When Mom's Away...

A co-worker and I signed up to attend a conference in Springfield, IL back in March. Since it started at 8 a.m., we opted to head north on Sunday afternoon and get a hotel so we didn't have to leave so early on the Monday conference day. Dan, being the great dad that he is, opted to do some "fun" things that we don't bust out every day - this time he picked the gummy bug making kit the boys got from Aunt Jackie and Uncle Steve!

Thankfully they started before I left so I could get some pics taken!

Although the finished product didn't turn out to be too yummy - it sure looks like the boys (especially Dan!) had fun MAKING them!!!

I Wear My Sunglasses at the DENTIST???

I love the dentist! Yep, you read that right - I LOVE going to the dentist! In fact, at one time in my young life - I think I was in the 3rd or 4th grade, I made a sign that I hung on my bedroom door that said 'Future Dentist" and had a picture of a huge tooth on it! My boys are no different - well, Jack and Nick feel the same about the dentist - Luke, well, that is another story...UNTIL their last 6 month visit back in March! I thought the dentist was going to do the same ole same ole with Luke and just count his teeth and then paint some fluoride on his cute little teethers. Oh how I was wrong! He sat in the chair and the next think I know he has the sunglasses on - I LOVE Dr. Mello, our pediatric dentist - murals on all the walls, video games, prizes, an A+ staff, and sunglasses on all the patient's eyes before the bright light above them comes on!!

Here is my little man waiting his turn with his sunglasses on and game to keep him busy!
Here he is getting his teeth cleaned!!! Good news too - NO cavities for any of my boys!
The best part about the visit though is the fabulously white smile at the end of the appointment - a happy boy with really clean teeth - doesn't get much better then that!

A Painting Party!

My cousins Sandy, Cindy and Kari invited me and the boys to a fabulous pottery place! We had never been there before so I was a bit unsure of how the boys would do! To my surprise, they were great - and really ended up with some great works of art! The hardest part was choosing what piece of pottery to paint!

Once that task was finished, the next tough decision was picking the colors of paints you wanted to use. Here Jack is smiling as he attempts to decide what color of dog he wants to make!
Luke easily figured out his color palette for his unicorn!All three boys worked diligently on their pottery pieces! Here is Nick hard at work...
...Jack paid such close attention to detail...
...while Luke used just about every color in the rainbow!
We had the entire store to ourselves - it was great!
The boys were really all smiles for the entire time we were there - almost three hours!
The finished products were picked up at they had been put in the kiln a few days later! But this is what they looked like just before we left for the night!

Jack's dog was oh so cute!
Nick's puppy could be Jack's dog's twin!!!Luke looks like he is LOVING his unicorn!Sandy and Cindy both painted the same plate - but with such different color schemes - they look so very different! Here is Cindy's...
...and here is Sandy's...Kari opted to do two items - the last was this cool monster truck for her boyfriend, Nick! It turned out very cool - complete with mud on the tires and all!I made a rice bowl - complete with two little holes to hold the chopsticks - not sure why I don't have pics of my completed project but it was fabulous - blue with green polka dots and a yellow inside! I can't wait to go back to make something else to compliment my oh so cute bowl!

Threes Company

Over Columbus Day (that is the federal holiday in February, right?) my parents took both Jack and Nick down to Memphis with them to visit Uncle Bryan and Alyssa. That left Luke home with Dan and me! We asked Luke what he would like to do and were not surprised when he said he wanted to go to the zoo!

Here is our little man in front of the new bridge to the zoo!
Luke had such a fun time, telling us all about the animals - pointing them out to us and telling us what each animal was doing! What an awesome language building activity!
Mommy and Luke hanging at the children's zoo - I love how he is rubbing my face here!
Time to ride the carousel......and the train!
After all the sight seeing, our little Buka Bear had quite the appetite! Check out his choices - a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with carrots and goldfish!
We snapped another quick pic on the way out - check out how windy it is!!!
The tell tale sign of a great zoo day??? A fabulous four year old napping on the couch - with his pink stuffed animal he bought as a souvenir and his Woody toy!We had such a great time spending the day with our youngest little man! We definitely need to do this more often - hanging out with just one Morra boy at a time!

A True Fight for Air!

For the second year in a row, Dan and I headed to Springfield, IL to participate in the Fight for Air Climb. The name says it all as we climbed the 30 floors - or 60 flights of stairs to the top of the Hilton Hotel! Dan and I were both getting over some upper respiratory issues, but since we had signed up and made raised money, we opted to complete the daunting task.

Dan was all smiles when we first arrived!
And even more smiles when we found a Dunkin Donuts near our hotel!
I was happy about the pre-climb coffee coolatta too! :)
We didn't climb until 10:30, so after our Dunkin breakfast we headed back to the hotel to get suited up!
This year it was ROUGH!!! After the climb, poor Dan actually layed down on the 30th floor for a good 30 minutes - he finally managed to get up so I could snap a quick pic!
I was feeling okay, but could not shake a terrible cough!!! We were both happy to head home!
When I got back to work on Monday - all my co-workers asked if I planned to climb again. After some thought, I guess I equate it to childbirth - something that is really bad when you are living it, but as time goes on, you forget the pain involved and sign up again. As far as childbirth goes, I did it three time - guess I can climb at least once more! :)

Writing in DINO-mite!

Shortly after Valentine's Day, we had more reasons to celebrate! I was able to attend both of Jack and Nick's Young Author's ceremonies at their elementary school. Nick was much more willing to pose for the paparazzi as Jack allowed only one picture to be taken...here he is returning from the stage.
Jack wrote such a cute book called The Snowman's Hiccups! I guess all of the snow we got during the winter was very motivating to Jack!

A few days later, I went to Nick's Young Author's award ceremony! Here he is sitting on the floor with the rest of the first grade class!
In 1st grade all of the authors receive a ribbon and the recognition of being called to the front of the gym. Nick was super proud!
Nick's story was called A Tiger's Journey - all about a tiger that lived high on a mountain but traveled down the mountain to find some friends! Such a cute story - although I may be a bit biased!

I'm so thrilled that I am able to attend all these great ceremonies for the boys! Excellent job, Morra boys!

Happy V Day!

Now that my summer vacation has officially started, I am going to attempt to get all caught up!!! I only have 4 months to make up - wish me luck! Well, let's get started and pick up right where I left off - the day after Luke's birthday - Valentine's Day!

Here are my gifts for my four favorite guys!Jack with his present...He certainly looks happy about the new DS game!
Here is Nick smiling - and he hadn't even opened his gift yet!
Smiling even more with his candy and DS game!
Can't forget about Buka!
Luke looks like he has found love with his favorite cartoon character - Dora!!! What 4 year old wouldn't want new Dora movies???
Last but not least is Dan - thanks for humoring me and smiling for this picture!
4 for 4 - Dan LOVED his new I Phone doc!
My boys took great care of me too - I received a FABULOUS treadmill - complete with computer on board! Thanks boys!!! I love you all!!!