Latest & Greatest News – Page 9

Welcome October :)

October 7, 2014 casademurphy

Happy 1st week of October, friends! With temps here in Florida dipping below 70 for the 1st time this season over this past weekend, it finally felt like fall was whispering in our ear. It was definitely enough for this Murphy family to throw open every stinkin’ window in the house we could 😉

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When we hit the end of September last week, I realized that I skipped Liam’s teddy bear picture last month. Granted, not a huge deal. Especially, since I did remember for his birthday, but I had wanted to do it because we didn’t go for his 3 year check up until the end of August {oops!}….oh well! Catching up this month 🙂

We kinda knew {expected} that little dude had grown a ton since last year, but I was down right shocked to hear his doctor say that he grew THREE inches and gained SEVEN pounds. WOW!!! Quite the growth spurt, right?!?! 😛

So thankful that all checked out a-okay. Every kid learns & develops in their own time, but on the average, he is doing just fine. He really is getting into the imaginary play. We LOVE to hear him play with his toys and make up stories as he is playing. It is fascinating to watch. We are working on teaching him to pedal his little tricycle that Santa brought last year, and I would like to focus over this next year on learning what educational activities and crafts we can do together that are fun but also help him learn……especially since he will be in Pre-K at this time next year (yikes!!).

The sense of humor he is developing truly seems to be a combo of both Stephen and me…..this may prove to bite us in the a$$ down the road 🙂 …..already I hear sarcasm and have seen slight eye rolling {omg! lol} …For example, he has already picked up on the fact that I will call him by both his 1st & middle name when I am trying to get his attention. At Publix, on Saturday, after calling him in this manner, he looked up at me with a very matter-of-fact tone of voice and stated, “Mommy, my friends call me, ‘Liam Murphy’.” …well, excuuuuse me!!

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If you would like to check out the last few posts of these ‘teddy bear pics’ I had posted, please see here, here and here.

Happy Fall, ya’ll 🙂

Latest & Greatest News, September 2014

Recent Happenings

October 1, 2014 casademurphy

Where have these last few weeks gone? Can you believe we are creeping into October this week? Good grief….ya blink, and time just flies ahead.

We have had some fun around here, lately, and the calendar is not letting up anytime soon. That said, I better get my bootie up-to-date with these posts, eh?!?! 🙂

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We are continuing gymnastics, once a week. Liam really looks forward to it and shows much enthusiasm. However, it has definitely been a learning curve for him to get used to a structured learning environment outside of daycare, but overall, we believe this will end up being a great experience for him from all angles — physical, social, and emotional. It helps that he has a friend in class with him, and here’s a sweet pic of the two of them hanging out after class. LOVE the expression on Liam’s face while he’s looking at Kenadie…..priceless!

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Two weeks ago, it was PIRATE WEEK!! So much fun! Liam did activities all week long at school to keep in the spirit. We also visited the Orlando Science Center on Saturday (9/20) & part of the activities that day were in celebration of Pirate Week. They had this awesome wall mural below up in the KidsTown area. I had to capture a pic 😉

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I am so fortunate to work for a GREAT office at UCF that allows me the flexibility to go to special events at Liam’s school, like his Pirate Parade. It was so cute ❤ …he made me hold hands with him as we walked through the school {heart.melted}

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This was a cool little play pic they had a the Science Center. Now, ya know, I had to get him taking his pic in it, right?!?! 🙂

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The main purpose of heading out to the Science Center early that Saturday was to check out their new Bats Exhibit. YES, there are REAL.LIVE.BATS! It was actually kind of cool because we got to see them chow down on some melon and avacado just after I snapped this pic (no flash, as that would disturb them). As soon as Liam realized we were in the same room that the Curious George Exhibit had been in, and that it was NOT there anymore, he was less than impressed. The kid cracks us up!! 🙂

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He LOVED this jet flight simulator in the Science Park Exhibit area!

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Down in KidsTown at the Orange Grove Factory

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We finally made our way up to the DinoDigs Exhibit on the top floor. Liam said, afterwards, that this is his favorite part of the whole center.

