I would be lying if I said I didn’t get excited about a clean house. I also LOVE me some GREEN products that help me get there. This cute box arrived at my doorstep recently from Fresh Wave & I am super excited to give them a try!
This line of products is ALL NEW & available EXCLUSIVELY at Target. They are all natural, so that means no harsh chemicals or fragrances. They are made from plant oils & water. How amazing is that?!?! I definitely feel safe to use them around my house, and especially my young son & our dog. These products don’t just mask odors, they really get in there & break them down to eliminate them. That’s what I’m talking about!
I already have plans to use the order removing packs in our bagless vacuum (score!) and the odor removing gel to combat the fabulous flood situation we are currently battling from a pipe that burst in our spare bedroom. That gel will be awesome to help with the cleanup process!
So what do you say? Head on over to Target & give Fresh Wave a try with me! I bet we’ll both be smiling in no time 🙂
Until next time, friends!
*I received product as a thank you for reviewing this item & post. However, all opinions expressed in this post are my own.
Last Saturday, we gathered together to celebrate our little man’s 4th birthday. Very early into the planning, he declared he wanted an Avengers party, so I was excited to find this invitation on Etsy.
The shop I worked with is called, Cupcake Tops. Now thru Sept. 30th, use code: casademurphy and you can receive 20% off any purchase of $5 or more in their shop 🙂
Liam LOVES to swim & play at splash parks, so we thought it would be fun to have his party at the Oviedo Splash Zone — part of the Oviedo Aquatic Facility. Basically, it’s like a playground in about 1 ft. of water. SO MUCH FUN for all!!
When we booked the party, we chose the morning time slot, as we thought there would be virtually no chance of Florida showers that early. Well…..Murphy’s Law — it stormed AND poured for literally the week & a half prior to and days after the party. I’m talking HEAVY rain peeps. Poor Tampa was under a state of emergency there was so much rain. I just kept praying it would let up for those few hours. We had no back up plan. Driving to the park, it started to sprinkle — I was less than thrilled, but Liam was so positive (as always). He said, “it’s okay Mommy. Sprinkles are not bad :)”. Love him! We were blessed as the rain stopped AND the sun came out. The weather was beautiful for the entire party ❤ …..and then, it poured again as soon as we got home….LOL!!
I have a lot of pictures to share, so be warned that this post is long 😉
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This is one of my fav shots of the morning. I have to tell you that Liam was a little stinker throughout the party, and almost every time I asked him to pose quickly for a pic, he said ‘no’ or ‘after cake’ or made a face. We had to work HARD for this shot!
Knowing that we would be doing a water party with lots of kiddos, I thought cupcakes would be best & most easy to manage. Publix came through like champs with these! I gave them little direction, and we were thrilled with the end result. They even surprised us with these fun rings as toppers.
We had a table set up under a ginormous umbrella. Again, so fun! Perfect for shade from the sun or rain. Since it was a morning party, we opted for breakfast snacks and coffee for parents. Thanks to Dunkin’ Donuts for coming to the rescue! I called ahead and we walked in just before the party, and they had our whole order ready to go. HUGE time saver!
How awesome was this park? The kids {and adults} thoroughly enjoyed themselves!
Cute mushroom!
Liam & his cousin, Sierra ❤
The orange slides were a definite hit with all the kiddos.
It was SO hard to get any kind of a group shot. Even this is not the best pic of all 3 of these guys, but this is Liam with his bestie, Kenadie and a pal from school, Jase.
Again….couldn’t get all to cooperate, but still so cute 🙂
Here’s a quick clip of Liam & friends playing…..
Amidst the craziness of the party, I completely forgot to take a pic of the box of favors I put together for the kids. However, I had taken this pic at home beforehand, so I had some saving grace. I was pretty pleased with how they turned out. I found the favor tags from an Etsy shop called ICandyEvents. The shop owner was awesome to work with & customized the tag for me.
I put a few of Liam’s fav things in there — glow sticks, stickers, temporary tattoos, and a ring pop. All superhero themed, of course!
Shortly before the party ended, we pulled everyone out of the water to do cake & sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to the birthday boy. You can see below just how happy he was that we made him get out & stop playing….hahaha!!! 🙂
We had such an awesome time celebrating Mr. Liam. Thank you to all who came out to have fun with us!
Happy 4th Birthday, Liam Michael — you are one LOVED little man ❤
Happy 4th Brithday, our sweet little man, Liam Michael!
Honestly, I cannot believe how fast this last year has flown by. My mom jokes that we will be sending him off to college before we know it….I’m afraid to blink because she’s probably right.
Here’s the latest teddy bear pic ❤
If you follow our adventures, you know this teddy bear pic is a fun regular measure of growth for us. Check out all our past pics here.
Last year, we also started a new tradition of a BIRTHDAY INTERVIEW. Let me tell you, this was hilarious to do with him again 🙂 …definitely recommend to do with your kiddos! I found this free printable here via Pinterest that we’ve been using.
