July 2013 – Casa de Murphy

Latest & Greatest News — Weekend Wrap Up

July 29, 2013 casademurphy

On Friday, we were happy to have my dad & step-mom [Liam’s, Papa-G and G-Ma] come for a visit. It was really great to spend some time with them, and they got to see how big our little man is getting. Liam was extra excited to get some extra birthday presents, too 🙂

Liam with Papa-G

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Papa-G & G-Ma brought their fur babies, so Liam got to make some new friends.

Here he is with “Uncle Vinny”

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Papa-G and Liam cooking up some deliciousness

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Liam enjoying his new birthday presents from Papa-G & G-Ma

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Liam, Papa-G, and G-Ma

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When I picked Liam up from school on Friday, I had to clean out his things from his toddler room, as he’s getting ready to fully move into the early preschool room this week. Below is the picture from his cubby in the toddler room…it was so cute!! I believe they took this back in January when he 1st started in that room. He was probably about 1 1/2 at that point. This is a picture of a picture [with tape over it] so sorry, it’s a little fuzzy.

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Today (monday) was a big day…1st day going to school with his big boy backpack. I know what some of you may be thinking….what the heck does a 2 year old need with a backpack? Well, I’ll tell ya…..in all of his other rooms, he’s had a drawer to stow away his extra clothes for spills, blow-outs, etc. This new room doesn’t have that so they ask for a backpack to keep the extra items in. Neat idea & good practice for down the road. This one we chose is from skip hop, and I got ours on Target online. Great deal! ..and toddler size! LOVE IT

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Seriously…..CUTEST EVER!! 🙂

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This week is going to be a GREAT week because it’s Liam’s 2nd Birthday week!! We’ve been looking forward to this for awhile now, but a part of me still can’t believe my baby is going to be TWO YEARS OLD!! WOW!! I hope to find some time in the next few day to post some more. Stay tuned!!

July 2013, Latest & Greatest News

Latest & Greatest News — Weekend Randomness

July 23, 2013 casademurphy

Hello Everyone! Hope you had a fantastic week & weekend 🙂

The big news of the week is that Mr. Liam officially started transitioning into the Early Preschool Department! I am proud to report that he has been doing fantastic and seems to really enjoy the new room & his new teacher, Ms. Jenn. I think it helps that since he is one of the youngest of his little group of friends, he is then one of of the last to move to the “new room” as the kids transition. So, as he’s transitioning, he’s going into a familiar setting with his little friends he likes to play with. He has to have his very 1st backpack in his new room [yup…already ordered…and yes, it’s super cute]. I will be sure to share pics in the coming weeks.

He won’t be full-time in this new room for another 2 weeks. His new teacher, Ms. Jenn, has asked us to start working with him on drinking out of a regular cup to help with weaning off the sippy cup so we’re starting to work on that slowly at home. It’s honestly something we hadn’t even thought of yet until she mentioned it to me last week. We bought little bathroom dixie cups to practice with, at Ms. Jenn’s recommendation and so far, not too shabby in the spillage department 🙂

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The weekend got off to a bit of an early start, as we had to keep Liam home from school on Friday due to him not feeling well on Thursday. He felt good enough by late Friday afternoon that Daddy took him for a swim in Mimi & Papa D’s pool. He is LOVING his new puddle jumper float …definitely a WIN for us!

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Having Liam in a toddler bed is becoming a challenge when out & about on the weekends, here lately. In particular, going down to my mom’s house for the day, he used to nap in his pack-n-play. That’s not really an option any more. Not too sure what we’re going to do at this point, but here’s my make-shift option we utilized this past Saturday ….

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Napping in Grammy’s bed. Sooooo, cute, right?!?! ….yeap, sure. But, it only lasted 30 minutes :p ….not a successful nap.

This next picture is REALLY what our weekends are all about, people. Yes, we do try to do at least one fun thing with Liam every weekend, but let’s be honest…every working family knows ya still gotta clean & grocery shop…so, we try to do ours with a bit of entertainment in the mix! This is what I like to call race car shopping [thank you, Publix]

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Finally, on Sunday, we decided to check out the Tanja King Park in Avalon. It has a splash pad and a playground. It was a very fun time for our little guy. I don’t every remember going to splash pad’s when I was little….maybe it’s a new thing…or a Florida thing….either way, Liam’s making them his thing [or maybe just playing in water outside]. He is seriously SO CUTE sometimes [most times] that I can’t even stand it!! LOL …man, we love that kid SO SO MUCH!!

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Hope you have a great week!! Until next time…..

