HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICK!!!

I can't believe Nick is 7 years old already. Where has all the time gone??

We finally had his birthday party last night. It was originally scheduled for last Sunday, but Nick woke up sick on the day of his party and stayed sick until Wednesday. Fortunately, everything worked out that we could move his party to last night. Even the weather was perfect - about 70 degrees out. Nick has been begging for a sleepover so we let him invite 3 friends over to spend the night - Jake, Alec, and Chase. They ate lots of junk food and played lots of basketball - inside and outside.

Nick's favorite...chocolate chip cookie cake

Finally...ready for bed

A new baseball bat- just what he's been wanting. I bet he'll get lots of home runs this spring

After being sick most of the week, having a sleepover last night, and two basketball games today, Nick is worn out!

Basketball

Here's some pictures from Saturday's basketball games. Nick is playing on 3 basketball teams this winter (Yes, you read that right. He's on 3 basketball teams). Nick plays for the Wildcats (Ryan coaches that team). He also plays for the church. And, he plays for the Mavs (Ryan is assistant coach). They won all their games last weekend. As you can imagine, Nick was worn out. Here's some pictures from two of the games.

Cookie Time!

Once again, it's time for Girl Scout cookies. Meghan is determined to reach her goal of 300 boxes so she has been out selling cookies (in the freezing cold) whenever we haven't been at basketball games this weekend. Our neighbor joined our troop this year so she's got some competition in the neighborhood and we also go to church with 3 other girls from our troop. She's off to a good start - 104 boxes so far. We are also collecting boxes of cookies for the Wounded Warriors program this year which has received a lot of positive response. For those of you that have asked, here's a little more info about the cookies for the troops. One of the girls in our troop has two uncles stationed at a local base. We are collecting boxes of cookies for the Wounded Warriors there. Hopefully, at least some of the girls in our troop will get to deliver the cookies to the soldiers and visit with them. If not, our troop member and her family will deliver them to the soldiers. This is a great program that allows us to show our appreciation to the troops.

Got cookies?

Christmas

Finally, Christmas pictures! Unfortunately, these are out of order because my computer had problems while I was trying to load pictures. My parents came over Christmas morning to have breakfast and see what Santa brought the kids. Then, we went over to their house for dinner where my brother cooked a wonderful Italian dinner for everyone - that was his present to all of us. On Saturday, we went to my grandparent's house for Christmas with my dad's family - that's always an interesting experience. You'll understand what I mean when you see the picture of Nick with the glasses on.

Here's a picture of Nick's new truck ....

They both got new scooters from Granmom and Grandad.
Santa brought new golf clubs!
and a new digital camera for Meghan..


Nick's new scooter

My aunt and uncle gave Nick this voice changer megaphone for Christmas. It has got to be the most annoying gift he has ever received. It's about to drive me crazy! For the Morgan family Christmas, we did a $5 gift exchange. These glasses were in one of Ryan's presents from my grandparents. Pretty wild, right? Nick is certainly enjoying them, though.

Morgan's & Orlowski's

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Sorry I've been a little slow posting pictures, but it's been a busy holiday. Anyway, here's some pictures from the Christmas Eve musical at church. The kids were in two performances that night and they had a good time. Unfortunately, they were inside the whole time that it was snowing outside so I didn't get any pictures of them in the snow flurries that night. It was just starting to come down when we were going into the church. There's a chance for snow flurries later this week, so maybe we'll get some pictures then. For now, though, here are the musical pictures. Here's a group photo:

Meghan with friends Tess & Morganne
Nick & his best friend Jake (front row on left)

Meghan is helping hold the scroll. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a very good picture from where I was sitting but that's her on the very end down there....

Finally home from the musical...