HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORGAN!

Today my little girl is 6 years old! We started to celebrate yesterday with a mother/daughter day at the beauty salon. Morgan loves to go there and be pampered, so we both went and got our hair cut. Then her and I went to Toys'R'Us to pick out her present from Nana & Papa.
This is us after the hair cuts
Today after church we had her favorite meal for dinner (Quiche), and then had cake & ice cream with aunt Missy as well. Morgan is a horse LOVER, and choose to have a horseshoe cake this year.
We played the 'money game'-where we hid 6 one dollar bills (one for each year of her life) around the house, and she had to go find them, and opened presents.
This year we also pulled out the home movies from the day that she was born, and watched them together. That was a lot of fun! I had forgotten just how small Ronan was when she was born-he kept wanting to touch her eyes! Morgan was my biggest baby, and my quickest delivery of them all. She was 9 lbs. 3 oz., and was born 57 minutes after I had my first contraction! That was the longest 10 minutes ever to the hospital, I didn't think I was going to make it. But, we did.... just barely. My sister laughed when Brian called her 30 minutes after we had left to say that he was coming to pick them up to come give Morgan her first bath-she thought surely he was joking! It was so fun to watch the boys bathe her at the hospital in the video-I LOVE taking trips down memory lane!
Here are a few of the MANY things I love about my Morgan Kate!
*She LOVES horses
*She is the best 'little mother' around
*She is so smart, and a wonderful reader
*She loves animals of all kinds
*Her favorite thing to 'be' is a dog, and has been since she could crawl
*She loves to help me cook
*Morgan swims like a fish! Or at times, a dolphin!
*She is great on her bike, and can go for miles (literally)
*She LOVES to kiss her baby sister, and can't walk past her without doing so!
*She loves to read me books
*She loves to have her back scratched at night
*She has a wonderful imagination
I LOVE YOU MORGAN!

This morning the kids all played 'horse city' together for the longest time with some of Morgan's new horses. I always love it when they find something to play that they ALL enjoy!

Fun Easter photos

I forgot to include these fun photos Missy took with the kids!

HAPPY EASTER!

Happy Easter from the Mahaffey's-two days late! My sister called me today and said: "I can't believe it's two days AFTER Easter, and you don't have ANY photos on your blog yet!"
So, here are the photos:
Poor Ashlyn is sliding down, but Morgan insisted on getting a photo with her holding Ashlyn!

Aunt Missy and Ashlyn! Missy was kind enough to come over before church and snap a few photos of us (I say a 'few', but in reality it was something like 70 photos, and the ones you see here are what turned out).

These photos are for you Missy and Mom!
Can you say sass?

What a cutie!!
The two sisters in matching dresses! I looked EVERYWHERE for matching dresses, and couldn't find them in both their sizes. Then 3 days before Easter I get a package in the mail from my friend Eve, and there they are-matching dresses! She found them on-line and got them for us! Thank you Eve!

This is the 'after the pigtails' look. Ronan called her deer baby, because he said she looked like she had antlers on her head!

Ashlyn is sitting!

Here is our little Ashlyn who has recently begun to sit up on her own!

What a happy little baby she is! Good job Ashlyn!

SPRING BREAK!

