Happy Birthday, CC!

CC is fifteen! I can hardly believe it!

She is growing into quite the lovely lady. She is kind, thoughtful, and eager to help others. She can always be found dancing around the house, singing to her favorite music, or creating some kind of craft with the sewing machine. Her latest talent is nail art -- she can glue tips and paint nails with the best of them. I am impressed enough that I'm about to let her start doing my nails!

CC continues to be devoted to our church community. She is not only eagerly looking forward to her upcoming Confirmation, but still altar serves on a regular basis, volunteers with the elementary schoolers' Faith Formation, and helps make the costumes for the school plays. 

Her favorite subject in school is English. She finds her teacher, Mr O, hilarious, and thoroughly enjoyed her first experience with Shakespeare this year: Romeo and Juliet. It didn't hurt that Mr O rang a bell every time they encountered an inappropriate joke (supposedly to prevent the students from asking him to elaborate, but instead not-so-subtly drawing their attention to all the inappropriate jokes!).

Her favorite food continues to be sushi, although Caesar salad is a recent obsession (hold the anchovies, please). For the second year in a row, she requested a cheesecake for her birthday, and I was happy to oblige. Thank goodness I have Memere's recipe! 

She is looking forward to her first "real" jobs this summer: swim team coach and lifeguard. She will have to manage her time between working and dancing, because she has been selected to start on pointe at her ballet studio, and must train four full weeks over the summer. She will be busy!

Another huge step for her is drivers' ed. Now that she's 15, she can get her drivers' permit and begin driving while supervised by me or MJ. She's already completed the classroom portion of her training and is halfway done with the behind-the-wheel portion. I am confident that she will be a good driver, because she takes it very seriously and is a cautious driver.

We love you, CC! Happy 15th birthday, sweetie. May this be your best year yet!

CC's New Look!

 

CC looks so cute in her new glasses! We picked them up after we returned home from the beach. She's a little self-conscious about how they look, but everyone agrees they really suit her face and look great on her. And I love that they're pink, but a sophisticated pinkish -- a nod to her personality.

She doesn't need to wear them all the time, mostly just at school to better see the board. But she's shocked at how much better her vision is with the glasses, even with her mild prescription.

Spring Break 2026

We headed to the beach for spring break last week, opting to have a more relaxed experience instead of the jam-packed spring trips we've had the last several years.

Unfortunately, as we learned this year, the weather is very unpredictable in the spring, and you don't always get the beachy experience you were expecting. The week prior to our stay was gorgeous and warm, and this week is gorgeous and warm ... but last week? Chilly and windy.

We didn't let it stop us, though. And fortunately it didn't rain, so we could still do outdoor activities. We played mini golf and board games, rode bikes everywhere, ate lots of ice cream, swam in the (chilly) pool, celebrated Easter, took Amber for long walks on the (windy) beach, and watched the Masters. We wrapped up our NCAA bracket challenge (I WON!!) by watching the Final Four and Championship games. And we enjoyed being away from our normal routine, and spending time with each other!

The wind was really good for one thing, though: flying a kite! Sweet Pea and I went out for a while and it was the easiest kite flying I've ever done. The kite sailed up in the sky immediately and never swooped down.

My dad joined us for the first half of the week, and it was so lovely having him there. He's always up for a bike ride, or a walk on the beach, or ice cream!

We played several rounds of mini golf, and Sweet Pea won the second one! MJ is convinced that something went wrong with CC's scorekeeping, but Sweet Pea was positively crowing about it.

The kids created their own version of Uno: a cheating-only version! It requires you to cheat as much as possible to get rid of your cards. I don't think I've ever heard the kids laugh so hard. The girls told me that when Little Man stood up after the game was over, about 100 cards fell out of his pants!

All in all, it was a nice week despite the weather. But I don't think you'll catch the Morrisons at the beach for spring break again. But since we've already gone to the beach this year, I wonder where we'll go this summer?

He is Risen!

Happy Easter from the beach!

Charleston with 7th Graders

Sweet Pea and Little Man's 7th grade class took an overnight field trip to Charleston, and I was lucky enough to chaperone it. I've been so blessed to chaperone all my kids' overnight field trips: Atlanta, DC, the Outer Banks, and now Charleston. 

The kids were grouped by fours (their hotel room groups), and each chaperone was in charge of two groups. Oddly enough, neither Little Man nor Sweet Pea were in my groups! I had eight boys I'd never met before, and they all had unusual names (including two boys named Abinhav), so my brain was working overtime to keep them straight. But fortunately I was on the same bus as Little Man, so at least we were always at the same location, and Sweet Pea's bus was usually not far away. 