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He really enjoyed playing in this fossil area. It was pretty cute.

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I told Stephen I am always the one “behind the camera”, so he snapped this pic of me & Liam….Liam is fixated on the moving dinosaur next to us. I think he thought it was real 😉

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This was hysterical! Our little meteorologist at the Science Station – WFTV Severe Weather Center 9.

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Last week, at Liam’s school it was Community Helper week. They made these really cute projects. He was so proud of them!

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They also had a Sheriff’s Officer come see them with his police car. He thought that was pretty cool. He said he got to sit in the back of the car, too 😛

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Last Friday, it was my mom’s birthday, so Liam & I headed down to her house and spent the day hanging out with her. We had a nice time 🙂

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We capped off the weekend with making the house Halloween festive! Hooray!! So much fun! You have probably heard me say this hundreds of times, at this point, but each age with Liam it just keeps getting more & more fun. He had a ball helping with the decorations! It’s brings me happiness to see the excitement in his eyes as we do these things together. Love him!!

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Whew! That was a lot of catching up, right?!?! ….sorry for the all the posting! I told ya I was behind. HA!!

There was so many more fun pics, so head on over to my Instagram to see the rest of what we’ve been up to {@casademurphy}.

Enjoy the rest of your week, friends!!

Until next time….

Latest & Greatest News, September 2014

Happy Fall!

September 24, 2014 casademurphy

Hello, Friends! Today, I am over on the Orlando Moms Blog with my very 1st post as one of their new contributors {whoop, whoop!! SO EXCITED!!}.

Since we welcomed the start of the fall season yesterday, I thought it would be fun to share a bucket list of activities we can do “Florida Style” 😉 …check it out here

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Latest & Greatest News, September 2014

Week-In-Review

September 16, 2014 casademurphy

I am that mama who always has the camera in hand (or within reach), and is ready to take a picture at a moment’s notice. I am not ashamed of that, and I literally have thousands of pics of this amazing little man, at this point, in his young life. One day, he may think I am a crazy mama, and I am totally OK with that:)

That said, yes, I am also THAT mama who has been stealing moments at gymnastics. I can’t help it. It is just too cute….and we’ve only just had our 2nd lesson! I am SO in trouble! Last week went much better than the 1st….in that, I mean, Liam was much more comfortable with the class & listened well. This class focused a lot on the balance beam. He was not a huge fan of that, but we were really proud of him for giving it a 100% effort. You can really see it on his little face….how focused he is & how hard he is trying. At one point, he came over to us and said, “I can’t do it” …*sigh* break my heart…we are softies, this is true…but, we stayed strong and told him, “Yes, you can. Just go back out there & your teacher will help you.” And, she did help him. She held his little hand as they walked across the beam. Then, he “beamed” because he was so proud of himself and jumped up & down and said,

“I did it, I really did it!”

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On Saturday, Daddy had to work {bummer}, so Liam & I decided to go check out Bithlo Park. Umm, hello…..this place was so cool! A park AND a splash pad! Liam had a blast! There was hardly anyone else there and at one point, it was just us in the splash pad area. Awesome!!

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The splash pad was so big! He called that feature in the middle the “shower” because of how much water it dumped on you….it looked like a shower to him 🙂 ….He literally ran laps around this place.

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Under the “shower”…lol!

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Had to get some swinging in before we headed back to the car.

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On Sunday, we decided to get a bit creative with our grocery shopping outing to Publix. Lately, Liam has boy-cotted any kind of ride in the shopping cart. He wants to walk. MR. INDEPENDENT! — OMG! It definitely has made shopping….umm, challenging? Getting him to hold my hand while Stephen pushes the cart or vice versa doesn’t always work. Usually, one or both of us would end up completely frustrated by the end of the shopping adventure. For some reason, we glanced at his shopping cart Sunday morning on our way out the door and thought, yeah, why not take this with us? He could push it and it would keep him busy. He was game for it, so we went with it.

