what I was thinking after doing the tunnel and then starting with the trees on the left, I got about half way around and then I came back to the tunnel and went to the right...when I got to the back, my spacing was off...so I solved this with a little Alpha Gam tribute -- Skiourrous!

The rest of the train cars were frosted brownies on top of chocolate graham crackers. The wheels are M&Ms...then the cars were "carrying" a variety of treats - Runts, Mike & Ike's, etc. I thought it would be cute to have one of the train cars carrying some Star Wars action figures, so I bought the Star Wars gummy snacks at Kroger. My plan was foiled when Anne opened the Star Wars package to find that rather than the Star Wars gummies, it contained Curious George! Good thing this wasn't a Star Wars themed event!






The boy got all sorts of clothes and other goodies -- and then over-the-top fun from the Wine family (his John Deere gator)!




With all of the partying Cate was just worn out...This picture is what I refer to as the "Always a Padawan, never a Jedi". Too darned cute!!!

And, as a bonus, when you Google "Padawan" to make sure you are spelling it correctly, you could, just like me, stumble upon "Wookiepedia," the Star Wars Wiki. Good grief!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to All!

We have had a great Christmas -- too much indulgence...so much so that we may need to build onto our house, but a great Christmas! We started with a trip to Fairmont on the 23rd to celebrate with Rick & Carol (aka Nana & Papa) for their anniversary. Rikki & Doug arrived that evening and got to meet Baby Cate. It's so special when you get to introduce your baby to her aunts & uncles! And there is no doubt in the looks department that Cate looks like the Amoses -- as she looks so much like Elizabeth did...and they couldn't deny E if they wanted to!

On Christmas Eve, Reid & Doug continued their bro-mance with a shopping trip to Morgantown. (Reid was the one who needed to shop, Doug was along for the ride...not that it should come as a surprise to anyone that Reid was still shopping up to the last minute...) Rikki made her award-winning chili -- yumminess! The evening concluded with the traditional reading of stories: Rikki "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," Doug "The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story," Me, "Santa Mouse," and Reid always finishes the stories out with, T'was the Night Before Christmas."

2010 Christmas might be definition of over-indulgence! E got everything that she wanted from Santa and more (Mimi must have given good reports every night when she went back to the North Pole!). She & Cate both got lots of clothes (Cate got the same adorable bear outfit in three different sizes in three different colors - one from Nana & Papa, one from Rikki & Doug, one from Aunt Cathy & Uncle Rich -- great minds must think (and shop) alike!) E especially loved her Barbie & Barbie car (both from Santa), her Bride Barbie (from recent bride Aunt Rikki), the pack & play for her baby doll (like Baby Cate's pack & play -- from Aunt Anne, Uncle Sean, and Alex), and her TWO pillow pets (from Grandma & Papi). We've been having a lot of fun with the Wii (the epitome of over-indulgence from Nana & Papa)...Reid & I are looking forward to getting the bed-frame that matches the rest of our bedroom suit (thanks to Mom & Daddy aka Grandma & Papi). Cate doesn't even know she has hands but got more cool things than she has finger to eventually count on!

Despite all of the wonderful surprises and gifts that Reid and I -- or our daughters received, one of my favorite gifts were two that we gave. Wedding scrapbooks to Rikki and Doug and then another one to Rick & Carol. I had so much fun making the books and am still amazed that with Elizabeth being in the know that I was able to pull off the surprise.

After spending the morning with the Amoses we were off to Webster Springs to celebrate with the Mortons. There we were excited to get to introduce Cate to Aunt Anne, Uncle Sean, Alex, and the rest of the Mortons -- especially her name sakes, Uncle Joe (Ernest Victor Morton, III) and Aunt Cathy (Mary Catherine Morton-McSwain).

We were able to get out of Webster Springs to head back to Sutton for a few days just before the weather got too bad. It was, as it always is, too short of a visit with the family!

