Latest & Greatest News, September 2014

Week-In-Review

Last week was a busy one inย Casa de Murphy, but we had some super good fun ๐Ÿ™‚

If anyone follows me on FB, then you know that I posted a few weeks ago that we had a challenging weekย 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 ๐Ÿ™‚ …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 ๐Ÿ˜‰

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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!! ๐Ÿ™‚

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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 ๐Ÿ˜‰

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ย 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 ๐Ÿ™‚ ….Now, if we could just talk to someone about this weather…..lol!

Until next time!

~H

August 2014, Randomness

Friday Funnies

TGIF….It has been a loooong week, peeps. Am I right?!?!

I don’t know about you, but I could use a good laugh right now to help close out my week. When I was thinking about what I could share with you for this, I quickly thought of Liam’s recent new dance moves ๐Ÿ™‚

We have been watching quite a lot of Toy Story these days….in particular, Toy Story 3. Little dude lovesย him some Ken. He thinks he is hysterical & can now recite many lines that Ken has throughout the movie. One part that he gets a kick out of is the fashion show that Ken does for Barbie in “Ken’s Dream House”.

Here is how it goes in the movie:

Here is Liam’s interpretation while watching ๐Ÿ™‚

Enjoy your weekend, friends!!

~H

July 2014, Latest & Greatest News

Liam’s 3rd Birthday Fun

Hard to believe a whole week has gone by now, since Liam’s 3rd birthday! While Stephen & I were pretty wiped out by Sunday night, we definitely had four fun-filled days of celebration with our little guy ๐Ÿ™‚

If you caught my last post, then you know that he had a special wake-up call on his big day. Most of those balloons are still hanging around his room. Not sure we’ll ever be able to pop those little suckers….haha! He’s really enjoying them.

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We kept his birthday day pretty mellow, and it was just the 3 of us. We ventured to the movie theatre for Liam’s very 1st experience with the “Big Screen” and chose to see Disney’s ‘Planes Fire & Rescue’. He is in love with the Cars movies, and we watch those repeatedly. We got the 1st Planes movie through our DMC, but he wasn’t as into it. Thus, we weren’t sure how this trip would go over.

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Walking into the theatre was exciting for him & we had to explain what everything was. We got lucky & had almost the entire theatre to ourselves so he could walk around. There were SO MANY previews! — that definitely was a bummer….lost his interest a bit.

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Thoroughly enjoyed the movie theatre popcorn & his Hi-C drink ๐Ÿ™‚

But folks….we only got through about 2/3 of the movie and he asked to go home….literally! Ha!

He was done. So, we headed out & went to lunch at Crispers. We’ll have to catch the end of the movie on DVD ๐Ÿ˜‰

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After nap, we headed over to Sweet by Miss Holly for our most fav cupcakes. I think you tell by this super awesome smile that we enjoyed this treat!

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Later that evening, we enjoyed a visit from Mimi, Aunt Heather & cousin, Sierra. Liam was thrilled to get some awesome birthday gifts, including the Radiator Springs town from the Cars movie, as well as play with his cousin โค

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The next day, we headed over to Grammy & Papa Rock’s house for a visit. Of course, this guy got some more presents and was all about it. This time, it was Thomas!

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My little conductor! All Aboard!!!!

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The fun continued on Saturday, when we got to celebrate one of our very bestest friend’s graduation from UCF with her doctorate degree in Education!! We are SO very proud of her. I am loving this pic below, but have to laugh because Liam was NOT happy that I pulled him away from playing in the pool to snap a quick pic. Can you tell? LOL

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We have TONS of birthday party pictures to share! I am working on those posts now.

Stay tuned!!

~H

July 2014, Randomness

Throwback Thursday: Murphy Birthday Memories!

We are officially ONE WEEK away from Liam’s THIRD BIRTHDAY!! The excitement is definitely building around here ๐Ÿ™‚

In honor of this most special day (and, of course, TBT), I wanted to take a look back at his last two birthday’s because ya know that’s always fun!

His 1st birthday party was a big to ‘do at our house and we opted for a “Baby Mickey” themed party. It was a very special celebration….

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I was “that” mom who didn’t let him have cake leading up to his birthday, so he had NO IDEA what to do with it once we gave him his little smash cake. Hilarious!

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That’s more like it ๐Ÿ˜‰

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This was THE most perfect birthday boy outfit that our great friend hand-made just for Mr. Liam.

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Last year, for his 2nd birthday, we opted for his 1st trip to the Magic Kingdom instead of a big party. It was magical day….