It ended up being a great success! He loved it and pushed the cart around the entire store. He also loved ALL the attention he was getting …people thought he was just THE.CUTEST.THING …..I thought his little head was going to explode by the time we were done. Such a little hamm!

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We also got some power-wheels fun in this weekend. I did not realize how long it had been since Liam had drove his Jeep until he sat down in it….Wow, he looked so much bigger sitting in it. We practiced with him to show him how to steer this time, instead of just driving in circles. He did pretty good!

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Sunday night, Daddy & Liam baked cookies. Yummy! Don’t judge, peeps, but yes, they were “break & bakes”…lol! That’s as fancy as we were getting up here in Casa de Murphy this weekend! Ha!

Liam loves the Macadamia Nut cookies so that was the flavor, but it was hilarious when he blurted out & called them “Mouskadamia” cookies. It was too cute for us to correct. So that’s what we’ve been calling ’em!

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Until next time, friends!

Latest & Greatest News, September 2014

Week-In-Review

September 8, 2014 casademurphy

Last week was a busy one in Casa de Murphy, but we had some super good fun 🙂

If anyone follows me on FB, then you know that I posted a few weeks ago that we had a challenging week at daycare with adjusting to Liam’s new teacher. As an update, that teacher unfortunately decided his school wasn’t a good fit for him & peaced out. I like to believe everything happens for a reason, so I am trying to take this as a good thing. The good news is that this turn of events hasn’t seemed to phase little man {pic below is of him playing at school last week}. The really good news is that the teacher filling in for his room is probably my most fav teacher at his school right now, so I can rest easy while at work knowing he’s in the best hands. I just know that all the ladies in his dept are working overtime making up for the extra time needed to take care of all the kiddos, so for that, I am grateful 🙂 …fingers crossed they find an awesome new teacher for Liam’s room soon!

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On Wednesday, we started GYMNASTICS!!! whoo – hoo!! This is a completely new venture for us. Liam is doing a Preschool Level class and will be going with one of his besties from school, Ms. Kenadie….he is very excited.

His class will meet once a week & is about an hour long. It’s entirely structured so this will take some time for him to get accustomed to. He was kind of a rebel & kept trying to go off and do his own thing a majority of the time this past week, but I think he will catch on soon enough. This long trampoline was, by far, his most favorite part! ….there were MANY tears shed when it was time to get off 😉

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Saturday evening, I had some mommy time, and met up with the fab group of ladies I will be working with for the Orlando Moms Blog for our 1st meeting. It was a great night! I am super excited to be a part of this team and get started on this new adventure for me. Orlando Moms Blog is a part of The Moms Magazine, so if you haven’t checked out one or both, please do!! While you’re there, be sure to “like” their Facebook pages, too!

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On Sunday, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to take Liam to see Disney On Ice: Frozen! It was actually the first ice show for all of us {hee, hee!}. Nothing like a Disney show to bring out the kid in ya, right?!?! It really was an incredible show. Have to give HUGE thanks to our friends, the Bargnesi family for sharing the tickets they won through a radio show giveaway. Can’t thank you all, enough!! 🙂

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The show started with all the fav Disney characters skating out to say hello. You can imagine that Liam was over-joyed to see Woody & Buzz!

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Opening of the show…Arendelle

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Kristoff & Sven

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We got a popcorn & this is what you saw for the entire 1st half of the show. This kiddo was an eating maching…no joke! I have never seen him eat popcorn like that before. He just shoveled it in while being mesmerized by the show.

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Olaf!! {our fav!!}

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I wish I had video-taped him dancing to “Summertime” {Olaf’s little theme song} …it was so cute.

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The big finale at the end….Queen Elsa was bringing summer back 😉

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Such a fun week, peeps! Hope you all had a great one, as well. Ooh, yeah {not pictured} ….I had my 1st pumpkin smear of the season from Einstein Bro. Bagels on campus….YUM! Could that mean that I am being persuaded that Fall is on it’s way?!?! …..maybe so 🙂 ….Now, if we could just talk to someone about this weather…..lol!

Until next time!

