Miss Kate's Christmas Party!

We have the best babysitter in the world. Her name is Kate Boutwell and how great is it that she lives just right down the street. She has taken care of our girls since they were infants. In fact, she's taken care of Maggie since she was 10 days old! (can you believe I went out to dinner?!) My girls go to Kate's house at least 3 days a week and often times in between just because they love being there. I really can't say enough wonderful things about her-- she loves my girls and takes great care of them. This winter she had a Christmas Book Exchange party which was loads of fun for the children. There were arts and craft projects and time to decorate cookies as well!

I love this picture. My girls love reading books together in Ellie's bed. Even Maggie can lie down for hours and listen to stories read by either one of us. It's really so dear.

Thanksgiving 2009

We had wonderful Thanksgiving in Greensboro, NC. My Aunt Ann always has a festive crowd and delicious meal. The weather was mild so we were all able to have a cocktail outside while the girls played. Pictured above are Mary Reeves and Grayson Grant who are my aunts step-grandchildren.. and Emma and Ellie. What a girly time they had together!

Margaret Taylor is now 11 months old! I keep remembering this time last year... preparing for the holidays and anxiously awaiting her arrival. Can it be that 11 months have just passed? She's a real beauty.... so sweet but is coming into her own very quickly! If you take something out of her hands she screams for attention! She's a talker (not at all like her Mommy) and has started pretending to hold a phone to her ear and just yells. It's quite funny! She continues to be an easy baby... sleeps well, eats well, just goes with the flow without any fuss... I'm SO very blessed. Miss Maggalicious, your Mommy loves you!

Hunter Farm

What a fun afternoon we had at Hunter Farm with our good friends the Gunters. The 6 of us enjoyed a hay ride through the farm looking at all of the animals and picking out the perfect pumpkin at the end!

Sisters Snuggle!

I love that my girls love to snuggle. It's these little moments that I can catch that I just adore. Maggie loves her Big Sister Ellie and certainly enjoys just lying in her lap sucking her thumb. I hope they will continue to grow to love and adore each other.

COUSINS!

Emma is my first cousin Holly's daughter. She is 6 1/2 years old now and lives in Greensboro. She and Ellie are 2 1/2 years apart and the best of friends. We try to see each other often- but not often enough! Whenever we're together we always have such fun. Holly and Emma came to Charlotte for a night this past weekend. We took the light-rail uptown and had a yummy dinner at Brixx followed by ice cream at Reid's while we waited for our train home. I posted some cute pics of the 2 of them over the years... the bottom one being the latest of the 2 girls together.

Ellie plays Soccer!

Ellie had her first soccer practice Saturday at the field in Cameron Wood. Who knew she would have loved it so much!! After an evening at Dick's Sporting Goods trying to find the right attire (you know my 'girly girl' must wear the part!!) she woke up super excited to play with her friends. I'm excited to watch her progress over the next few weeks this Fall. I know her cousin Holly would love her to love the sport as much as she did growing up.

Cherry Grove, SC/Labor Day weekend

Our next door neighbors and good friends, The Gunters invited us to their beach house for Labor Day weekend. We had a wonderful time away. We were able to get some beach time in as well as some shopping and overall just nice quality time together. A BIG thanks to them for having us! Pictured above... Merrin and Elliott Gunter and Maggie and Ellie.

The girls

We spend lots of time at our neighborhood playground. It's getting more and more fun now that both of the girls enjoy it! Ellie will be very excited when Maggie can chase her around the playground or go down the slides with her I'm sure! For now, Maggie just loves the swing and I certainly love watching her.

Toofers!

In this picture Maggie is exactly 8 months old. She is the dearest and sweetest baby. Honestly, as my sitter Kate says... 'could we bottle her so that every baby would be this good'! She never cries- and I mean never. She soothes herself to sleep by sucking her thumb and will often just lay her head down when she's ready for a nap. She doesn't even fuss if I lose track of time and feed her late! She's sitting very sturdily now and makes attempts to move while on her belly. Please Miss Maggie- just slow down and don't be in such a hurry! I thought this picture was adorable- just showing off my new teeth!

