MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
Well, Christmas 2007, version 1.0 has come and gone. Matthew had quite a good haul this year. Santa brought him Rocky and Daisy and Mighty Mac and Thomas and Bertie's Great Race (trains...all trains). He also got a one of a kind, hand crafted, custom built train/car/whatever table to play with everything on. I don't want to toot my own horn, but I think it turned out pretty good.

He also got a few games: Cootie, Chutes and Ladders and Don't Break the Ice (AKA "don't step on that ice"). And that was just in the early morning.

Uncle Zac, Aunt Whitney and cousins Micah and Emmie came over to Granna and Da's house and we had even MORE presents! Matthew got a Star Station (We'll be filming his American Idol audition tape shortly) He also got a new Kid Tough digital camera. (Old grandpa voice: I remember when we used to have film in cameras. And you had to be at least 8 or 9 to own and operate one!!!) He is well on his way to becoming a great photographer. Here's a sample shot:

I said the picture was good...not the subject.

After opening presents, Matthew and Micah went outside to try and join the Hell's Angels bike club. Sadly, the Mickey Mouse helmet is not on their list of approved attire and he was rejected.

Before all of the festivities, Matthew had a baking day with Granna, Mommy, Raymie, Maisy and Madison. Here is the future chef at work.

On Christmas Eve, we had a birthday party for Jesus. Here is our 3 year old, playing with fire. I'm so proud of him!!!

Matthew was not the only one who scored big this year. Me, Zac and Dad all got matching beanie hats and chrome coozies (a Schlitz Malt Liquor bottle fits right inside!!!)

"Word"

And if you missed out on the perfect Christmas gift this year, or didn't get everything you wanted, just remember that there are elves and people everywhere who suffer from R.E.D.S. (Rear End Deficiency Syndrom) and didn't get what they REALLY needed.....

.....an "end"

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!!

'I ran 13.1 miles today...what did YOU do?'

No she didn't say that, but she had every right to. That's right, my wife, who has recently decided to torture herself in the name of charity (see also crazy lady walking 60 miles in 3 days) competed in the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon. With little time (read that NO time) to prepare (holidays, birthdays and people moving) she was able to push herself to run the entire race. She finished in 2:23:04...not too shabby.

Providing advice, support and the inspiration for this lunacy: Aunt Diane

Attaching the number...at 7:00 A.M....notice the shorts? It was 38 degrees! I say again, "lunacy!"

The whole crazy team: Amanda and Diane ran the half marathon while Uncle Frank ran the full. He is now 5 states away from running a marathon in every state....these people are nuts!!! (Way to go, Frank!!!)

The Evolution of Matthew

It's been 3 years since the world was blessed with the birth of Matthew William Morton and I thought it was time to take a look back and see how he's grown (or not grown...whatever).

Birth: 6 lbs. 7 oz. 19 1/4" long capable of sounds reaching well over 120 decibels

1 year: 19 lbs. 9 oz. 29" and LOOK AT THOSE CHEEKS!!!

2 years: 23 lbs. 4 oz. 33 3/4" and already a lady killer...here he is setting up a hot date! (with his Nana)

3 years: 28 lbs. 4 oz. 35 1/4" At this pace, Matthew will break the 5' tall mark and the elusive 100 lbs. mark at some point in his JUNIOR YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL!!!!! Ahh...just like his daddy!

And there you have it. Matthew William Morton in all his considerable glory. Behold the wonder!!!

Birthday Boy!!!
As I'm sure you are all aware, Matthew turned 3 today. According to him, he is now "bigger enough" for gum...according to his mother, he is not. We got things started early this morning with birthday round 1 at our house. Here he got his new tool set, some new Lightning McQueen shirts and a few other things he hardly noticed beacause of the new tool set. I know I'm a grown man and everything, but look at this toy!!! It's friggin' cool. It's got a wood working shop on one side and a motor to build on the other. Matthew took right to it...he's getting ready for his previously discussed career in racing.

He could work for Ford..."if it ain't broke, fix it till it is"

"feel that? that's real power"

"mmmmkay...you got a blown gasket, a busted head and your spark plugs resent the rest of the car so they ain't workin' no more....that'll be $9,000 to fix it all" Ahh, my son the auto mechanic.

Yank out that wimpy factory motor and swap in something with some real power.

There were other presents besides the tool set...this is one of them...CANDY LAND!!!

"oh oh oh what is it!?!?!?!?!?!?"

Ligthning McQueen shirts from the Tampa crew...can't go wrong with Lightning!

A new Hot Wheels city from Poppy...it's so cool!

After a great birthday morning, we headed to Granna and Da's for lunch, football and MORE PRESENTS!!!

I'm sorry, but isn't he CUTE?!?!?!?

"wait wait wait...you mean I get to do this AGAIN in a month? You're jokin', right?"

Yay for more Thomas books!

"A toy dump truck big enough to ride in...can life get better? I submit that it can not!"

So many toys...so few hands

"YO!!! GROWN UPS!!! Let's get a move on! I got some wishin' to do!!!"

"WAHOOO!!!!!"

We are proud to welcome the newest member of our family...Guido the fish.

