Christmas Season

Well, I am not sure if our Christmas letter is going to get out on time, it might up end up a news year letter! So for you people who read my blog, I have a version of what will be included in the letter.

We had a great time this year!
DAD continues to be really busy, so when we get to have him home with us, we are always happy. He rides his bike the twelve miles to work just about every morning in good weather, and in winter just about twice or three times a week.
MOM is still homeschooling us all, and we are all alive, or more importantly, she is still alive. she is assistant camp director for next year, and so meetings concerning that affair have picked up recently. She makes some of our Christmas gifts, so during this season she is always extra busy. She runs every morning at six a.m. while I am at seminary. Even when it is freezing cold. She runs the nursery in our ward, and comes home pretty tired, having chased thirteen kids around for two hours.
I grew a ton this summer. Getting home from vacation everyone had to say something.
I got my braces off, and love not having to floss with a needle every night, however I feel cheated because I have some permanent retainer thingies, and am not therefore entirely metal free. I can't wait for the church basketball season to start. Early in the school year I signed up for a drop-in basketball class at the rec center, and arrived to find out it was the Fairport varsity and jv teams getting gym time. I still did it, but it was more challenging than I expected. I has also been taking English classes with a private mentor, and am loving it. I also do math with a private mentor and don't enjoy that as much, but it is good. I do early morning seminary, and like it, but not the time it starts. I often arrive just having rolled out of bed about fifteen minutes earlier.
ELIAS wrestled last year, and had a good time, he also enjoyed practicing on his SISTER.
He was a slave boy in the hill cumorah pagent, and ummm LOVED wearing a skirt and a long black wig. He was the only scout to finish the 260 mile bike trip along the Erie Canal trail this summer, but he still had fun. He is playing basketball for the first time ever, and really likes that. He takes spanish with me, and is getting better at understanding stuff, just don't ever listen to his pronounciation. Elias has really matured in the last couple of months. His voice is deeper, and his shoulders have widened. Its weird. Elias loves playing outside, and making sledding jumps to break every bone in his siblings bodies (and his own)
SATCHEL enjoy his role as the family comedian. He comes up with new kung fu moves, lyrics, and jokes just about every other second. We were talking yesterday about how to graph the Y slope (y=MX+B) and decided he had to know how to do that. He also decided to learn how to type correctly, so he has been practicing with the text book. He loves creating new comic books, and illustrating them. He runs about a mile twice a week at the rec center, and plays outside all the time. He wants me to add that he wants to make movies, and be a scientist when he grows up, among a million other things.
ATTICUS is always on the move. He runs a little bit at the rec center with Satchel and me, and likes to practice his basketball. He has learned to read, and loves reading books to us, and also gets to read verses of scripture when we do our family scripture study. He plays the piano like the rest of us, and I think he likes that, although I am not sure. He loves wrestling with his older siblings, although his version of wrestling is not quite his siblings. It involves a lot more pain. On our part. Atticus wanted me to add that he likes how the snow is up to his waist right now. He also wants me to add that he wants to be a scientist too.

Anyway, that was the long version of what will be sent out later. However, if you don't get a card don't feel offended because it means we didn't get them out.
Lots of love,
Zoe
(and Mom, Dad, Elias, Satchel, and Atticus)

plz...help me...

I can not figure out how to do the cool thing that every else can do, where the photo representing the blogs is at top and center. Probably everyone has noticed that my morgansbydesign heading only shows morgansbydes. And the photo only shows the mountains, while our family is on the other side of the photo out of site. I go to customize and while you can drag everything else to different places, it won't let you move the bar labeled morgansbydesign. Ugh. Anyone with advice is welcome..I think I will try to do what Colin suggested a long time ago...if I can figure out how.

hangin out

Last Sunday was grey...but the temperature was really nice so dad attempted to teach us how to do a backflip. We all became professional at landing on our noses, but it was still really fun. Maybe after a lot of practice we will move up to some other body part like our feet (which would be ideal)

Halloween!

I didn't manage to get pics of the real costumes...but here's Atticus being funny Halloween morning I think. I love this picture!
Its the only one that wasn't blurred cause of him wriggling around so much.

the little chef

Satchel has been making lunch for us lately. His favorite is hummus, and he loves to make different versions of this classic spread. Last time I think he added several hot peppers. Here's some shots I got of him in the process of mixing every thing together.

Random

Cousins!

Amy, and her kids came to visit two Saturdays ago, we did the same thing we always do with them, but it was still really fun.
We rode our bikes to the Perington park and played. It was a beautiful day, and the leaves were really pretty.