Other notable things these days…
He frequently refers to me & Stephen as “guys” …as in “hey guys….” 😉
He is a master at the iPad — absolutely LOVES to watch amateur videos on YouTube of product demos of toys & role play….there is an enormous amount of videos of Imaginext, which he has grown quite the collection.
Super heroes are everything — most days you catch him in a superhero shirt. I am hard-pressed to dress him in anything else, actually. He won’t have it. His room is superhero. His birthday party theme was requested to be that, as well.
While he didn’t mention it in his birthday interview, he is also quite fond of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.
He loves going to “school” and next month he is starting Pre-K!! He knows this and he already says he is in VPK 😉 …he also will tell you that next year he is going to “hildegard” (kindergarten …lol!!)
Dancing and music are also his favs! This little dude has some awesome moves of his own AND he knows most Top 40 songs by heart ❤
Always smiling & always happy — BEST disposition ever!!
*However, I will add a side note & keep things real that I am predicting the asserting of independence, attempts of attitude, & pushing the boundaries to see what he can possibly get away with to be quite the test for us this next year…..all normal but we have definitely seen our fair share. He is a GREAT kid but he is kid and is learning….also, we are 1st time parents, and we, too, are learning along with him.
Words cannot express how much love fills our hearts for this little man. It is such a blessing to have him in our lives. He is truly a gift.
There have been some exciting updates that have happened around the house here in Casa de Murphy this summer! One of the most exciting that I want to share with you today is that we upgraded Mr. Liam’s room from his nursery decor to a full-on big boy room.
With the exception of converting his crib to a toddler bed back in June 2013, his room has been the same Disney Lion King theme since we 1st were getting ready for his arrival. I have to tell you that I had mixed emotions for this experience — sad to see the last of his baby things go out of his room but yet excited to watch & help him pick out his own furnishings.
Here’s a peak at what his room looked like before we began the update…….
Since Stephen & I had obviously picked the Lion King theme, we let Liam pick out what he wanted for his new room. Without hesitation, he wanted an Avengers / Super Heroes room. He also helped Stephen pick out the new colors for his walls:
He was a great helper, as well, with the paint 😉
Liam’s room is much smaller that we originally thought while 1st shopping for new beds. The placement of the door, window & closet also proved to make things a bit challenging. There were several beds we chose that ended up being too big or awkward of a fit when we measured to fit. We knew that we didn’t want to go through re-doing his room all over anytime soon, so we wanted a good, solid bed that would last awhile. We decided to go with bunk beds & opted for a twin over full. This particular one is a definite space-saver, as the left-hand side also have a set of SIX FULL drawers and FOUR cubbies to store toys, books, etc.! No need to buy an extra dresser for us. LOVE IT!
If you’re in need of kids furniture & you’re in Florida, we highly recommend Kids Furniture Warehouse— great quality & awesome prices!
As soon as Liam declared he wanted the Avengers for his room, I started scouting online for bargain deals and of course, cute bedding. I found this set on 50% clearance with JCPenney!! What an awesome deal!! 🙂
Grammy & Papa Rock gave us these awesome pictures above of Hulk & Captain America (hung above the top bunk), as well as a signed poster from the Incredible Hulk movie 🙂 …all GREAT additions to the room!! Best of all, it was re-purposing items they already had. Gotta love that!
The bookshelf is from Target, but was in his room previously …we just kept & reused it.
Stephen found these art deco posters at Target and we framed them. I really love how the Marvel & DC one turned out on the blue wall.
The striped bin, lamp & end table were also Target finds! I used the bin to store some of his stuffed animals that were previously ALL over the floor (we condensed down). Other stuffed animals were tossed up on the top bunk. The end table looks like a locker and is dark blue (I love it!) ….The drawer is perfect for holding super hero figures 😉
I’ve seen many people post about these 3D wall art nightlights. We got one for Liam’s Avenger’s room. Target carries quite a few different variety’s, so little man got to pick out which one he wanted. Despite the Hulk being his fav, he actually chose the Iron Man hand. It really does look cool!!
My “big” project for the room was painting letters for his name and adding Mod Podge to comic book pages to put on the letters. I picked up the letters at Target (can you tell yet I LOVE me some Target 😉 ) and some red craft paint — all of it came from their new DIY section …if you’re crafty or even a wanna-a-be, like me, it’s a pretty cool section.
Overall, I am pretty pleased with how the letters turned out!
Liam’s room makeover was a lot of work (mostly for Daddy who did a FAB job), but it was SO MUCH FUN! The best part is that Liam is totally in love with it — total win!!
If you follow us on Instagram, then you already know how much fun we had for Liam’s 1st Healthy Kids Running Series. Admittedly, it took me embarrassingly long to get these pics together, as the spring series ended in May, but I couldn’t let the experience go by without a mention.
This series is an age appropriate group run that spans 5 weeks. Ours extended out a bit due to rain delays, but we rolled with it. Liam fell within the Pre-K division, so each week, he ran a 50-yard dash. With the exception of running around the yard or the park, this was his very 1st experience with any kind of distance (for his age) or organized running. We have to say that he did a FABULOUS job & honestly LOVED ❤ it!
