Morgan's 3rd Birthday!

We say this every year, but it's hard to believe how much Morgan has changed in a year.

This year, Morgan transitioned from her crib to a big girl bed, from diapers to undies, and from being an only child to being a fantastic big sister to Gwen. But that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to her growth. Morgan's vocabulary and memory never cease to amaze us. She has learned all of her numbers and letters (upper and lower case), and even knows what sound each letter makes. She sings. She dances. She bakes. She plays board games. She also won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. (Okay, I made that last one up, but you get the point...)

At her 3-year checkup, Morgan was 27.5 pounds (10th percentile) and 37 inches (2nd percentile). Since last year, she has grown 4 inches. But, medically speaking, she's still our little peanut.

Morgan's birthday party happened on the Saturday before her actual birthday. But that didn't stop us from making her 3rd birthday special. On Monday night, Mom and Dad huffed and puffed and blew up 75 balloons to scatter all over Morgan's bedroom for when she woke up on her birthday.

Everyone took the day off from work (and school) so we could go to the Phildelphia Zoo with Nanna and Grandpa. Morgan was especially exited to go see the monkeys and gorillas (including the tiny baby baboon pictured below.)

All the excitement of going to the zoo (not to mention leftover exhaustion from Saturday's birthday party) wiped Morgan out, so we left the zoo a little earlier than planned and headed home. (Gwen, on the other hand, was wide awake and ready to play.)

After lunch, we opened birthday presents from Mom and Dad, and Nanna and Grandpa.

Morgan got a basketball hoop from Nanna and Grandpa, a bunch of sand and water toys, and her very own radio/MP3 player with a microphone that lets her sing along with her favorite tunes. ("Ooga-shaka, ooga-shaka, ooga-ooga..")

It was a hot, sunny day in South Jersey, so we headed out back to splash around with Morgan's new toys in her water table.

After a huge spaghetti dinner (Morgan's choice), we topped-off Morgan's big day with a big ice cream sundae (chocolate ice cream, of course.)

Morgan's 3rd Birthday Party

Several months ago, when Ariella asked Morgan what kind of birthday party she wanted this year, she immediately answered, "Chocolate!" So when her party finally arrived on Saturday, chocolate is what she got. And lots of it.

On Saturday morning, Morgan helped Mom decorate the M&M cake. (Morgan fine-tuned her cake icing skills the previous weekend for Dad's birthday cupcakes.)

Gwen is still too little for chocolate cake and icing. So she got her first taste of pretzels instead. ("Yum... salty!")

While the girls napped, we decorated the house with M&M-colored balloons. By 2pm, it was party time!

The first course of Morgan's Chocolate Smorgasbord were homemade chocolate bars and chocolate magic wands (made with pretzel sticks) that the kids could decorate will all sorts of yummy stuff. (It's artsy. It's delicious. What's not to like?)

For the second course, we fired-up the chocolate fountain with four pounds of sweet, gooey chocolate and plenty of tasty treats to dip in it -- strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, poundcake, brownies, pretzels and Pringles.

Despite all the goodies we had for dipping, what do you think Morgan really wanted to dip? That's right. Her finger. (Mom conceded, "Heck, it's your birthday. Go for it.")

After gorging ourselves on chocolate fountain, we headed into the living room to open presents.

Unlike last year, Morgan had a little helper who was eager to lend a tiny, little hand to opening presents. (Actually she had two helpers, as little Lucas decided he wanted in on the fun, too.)

Morgan got all sorts of fun toys, games and puzzles (and, yes, even some clothes). Morgan, Alex, Katie and Andrew couldn't wait play their first game of high-stakes Hi-Ho Cherry-o.

Finally, it was time to eat cake and sing Happy Birthday. After struggling to blow out her candles on her first two birthday cakes, this year the third time was the charm for Morgan.

The M&M cake was a good sport and somehow managed to keep a smile on his face, even while Ariella jabbed a sharp knife through his head and fed him to our party guests.

Not surprisingly, after eating chocolate non-stop for 2 hours, the kids were bouncing off the walls. So we all headed out back to burn off some chocolate-infused energy.

Morgan and Andrew took turns cannonballing into the sandbox.

By the time we came back inside to unwrap a few remaining birthday presents, Morgan's chocolate buzz was fading, and a full-blown sugar crash was eminent.

But before Morgan called it a night, she got in one last game of Hi-Ho Cherry-o with Lindsay, Alex, Jenny and Jon.