Goodnight Guido

Let us not forget that Tony Romo and the Cowboys whooped up on the Jets today (look out Green Bay!!!). And with T.O. being relatively calm with his touchdown celebrations these days, Matthew has decided it's up to him to teach Mr. Owens how to dance again....

"Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto....domo....domo"

Catching up

Ok, well, nothing really major has happened recently, but I guess that's a good thing. Around here, a quiet house is a good house...actually it's an empty house...you know, like if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it make a sound? If It's always noisy at our house when we are there, is it quiet when we're gone? How can we know for sure? What's the sound of one hand clapping?

Enough of that...on to Matthew. He is preparing for his future career as either a crew chief (hopefully not for NASCAR) or a race organizer, or maybe a commentator. This is just one of the many race-time situations he has set up with his cars:

All the guys, ready for the pit stop with 4 fresh tires.

But if his racing career doesn't work out, there's always the Food Network. He could be the Next Food Network Star. He could host something like "Kid's Kitchen" or "Cooking for Crumb-Snatchers" or even "Small Fry's Frying Big!" I bet he could give Duff a run for his cake decorating money with his Turkey cookies:

He might have had some help from ringer though (Granna)

As you all know, Uncle Jay, Aunt Jen and Cousin Charlie will be leaving us soon. Uncle Jay's already "gone to Nana's house." Matthew has really taken to Charlie. He's very protective of him, always sweet and ALWAYS there to tell us when Chalie is " 'pitting up" Matthew is quite the intuitive little guy as well. This week, when asked be his mommy if he was going to be okay when Aunt Jenn and Charlie left, he replied "Yes...are YOU gonna be okay?" We will all miss them, but it's hard to say who will miss them the most, Matthew or Mommy.

Gotta color on the floor so I can keep an eye on my cousin.

The 3 Day
Well, it's been a week since the ladies did their 3 day, 60 mile walk and none of us have recovered yet. The two of them are still tired from walking and I'm worn out from entertaining Matthew for 2 straight days all by myself. It was a long, hard journey, but we made it.....oh yeah, so did Amanda and Lee.

A dark, early start. Notice the dried and straightened hair, the make up and the glow of excitement...just wait a few pictures.

Lee's shirt. Each of the circles has the name of a person she is walking for.

The survivor's circle. These ladies represent the 350 women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, beat it and recovered enough to walk 60 miles. Not only did they beat breast cancer, they beat 3 long days, 2 cold nights and un-countable porta-potties.

Speaking of porta-potties...2,500 people all using the same toilets. It's a good thing there are so many. Look at all those stinky blue cubicles!!!

Sweet hot pink tents!!! It's too bad that the "hot" didn't translate to inside temperature. 2 nights at sub-50 degree temperatures. If you know Lee and Amanda, you realize how big an accomplishment this was for them. Not the walk so much, not even the public showers and the porta-potties. But for the 2 most cold-sensitive people I have ever met to actually sleep outside when it's that cold is quite possibly the biggest part of the weekend.

3 days and 60 miles later. Still a pretty picture!!!

Thank you all for your support. Keep your checkbooks ready for next year!!!!!

All Hallow's next day...
Well, another Halloween has come and gone. This year, Matthew did not scream and cry when the door-bell rang. He wanted to give out candy and see everyone.

We took him "Truck" or Treating around the block and he had a great time. It took him 2 houses to get the routine down. At the first house, the owner opened the door, Matthew held out is hand and said, "Candy?"...

At least he knew what he was there for. After that he got the hang of it. One very nice lady tried to give him some gum and he politely told her that he was "not bigger for gum"!! There were a few "bad houses" along the way with scary sounds and creepy lights, but we avoided those. We did not however avoid the "smelly house". I'm just glad he waited until the door had closed to tell us that he thought it was "smelly".

After a while his little bucket was so full of candy that he couldn't carry it. A sure sign that your little one is finished trick-or-treating is when you have to carry them from house to house because they just don't have the energy.

Here are a couple of pictures of Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, and the Tootsie Roll (he was a minor character that was later edited out of the original Lost Boys cast.)

...yet another Pumpkin Patch...
...cause one is never enough. That and I didn't get to go to the first one. And if you think that I am going to miss an opportunity to ride on a rickety old train that looks like it's gonna fall apart at any second, then you are sorely mistaken!
Luckily, the train did not fall apart. Neither did the See-Saw, under the immense weight of the entire Morton Family!

After see-sawing (is that right?) Matthew wanted to tackle the obstacle course. And by obstacle course, I mean an inflatable slide that you have to climb up. The actual abstace course is for big kids and while Matthew insisted that he was "bigger enough" we had to decline. He handled his version like a soldier in training...

...although, I don't think they let soldiers at boot camp smile!!!

I know it sounds cocky (because it is), but I think the following caption is true (because it is).

BEHOLD: The worlds best looking family.

After a long day of obstacle-ing, sliding, see-sawing, train riding and pumpkin tipping (yes, exactly what it sounds like--Matthew would push the pumpkins over and we would set them back up) it was time to go. So I leave you with yet another gratuitous booty shot (playin' it fast and loose with the term booty).

Happy Halloween!!!