August 2014, Latest & Greatest News

Recent Happenings

September 6, 2014 casademurphy

The weather in the evenings last week was so nice! We took advantage of the {slight} drop in humidity and went to visit our neighborhood duckies one night after work.

There is something about this quick photo I snapped of these two that I just love. Just a little moment stolen quietly between Daddy & son….they didn’t know I was “watching” 🙂

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Liam & I drive by this pond every morning on the way to his school. We always say ‘good morning, duckies’ as we go by. It’s just something I started way back when, and I can’t stop now…lol. So, he really gets a kick out of walking up to try to say hi to them in person.

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We decided it would be fun for little man {and us} to invest in a family pass to the Orlando Science Center. It really is an awesome deal, if you look into it. Liam LOVED it…and we didn’t even go through all the floors, yet. We are saving some for our next trip.

Lately, Liam has totally been into reading his Curious George book. Well, the Science Center had a traveling exhibit of Curious George, and he was over-joyed to check it out {as you can see from his face below}.

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One of the rooms had play trains, planes, cars, etc. Obviously, this choo-choo was a fav! I was trying to get him to say ‘cheese’…but instead, I got a ‘choo-choo’ 🙂

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Here are the boys playing with wooden derby cars on a huge track.

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Checkmate!

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Kidstown! was a clear winner to this little dude. In this area, there was a water table that was like a large rock. I love that they had plastic smocks we could put on Liam to keep his clothes dry. Awesome! You can imagine that it was NOT easy to pull him away. He and another little boy started playing together, and both began singing “Under the Sea” from the “Little Mermaid” movie….too cute!

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It was a great morning at OSC. We plan to go back again in a few weeks when they open up a new “BATS” exhibit, just in time for Halloween {yes, that’s coming…..omg}.

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Until next time, friends!

August 2014, Latest & Greatest News

Back To School

August 18, 2014 casademurphy

I don’t really want to say that’s “summer’s over”, since it’s a billion degrees still here in the sunshine state. However, the county schools all went back today, as did the university where this mama works & calls her Alma mater …thus, I thought it would be cute to join in the Pinterest-y fun of #backtoschool photos that are flooding social media today and post our own spin on it….plus, it let’s us start a new fun, tradition! 🙂

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It’s not really Liam’s 1st day in the Early Preschool Dept but it is his 1st day with his new teacher, Ms Brittany so I think that counts 🙂 ….and, it’s the start of a new school year in his room. I think he will be with her until January, so that’s a good while.

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Because I’m a sap, and was thinking about doing this picture last night, I got to thinking out his VERY 1st day of daycare, period. While, back then, I was too emotional to even think about doing a picture, period….the daycare actually DID snap one! How cool was that? I thought I would share with you ….

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This was taken on Dec 5th 2011. I remember picking out that onsie {still have it, by the way….tucked away}. This emotional mama got teary eyed seeing this pic because that was actually Liam’s 1st time sitting in a high-chair AND his 1st time holding a crayon {at 4 months old…lol!}. I think the look on his face here is, “WTF is this green thing in my hand?!?! And, what I am supposed to do with it? Eat it?” hahaha!!

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Ms. Kathy, if you’re reading this post, I’m sure you remember this!! I could not have made it through those 1st few weeks without you and the rest of the wonderful ladies of Suite 100!! 🙂 … We ❤ you!!

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Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL 1st week at school….no matter what your role is!!

August 2014, Latest & Greatest News

Recent Happenings

August 17, 2014 casademurphy

Last weekend, we were off to celebrate another friend turning a fabulous 3-year’s old. Oh, the life of a 3-year old, indeed….such a hard one….. 🙂

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It was a Little Mermaid themed soiree, so I tried to keep our guy in beachy attire 😉

We took this fun selfie before some snacks. The above pic was actually ALL him hamming it up. Totally cracked me up, and I was actually amazed I was able to snap the pic of that pose.

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There was a super big & super fun bouncy house / water slide out back. Liam gave it one good go & that was it for him. He much preferred the pool, but he was still all smiles at the end of this trip.

