Casa de Murphy

Wonderful Christmas Time

December 2, 2013 casademurphy

No sooner did we put our forks down from our tasty turkey dinner, did we start breaking out the Christmas decorations. It seems like Thanksgiving was so late this year, and in a weird way, December feels like a short month so no time to waste!

In previous posts, I’ve talked about our obsession with Fisher Price Little People (now, the ‘old’ style, plump kind), so no surprise, this year’s new decorations involve the Little People Nativity Set (thank you to my mom!). It seriously is one of the cutest things ever! Of course, I set it up to display but Liam has had other plans and it’s a new fav toy. It actually works out perfect to help explain the real reason for this most magical season!! 🙂 …hearing him say, ‘baby Jesus’ is totally adorable, too..can’t get enough of that!

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We (correction “I”) decided it would be fun to have all 3 of us decorate the tree together on Friday night. Hahaha!!! …can we say, exhausting? …it was fun, but little man did not make it an easy experience 😉 …happy to report, though, that no ornaments were harmed during this decorating process.

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Saturday morning, our very own elf made his 1st appearance in Casa de Murphy. As pictured above, he was waiting for Liam while perched in the Christmas tree. His book was positioned on Liam’s picnic table in the living room. Mmmm, let’s just say that we got more of a reaction out of the book than out of the elf. The naming process was pretty funny. Stephen & I ran through at least 10 different names from our top picks that we were sure Liam would like, but each one got a “no” response from him. Finally, he said “yes” to ……Mr. Elf.

So, there you have it.

Welcome to Casa de Murphy, Mr. Elf

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So far, Liam & Timber both are loving sitting by the tree. Liam LOVES the Christmas lights, so I see us going to see some places with lights hopefully in the coming weeks. We hope to make a trip to go see the guy in the bid red suite soon but not sure if he’ll even go for it…last year was a no go. You’ll see it here, if he does 🙂

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Until next time, friends!

Latest & Greatest News, November 2013

Happy Thanksgiving 2013

November 28, 2013 casademurphy

Happy Thanksgiving to all you, our family & friends!

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I am thankful for my little Murphy family…for my three boys that give me love & laughter every day. I am thankful that I have this blog to share our crazy antics with you. I am thankful for our family, near & far, and all of our friends….we love you ALL.

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One year ago, as we were all turkey drunk, our little man decided to take his very 1st steps! In a way, that seems like so long ago….he was so proud of himself, as were we! Looking back at this picture below, he was a lot smaller & was just starting to get his teeth. He even looks a lot chunkier than he does now. I think I had forgotten how much he’s grown & changed over this last year…wow!!!

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Now, of course, he’s off & running and you can’t keep him down for even a few minutes at a pop most times of the day…..full.on.preschooler.

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Today, we enjoyed spending some time with Stephen’s side of the family. Here is Liam with his Great Grandma, Betty —

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Tomorrow, while some of you are gonna brave the crowds at the stores (some of you may be out there now), we are excited to put up the Christmas tree. Liam has already been pointing out the one that they put up at the daycare & those we’ve seen up at the stores, so I’m excited for this season!

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Hope you all enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend!!

We are THANKFUL you have taken the time to stop by our little spot on this great big cyberspace.

Love, the Murphy’s

Latest & Greatest News, October 2013

Green Meadows Farm 2013

November 5, 2013 casademurphy

Mid-October, we met up with some fun new friends, as well as one special friend from Liam’s school to visit all our animal friends & pick pumpkins at Green Meadows Farm in Kissimmee.

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Liam was excited to spend the afternoon with one of his besties, Kenadie. I tried hard to get the two of them to both smile at the camera…but, well, ya know how that goes with kiddos…HA! These two have been buddies since they started at daycare in the baby room….they love hanging out together. It’s super cute!

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Liam’s face in this shot is totally like….”mom, aren’t you done YET??” 🙂

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Kisses for Baby Duckies!!!

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I’m not 100%, but I think these are all the goats we saw here at the farm back in March as babies. Obviously, they were much bigger this go round. I think Liam walked the entire pen and touch every.single.one! He kept saying, “Hi, goat!” to each one…lol.

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The sheep were in the same pen — each one got a little pet, too!

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Chicken Coop!! Daddy actually helped Liam to hold this one on his own! O.M.G. — THAT kinda freaked him out RIGHT after I snapped this picture!

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Absolutely cannot forget the pony ride! Giddy-Up!!

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Quick family pic on the hayride! Liam was fascinated that the tractor was pulling us along.

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We wrapped up the visit with getting to pick our pumpkins in the pumpkin patch. Liam carefully selected which two he wanted.

