Moran Family Fun

Samantha lost her first tooth today. It has been so, so wiggily for about a week now but she wanted to wait for it to fall out by itself. No pulling or yanking allowed! This morning she came running into the kitchen with her tooth into her hand and said, "Mom, I was using the potty when I felt something on my tongue. So I reached in and guess what I found? Guess Mom, guess! My tooth!! It fell out!!!!" Yeah, it was pretty much the highlight of our morning. And doesn't she look so adorable with that little gap in her teeth?

This year, for the first time ever, we had a little pumpkin carving party. I really don't like carving pumpkins, or maybe I really don't like cleaning pumpkins out. The carving itself isn't all that bad. But the seeds and slimy guts are not my favorite thing. However, I put that aside and got four pumpkins ready to be carved. Jared found really good directions and tips for the actual carving as well as templates; which were perfect for us non-artsy types - we could just trace! The carving party began right after dinner and was so much fun I think we will be repeating this fun activity every year from now on - including the cinnamon rolls for dessert! Natalie and Jared made this one. What that means is that Jared did all the work and Natalie ATE the raw pumpkin pieces that Jared cut out. Samantha and I made this awesome owl pumpkin. Samantha was mostly there for moral support and encouragement as well as to put the candle in place once we were finished. Abigail was one sp...

A Trampoline, that is. The girls have been wanting a trampoline for a while now. I think they finally figured out that Jared and I weren't going to buy one, so they bought their own. Emily took an old applesauce jar and wrapped a new label around it that said 'Trampoline Fund' and just like that the spare change started rolling in. Unfortunately, even with mountains of nickels and dimes it was going to take a long time to have enough cash for a trampoline. But then we found a trampoline for sale for just $75 and the girls had already saved enough to buy it! So on Monday Jared and I went to pick up the trampoline from the friends that sold it to us, and then we brought that baby home and set it up. Natalie and Samantha played on it all afternoon and when the older girls came home from school they went straight to the back yard and bounced until dinnertime. Our backyard is now at least five times more fun than it used to be.

The writing class I've been taking is FINALLY over and that means I can do something fun with my time. Yesterday and today I've been feeling creative and I'm so excited about it that I have been bouncing from project to project. Usually I start one thing and don't move on until I've finished. But right now I have four different projects at different stages of completion. Can you guess what I'm making?