Ready to Go…Week 1
Giving it his all in Week 3….
All the boys were very focused on the finish line….super cute to see them all running together. Liam turned out to be quite the little competitor 😉
Action shot from the last race in Week 5….
We asked Liam if he wanted to do this series just to give him the experience and a chance to try out running, and we are SO PROUD of how hard he worked and that he enjoyed himself so much. He actually consistently placed 2nd in each of the 5 races, so overall, he finished 2nd in the boys Pre-K division! WAY TO GO, LITTLE DUDE!!!
Every runner was awarded a medal of participation. Liam thought that was pretty cool!
If you have a Healthy Kids Running Series in your area, I would definitely recommend it. Such a positive experience for the kiddos and fun for the entire family.
We had so much fun for our holiday weekend! For a look back on the last few year’s be sure to check out here and here.
On Friday, Stephen had to work so it was just little man & me hanging out. We are huge fans of the PBS series, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, so we caught a few episodes on Netflix while playing & cleaning up. I walked by Liam’s marker board at one point in the afternoon & he told me he drew O the Owl from the show…so cute!
I couldn’t help snapping a pic of this one practicing brushing his teeth solo…we do it for him but we’re also trying to teach him how to do it by himself after we do it. This was cuteness overload for me.
After we got ready for bed on Friday, we went out front to do a few small fireworks. Someone LOVES him some sparklers! If you didn’t see my latest post last week for OMB, be sure to check it out — HERE.
All decked out in their RED, WHITE & BLUE ❤
Before fireworks & fun-time on Saturday, we grilled up some deliciousness 🙂
Little dude had to grill up something of his own too….just.like.Daddy 😉
only one word for this —> YUM ….all about balance, right?!?!
After dinner, we headed over to Lake Eola to hang out & catch some fireworks.
This one gave us an awesome dance show while we waited for it to get dark…..note the shoes 😉 ….I had taken mine off while we lounged on our blanket. He also took his off but then put mine on & paraded around. Hilarious!
For a while, it looked like it might storm, but we got this awesome sunset just before nightfall.
Fantastic show, as always, City of Orlando!!
We had a great holiday weekend celebrating our great nation’s birthday! Hope you did as well!
Today, I’m over at Orlando Mom’s Blog sharing my tips for keeping your Independence Day safe & fun! Be sure to check it out before you head out for your holiday weekend festivities.
Friday was a fun day for these two // Donuts with Daddy at school in the afternoon & Liam gave Stephen a super cute Father’s Day craft that Ms. Sumar helped make.
❤ BEST DADDY I EVER SAW ❤
On Saturday, we went to MyGym for class & this happened…Ms. Deanna asked the kiddos to do their forward rolls & then pop up & roar like a bear & try to scare all the parents….this child is HILARIOUS:
It had been a few months since our last trip to the park, so we decided to head over to Sea World in the afternoon to catch the beginning of their #SummerNights with some of our good friends. There was a nice storm just before we headed in, so it cooled it off a tad & kept the sun at bay.
I’m not kidding when I say that these two little ones did this all on their own // Sweetest thing ever! // They both were so excited to spend the afternoon together & play — it’s all either of them talked about 🙂
Daddy & Liam in a version of a “teacups” ride 😉
Playing in the Shark Encounter area — seriously, these two are adorbs ❤
We caught our 1st show this visit, as well. Liam’s fav is feeding the Sea Lion’s, so it was fun to see their newest show –> Clyde & Seamore’s Sea Lion High
Just as we were heading out, the sun made an appearance 🙂
….and, this –> a lucky rainbow!
On Father’s Day, we decided it would be fun to take Liam for his 2nd movie theatre experience. Disney Pixar’s Inside Out — We all LOVED IT!! Definitely recommend it. He sat through the entire show and really enjoyed the experience…..including eating a TON of popcorn…LOL!
I am super excited to share that we have made some changes to our appearance around here 🙂 ….hope ya like it! The pages are even updated to reflect more current info & happenings.
It’s also been 2 years since I started this little blogging journey, and I have to say it’s really turning out to be a fun experience that’s evolving & growing all on it’s own. Last year’s anniversary post can be found here, and my very 1st post can be found here 🙂
With that, it was AWESOME to see that I had celebrated my 100th blog post with last week’s post! WOW!! — that’s a lot of sharing 🙂
I’ve got a lot more to share with you, so I hope you….
Excited to kick off the week with another feature in The Moms Magazine!
I continue to be honored to be a part of this wonderful publication ❤
Click HERE to take you to the digital copy of the Summer Issue, where you can find my “Summer Essentials: After – Beach Bathing Kit” on page 11 🙂
Also, if you have not already singed up to receive your FREE print subscription, do it NOW! Click HERE to sign up….even shipping & handling is free…can’t beat that!
Casa de Murphy 