Before we got back to the Friendly City of Wheeling, we were able to squeeze in a visit with the Cochrans -- where Elizabeth got a cheer lesson from her buddy Haley.

We spent a nice quiet NYE here at home. On New Year's Day (after Reid did his obligatory gumbo dance), I got to cooking gumbo, kielbasa and sauerkraut, and peanut butter log cookies. E enjoyed getting to play with her buddies John Patrick, Jackson, Campbell, and Will. We enjoyed getting to spend time with their parents.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

Welcome Baby Cate!!!

I've been waaaay far behind on my Blogging (somewhat due to technical difficulties where passwords were changed to my gmail account, which is what I have to use to access my Blog...I didn't change said passwords, and couldn't fix the situation -- as when I attempted to recover my password, it kept asking me the name of my first teacher and then telling me I was wrong! I adored my kindergarten teacher and remember her and her name fondly...so I can assure you the problem wasn't with my recollection of my first teacher's name (tried my 1st grade teacher, whom I also adored and recall her name, which failed miserably.) Anyway, Reid had to get involved in order for the technical difficulties to disappear...

I've been a bit busy as well...which somewhat explains my neglecting my Blog...but perhaps not for as long as I have been neglecting this Blog...

Anyway, I'm back in the saddle and promising (once again) to be better about keeping you up-to-date via my Blog! Yada, yada, yada...

So...back to welcoming Baby Cate (if you say it like Elizabeth does, it will sound like your mouth is about half full of peanut butter!)

The Thursday before Thanksgiving, November 18th, Reid was on his way with the women's basketball team to Shippensburg for a tournament. When he was about an hour away from Shippensburg, I called to tell him that I was experiencing some early signs of labor...and as quickly as Elizabeth came, I just wanted to put him on alert. He made numerous calls -- had several people put on alert, and through the kindness and generosity of the Hansen family, who upon arriving at the hotel, cleaned out their van and gave Reid the keys to it to send him back home to be with me...and the Malernee family, who provided a taxi service to the Hansens to get them back to their van, Reid was able to get home shortly after midnight that night. I also called my folks who came up in the wee hours of the morning. Mind you, at this point, Dr. Coleman was only telling me that I would likely not make it to my due date in the middle of December...and she also talked with us about the possibility of inducing labor so that I would not only make it to the hospital in time, but would also be there in plenty of time to get my epidural...

So, Reid gets here...my mom is here...and a week later the rest of the Amoses (Rick, Carol, and the newlyweds, Rikki & Doug) are here to celebrate Thanksgiving...and no Baby Cate. Around this time Dr. Coleman sets a date to induce labor of December 2nd (which we would change the following week to December 1st since the Toppers had a home game on the 2nd and we were worried it would make Reid's schedule a bit too tight!)...

On December 1st, Reid & I take a few early morning pictures of me before leaving for Wheeling Hospital for Baby Cate's birthday. We are at the hospital at the scheduled time of 6AM. It took forever to answer the questions that were required before the real show could begin...like "during your pregnancy did you use any recreational drugs or stimulants (including caffeine!)," "do you meditate?," "did you crave chalk?" Seriously? Seriously.

The "show" didn't actually begin with the pitocin drip and Dr. Coleman "breaking my water" until shortly after 9AM. At that time, Dr. Coleman put the call in for the anesthesiologist to come for my epidural. I'm still texting updates at this point...but stop around the time that the anesthesiologist comes for the epidural. The epidural worked so well for Elizabeth's birth that I was giving Reid updates on the Syracuse vs. Gonzaga men's basketball game...with Cate...not so much. The anesthesiologist arrived around 9:25 AM, at which time I'm feeling the contractions (not fun!) She got a "wet stick" on the first attempt (wet stick = seeing spinal fluid = not a good thing!). The second stick went in without a problem, but didn't work...in other words, nothing was numb... Reid & Mom were allowed back into the delivery room around 10:10 AM.

