April 2017

Our Easter Egg-Stravaganza! {2017}

We had so much fun for Easter last weekend!

I had put up our decorations around the house earlier in the month, so we had been feeling festive already 🙂

After work & school on Friday, we attended Good Friday services at our church. Brad Gray (@WalkingtheText) was back again to guest teach & his message was awesome! Liam hung out in the Kids Care area and did this cool art project while they learned about the significance of the day. It was a chalk handprint and of course, Simba walked all over it out of curiosity as I was trying to snap this pic 😛

We had a busy holiday weekend planned, and we jumped into it 1st thing Saturday morning. Orlando Mom’s Blog was hosting their 1st ever Egg Hunt out at Lake Meadows Naturals Farm in Ocoee. I loaded the boys up & we headed out to have some fun, and I was also working their craft station for the morning.

Would you believe there are 2000 chickens in this room?!?!

Well, hello little cow! Liam loved exploring the property and greeting all the animals. In addition to this cow, he saw a horse, a llama, ducks, goats, a pig and baby chicks.

This is such a neat little gem tucked away in our Orlando area. I can’t believe I never knew it was here. They raise cage free chickens and sell the hormone free eggs. They have a small general store on site, and even have fresh produce that is grown on property.

Once my work with OMB was done, we did the egg hunt together & had a great time! It was a fun morning!

When we got home, it was time to color Easter Eggs! Trust me when I tell you that this was THE FIRST TIME that we have done this with Liam, and seriously the first time Stephen & I have done this in probably 20 years. It was a learning experience for all of us to say the least, but we had a good time with it! Liam thought it was such a neat thing to be dropping the eggs in the colored water and watching them turn colors! By next year, we will be pro’s 🙂

Liam’s 1st batch of colored eggs for Easter!

It was a long day so we all were tired that evening. It was to bed early, especially so that the Easter Bunny could make his rounds. He was pretty excited with his surprises for Liam this year and they didn’t all fit in his regular basket, so he had to leave out an extra one 😉

We were up before the sun to check everything out. Not surprisingly one of wee-man’s favorite things was this stuffed poop emoji. LOL!

We had to be at church at 7:00 am, so we were out looking for the eggs hidden by the Easter Bunny with a flash light. Hilarious!!

Easter service was great! Here we are in our Sunday Best ❤  …we went for family breakfast at KeKe’s afterwards. It was so yummy!

That afternoon we were invited to our good friend’s Jenni & Delia’s for an Easter Sunday Lunch — Cuban & American style. We had an excellent time catching up with friends & hanging out. Look at these super cute cakes we enjoyed for dessert. They were courtesy of both Delia & Lisa — and let me tell you, these ladies duked it out to make sure they were on point! haha!

After lunch, it was our last egg hunt of the weekend. This one was serious business. I was trying to take pics while he was hunting and he literally told me,”No time for pictures, Mommy!”.

Afterwards, all the kiddos sat on the front lawn & were checking out their loot. It was all business talk, as they even were making swaps & trades. Too funny!

Finally — he posed for me!

Believe it or not, Liam was still not tired once we came home, so we made our very 1st trip to the pool for the year. I don’t think we’ve been in since September-ish. His swim instructor, Ms. Katie would be super proud of him because he jumped right in and swam like it was nothing. He remembered everything she taught him. I know I was very impressed! I could already tell it’s going to be a great summer!

We had a jammed packed weekend, but it sure was another Happy Easter! We are blessed!

Until next time,

Latest & Greatest News, May 2016

Catching Up

I mentioned in my previous post that through the craziness that is life, I’ve gone on a hiatus from blogging, so let’s try to catch up! We’ve definitely been busy these last few months….so, here are some highlights:

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At the beginning of March, Liam went on his very 1st field trip! It was to the movies with his class at Pre-K, and they saw Zootopia. He had a blast, but I have to tell you that his most favorite part of the entire experience was riding the school bus! The director took this pic of him before they left. She said his face lit up when they got on the bus & started pulling away. It was all he could talk about when I picked him up. They could have just drove around the block & he would have been thrilled. LOL! He has seen the daycare’s school bus for the last few years each day, and has always asked when he would get to ride it. So, you see, this was a BIG deal!

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Easter came early for us this year. It fell during the last weekend of March. We really love the Easter Bunny in Casa de Murphy & he brought lots of fun goodies for wee-man again this year ❤

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Liam woke up before the sun came up….although at bedtime, he cautiously asked if EB would be gone before he got up. He loves him but he does not want to see that gigantic guy….lol! Can’t really blame him for that…I think the mall EB’s have left an impression on him. However, all of that was forgotten when he woke up, and he was stoked as he went through his basket & checked everything out.

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The EB always hides eggs in the front yard & this year was no different. However, there was no deterring this 4 year old’s excitement. So…..we hunted eggs in the dark (before 7 a.m.) WITH a flash light. It was awesome!

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I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I wanted our little family to get back into church, as well as give this essential foundation to Liam, so he could build his own relationship with the Lord. I’m very happy to say that we found a wonderful church home early this year & it’s just been a blessing for us all. Service on Easter Sunday was great!