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If you have never checked out Green Meadows or haven’t been in a while, you should definitely give a whirl….it’s a pretty neat place for the little ones to explore & learn. Definitely recommend!

Latest & Greatest News, October 2013

Halloween 2013

November 3, 2013 casademurphy

October was such a fun month for this little Murphy family. By far, we had the most fun yet with a holiday with little man, Liam. Definitely can’t wait for Turkey Day & Christmas!

Liam loved all the Halloween decorations, especially the ‘punkins’, as he called them, and the jack-o-lanterns.

This pic below was all posed & arranged by him. It was too funny! I use the purple witch hat as a decoration but he wanted to wear it and then grabbed scarecrow Minnie & said he was gonna stand next to “mr punkin’ 🙂

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So, I said in a previous post that I was super excited about Liam’s costume this year & it’s true, I was. I knew he wasn’t gonna 100% get it this year so we could still pick his costume this go round, but I wanted it to be meaningful to him. He has a Dalmatian puppy that he sleeps with every night, and when I found this costume from Pottery Barn, I knew it was THE one. However, it was priced way higher than what I was willingly to pay so I kept looking. But, you know how it goes….after you find, THE one, nothing else is as good. Then, one Sunday morning, I couldn’t believe my peepers when I came across the SAME costume listed on Craigslist. Long story short…a few days later that Craigslist costume was in our hands for a mere $20!! SCORE!! ….if you don’t take advantage of Craigslist, you’re missing out….I love it!!

We had a super fun Halloween Party to attend at the Bengel’s a few weeks ago. It gave us a good practice run of the costume and a chance to take this awesome costume pic. I was loving that Liam loved being his puppy!!

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That night, after the party, I submitted this pic via #disneybabyhalloween to the BabyCenter’s Instagram Halloween Photo Contest & I was siked that they picked it up & posted it! The contest ends today, 11/03, and we have a chance to win a $100 gift card. As of this update, his pic has 134 likes on Instagram and 783 likes on Facebook….All in good fun, but I’d say his our little celebrity!! You can check his entry out by navigating to the photocontest link on the BabyCenter’s FB page.

Quick family pick before Liam ripped his costume off at the Bengel Halloween Party 😉

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Treat-or-Treat week brought some challenges to Casa de Murphy. Liam ended up spiking a fever on Wednesday afternoon & had to be picked up from school. Obviously, that put a damper on the Halloween plans for the next day, but the most important thing was making sure he was rested & feeling better. We spent the next few days resting & make a trip to the dr ….but doing better this weekend.

We were feeling ok on Thursday evening and no fever so we did take him out for a bit. He had a great time but he was a little scared to walk up to the doors by himself. Either Stephen or me had to usually carry him. And, he had his wagon charriot to get him from house to house. He was quiet at each door until the door closed and then he would unleash with everything you could tell he had been thinking….”I got more candy….I saw a pirate puppy….I go trick or treat” Love him!!

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Out & about in the neighborhood….

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Celebrating his haul with his bff, Timber!

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I’m sure next year, he’s going to tell us what he wants to dress up as, and then he’ll be running from house to house. That will be fun.

Up next….a recap of our fun trip to Green Meadows Farm! Here’s a few pics from Liam in the pumpkin patch that was there….he carefully picked in his own pumpkins!!

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Latest & Greatest News, October 2013

Adventure Week!

October 15, 2013 casademurphy

What 2 year old doesn’t love a big truck, right? Well, what’s better then getting to see one in real life?!?! Umm, nothing?? Liam’s school had our local Fire Dept come out on site to visit the kids & teach them about fire safety & prevention. Very cool!! Liam’s teacher & the staff told us that he LOVED it! The kids in his class got to go inside the truck to check it out, and sit in the seat & wear the seat belt. When we asked him if he saw the big red fire truck that day, he replied with, “I climbed in” ….so cute. Kudos to his school for doing this 🙂

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Over the weekend, we had a birthday party for a fabulous 5 year to attend. Liam was very excited to help celebrate another little friend’s special day. He was singing to her on the drive there…haha! It was a Jake & the Neverland Pirates theme, and he’s pretty fond of that show, so that made it extra fun.

There was a pool AND an inflatable water slide…oh.my.goodness….almost too much fun for this little guy. First, let me tell you that we forgot to bring his swimmy vest (fail!!). We still did pool time but he was convinced he could swim. The kid has NO.FEAR…I have fear, though!! Swim lessons are definitely in our future for spring or else my poor heart & nerves may not survive.

The water slide took several tries but he was brave with this, too. Once the bigger kids were all in the pool, he gave it a whirl….