For the next 40 minutes, the contractions came on harder and quicker. And there was one particular swear word (rhymes with duck) that I was quite fond of using at the conclusion of each contraction. Fortunately Mom and Reid have been exposed to me using "the bomb" on an occassion or two. (Reid later reported that there may have been one nurse in the room for at least one of those, bless her little heart!)

Around 10:35, Reid lest the room to get the nurse, Patty. She and the rest of the nursing team came in immediately to finish preparing the room for Dr. Coleman. Reid recalls that Dr. Coleman arrived between 10:45 and 10:50 AM. After pushing through three sets of contractions, Dr. Coleman held Victoria Catherine up for me to see at 11:00 AM!

(Note: I only said "fudge" with Dr. Coleman in the room. How's that for respect???)

Reid, like he did with Elizabeth, cut the cord. The nurses took pictures with my camera...the entire staff at Wheeling Hospital was truly amazing!

We are so amazingly blessed!

Later that day when Elizabeth got to meet her baby sister, she said, "Thank you for giving me a baby sister, Mommy!"

A short while later as Cate was stirring, Elizabeth said in a most irritated voice, "Mom! She stuck her tongue out at me! That's not very nice!"

Elizabeth, with a little help from Grandma, welcomed us all home from the hospital with a "surprise" Welcome Home Baby Cate party on Friday, December 3rd. She served things that start with C: cake, cupcakes, cheese, carrots, cauliflower (and a few other veggies). She is such a great big sister already!

New Adventures for E...New Discoveries...

On Saturday evening after Reid, Anne, Sean, & I gorged ourselves on our seafood bake, the kiddos got baths and we did the bedtime routine.

Elizabeth and I were cuddling in Reid's & my bed (as Anne was putting Alex to sleep in the crib -- despite a series of protests from Elizabeth as that crib is for HER baby! Since HER baby wasn't going to be using the crib over the weekend, she eventually agreed it was okay for Alex to sleep in the crib in her room...) anyway, E & I were cuddling in the bed when Cate started kicking around a bit.

I took Elizabeth's hand and told her to be patient and she might get to feel her kick. Elizabeth wanted to sing to her -- in my mouth so she would be able to hear it. I told her that she could just sing to my tummy, that would be easier for Cate to hear her. (We went round and round on this issue...eventually, as I refused to just open my mouth so that E could sing into it, she just started singing...) Elizabeth sang the song that she and Alex learned at Bible School, "Peter John and James in a sail boat," and she was able to feel the baby kick once. Elizabeth was really excited and started singing louder (until I had her quite down so as not to get Alex disrupted.) She hasn't gotten to feel her since, but it was pretty sweet when it happened!

Elizabeth is getting really excited about becoming a big sister -- so long as she can keep some of her baby things for herself...at least at this point the items she thinks are precious aren't essential for a baby.

I was downloading pictures earlier today when I had a new discovery...out of Play-Doh!, Elizabeth created "Mommy." Reid snapped a picture of her creation, but forgot about it until I was asking him about the pictures on the camera. It's pretty darned cute, if I do say so myself! (That is some Morton nose I'm sporting, though!)

Merry Christmas!

As usual, our Christmas has seemed like a whirl-wind affair. However, we are most lucky to be able to see both Reid's and my families on Christmas!

With Rikki & Doug in from D.C., we started off the holiday by celebrating Rick & Carol's (aka Nana & Papa) 42nd wedding anniversary on the 23rd. Elizabeth did a beautiful job setting the table - and I am a horrible mother for not capturing it in pictures. Reid and Doug went to the College Lunch afterwards so their "bro-mance" could continue to blossom.