Last week was the kids spring break, and here is how we spent it:
On Monday we met some friends at the lake park near our house, and had a good time. The big kids rode their bikes over, and rode around the lake, which they love to do. That afternoon I was getting the travel bug a bit, and was wanting to go somewhere. Brian and I had talked about me taking the kids on a trip during spring break, and he felt left out. He was saying things like "You'd go and have fun with out me? And leave me here to work?" Boo hoo. So, at the time I had decided just to do fun things around here with the kids. Well, by Monday evening I was really wanting to GO somewhere! I asked the kids where they would like to go, and the general consensus was to go down to Williamsburg, VA. We have been there once before, but Duncan was Ashlyn's age, and has no memory of it. In fact, he has seen the home movies, and was upset that he was in the backpack the whole time and didn't get to do any of the 'fun things'. So, it was off to Williamsburg, VA! I got on line and found a hotel (2-room suite w/an indoor pool-both VERY essential), and we took off around 8:00pm Monday night! Brian was no longer upset about us going off and having fun with out him (as I pointed out that he had things going on the next two nights, and we wouldn't see him anyway if we stayed home).
The kids did great on the way down there (3 hours), as it was bed time and all but Hayden fell asleep. Hayden was up front with me, and was the honorary navigator-great job Hayden! We got to our hotel around 11:00pm, and the sweet lady at the front desk helped me get all my kids and gear up to the room and settled!
Tuesday morning we were trying to decide what to do that day, and I gave the kids various options, one of them being to go to Bush Gardens amusement park. We decided that's where we would go, and headed off. The kids were getting very excited as were started to see the roller coasters from the road. As we were turning towards the entrance, I noticed that I hadn't seen any movement on the roller coaster, and after glimpsing through the trees, noticed that the parking lot was empty. "Uh oh guys, I don't think it's open." "No, it is, we are just early.", they said. But, as we pulled up to the gate we saw the 'closed' sign. I felt so stupid, I wasn't even thinking of it not being open for the season yet! We were there on March 18th, and they opened March 21st! Just a few days too early! So, on with an new plan to go visit the Jamestown settlement!
On the way to the settlement along the 'colonial parkway', we stopped alongside of the James River for their all-time favorite past-time of throwing rocks in the water!
Ronan, Morgan, & Duncan playing with logs in the James River.
Fun times running along the shore of the river. The kids LOVE anything water!
So, we made it to the Jamestown settlement that day, and here are some pictures of our fun there!
The kids in a dug-out canoe just outside of the 'fort'

We watched this woman shoot her gun (very loud by the way, I thought it was a canon from far off), and then I turn around and caught Duncan having fun with his gun:


This gun is something that Hayden bought there with his own money, and ended up being quite a source of contention among the kids. the gun eventually had to go away until we got home.
Our little Duncan solider.

Morgan the solider.
What a happy solider Ronan is.
Hayden was a bit embarrassed to be 'dressing up' with the kids, but he appeased me with one photo!
The boys played 17th century bowling.


After the 'fort' section, we went and visited the 'Indian village', which is what Pocahontas would of lived in.

Inside the hut.
I caught Hayden grinding corn-see 10 year-olds aren't too old to have fun here!
Morgan loved grinding the corn!
Here the kids are scraping the fur off the hide, before it was tanned and such. Duncan's little blue coat there came home COVERED in the animal hair!

After our fun in Jamestown, we went back to the hotel to swim in the pool. Ashlyn wasn't feeling well that afternoon, and started to get a bit of a fever, so her and I didn't swim. The pool wasn't as warm as we'd hoped, so the kids didn't swim too long before they wanted to go eat. We had a nice surprise when we found out that not only did the hotel serve us breakfast for free, but they also had a free dinner as well. So, we loaded up some plates, and then went up to our room to eat while we watched a movie before bed.

Wednesday I had noticed that it was supposed to be somewhere between 78-79 degrees, so I pumped the kids up about driving an hour out to Virginia Beach to spend the day at the beach! Now, since I hadn't planned this when we left, I brought no beach equipment, so we swung by the local K-Mart (hadn't seen one of those in a LONG time), and bought towels, buckets, etc. and headed out to Virginia Beach. Well, one thing I DIDN'T hear about on the weather channel was the WIND that we had that day. We made it to the beach, and the kids took off towards the water, leaving me dragging the stroller with Ashlyn and all our gear loaded in it in the sand (tip: strollers are NOT meant to be pushed in sand). Well, as soon as I stepped onto the beach visions of our trip to the beach in Lowestoft, England came to my head. Where we bought a 'sand blocker' (a sheet of plastic between two poles you sat next to to prevent the sand from hitting you in the face when the wind blew), and laughed that everyone had one, and this was the 'normal' way to go to the beach! Well, I did not have a sand blocker with me in Virginia Beach, an therefore would be emptying the sand from my ears for days! Anyway, I realized that we would NOT be staying at the beach, and started to call for the kids to come back. Well, between the waves and the wind they couldn't hear me. So, I grabbed Ashlyn, put a blanket over her head to protect her from the sand, and abandoned the stroller to go get the other children to come back. While doing this our buckets apparently became loose, and started to fly across the sand. This at least got Hayden's attention, who quickly came to help me gather up our stuff that was blowing across the sand, and then went to get the other kids. They told me we should stay, because 'When your in the water there's no sand blowing on you'. 'No', I said, 'Time for a new plan'.

