Moran Family Fun

Emily is our most social child and summer is a boring time for her because she doesn't get to see her friends as much as she'd like to. Luckily, her friend Sydney lives right here in town and came over for a sleepover on Tuesday night. All the kids love playing with Sydney so it was a fun night for everyone. They played outside until it got dark and then came inside and played some more. By the time they settled down it was after midnight. That should have been enough fun for a while, but the next night Emily had another sleepover with her friend Aubrey from church. Aubrey is so sweet and is really good about playing with everyone, even Natalie and Samantha. It was another night of running around outside and then staying up late - really, really late. The kids haven't had that many sleepovers so it's a new thing for them and for me too. I stayed up both nights until all the kids had fallen asleep just in case they needed anything but thinking about it now I wonder if I ...

My sister Charissa said that she wanted to see some more pictures of the kids on here so I've posted some for everyone to see just how cute they really are! Samantha at the (so rocky you can't swim here) beach in Italy Emily being serenaded during lunch in Pisa Abigail is obviously overjoyed to have recieved a new journal for her birthday! Natalie wearing Samantha's bunny ears that she made at school Madison relaxing after a long walk in Lucca

It always makes me feel happy and like I'm doing something right when I see that my kids love each other. This weekend Natalie and Samantha were laughing hysterically so I went to see what was so funny. They were standing on opposite ends of the entryway and then running towards each other. When they met in the middle they would hug and kiss and laugh. Then Natalie would yell "Again!" and the whole thing would start over. It was so cute and sweet to see them having a great time together. It sounded so fun that even Abigail wanted to get in on the fun. Our entryway is T shaped so they each stood and one end and then ran towards the middle for a big hug. Our landlord is a really nice, easy going guy. Whenever he stops by he has a treat for the kids. The toilet seat in our bathroom was breaking so we let him know that we'd need a new one. He came by a few weeks ago with a new toilet seat for our bathroom and it's so awesome that I just had to put a picture of it o...

Things get pretty messy around here sometimes and I keep telling myself that I'm not the only mother with a two year old who likes to make messes. Natalie has always been a quiet girl who is pretty content to be one her own and play quietly. It's only lately that she has taken that quiet time and turned it into something else entirely. It started with the toilet and the seemingly simple question "Where's Natalie?" She was in the bathroom (of course) scooping water out of the toilet and dumping it onto the floor. Besides being gross it was a lot of water to soak up and then a lot of towels to wash. And while I was cleaning up one mess she was making another in the other bathroom. This time is was water from the sink and lots of hand soap. She really took me seriously when I told her that water in the toilet was yucky and dirty! The next day I found myself again asking "Where's Natalie?" I found her in the kitchen washing dishes in the sink w...