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This past week was considered the “end of summer” at school (daycare) for Liam. I think it’s mainly because all the summer camp programs are done and the county schools are back in session tomorrow.

So, it was “School Spirit” week with different fun activities sprinkled for the kiddos throughout the week. I didn’t get pics of everything, but here’s some highlights….

Thursday, was “Pajama Day”. Love this! I mean, who wouldn’t ❤ to wear their PJ’s all day?!?! Super comfy & laid back. That’s my kind of perfect.

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Liam & his teacher, Ms. Laura. We actually found out this week that it was our last week with Ms. Laura as Liam’s teacher {huge bummer}. He has been with her all summer & has really learned so much from her. She’s one of those teachers that you know your child has really bonded with & has grown by leaps & bounds in such a short time. We are truly going to miss her!!

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Liam, below, with some of his pals at school on Pajama Day.

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Friday was Jersey Day! If you all know Stephen, then you know if absolutely killed him that we don’t have a Giants jersey that fits Liam right now…..but you all know that it’s almost impossible to keep the kiddos in clothes these days. Man, do they grow fast, or what?!?! We do, however, have this very cool Orlando Magic jersey that was just a tad snug, but we made it work 🙂

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To end their fun week, the kids had a party. Since it was Ms. Laura’s last day, they also called it a “good bye” party for her. It really worked out perfect because she, and his new teacher, Ms. Brittany, did an awesome job of working with the kids all week and then explaining to them was what happening. I was very thankful for that, and it really helped Liam. We, obviously, talked more to him about it at home, but he really didn’t have any questions for us because the ladies did such a great job at school ❤

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Not the greatest quality, as it’s a picture of a picture, but this is of Liam’s class on Friday with Ms. Laura.

We will miss you, too, Ms. Laura ❤

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Everyone’s gearing up for a busy week, this week. How about you?

Until next time!

August 2014, Latest & Greatest News

Liam’s 3rd Birthday Party {part 2}

August 13, 2014 casademurphy

If you missed yesterday’s post with the 1st part of our birthday party fun, you can catch up here.

The kids really had a ball at My Gym with the staff and all the train themed activities that were intermingled with their free-play time during the 2 hour fiesta. Stephen & I honestly didn’t have to worry about anything. It was perfect!

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Bubbles — Bubbles — Bubbles Everywhere!!

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It’s a “train wash” 🙂 …this was so cute! The kids could ride through the bumpers to “wash” their “train” with the bubbles….lol. Gotta love that. Very creative!

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This is a few action shots of another creative activity. Just before this, all the children were sitting in a circle on the carpet, and Ms. McKenzie told them that one of the train’s, Diesel, came by and made a big mess. Ms. Kendall then scattered all these bean bags , balls, and pom poms across the gym while they had their eyes closed. The kids were then asked to help clean up the “train yard” by putting each type of item together in it’s own bin (e.g., all the bean bags in one bin, all the balls in another, etc.).

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They all did so good and enjoyed helping to clean up. Again, really cute! ….even the smaller kiddos liked to join in 🙂

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So happy to have cousin, Sierra, to celebrate with us ❤ ….although impossible to get these two to look at the camera together 😉

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Taking a spin with our friend, Brandon, on the “birthday train”

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Way to go, Kenadie! Great balancing!

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I caught this little gymnast hanging from the uneven bars like this several times. Ha! Perhaps he is trying to tell us something?

The ball pit was a huge hit with all the kids!

Below, Crosby was getting a kick out of his big sister Kenley playing around.

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Nathan & Liam plotting mischief 😉

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Brandon!! 🙂

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I ,most likely, was telling him to NOT fall in while snapping this shot 😉

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Trampoline! This was the very 1st thing Liam ran over to once he got into My Gym. The ladies at the gym even complimented how good of a jumper he was….haha!

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Activities ended with this super fun ride on the zip line! Liam actually did not enjoy it that much, but he had just taken a little spill just before this began so I think that played a part. Poor little dude.