After a long day on the bus, we made it. First stop: a bus tour of the downtown area to learn a bit about Charleston's history, then a walking tour of the College of Charleston. Next we visited the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier that was commissioned in 1943 and named after the original Yorktown, which was sunk in the Battle of Midway. The kids had a great time exploring the carrier, going down to the laundry and mess, seeing the sleeping berths, and climbing all the way up to the flight deck and bridge.

After that, it was off to a bowling alley and arcade for pizza and fun until bedtime. The next morning we were up bright and early, headed to Boone Hall Plantation, one of the oldest working plantations in the US. We learned about the ways the Boone family earned money off the land -- timber, rice, and cotton -- and off the back of thousands of slaves. We toured the gardens and some remaining slave cabins, then watched a demonstration of slave music and language (Gullah) while we ate lunch on the grounds. Sean's favorite part was the smokehouse, which looks awfully similar to Homer's pig silo in The Simpsons Movie.

The plantation's famous "Avenue of Oaks" was gorgeous, especially on such a beautiful day, and I could see why it's been in so many movies.

We headed back into town for horse-drawn carriage tours of the Historic District. At this point, the tour guides were impressed at how much the kids knew about Charleston's history! The kids were especially interested in a special app the guides have: if the horse goes to the bathroom during the tour, the tour guide uses a special app to mark the exact location, and a "cleanup" vehicle arrives promptly to clean up the mess. It's part of Charleston's effort to keep their downtown looking and smelling nice (which was badly needed -- MJ's prevailing memory of Charleston from a visit years ago is of the smell from the horses).

Then the kids had some free time to explore the City Market, and I gave them each a little money to spent. Little Man (naturally) purchased a toy samurai sword. Sweet Pea purchased candy from a chocolatier that had a beautiful display.

Then we walked to the aquarium, which was small but entertaining. As we were leaving, we saw the sting rays eating, which was pretty cool!

After dinner at Golden Corral, we went on ghost tours of the Historic District. When all the groups compared notes afterwards, we realized that we'd heard different stories, which made retelling the stories extra fun. Sweet Pea told me she and her roommates slept with the lights on that night!

Our final morning, we went on a boat tour of the Charleston Harbor, out to Fort Sumpter and back. It was a great way to end our trip! The weather was gorgeous, and there was a nice breeze on the deck of the boat. Then it was back on the buses for the long drive home. 

Shepherding two hundred 7th graders on and off buses, and in and out of museums, is not for the faint of heart, but the kids were fairly well-behaved. I'm thankful my kids (and their peers) have these opportunities. We packed a ton into a few short days, but had a great time, and the kids made some special memories.

Carmina Burana: Cirque Style

I've always loved the music from Carmina Burana, so I was really excited when Sweet Pea's cirque company was asked to participate in an aerial and dance performance to the music, accompanied by the symphony and an opera chorus. It was her first time performing to live music, and the show was amazing! She and her cirque bestie, Joni, both say it's their favorite show ever.

She was in four scenes, and performed a variety of dance, silks, and partner acro. I especially loved that she did duo silks, which she'd never done before. It was so beautiful! Sweet Pea was almost always in the middle of the stage, which made it easy for us to see her and enjoy the show. 

Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/gswjogVn6rQ
(Special thanks to another cirque mom who took these videos!)

Unfortunately, Little Man felt sick the day prior, which is very unusual for him. I was shocked and saddened when we tested him and discovered he had Covid. So he couldn't come to the show, and neither could Pepere, who'd been planning on staying with us. But the rest of us came, including Grandma and Grandpa, so Sweet Pea still had plenty of fans in the audience. Hopefully Little Man is feeling better quickly, and doesn't pass it on to anyone else!

Note: this was the first time I've put my new-ish Canon R6 through its paces in a low-light, fast-action environment, and I was really happy with the results! 

CC's Dance

CC had her first high school dance last night! Hers is an arts school, so they don't have any sports teams, hence there was no Homecoming dance last fall. But the school planned a "Cupid Ball" for this month, and CC immediately invited a friend of hers from middle school to attend. She couldn't wait to introduce Vanessa to all her high school friends!

Camry came over to get ready with CC and Vanessa, and they all got along great. I took some pictures, then drove them to the school where they linked up with a lot of other friends.

Afterwards they reported that the dance was "not worth the hype." MJ and I laughed. There was hype for a high school dance?! I told the kids that next time, they could volunteer to be part of the dance committee. And then they could see how hard it is to plan an event, pull it off, and try to make everyone happy!

Despite their complaints, they were all smiles when they came out. They'd taken a ton of pictures, and they happily chatted about how everyone looked and danced. I suspect they secretly had a great time. CC's first high school dance was a success!