Elizabeth's THIRD birthday!

Before I begin, allow me to first say a quick apology to all who have so faithfully come back to our blog and wondered why there had been no updates since JULY!! Of all things, Shannon, what have you been doing? :) I do humbly ask your forgiveness and hope that I can make it up to you by turning a new leaf (a little fall joke!). I hope you will see more frequent posts in the future. Thank you to all of you who asked me personally for more pics of E. Your love for her is so dear to me.

Now back to the matter at hand! I simply cannot believe it, but Elizabeth turned three years old last week! Of course, we had a party, complete with balloons, lots of friends, and CAKE!! In fact, it's hard to say what Elizabeth was more excited about: the friends or the cake. As friends began to come one after another, Elizabeth became more frenzied. She definitely knew it was her birthday party! The first pic is of her literally bouncing off the couch in our living room with heaps of joy . Her pal Maxwell casually looks on and is probably wondering, "What go into her? " :)

















We got her to stand still long enough to take some family pics. (That's our dear friend Maria in the background. She is not technically a Morton, but we love her lots! She's also Maxwell's mom.)














Before we had cake, Matt and I gathered everyone and publicly told E one thing we really love about her. Matt said he loves how she is so joyful and so much fun to play with. He told her how he loves being her daddy and coming home from work to see her. I told her how I love her tender heart towards the Lord. She really loves to sing, read the Bible, and ask about people who are hurting. She is a compassionate, thoughtful little girl. After Matt prayed for her, we sang "Happy Birthday." (Sadly, E cried through the whole song. Perhaps it was too loud! We're not sure.)

Then it was time to eat the cake! I actually put together a "cupcake tree," which is on the table in the center.
















Elizabeth's favorite girlfriend, AnnaJoy, helped E eat the cupcakes.















Then, they played in the kitchen; no doubt, making more cupcakes! :)















Then, they played outside on the jungle gym which my parents got her for her last birthday. Here, E is truly delighted to be swinging. I think she could do this for hours if I let her.





































Sadly, the party had to end and our guests began to leave. I took these last ones of her as some of the last guests said their goodbyes. (Yes, she's wearing a play stethoscope. Matt and I got her a little "doctor's kit" for her birthday. Also, if you look closely, you can see that she is sweating. She really worked herself up during her party. :))



























































Bye-bye, everybody! Thanks for coming to my party. :)