Please Pray

Brian's Uncle Bill (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/billhowland) was recently diagnosed with cancer. It has been a short and extremely tough battle. Last night he had a stroke and is no longer able to write or speak. We just ask that you say a prayer for his family, especially his wife and children, who I am sure are devastated. We pray for strength, healing, and no more pain for Bill.

An Over Due Update

It has been quite a while since we have posted. We have been busy traveling and visiting family that things just haven't slowed down much for us.

Earlier this month we went to Colorado. I had a work trip so the kids and I spent ten wonderful days there. Brian joined us for a few days at the end of our trip. We had a fabulous time swimming, going to the park, eating at Morgan's favorite restaurants (Chuck E Cheeses, McDonald's), and enjoying wonderful Colorado. We even saw some of our close friends...there just never is enough time to do everything and see everyone though!!

Last weekend we spent time with Brian's family at a corn maze. It is rare that Brian and his cousins are able to get together so we made use of the great weather and the fall season to have some fun. More pictures are below.

Thank you all for the prayers you have shown us and our family during some difficult times. My mom has started chemo and is tolerating it well. We pray this continues and that the TUMORS GO AWAY FOREVER (at least shrink so the doctors can get them OUT). Please keep the prayers coming as she still has a long road ahead. Your support and prayers give us strength and encouragement.

Brian's Uncle was also able to start chemo - he is in a considerable amount of pain though. We pray he is able to keep fighting through the pain until the medicine has time to work. He wasn't able to join us at the corn maze last week but his two wonderful children - Will and Lauren - were able to.

Both Morgan and Matthew are doing great. Morgan is all 'three' and is still challenging us in every way imaginable (all in a good way). She loves to read books and play games (I don't know how many times we have played candy land lately!). Morgan has discovered matching games on our iPod/iPhone and that keeps her entertained very well while in the car or traveling (yeah!). She is also beginning to understand how words are formed and loves to spell her name (M O R G A N) and E L M O. She also started ballet a few weeks ago. Hopefully we will have a recital at the end to share :). We probably will enroll her in gymnastics soon as she loves to do summer-saults in the living room and will climb on everything without any fear (I on the other hand in freaked out that will fall and knock out a tooth!).

Matthew is 7 months and already has his first tooth! It has been a painful process for us all, but we hope Matthew will start tolerating the pain better (especially at night!). I have a feeling that we will see more teeth very soon! Teeth are a good thing though because he loves the little solids that we have given him - breast milk and mushy baby food just isn't enough in his eyes! Matthew also loves to wave. We were at the zoo today and I caught him waving at several people as they walked on by. Some even stopped to wave back :)

Some pictures of our last month are below. We hope to see or hear from you all very soon!!

Lemmings * Howland * Norris visit to the corn maze

Colorado September 2008

Matthew - six months

Morgan - 3 years

*Updated* - Birthday Video

Our Labor Day Weekend Festivities

This weekend was filled with parties, a baptism, and fun, fun, fun!

Mama and Papa were able to visit this weekend and joined in the festivities with us.

Our niece and nephew had their first birthday party on Saturday. It was so much fun watching them eat cake for the first time! Happy birthday William and Maggie!

On Sunday, Matthew had his baptism (see below) and Morgan had her birthday party. Yesterday, we enjoyed the last day of the summer season (AKA Labor Day) at Lake Lanier. The weather started off a bit cool, but ended up perfect!

The Norris Clan

Whew...it was a busy and eventful weekend. Thank you to to Granddaddy, Nene, Alex, Peppy, Kim, Christy, Brandon, Jackson, William, Maggie, Mama, and Papa for being a part of a great weekend.

More pics are below:

The Cake

So...I decided to make Morgan's birthday cake this weekend. When I was '1', my mom made me my first bday cake - I wanted to do the same thing for Morgan. On her first bday - I tried, but failed with the cake so we stuck with cupcakes. One her second bday, I didn't even bother with cake and stuck with cupcakes yet again. This year, I decided to go all out. I found an inspiration cake and recipes online . I was happy with the way it turned out and plan to make more in the future. Hello Kitty is a fairly simple character by design so it ended up being a perfect choice for a cake.

Morgan is THREE!

Our little girl is now THREE years old! As requested, we had a 'Pink Hello Kitty Strawberry Cupcake Party'. Morgan had a party with our close family this weekend after Matthew's baptism this weekendand was decked in hello kitty from top to bottom (thanks to Mama/Papa for the shirt, Mimi for the bday hat, and Peppy for the bday sash). We even had a hello kitty cake (see post!).

My favorite pic from the weekend - so sweet

Morgan riding her hot new tricyle in the kitchen

Matthew joined in the festivities
Look - I am 3!We started her actual birthday with cinamon rolls for breakfast -complete with candles and singing. We spent the day at Lake Lanier and ended the evening with a picnic dinner in our living room eating our free chick fila chicken strips (they are good btw) watching the Little Mermaid. I hope Morgan felt extra special yesterday. I tell anyone who will listen, raising a two year old is the hardest thing I have ever done. She challenges us in every way imagineable - I do know that she makes me a better person as I am continually learning new things from her. I definitley look forward to this upcoming year! Morgan is a beautiful, smart, sweet, independent little girl who we are proud to call a daughter.

A birthday video can be found here:

Matthew's Baptism

Matthew was baptized on Sunday. The service attended by our close family (sans Aunt Mimi, Aunt Meg, and Kim) and our church family. Thank you to everyone who attended. We are so blessed to now have Matthew in our family. Even though I still think it is weird to have two kids, I can't imagine our life without him!

Apparently, it was a very meaningful service that followed the baptism (thanks to Brandon who shared the Cliffs Notes version). I had to leave just a few minutes into it - so I missed it. I decided to keep Matthew in the service as he was sleeping so peaceful - that is until he woke up crying. Next week - he will be back in the nursery :)

Matthew and Morgan

The Baptism
Our Family
Mama, Morgan, Papa and Matthew

Matthew's Baptism - Video