We made it back to the car, ate our picnic lunch in the car inside the parking garage, then decided to go far away from the sand. Well, as we were trying to leave the parking garage, the woman informed me that it was a 'Cash Only' place! What?! Who carries cash these days? She finally agreed to let me leave and promise to come back to pay her after I found an ATM. She said I must be an honest person with 'all those kids'. We found an ATM, went back and paid her, then called Brian for ideas of what else we should do in Virgina Beach. His co-worker grew up in the area, and was a big help. He told us to go to this Marine Science Center, which was wonderful! The kids loved it! They got to pet some sting rays, see sharks, alligators, huge turtles, and tons more. It was a very 'hands on' place, and we spent a few hours there. Thanks Dave!

We ended up not getting back to the hotel until bedtime that night, and bathed and slept.

Thursday morning after breakfast we headed home, and were back in Columbia by lunchtime. It was a great trip and we are excited to do that again. Brian also enjoyed a bit of quiet while we were gone-not as lonely as he thought it would be! He said "It was so nice, I cleaned the house after you guys left, and it STAYED clean the whole time!" Imagine that!

I got to go see Jeri's sweet little baby girl that night-so precious! Brian says he wants to rent her for naps, as Ashlyn no longer will just lay on his chest-she's got to move now!

Friday, we had a play date in the morning, lunch with Brian, play date in the afternoon, and then picnic dinner with some friends that night at the state park. It was a great spring break week!

The tagger

Quick story:

While in Williamsburg, Duncan and I were walking, and a flock of birds flew overhead. I heard him mumbling something, but couldn't make it out, and asked him what he was saying.

"I'm looking for the tagger mama. There he is,...wait, no, that's him!"

Then a few more birds flew by, "Oh, there he is!" (he's pointing at the last bird) "He's the tagger!"

"What do you mean 'the tagger'?"

"He's IT mama, he's the tagger, he's chasing the other birds trying to tag them!"

"Ohh" "How do you now which one is the tagger?"

"The one at the end, he's getting them all, that's why they are flying away!"

"How do they pick the tagger?"

"He just decides he's going to be IT, and tells the other birds to fly away 'I'm coming'!"

I thought that was cute. I love getting a little insight into their minds. I had no idea that every time he saw a flock of birds he was thinking they were playing tag! Makes me smile! :)

Bike ride

This past Thursday night after school we all went on a bike ride on the trails through the woods near our house. It was a good time, and everyone did really well. Ashlyn fell asleep in the bike trailer with Duncan, and he was so sweet, and kept putting a blanket on her.
So, toady we thought we'd do the bike ride again, and go a little farther than the other night. We geared everyone up, brought lots of water, and headed off! About 2 blocks from the house we were about to turn left and go over a bridge crossing a small creek. I was in front, and yelled out to everyone "No passing! We are turning and people are coming up on the left!" (The whole passing thing has been an issue lately. Hayden, Ronan, and Morgan are all determined to be the 'kid in front', and are constantly yelling out 'bike on your left' as they are trying to pass each other.) Well, apparently Ronan did not hear my instruction, and started to try and pass Hayden when he saw the pedestrians coming up, and the sharp left we were making over the bridge. When he tried to correct himself, he ended up hitting the edge of the bridge straight on! I thought he was going to go over it and land in the creek! He banged up his leg and hand pretty bad, and it hurt to stand. So, we gathered everyone back to the house to bandage up Ronan. Hayden and Morgan we quite upset about the ride being cut so short, as I told them how wonderful it was that they were SO concerned about their brother (ha!). Well, Brian said I should take the two of them on and finish the bike ride, and he would stay home with the other kids. Hayden quickly dropped out when he realized that we wouldn't be stopping to play in the creek, just a bike ride this time. So, Morgan and I went on a ride together. It was great! We rode from our house down to Lake Elkhorn (about4-5 miles away), around the lake, and then home again. I was so impressed with Morgan and her stamina. About 10 minutes before we made it home she got a flat tire, so we walked the remainder, but other than that she was peddling great!