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What a great celebration for this little man! We could not have asked for a better time. To everyone who came out to play with us — THANK YOU!! It meant so much to us and to Liam. He really did have the best time. To others who were not able to make it there, but celebrated in spirit and/or helped out in other ways, we thank you, as well, and you know who are!!

I know I said it before on my personal Facebook page, but I want to say it again here…..thank you ALL for the sweet birthday wishes to Liam over his whole birthday weekend. We really felt the love for our little guy and his tender heart appreciated it, as well. It was awesome ❤ ❤

We could not have asked for a better 3rd birthday celebration!! So blessed.

August 2014, Latest & Greatest News

Liam’s 3rd Birthday Party {part 1}

August 12, 2014 casademurphy

We had a fantastic time at Liam’s 3rd birthday party a few Sunday’s ago!

I have been dying to share the invites that went out but wanted to wait until after the party, for obvious reasons {note: my contact info is whited out for privacy}. I ordered these from the most wonderful little shop on Etsy, MaitriDsigns. The shop owner, Rhianna, was so great to work with & had excellent customer service! She was super speedy with her design and delivery. She even custom designed the cute inserts that we used for the party info that some of you all received. I highly recommend for any party needs and we will definitely use her again!

My regular local gal for Liam’s holiday & special occasion shirts was on hiatus this summer {to spend more family time….can’t blame her for that}, so I had to seek out someone new for little man’s party shirt. I found someone via Etsy. While I was happy with this shirt, below, overall….I have to say there was absolutely no customer service. So, that was disappointing. No acknowledgement of my order….not even a business card dropped in the bag with the mailout. Bummer…but, again, super cute shirt.

With the help of Liam’s Grammy & Papa Rock, we were able to order these yummy Thomas the Train decorated cookies to distribute as party favors. They came from Favor Bakery in Winter Haven. What a wonderful job these ladies did! They tasted as delicious as they looked ❤ ….Liam’s 1st pick was Thomas, of course 🙂

The idea for a Thomas the Train themed party really 1st came from Liam {naturally}. It sprouted from him seeing this Thomas Signature Cake on display at our Publix for the last few months. Everytime we went by it while shopping, he would tell us that he wanted THAT cake for his birthday. So, once I eventually asked him what kind decorations he would like for his birthday party, he matter-of-factly told me, Thomas, and asked if he could have this cake. There was NO WAY, he was forgetting about this cake.

When we 1st went to order the cake, the bakery told us they thought it was discontinued. Talk about a heart attack….long story short, Publix came through and did a FAB job. It really was an awesome cake….and deceptively large {very tall}. We ate cake for a week, peeps! LOL 🙂

Liam’s party was held at My Gym in Maitland. It was amazing! What a great facility for little one’s to play. As part of the birthday package, Liam & his guests received free passes to enjoy another class, and we can’t wait to bring him back! The staff that assisted with our party were so friendly and worked great with all the kids.

I love this pic above! We literally had to snatch Liam up really quick as he was running around the gym & tell him to say ‘cheese’.

The kids had free time to explore and play throughout the facility, but then the staff would also periodically gather them together to conduct group activities that were all train themed. It was such a fun time!!

Liam dancing in center stage during once of the activities 😉

During this activity below, the kids went for a ride on the “choo-choo train”. Liam wasn’t too sure about this one, at first, as you can see him checking out Kenley & Karsten in this pic, here.

However, then he decided they were having a great time. so he hopped on & it was all smiles! Kenadie, Thompson & Brandon also enjoyed the train 🙂

It was so nice to have Great Grandma & Uncle Kenny come to the party, as well!

We have a lot more pics of the kiddos to share & I have decided to break those up into a 2nd part post for tomorrow, so this one isn’t as long.

However, let’s skip ahead to the CAKE …yum!

Look at that face when the girls brought it over…..is that priceless, or what?!?! {I didn’t even notice the super cute folded hands until I was looking at these pics days later…..heart.melted }

Lighting 3 candles for the 3 year old birthday boy!!!

Singing Happy Birthday! Again, I LOVE his face…..there is nothing better than the sheer joy you see. All the planning & prep for the day — THAT makes it ALL worth it.