Ellie's 4th Birthday party!

We had a wonderful long week celebrating Ellie's 4th Birthday!! Can you believe she's 4?!
We went to Greensboro for the weekend and had a great time celebrating with Mimi, Ann, Jim, Holly, Emma and all of the JTV's. The week started off with celebrating on her actual birthday with cupcakes at Miss Katie's house. This is really Ellie's 2nd home since she's been going to Katie's daycare since she was 12 weeks old.
Ellie decided she wanted another pool party this year so the planning was fun. She saw a Sunflower cake in an Elmo book recently so that was the theme she decided on herself. Ellie had a blast with so many friends this year and really new it was her special day. Her big present from Mommy and Daddy was a new Huffy bike!
She continues to be a sweet sweet child. The other night I said...'Ellie, please stop growing-- you're getting too big'... she said..'I'm really sorry Mommy, but I don't know how?'!

Professional Photos by Hope Bray/Folly Beach 2009

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We were so lucky that Hope was able to be in Charleston, SC the same time our family was there this summer. We had her come to the house and take some beach pictures of us the afternoon my Mom got discharged from the hospital! I think they turned out great!

We just had a wonderful weekend while my best friend and her 2 adorable boys visited all the way from Chicago. Reece is 6 and Thomas is 3 1/2 and bambino #3 is due early January! We were able to enjoy an afternoon of swimming followed by a movie in bed while we chatted the night away. Man, I wish we lived closer.
Ellie spent most of Sunday cooking with me-- always fun despite the fact that everything takes slightly longer. She really enjoys it especially when there is a bowl to lick!
Miss Maggie cut her first 2 bottom teeth today... I got a funny text from our dear babysitter Kate saying...'Houston, we have a tooth!' This explains why she was up 3 times to nurse last night! She's sitting by herself now which is fun to see. The girls are more and more exciting to watch as they interact with each other. Ellie loves that she can make Maggie laugh. What fun to have 2 girly girls!

FOLLY BEACH 2009

We're just home from a wonderful week at the beach. My Mom/Dad, Jamie and Lindsay and their 2 children Jake and Brooke, my younger brother Ned and his wife Brandy and then all of us Morse's! We were a full house but this year our house was awesome... so spacious and right on the ocean. We had plenty of room to really spread out which was so nice considering we added 2 more little ones to the group! (Welcome Maggie and Brooke!)
We celebrated Mom's 65th birthday the first night with a fun theme party and Sunday night celebrated Father's Day with a yummy homemade seafood dinner.
On Tuesday, sadly, my mother fell (rather got knocked-over by a wave) and broke her hip! She was admitted to the hospital directly from an Urgent Care and had surgery first thing Wednesday morning. She was discharged Friday afternoon and we left the beach house Sat morning! Thankfully, everything has gone well so far and she's recovering nicely back in Greensboro with the help of her sister.
Overall though we had a wonderful time and we'll look forward to next year!

Summer travels....

We have certainly been on the go the last few weeks! In late May we headed to Minnesota to see Eric's parents, sister and children Evvie and Alex. It was Maggie's first time flying and she proved to be a perfect traveler. Ellie has always enjoyed flying and got a kick out of wearing her own set of headphones this trip. We had a fun picnic, went to an awesome Children's museum in Minneapolis as well as enjoyed the Mall of America! I could not get over the amusement park right inside of this mall!
In early June we spent a weekend in Huntington, WV visiting my Dad and extended family. It was a nice family reunion though just a quick 48 hour trip! We are so lucky to have such good travelers... Seriously, as long as both girls are fed they're absolute angels in the plane, train or automobile!
The gentleman with the brown hat on is my Uncle Taylor- My Dad's older brother. Maggie is named after him. I also had a Grandfather Taylor, have a cousin Taylor and twin brother Taylor and nephew Taylor!