Kate and Lacrosse

Ever since Nick started playing lacrosse Kate has been growing an interest in it. The problem - there was not a girl's lacrosse team around here in her age bracket. Well, Kate's mother had a discussion with the current coach of the boys lacrosse team of 3rd and 4th graders and asked if Kate could join their team. Sure enough, Kate is now the only girl on the boys lacrosse team. And she is certainly just as dedicated, focused, and aggressive as those boys are! Kate LOVES it!

They had their first games this weekend in the Halloween Shootout Tournament. Kate is turning out to be quite the little competitor!

This picture says it all. Here is Kate #32 knocking over her opponent!

And here is a slideshow of her in action this weekend!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Fortunately, Kate's mother has signed on to coach a girl's team in the Spring! Time for Kate to start recruiting her girl friends for some lacrosse!!!

Outstanding Behavior

Ashlan was given an award at school yesterday for Outstanding Behavior. Each teacher picks two children from their classroom who deserves the award! The teacher informed me last week that Ashlan would be getting this award, but we decided to keep it a secret from Ashlan so she would be surprised at the Award Assembly.

Of course, when Ashlan walked into the assembly and noticed her family, she might have figured out that she was getting the award.
We took a quick picture of her when she walked in......She had yet to notice us sitting in the room.


Then the moment came and her name was called as one of the recipients of the Outstanding Behavior awards!
She's the blonde jumping up in the air!


Her teacher walked over to her and placed a medal around her neck and gave her a certificate!


After the award ceremony! A happy girl!


Congratulations, sweet girl!

Congratulations Brent!

For the past several years Brent has been recognized by his peers as one of the Top Doctor's in Dallas. This year was no exception. D Magazine is on shelves starting this week (if you live in Dallas) with the Top Doctor's List.

Be sure and check out Brent on page 202.


We are proud of you, Brent!!!

A Teenage Boy

Nick is definitely in the midst of those fun (or not so fun) teenage years! Nick knows everything and we, his parents, know nothing. It's almost comical. But we were all like that as teenagers, right? I know I was. Yet, Brent will tell you he was the perfect teenager...and basically, an all around perfect child. Whatever.

Nick is keeping busy with lacrosse, honors classes at school, and his social life. He is growing fast! And did I mention this kid eats like a dinosaur. Just the other day I bought a box of those ice cream drumsticks. He ate all 6 in one setting (the whole box). I wasn't too happy about that. He eats an entire large pizza, 4-5 hot dogs at a time, etc.... You get the point. He is eating us out of the house!

Here are some pictures of Nick that I took last night. He was outside dunking the basketball, so I caught him in action.





Such a good looking boy with a HUGE heart! We love you, Nick! Keep up the good work! And believe me - one day you'll realize, your parents DID know it all!

Decisions, decisions....

Bismark has decided to dress up for Halloween this year. The problem is - he can't decide what to be.

His options are:

A Candy Corn (Kate prefers this because he will match her costume. She's going to be a Candy Corn Witch)


or a

Pirate


Help Bismark decide. What do you think he should be for Halloween?

A Priceless Thank You

Brent was given a very special 'thank you' from one of his patient's family members yesterday. She brought Brent a Bible. I can't think of a better gift!

She wrote a personal note to Brent which reads:

"Dr. Morgan,
Two years ago this week, Jerrod's life was in the hands of God. He put you where He wanted you and entrusted Jerrod's life to your knowledge and talents. You, quite literally, saved our son's life. There is no way to repay that.
Following Jerrod's surgery, I was compelled to give my life to finding ways to teach others about the goodness of God. Though not all outcomes are the same, God is always good. I had a logo created for a ministry at work and printed them on these Bibles. I wanted you to have one with my most sincere gratitude."



The logo she personally created


She dedicated the Bible to Brent


I love my husband and I am amazed at what he does. Brent will tell you - it's a very rewarding profession, but it's also heartbreaking at the same time. Like the lady mentions in her letter, 'not all outcomes are the same'. So very true. But it's always those patients and/or their families who are thankful and appreciative (no matter the outcome) that make Brent truly love what he does.

Maine

Brent and I just got back from a fabulous trip to the coast of Maine! Enjoy the pictures below!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A Surprise at the Door

I LOVE getting packages in the mail! So you can imagine how thrilled I was today when I got home and saw a package on my doorstep. Who could it be from? I hadn't ordered anything recently, no birthday's are on the horizon, so what was it and who was it from???

Well, I opened it and it was from my Aunt Barbara in Alabama! She's a candy corn lover too!



A cute monogrammed bag FULL of candy corn!

I love you, Aunt Barbara!
You certainly put a huge smile on my face!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Brent's secretary gave me this recipe a couple of weeks ago. Brent loves cheesecake AND pumpkin, so when she gave me this recipe, I knew I'd be making it SOON!

Well, this weekend I made it! Cheesecake has never been my first choice of dessert, BUT this cheesecake is now the exception. It is so delicious that I wanted to share it with all of you!

PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick melted salted butter

Filling:
3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese at room temperature
1 (15 oz) can pureed pumpkin
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground clove (I didn't have this so I omitted it)
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

For Crust:

In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon.
Add melted butter.

Press down flat into a 9 inch springform pan. Set aside
(I don't have a springform pan, so I used a 9 in glass casserole dish)


For Filling:

Beat cream cheese until smooth.
Add pumpkin pureed, eggs, yolk, sour cream, sugar, and spices.
Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined

Pour onto crust.
Spread out evenly

And place in oven at 350 for 1 hour

Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes
Cover with plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours

I had my first piece for breakfast this morning! I had to place a pumpkin candy corn on top.
I can't wait to serve a piece to Brent when he gets home from work today. He'll LOVE it!


Thank you, Sharon!!!

Melted Witch Puddles

This household was stuck indoors for the weekend due to fevers and sinus infections. So what else is there to do when your stuck inside.....well, BAKE!

All three kids were here for the weekend, so we made a quick trip to the store and got what we needed to make some Melted Witch Puddles.


Here is the link to the recipe

Here are the girls ready to start baking (Compliments to Memomma for the aprons)

Kate is mixing the coconut with yellow food coloring to make the ends of the broom

Dipping those Bugles in the melted chocolate was the biggest mess, but it was also the most fun!

The hats are complete.

Make the puddles, add a broom, and place the hat on top!

And there you have your Melted Witch Puddles.


These were sooooo much fun to make!

Sippity Doodle

This week I had the opportunity to go with a friend to a place called Sippity Doodle.. Sippity Doodle is a neat little place where you go and paint on canvas. There is an artist there that will assist you with your painting....meaning, they paint while you follow their instruction. Basically, you get a group together, everyone paints the same picture, all while drinking wine and having fun! I've never been anywhere like this before and I really enjoyed it! Here's a picture of the studio:

Here is the painting that we all picked to paint. Looks hard right?

And here is my finished product. The artist paints on a canvas right along with you so they really help!

And of course, every artist must sign their work!


I can't wait to get a group of my friends together and go back! So much fun!