My antibiotics finally kicked in for my ear infection and sore throat, so I was able to start enjoying the holiday so Christmas Eve was pretty uneventful - which is never a bad thing. Just enjoyed spending time with the Amoses...and I got the special treat of getting to watch my favorite Christmas movie, "Christmas Vacation" while successfully avoiding my least favorite Christmas movie, "A Christmas Story." :-)

Santa came (as did Santa Mouse -- since the cheese had a few nibbles taken out of it!) on Christmas. Elizabeth made out quite well (no surprise there!). I'm still miffed at the Disney Store for crappy merchandise...as the only thing Elizabeth asked Santa for was a doll with brown hair. Santa procured her doll with brown hair (Belle) from the Disney Store, which in a lot of ways goes against every fiber of my being as I'm not-so-much a fan of anything involving the three-effing-fingered-rat...she was gently playing with the Belle doll (no kidding)...and her freaking arm came off! Grrr! I've contacted the online Disney Store, which says they can't do anything for me since Santa procured the item in a store...so now I'm going to be calling the customer service for Disney Store...and if they can't resolve the issue, it looks like after I get the pleasure of driving to freaking Pittsburgh, someone misfortunate soul in the Disney Store in Pittsburgh will get to deal with me - and as the Mortons like to say (usually in reference to my Mom), "Don't poke the bear!"

Elizabeth really likes the Vtech KidiJamz Studio that Santa brought - complete with its 10 musical instrument sounds, 20 songs, a turntable to make the scratching sound, microphone and voice changing effects, and a detachable music device that records the little songs you make, which can then be played in the car via an audio mp3 tape jack - just like an iPod. The biggest hit of the KidiJamz Studio is the ability to plug in the kid-safe headphones so that Elizabeth can hear all of the musical stylings, and, unless she is singing along, we are saved from it!

I'm still trying to figure out the best settings for my external flash for my camera, but am looking forward to playing. I am looking forward to playing with some other toys, too...and Reid is already playing with a few of his surprises.

A visit to the Mortons involved, as it always does, a trip over the river and through the woods - to CaCa's House we go. Again I was a bad girl and didn't snap that many pictures, mainly just ones of the kiddos opening gifts. As always, we had a yummy dinner - thanks Aunt Cathy (and surprisingly Aunt Sarah for not screwing up the sweet potato casserole, yes, we set the bar that low for her...baby steps!) Mmmm...oyster casserole...

The Mountaineers hung on for a nice win on the road yesterday. We're looking forward to watching the bowl game...and Reid will be doing his gumbo dance for new year's day. If you're in our neck of the woods for new year's day, we'll be watching lots of football and eating gumbo (and a few other things like home-made pepperoni rolls, if you're not a fan of gumbo)...

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

More Elizabeth-isms

So I'll be the first to admit that tonight's dinner (that is currently in the oven) isn't my greatest culinary achievement, it is quite a tasty dish of comfort food.

Elizabeth tells me as I'm fixing dinner that, "I want Daddy to cook dinner."

I asked her why. She said, "Because he's a good cooker."

I asked her if I was a good cooker. She said - and I quote, "Nope."

I may seriously develop a complex! It's not as if I was fixing something that ends in "roni" or "Helper"...or involve Cheese Whiz and hot dogs (that's a recipe from my youth that won't be making the Morton Family Cookbook - or will it???). It's homemade Chicken Pot Pie...and I'm actually looking forward to eating it piping hot out of the oven, even if I'm not a good cooker!

From Santa's Elves...

A little early Merry Christmas from three of
Santa's best elves - Elizabeth, Alex, & Caylin!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Stuff for therapy at a later date

Nail polish by Elizabeth:


And this won't require therapy, but is just too cute...kissing cousins!

Playing Catch-Up!

It's been forever since I last posted. I'm an ass!

So...Reid's high school reunion was a great time. Kudos to Andrea McElroy and others who planned the weekend! From the weekend in Fairmont we took off for DC (with Nana) to visit Rikki & Doug.