July 2013, Latest & Greatest News

Our Trip to Legoland

July 20, 2013 casademurphy

Last Saturday was a momentous occasion in Casa de Murphy, friends, as we took Mr. Liam Michael for his very 1st theme park adventure. The park of choice was Legoland, which was built on the old Cypress Gardens property in Winter Haven. You may be wondering why we chose this over Disney for the honor of the “1st” experience. Well, that was two reasons. One, my mom & her hubby, Rock scores us FREE passes from their neighbor….umm, hello….could NOT pass that up and THANK YOU, THANK FOR THAT!! Secondly, this was kind of our test run to see if Liam would even last in the mouse house right now.

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While yes, it was rather warm & a bit of a learn curve for us to tackle a theme park with an [active] toddler, Liam was a trooper and we all had a fantastic time! I was amazed by how much he wanted to walk around himself and just hold our hand. So cute! Surprisingly, he even lasted until about 2:00 without a nap….it clouded up about that time, so we had to put him in the stroller while the rain moved in briefly & he passed out at the point. It was perfect timing.

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The pictures above are from Duplo Village. This is a specific play area for toddlers. LOVED IT!! They even have an AIR CONDITIONED facility for changing diapers, family restrooms, and private nursing rooms. Can we say amazing?!?! …top that off with the fact that when we brought Liam in there, we were the ONLY ones in there. I’m telling ya, insane!! Every theme park needs that building!

After Duplo Village, we headed over to enjoy a car ride with Mommy & a water ride with Daddy….they got soaked 🙂

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Since they were already drenched after this fun ride, we found a splash pad that Liam had crazy fun with. He was a hoot sticking his head in the water spraying up and then he would turn around and do his butt….silly, silly.

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After a quick change of clothes, we made our way over to the carousal…this was also Liam’s very 1st time on the Merry Go Round!

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After taking a break for lunch, we headed over to the other side of the park to explore the mini worlds built out of Legos. That was pretty cool. There really was so much to see!

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Overall, the day was great fun, and we were so happy that were able to give Liam this special day & make some awesome memories! Definitely recommend Legoland to any of you out there with smaller kiddos. We’ll bring him back in another year or so, as there were several rides he was still not tall enough to even ride with one of us, yet 🙂

I mentioned at the beginning of my post that this trip was kind of a practice run for Disney…I’d say that we are good to go now. ha! …We’re actually planning a special trip for his birthday, but more about that later!!

It’s been a busy few weeks here in Casa de Murphy and it’s been quiet here on the blog since the 4th so you’ll be hearing from me again soon! …until next time!!

July 2013, Latest & Greatest News

Latest & Greatest News — Star Spangled Ed.

July 7, 2013 casademurphy

Happy Birthday, America! 🙂 We had a blast celebrating the 237th birthday of this great nation over this holiday weekend & hope you did, too.

As we creep up on Liam’s 2nd birthday in a few short weeks, I thought it would be fun to take a look at last year’s 4th of July pic in comparison to this year’s ….

7.04.2012 ~ 1st 4th of July ~ Mommy's Little Firecracker! — 7.04.2012 ~ 1st 4th of July ~ Mommy’s Little Firecracker!

7.04.2013 ~ 2nd 4th of July ~ Patriotic Boy, All Smiles!

On the morning of the 4th, Liam was quite the little man with helping Daddy put the flags up in the yard. We did this over Memorial Day Weekend, as well, and I foresee it now becoming one of our new family traditions.

In the afternoon, we hung out poolside at Mimi’s house to soak in some rays and enjoy a yummy cookout. Liam was also excited to finally meet Aunt Heather (Daddy’s sister), who was in town for the weekend.

Swimming with Daddy ....Liam is quickly becoming our little fish! — Swimming with Daddy ….Liam is quickly becoming our little fish!

While Daddy was grilling, Liam wanted to "help" clean up...too cute not to share. — While Daddy was grilling, Liam wanted to “help” clean up…too cute not to share.

Later that evening, it was off to Lake Eola for “Fireworks at the Fountain”. This was Liam’s very 1st time seeing fireworks and we were SO so happy that the weather held up and it did not get rained out. While he got a tad bit frightened when they first began, once he saw that we were enjoying them, he did, too. While I have always loved fireworks, myself, it was truly magical watching them through his eyes!!

Lake Eola ~ Fireworks at the Fountain 2013

Captivated...Watching the "MAGIC" in the sky while safely sitting in Daddy's embrace :) — Captivated…Watching the “MAGIC” in the sky while safely sitting in Daddy’s embrace 🙂

Amazingly, Liam lasted the entire show (which was WAY past his bedtime) and the madhouse mingle back to the car and drive home. By the time we made it home, though (after 11), he was spent & over-tired. After sleeping in the next morning, he was up & at ’em, ready to take on the world…again! 🙂

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