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And, of course, what birthday party isn’t complete without cupcakes AND a pinata? Last year, Liam was too little to take a swing at the pinata but this year, we helped him to take a whack at it 😉

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Hope you had a good week, too! Definitely enjoying the “slight” dip in temperature here in our neck of the woods over this last week and looking forward to hopefully some continued cooler temps in the weeks to come! It’s probably crazy that as soon as the morning lows got below 70 last week, I was immediately like, omg, I’ve got to get Liam some clothes (nothing from last fall/winter fits). HA!

Until next time….

Latest & Greatest News, October 2013

Latest & Greatest Fun!

October 8, 2013 casademurphy

Welcome October!! So many fun things planned to do this month. We’re looking forward to sharing our adventures with you.

This pic was taken in a quick moment after a ride in Liam’s jeep on Saturday, but it’s definitely one that I am loving! These boys have our heart….& they have grown to be bestest buddies….it’s really THE cutest thing to watch. So proud of Timber for adjusting to being a big brother after so many years being an ‘only child’ 😉

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Good Morning, Sunshine! Daddy had to work on Saturday morning for awhile so little man & Mommy had breakfast & watched cartoons together.

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The highlight of our weekend was going to see the Sesame Street LIVE show. Since we’re pretty hooked on Disney, we don’t really watch Sesame Street too often but Liam does know all the main characters thanks to a few books we have that he loves & his Pampers….lol, I know…but it’s true. Pampers has always put the characters on his diapers so we talk about them all the time with him because of that! He had a blast with the show…clapping, laughing, & even dancing…well, stomping…haha!!

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Got a little more driving practice in over the weekend, too. Still driving in circles but they are good circles!

We ended the rainy afternoon on Sunday with a little cake baking. I let Liam pull a stool up in the kitchen & he helped me…it was fun for both of us! Although, it was hard for him to wait for it to cook…he ran around the house yelling “caaaake” while it was in the oven 🙂

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Hope your weekend was fun, too! Until next time….

Latest & Greatest News, September 2013

Adios September!!

October 1, 2013 casademurphy

the days are long but the years are short. make the most of it. -author unknown

I saw this quote posted today & loved it. While I think our days sometimes seem to also fly by, we definitely aim to savor each & every second together.

Well, September has packed it’s bags, huh? Gotta say that I’m kinda excited about that. This means that fall is officially here & the holiday season is upon us. I LOVE IT!! The decorations, gatherings, outings, smells, food….all of it equals fabulous fun in my book! And, the fact that Liam can understand it way more this year & get into the festiveness is an added plus!

This past weekend Liam & I headed down to spend some time with Grammy & Papa Rock. It was Grammy’s birthday last week so Liam was excited to spend some special time with her & give her the card he signed himself 🙂 ….he had so much fun playing there that he couldn’t hang with me on the drive home.

On Saturday afternoon, though, I do have to mention that we did have a MONUMENTAL moment…….LIAM.ATE.CHOCOLATE

For anyone who is not familiar, Liam has refused anything with chocolate even in it since we started him on solids. We’ve kinda always jokingly wondered if he was really our kid because he’s had such a strong aversion to it. However, this weekend he asked for one of my M&M’s and I gave him one…fully expecting him to make a face & spit it out. NOPE…he ate it….happily AND asked for more…and more! A new day has dawned in Casa de Murphy, my friends….

When we got home on Saturday afternoon, Daddy surprised us with a kitchen re-do for Liam’s kitchen. This look below is now stage 2 for the Little Tikes Cook-N-Grow Kitchen. Little man had to immediately check things out. Daddy even got a cool new crate to house all his play food. So cool! I want to make a few more tweaks to this new set up, so stay tuned. I’m consulting my friend, Pinterest 😉 HA!

Sunday = cleaning + bringing out the Halloween decorations! Hooray! We found this awesome Mickey Mouse Halloween t-shirt for Liam at Target. He was in love with it. If you’re wondering….yes, we already have his Halloween costume and yes, it is A-MAZING!! Keeping it under wraps for now, but I will tell you that I got the MOST incredible deal for it & got the ONE costume I wanted but didn’t think I was gonna get….More about that later.

A loooong time ago….literally months….we bought this Little People’s Pumpkin Patch Farm on clearance & put it away. Almost forgot about it 🙂 ….Thank you, Daddy, for remembering it was up in the closet! While it’s hard to tell in the pic, all the farm animals have little Halloween masks on. Liam played with this while I was getting ready to put up the decorations.

Oh man, do I ever love hearing that little voice running around the house saying, “punkin”….so cute!! He is loving all that we’ve put up to celebrate what’s coming in October. We’re hoping to have some fun filled weekends ahead, as well. How about you?

