christmas traditions

this year the plan was to stay in denver and start all these new family traditions. this was the first year that we had christmas without the kids' cousins and grandparents. instead, this christmas was filled with the stomach flu! ugh! talk about awful! we kept thinking it was over and then another member would succumb. my christmas eve was spent hugging the toilet.
the kids, of course, still had a blast on christmas day and seemed to be over the worst of it. at the end of the day they did say, "wish we we could open presents with ellie and atticus."
so we might need to remedy that for next year!

on christmas eve day (before the stomach bug hit) we went sledding down a huge hill near our house. it was a beautiful sunshiney day and a fun way to start Christmas.

I also took Maggie to The Nutcracker for her first time. It was such a fun day together and  I was so glad the stomach bug passed through her quickly so we could go enjoy it together! She barely blinked she was so into it!!!

At the Christmas Eve service, Frankie some how didnt make the family photo! She was there though!

Santa brought remote controlled cars! A big hit!

blessing bags

one of my sweet friends in California, Julie, had a wonderful idea to give Blessing Bags to the homeless. Now, I am not sure if I told you or not but there are SO MANY homeless people in Denver! I am constantly, what the heck? why are you in Denver? Even though it so cold, apparently, it is THE place to be if you are homeless. The police dont bother you and you are welcome to stand on the side of the road, day in and day out, and ask for money.
So we had a few kids and families over a few weeks ago to make these Blessing Bags....we filled them with toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, granola bars, and things like that... It was a great opportunity to talk to my kids about why people are homeless, how to identify them, what shelters are, etc.
If you want to hear more about these bags contact me! We keep them in the car and hand them out to the "regulars" that we see. The kids love to be on the look out for people we can bless.

hiking

one of the AWESOME things about living in Denver is that the Rocky Mtns. are just a few miles away! Lately, on Mojo's days off (which are usually Mondays) we head up to the mtns. to hike. There arent many people out then and we have found an easy mtn. for the kiddos with amazing views.
We try to keep the hikes short with frequent stops along the way and snacks on hand. Harriet is so happy in this place, its ridiculous. She runs NONSTOP and then sleeps for two days straight. It seems its the only time I'm not frustrated with her for shedding or trying to take Abraham's food. It's so great to see her in her element. The kids do great especially if we allot time for playing on rocks and general goofing around. We probably only end up hiking one or two miles even though we are on the trail for two hours at least. {little feet dont cover much distance} I end up carrying Abe on my back at the end of every hike...:)
Franks enjoying the view on Daddy's back...

Abraham enjoying the view while climbing rocks!

 It was cold this day!

But not this day! Look at that sky! It is so amazingly blue!

Snow on the ground and Daddy in a t-shirt. Denver is weird like that. If you are in the sun, you are plenty warm.

They are yelling, "Mountains!"

The views are so amazing I kept saying, "oh my goodness, its just so beautiful!" We are so blessed to live here!

Harriet taking off....

november update

so  many good things in November, so little pictures.
I had a glorious 25th, I mean, 35th birthday...Good friend watched the kids while Matt and I had a glorious long lunch at a AMAZING vegetarian restaurant here in Denver. Almost everyday here I say, Ugh, can the weather be any better? My birthday was one of those days. We sat outside and enjoyed the cool air and glorious sunshine. I only got two pictures that day... lunch with the minister.

And Me and Mags right before we headed out to eat that night with the other staff of St. Patricks. We have dinner out once a week or cook meals for each other. That night we went out since it was my birthday and it was a fun time to just enjoy each other, not talk ministry, and just laugh and eat awesome food.

 Here are the kiddos one night right before bedtime in the family/play room.

Thanksgiving day was unseasonably warm. We "played" football in the yard and had friends over for a big Thanksgiving meal. I realized after the fact that it didnt "feel" like Thanksgiving because there was no joint cooking. The good friends we had over brought dishes, but I missed making the meal together and chatting while cooking and just hanging out...I'll know more for next year! This was the only 'stateside' Thanksgiving I've ever missed. The only two I have missed I have been in Prague with Mojo and in China. And sadly, this Christmas will be the FIRST in 35 years that I havent been with my family! Sad! Here are the Morginskys on Thanksgiving afternoon...

 Here is sweet Frankie, almost 9 months old after our big Thanksgiving meal...

And here is our "thanksgiving" tree where we added leaves everynight with more of our thanks. You can tell I am such a good homeschooler with Maggie writing "baba" instead of "dada"...ha! those b's and d's are tricky!

 one of the MANY glorious sunsets we get outside of our windows everynight. so much to be thankful for!