This is Ashlyn before her very first bike ride. What a cutie!

Delayed guilt

Today I was at the school park talking with some other moms when Ronan came riding up on his bike towards us saying he felt bad that he had just accidentally hurt his friend with his bike, then rode off. When I turned to the direction he had come from to see if the girl was hurt, I couldn't see her. After looking around a bit I noticed that she was out in the field playing with some other girls, and Ronan hadn't been near her. We concluded that Ronan suffers from 'delayed guilt', and probably hurt her 10 minutes prior, but only now was feeling remorse for it. This reminded me of a recent story regarding that.
Our bishop has a jar full of small M&M packets, which he gives out when you share a 'Missionary Moment' with him. Well, Ronan has been sure to have a 'Missionary Moment' every week for the past 2-3 months, and collect his candies each Sunday. Well, 2 weeks ago out of the blue on a Tues. night he comes crying to me telling me what a bad boy he is. I assured him he was not a bad boy, and to tell me what was wrong. He said "I'm a liar! I haven't really been having a Missionary Moment EVERY week, I've just been saying the same thing to the bishop each Sunday so I could get the candy, because I LOVE chocolate!"
We talked about telling the truth, and feeling sorry for what we've done, and asking for forgiveness. I told him he should tell the bishop he is sorry for lying, and ask him to forgive him.
"NO! I told YOU! Can't you just tell him?!"
I wanted him to understand the meaning of 'trying to make it right', and knew that this was a safe way to due it, due to the fact that I knew the bishop would be loving and forgiving. So, last week we saw the bishop at a Cub Scout event, and Ronan & I went to speak with him. Ronan was scared and nervous, but he did it, and the bishop let him know they are still friends, and all is forgiven. It turned out to be a good experience, but I just chuckled thinking of that on the playground today talking about him suffering from 'delayed guilt'! He's a cutie, and such a tender-hearted boy. He makes me smile.

Sweet Brother

Today as I came upstairs from doing some laundry (something I am CONSTANTLY doing), I heard that Ashlyn was awake on her monitor. As I got closer to her room I heard Duncan singing sweetly to her, and tip toed to the door. I peeked in and found that he had gotten a stool, climbed in her crib, turned on the mobile, and was singing to her. Now, climbing in the crib is something that is strictly forbidden in our house, but I couldn't get upset with him, he was being so sweet to her! So, instead I took a photo of it.
Here are some photos of Ahslyn after Duncan dressed her up to be 'COOL'


Today after school was Morgan's 'Special Time' with Brian, and the two of them took off right from school to the Aquarium in the Inner Harbor. They had a blast with the new exhibit on frogs there, and walking around the harbor. Morgan loved having daddy's attention all to herself!
Poor Ashlyn has started to get congested again. She didn't sleep well last night, and fell asleep in my arms at the park today! I hate it when she doesn't feel well! She still tries so hard to be happy through it all though! Love that girl!

Rainy Day

Today we had a blast in the rain! The kids have been longing to jump in some puddles, and it was a perfect day for it!
Tut...tut, looks like rain!
Duncan watching the rain fall!
The wind began to blow, and Morgan and Ronan started trying to see if they could get their umbrellas to lift them into the air with the wind. It brought back memories of me trying to be like Mary Poppins as a kid doing the same thing. I used to call windy days 'A Mary Poppins day'
All of this fun in the rain made up for the bike ride we had planned, but didn't get to take do to all the moisture we got!
Other things we got to do today:
Ronan & Morgan finished their last day of swim lessons, and graduated! Morgan is a GREAT swimmer and has started learning the butterfly stroke (something her instructor said she hasn't seen a 5 year old do before) Go MORGAN!
Brian and Duncan went for their 'Special Time' this week to the Science Center in Baltimore, and had fun there. Although reportedly the best part of the trip was watching the 'Harbor Sweeper' clean up the trash in the water (the dead rat made it especially cool).