Latest & Greatest News, September 2013

Latest & Greatest News — Playing Around

September 24, 2013 casademurphy

Sometimes actions speak louder than words…in our case, video 🙂

Liam has been full of energy these days. We definitely have a toddler with a boisterous & humorous personality! He makes our days full and fun. Here’s a clip of him playing ball with Daddy recently. He’s quite good at both catching & throwing…

We also took him on his 1st driving lesson in his power wheels. He did great! Although, he did like to drive in circles, a lot!! too funny!! check it out…

Lots of funs things coming up over the next few weeks so I hope to have some more pics to post then. Until then….bat boy signing off 😉

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September 2013

Labor Day Weekend 2013

September 4, 2013 casademurphy

So summer is technically over, right? Labor Day Weekend 2013 ushered it away with a bang…or a barbeque…or a dip in the pool….bring on fall, peeps!! Of course, in our neck of the woods, it’s still hot as you know what …definitely does NOT feel like fall yet…but we can pretend for now 🙂

Last week, on pretty much on unplanned whim (but those seem to be the best sometimes), we signed Liam up for his very 1st lessons of ANY kind. Yes, I know …what can a 2 year old really do ….I asked myself this same question. He’s doing Playball. It’s a program that’s designed to teach fitness & movement while also teaching the basics of sports, such as baseball, basketball, & soccer. He will get one lesson a week, and it will be taught to his age group. Best of all, it’s during the day AND at his school so super convenient for us. His teacher/coach gave rave reviews from his 1st lesson last week. She said he listened well & participated. She was also amazed at how well he, at 2 yrs old, understood the concepts of the sports they covered that day. Got to give credit to Daddy for that one! We’re gonna try it for this month and see how he does & likes it. Here’s a pic of the T-shirt he wears on the days he has his lesson each week:

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We kicked off our holiday weekend with a cookout & swim at our friend’s. I actually wasn’t feeling too hot that day, so it was a Daddy & Liam afternoon…I was sad to miss out on the fun. Especially, seeing Liam’s 1st trip down this big old-school water slide. Happy someone took pics that I could share & freak out over…part of me was glad I wasn’t there…not so sure I would have let him go down it….hahaha! Daddy said he was a trooper and asked to do it again after the 1st time down. Figures! No.Fear.Ever.

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Sunday, we took up trip to Amaya Papaya to celebrate one of Liam’s fav buddies from school’s birthday. We had a great time playing around there and enjoying the afternoon.

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We closed our fun weekend out on Monday with another cookout at Mimi’s & some swimming (Liam’s favorite this summer). While in the pool on Monday, he figured out, on his own, how to swing his legs in front of him & float onto his back. Hilarious…he was loving it!! I was impressed that he managed to do that even with the swim float on.

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As always, the weekend seemed to go way too fast! We’re definitely looking forward to the fall season, the upcoming holidays, and the fun things associated with them. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times…Liam is our world & every age is more fun than the last…so we are definitely looking forward to these next few months with him. We may not always admit it, but I think it kind of makes us feel like kids again 🙂

Until next time, friends…..

August 2013, Latest & Greatest News

Latest & Greatest News — Another Weekend Gone By

August 28, 2013 casademurphy

Once upon a time, I remember telling Stephen that we would need to be sure to always plan fun things to do with Liam because I didn’t want to always sit around the house with him on the weekends. I guess a part of me was worried he would be bored or we would be bad parents or something crazy like that……well, I don’t even think we’ve had to TRY to be busy this summer. It’s just been happening on it’s own. NOT complaining, though… Just amazed at how fast time has gone by and how busy we really have been without really trying to be. Definitely not the norm for this Murphy clan prior to little Liam Michael entering the picture 🙂

On Saturday afternoon, I got to have some fun celebrating a good friend’s upcoming addition to her family. It was a surprise shower so that made it even more exciting…any of you who know me, know it was super hard for me to keep this a secret!

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Saturday night, Daddy & Liam had some fun in the living room & put together Liam’s 1st fort. He had a blast hanging out, watching some cartoons before bed, and enjoying some cookies & milk!

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We took a much anticipated trip to Grammy’s on Sunday for a belated birthday celebration for Liam. It was an invasion of the Little People!! We discovered that Fisher Price had the INSANE (in my humble opinion) idea to change the figures of the Little People …say bye bye to the fat, chunky people. You are now seeing skinny people with big heads in the new sets. I personally don’t like it and refuse to have two sets for Liam. So, since we’ve been huge fans of Little People for our little guy, we already put in an order with Santa and Grammy & Papa Rock went a tad crazy (in a good way)….LOL.

Liam loved it, though! We’ve had a hard time getting him a way from his new friends this week.

Thank you to Grammy & Papa Rock!

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