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**I can’t believe how tall he’s gotten since last year looking at these pictures! Wow **

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He had fallen at school a few days before our Disney trip so you can see the nice goose egg right smack in the middle of his forehead for most of these picks. Oh well ๐Ÿ™‚ …

I remember it was so hot last year trekking around the park. I don’t know if we were more crazy or brave for doing that, but we had a blast. You can check out the 2-part original post from our trip here & here.

Lots of fun is planned for next week!!! Can’t wait to share it with you all! โค

~H

June 2014, Latest & Greatest News

Recent Happenings

We recently headed over to Downtown Disney to check out the Cars Master’s Weekend Show. They had life size versions of Lightening McQueen & Mater, as well as these fun topiaries. Let me tell you that this expedition spawned a new marathon of watching the Cars movie, peeps. Liam hadn’t been really into watching the movie before this, however, we have watched it EVERY.SINGLE.DAY since ๐Ÿ™‚

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Super excited to find his pals Woody & Buzz. We love us some Toy Story!

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This show also had many cool race cars & older hot rods on display. Little man was NOT pleased that he couldn’t get in these race cars. LOL!

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Daddy tried to appease him by having him sit in this supped up Camaro….while we thought it was cool…. he still asked to go back over to the race car afterwards. Hmm…I wonder if I have things to worry about down the road?? ๐Ÿ™‚

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Lightening McQueen & Mater. Got to say, I was less then thrilled by Disney’s choice to make you stand in line to take your picture with these guys. The line was SUPER long, so Liam was not interested in waiting for that. Luckily, he was fine with just catching a glimpse as we walked by.

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On Father’s Day, we had our community pool to ourselves for a bit. That was SOOO nice!!

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I found this FREE download on Pinterest here. I laughed my bootie off asking Liam these questions. We gave it to Stephen on Father’s Day. If you can see the scribbles at the bottom of the page…that was Liam asking to also write on the page. So cute!

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Last but most definitely not least….Liam recently moved into a new classroom at school to start the summer off. He is still in the Early Preschool Department. ย I was hesitant for this move because there was no transition period, as in other moves he’s done, and I thought it would be hard on him. However, he has totally proven us wrong! He is doing awesome & we are loving his new teacher, Ms. Laura.

I have to brag now a bit because Ms. Laura (in just the 1st 5 days that he had spent in her room) taught him to count from 1 to 10 in Spanish. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty incredible! She’s working on getting him to go to 20. I’ll keep you posted! Here he is on our drive to Downtown Disney showing off his new skills:

Until next time, friends!!

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August 2013

Happy 2nd Birthday Liam [Part 2] — The Fun Continued

While we did not have one big party for our little man this year, we did have a fun-filled week last week!

I wanted to share some of our festivities with you….

The celebrations began the day before Liam’s birthday with an impromptu snack time party at school. I left work early that day & brought mini cupcakes & balloons in. It was really sweet of the daycare to let us do that…I think all the kiddos enjoyed the treat! Since Liam was set to fully transition to his new room the next week, we celebrated in his old room & this was also kind of a good-bye to his teacher & friends who are not moving over yet. It just happened that no other boys were there that day, so he was QUITE the ladies man at the table…LOL

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Liam & Ms. Johayri (‘Ms. Jo’)

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No 2 year old’s birthday is complete without cake, so of course, we still had that at the close of the weekend. I made vanilla cupcakes with a mickey theme in honor of our trip & Liam’s fav friends. Plus, believe it or not….we often lean toward the NOT…Liam despises ANYthing with chocolate in it. He doesn’t like candy & it’s touch & go with sprinkles…didn’t give me much to work with for the cupcakes but they still came out pretty cute ๐Ÿ™‚

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So, last year I picked the baby mickey theme for his 1st birthday party because it was super cute. Who would have thought that this year, we would be doing another mickey?? ๐Ÿ™‚

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The above two pics are the before & after of the candle blowing out…it was QUICK! He needed NO coaching! I got to admit, I did not see that coming. Apparently, since we have been showing him how to blow on his hot food to cool it down for months now, he automatically knew what to do when Daddy told him to blow out the candle. It was hysterical!! Then, he wanted to do it again!! So, I filmed it….


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Every kid likes to open presents, right?!?! I couldn’t help but keep comparing last year’s 1st birthday to this one…as far as what Liam could do. For instance, he was not really interested in opening presents last year. Honestly, he just didn’t get it. Even at Christmas it was a stretch. Well, that’s all changed now. We got him a few small things and he tore them open! I almost can’t wait now for Santa this year…Ha!!