The week in DC was filled with activities -- 1 day at the Museum of Natural History (so E could see dinosaur bones and "The Hall of Apes"), 1 ridiculously full day that included 6 hours at the National Zoo + 3 hours at the Air & Space Museum (E insisted on seeing some "arrow planes"), 1 (albeit cranky for the most part) day at the American History Museum (my favorite!), 1 minor league baseball game, Reid & I got away for an evening in Baltimore to hang out with Jake and see his new place, and lots of fun!

If you haven't seen the American History Museum since the American Flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the National Anthem has been restored - it is a must! I visited the museum on several occasions while the flag was being restored, which was really neat to see...but now that it is restored -- it is simply breathtaking! (You can learn more about it here: http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibition.cfm?key=38&exkey=70)

Stories from the game that tickle my funny bone:

The minor league baseball game we went to was the Bowie Baysox (a Baltimore Orioles affiliate) vs. the Portland Sea Dogs (a Red Sox affiliate). We were happy to have Elisa Gladstone join us all for the game - it's always good to see Elisa! E was especially glad to have her friend, Elisa, join us as Reid & I were quickly ditched so she could hang out with Elisa. The Baysox mascot, Louie, was this big muppet-looking green "thing." Really cute, actually. When Elizabeth first saw him from a distance, she jumped from Elisa's lap onto Doug's.

Then E obsessed a bit (shocker!) and would tell us that after the game, and after the fireworks, and after she ran the bases, she would meet Louie. Reid, having played these reindeer games before, got Louie down to our section to meet Elizabeth. (Louie was quite a sport, too, I must add!) Needless to say, Elizabeth didn't want him at all near her. Doug tried to show E that Louie was a good guy and gave him a high 5. (Meanwhile, Louie is hugging & kissing on Reid's head...while Doug is sniffing his hand that he just high 5'd with Louie!) Doug later told us that Louie's hand was really wet, which made his (Doug's) smell like stinky feet. E never warmed to Louie...but she survived. Rikki & Doug (after a thorough scrubbing of his hand, I'm sure) bought Elizabeth a stuffed Louie. Upon receiving her Louie Baysox stuffed mascot, E observed, "Hey! His hand isn't wet!"

More obsessing -- here's a bit of my conversation with Elizabeth later that evening:
E: Is Louie tired, Mommy?
Me: Yes, Elizabeth. Louie worked hard tonight. I'm sure he is tired.
E: Am I tired, Mommy?

Reid nearly caught a foul tip. (To do so, min you, he would have had to have knocked down a 12-year-old kid...he's so not as competitive as I am!) Afterwards, Elizabeth came down next to Reid and said, "Next time I'm going to catch the ball, Daddy!" That's my girl!

After the fireworks, Reid tried for some time to get Elizabeth to run the bases. (Louie was blocking home plate so he could high 5 all of the base runners with his wet, stinky feet hand!) He even got E so far as getting her feet on the field to no avail. (At least there was no crying - as there is no crying in baseball!) Eventually, Reid & E headed back to join the rest of us. Fewer than 10 minutes later while on the way to the car, Elizabeth tells me, "Hey! I forgot to run the bases!"

We've had a great summer! Elizabeth is swimming a bit -- easily goes under water and can hold her breath for 10 seconds (no holding of the nose, either!). She's super-tanned...like the Coppertone baby. (I'm quite savage, too! Tanned enough that you can tell the difference between my skin and the white on my t-shirt!) We're making some progress on the potty training...although I'm ready to start looking to see if we can easily transition from pull-ups to Depends as it doesn't seem as if this is ever going to end!

Alex is TWO!

What a great time was had at Alex's 2nd birthday party! Alex is one spoiled two-year-old, and I had nothing to do with that ;-)!

To guide folks into the party, which was held at Alex's second favorite aunt's (Aunt Jane Freshour) home (I'm, of course his favorite aunt!), I made this huge-ass sign -- getting good use out of my Sesame Street font cartridge for my Cricut:

And then there was a smaller Big Bird sign at Alex's Grandma & Grandad Wine's house...with the final sign at Aunt Jane's house. If you couldn't find your way to the party, you were pretty blind!