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One of the fun things we did after we recovered from our trip to Disney was go to Cocoa Beach. By chance, we found a great little spot that was phenomenal…definitely someplace we’ll make “our spot” from now on. We loaded Liam up in the wagon & wheeled him right on the beach ๐Ÿ™‚

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Aww, so sweet! Daddy & Liam are waving ….wrong! Daddy’s holding up the car keys because he forgot to take them out of his pocket….OOPS! Liam loved the ocean water & all three of us got pummeled by waves a few times but it didn’t keep us down!

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Serious sandcastle building ….he did not want help.

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On Sunday, we finally made a trip down to Lake Eola to feed the ducks & swans. Been meaning to do this for awhile. It’s nice to do on Sunday’s because they also have the Farmer’s Market going on. When I drive Liam to school each morning, we drive by the ponds in our development & we always yell out good morning to the duckies so this was special for him to get to feed them.

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The swans were a tad aggressive & nearly taller than Liam :/ …we brought 2 bags of lettuce but that almost didn’t seem like enough. geez!

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Stephen’s friend from Vero & his wife were in town on Sunday, so we went back out on Sunday after Liam’s nap to meet up with them. This met a trip to Downtown Disney. This ended up also being quite a fitting way to close out his birthday celebratory weekend…we started out with some mickey & closed it out with some mickey! He had some fun posing with a few friends….

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Stephen & I had a fantastic week celebrating Liam’s 2nd birthday!! He has grown & changed SO MUCH in this last year, it’s really incredible. I need to maybe do a post about that sometime soon. Until next time….

July 2013

Happy 2nd Birthday Liam — Magic Kingdom Trip

Happy 2nd Birthday, Liam Michael!! In lieu of a big party this year, his Daddy & I chose to make a very special trip ….his very 1st trip, in fact, …to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. It really was a magical day and one that we will remember always! I tried to take lots of pic since Liam probably will not remember this trip so one day he can look back on this day and smile …However, I think I am safe in saying he had a pretty fantastic time meeting his pals & taking in the sights ๐Ÿ™‚

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When we 1st got to the park, we stopped by guest relations, to pick up these snazzy buttons that we attached to Liam’s stroller (aka, birthday chariot). It was really sweet that the girl who wrote his name did a little Mickey Mouse head for the dot on the “I” of his name! I got to give credit to Disney and the cast members because they do it up right….as we walked around the park, they ALL noticed Liam’s buttons and SO MANY people were saying, ‘Happy Birthday, Liam’….at one point, I looked at Stephen and said I could have teared up because it was so cute! Yes, that was my sappy mommy moment of the day. Liam’s classy shirt is custom & hand-made courtesy of Personalize It By Jackie, The Boutique Mommy …LOVED it!!

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Liam’s fav Disney characters right now are mickey & pals from the clubhouse. It was perfect timing that when we first arrived down Main Street, there was the Street Party Parade. We were just feet away from the float as his bestest pals went by. I wish you could have seen that sweet boy’s face as he waved and said hello….it was awesome!! I tried to catch a pic below.

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The first ride we tackled was Dumbo. I rode it with the Liam…super fun! This little guy wasn’t scared a bit. He was actually ticked off at the end of it because he wanted to play in the water that you see under the elephants…that’s our boy! ๐Ÿ˜‰

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In the new Storybook Circus area…posing with Pluto, the Wonder Pup! Oh …by the way, if anyone is wondering (because I know you can see it in several pics) …Liam took a bad fall at school on Monday on the playground and had a huge bump right smack in the middle of his forehead…he’s perfectly ok, though.

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It’s a Small World ….classic!! So much to see…totally reminded me of Disney as a kid ๐Ÿ™‚

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Here we are at the end of Small World….not the best pic, clearly but had to do it…shows how hot we were but loving every minute of it!!!

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Two of my favorite pics taken of the day. From the Philmar Magic Show, which is 3D, hence the glasses. This was the only ride/show that Liam kinda got scared in because there were small parts that went completely quiet and dark.

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It’s kind of funny that Disney does SO MUCH with all the princess stuff but nothing for the boys with prince things or anything like that. Anywhoo…This pic is from the carousal and I think that my Liam looks like a little prince on that big horse…very regal!! He loves horses and thoroughly enjoyed this ride!! He waved at everyone the entire time he was on this….it was adorable!

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This is from one of the shows in front of the castle. Liam spotted Mickey & Minnie up there before we did!

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At this point, Liam was tired of us and all the pics, so he left us and was cruising around the castle…KIDDING!! ๐Ÿ™‚

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All in all, we had the most wonderful day ever! Even despite the incredible heat and crowds…which, neither, we amazingly seemed to mind. As I close this post out, I want to share a special video we took of our little guy on the way to the park.

The rest of our birthday celebrations with our special guy are coming soon in part 2…there was too much fun to fit in one post! Until then….

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