Alex's Aunt Cheryl said that she was so distracted with the big sign, she nearly wrecked her car...and I believe she can remember how to get to her sister's house!

If you couldn't figure it out from the party invitation and these signs, we had a wee bit of a Sesame Street theme going...

Aunt Jane found her Cookie Monster cake pan from her nephew, Mike Casto's 2nd birthday. (For any of you who are NASCAR fans, Mike is Tony Stewart's jack man.) What may be more impressive is that Mike is my age. Cookie Monster was a hit...as were the cupcakes of Elmo, Kermit (Sean's favorite), Zoe, Oscar, and Cookie Monster (which was my favorite of the cupcakes.) Not to mention the Kermit party hats that Sean has managed to hang onto since Clint's 2nd birthday (he's now 17!)

Oh, no surprise, Alex was spoiled by all of his aunts that were in attendance: Moi, Aunt Jane, Sonnie, Carol, Cheryl, Ca-Ca, & Sarah -- that and both sets of grandparents, and uncles, and cousins,and the aunts, uncles, and cousins that weren't able to come but sent gifts makes for one spoiled but deserving two-year-old.

Elizabeth's festive pillowcase party dress was quite a hit, too!

Happy birthday, Alex!!!

******************************************************************

My cousin, Mike, was in an ATV accident yesterday. He's in ICU in Charleston. (One of apparently 15 ATV accidents that happened yesterday that was admitted to the same hospital.) Please keep him and Aunt Cathy, Rich, and his sweet girl Caylin in your prayers!

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful to/for/about:

• My family! This evening Elizabeth colored Easter eggs with Nana & Papa - after spending a great day with them. Sweetness arrived after a hard day's work looking all dapper in his US Open shirt from Oakmont...and we're scheduled to go to Webster Springs for some quality time with my fam. We love just getting to spend time with our families! We're quite blessed! (You can see the THREE dippers at E's disposal in this pic, yet she is using her hands!)
  
• Good conversation with Kristin! A surprise call last Saturday evening, when one would guess a preggo in Berlin would be fast asleep made my day! I love our chats...and hate that we live so far apart, but am so fortunate to have made a LLBFF (Kennedy feels the same way about Strudel!) Spanks girlfriend! Looking forward to what these next few weeks have in store for you...and I'm soooo looking forward to getting to virtually meet (before the actual meeting) of Sweet Baby Jennie Marie Cunningham Hinrichs Perry....it's not too late -- there's some Scottish in my blood (even if not in thy name!)
  
• Baseball season being underway. I love the sign of spring...Go Sox!!!
  
• Masters weekend. LOVE IT! ♥
  
• Easter eggs. E was quite intense this year coloring eggs here with Nana & Papa. Now if I can only get her to consistently use the dipper so as not to have her hands permanently dyed with the egg coloring.
• Giggles. There is nothing sweeter than the sound of a child, especially Elizabeth, giggling. Reid is currently giving her zerberts and she is giggling away. Pure joy.
• The color YELLOW. Elizabeth has declared over the last two weeks that it is her favorite color. She knows that purple is Grandma's favorite, green is Mommy & Daddy's favorite, and that blue is Nana's favorite. E says, "Yellow is my favorite!"

Won't Easter Be Fun???

I just got Rose Marie Robinson's recipe for "Red Rooster" drinks from Marra...

"1 and 1/2 quarts of cranberry juice, one 6 once can of frozen orange juice concentrate (non-diluted and thawed), and 2 cups of vodka. Stir and pour in a 9x12 baking dish with cover. Refrigerate overnight and scoop out like italian ice... YUM.."

Guess what the Mortons will be having next weekend ??? But we'll likely need to at least double this...I can't imagine that this would be enough to satisfy our clan!