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Easter weekend was jammed packed for us! It also brought on Stephen’s BIG 40th Birthday! We always share Liam’s milestones, but this was definitely one for Daddy 😉

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Since his big day fell on a Friday, we had a yummy dinner out at Kobe with friends.

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The next day, we celebrated with our little guy ❤

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The festivities continued right after the weekend, as my mom flew in from North Carolina for a few days. Liam was so excited to see his Grammy, as we hadn’t visited with her since she moved up there last summer. It was a great time with her 🙂

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While she was down here, we spent the afternoon at Disney Springs. I hadn’t been out there in forever, and was really impressed with all the renovations & changes. We will definitely be back, again, soon!

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So fun that there are a few rides for the littles there now, too!

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In April, I had the pleasure of working alongside my fellow Orlando Moms Blog mamas for Bloom 2016. It was a great time & a huge success.

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Great information was shared for both new & expectant moms by several guests in our local community. We gathered at a local coffee shop downtown — Credo.

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City Moms Blog Network gave us these fab swag bags — LOVE THEM ❤

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Honored to be part of this team…..

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Are ya still with me? 🙂 ….We’re almost caught up!

At the beginning of this month {May}, we met up with our FABULOUS swim instructor, Ms. Katie Mosley from SwimSprout for our spring swim refresher lessons for Mr. Liam. If you’ve been following along with us over the last few years, then you know we’ve been swimming with them & Liam has been doing amazingly well in the water. Here’s a look back HERE and HERE. This season was no different, except that it will most likely be our last refresher with Ms. Katie, as Liam has been doing so well, and is now at a point with his muscle memory, that he is retaining his skill. So proud of him!

He has quickly gone from his basic swim-float-swim to jumping off the side of the pool & also diving for rings. We can already tell that this summer is going to be super fun poolside!

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Last, but certainly, not least, is an impromptu  dance performance little man graced us with after dinner over the weekend. I have laughed every time I have watched this. He loves to dance & is SO good at it. Love this kid!! I posted a snippet of this on IG & FB, but this is the full-length feature 🙂 ….Enjoy!!

Until next time, friends!

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Latest & Greatest News, March 2015

The Moms Magazine – Spring Issue

Happy Hump Day, friends!! 🙂

I am beyond thrilled to once again be a part of an amazing issue of The Moms Magazine!

Click HERE to take you to the digital copy of the Spring issue, where you can find my “Egg-cellent” Easter crafts on page 8 😉

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Also, if you have not already signed up to receive your FREE print subscription, do it NOW! Click HERE to sign up….even shipping & handling is free….can’t beat that!

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Until next time, friends!

~H

April 2014, Latest & Greatest News

Our Easter EGG-Stravaganza!

Believe it, or not, I started this post about 3 weeks ago. It was definitely not my intention to be just sharing about our super fun Easter holiday almost a month after the fact, but it’s been crazy times around Casa de Murphy, peeps. Both Stephen & I have been working hard & on the weekends, swim lessons are still in full swing, and life has been charging on 🙂

Liam got to participate in his 1st real Easter Egg Hunt with our Meet Up Group of friends, the Sunshine Babies. This is a super fun group of parents and we really enjoy spending time with them! He had a blast!

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The park we went to was in Baldwin Park. Really great space & this fountain was beautiful. Of course, little man was hamming it up for the camera.

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Special buddies since they were babies…so cute!…Kenadie & Liam

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Family pic!

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The Easter Bunny came!! …all of Liam’s current favs…Thomas the Train, Toy Story & Tinkerbell.

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The Easter Bunny hid some eggs in the yard for Liam. He also planted  lolly pops in the ivy…WOW! 🙂

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A couple of eggs had treats for Timber in them. The boys were sharing them directly after coming inside. HA!

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We had dinner with Grammy & Papa Rock on Easter. It was also great to spend time with my Grampy (Liam’s Great Grampy). The Easter Bunny got a tad bit carried away with his delivery here…lol.

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Liam was SUPER excited (hence this expression below on his face) to see that he got an Olaf from Frozen. We are loving that movie in our house right now.

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He had also been asking us EVERY day (really, NOT joking about this) for a vacuum. He had one that was a hand-me-down from one of our friend’s & it recently broke. This kid loved to use that vacuum around the house and was pretty upset about it. So, every day, he had been telling me he needed  a new vacuum, and he wanted one like our Dyson vacuum. Well, unbelievably, they actually make a toy version of our Dyson Animal that we’ve had for years. It was love at 1st sight 🙂

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The afternoon would not have been complete without another egg hunt, right?!?!

Such a sweet picture between Liam & his Great Grampy!

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And, if this little dude is not spoiled enough…..

He got ANOTHER Easter basket from his Mimi & Papa D. He loved his Mickey cup, puppy & the baking set for his kitchen.

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It was really exciting for us to see Liam get into the Easter holiday this year. He enjoyed all the decorations and the eggs (and, most surprising for me…the CANDY…lol).  I guess it’s another sign of the times….our baby is getting bigger…growing up some more!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday, as well!

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Until next time……….

April 2014, Latest & Greatest News

Celebrating Spring

Recently, we attempted to visit the Easter Bunny for our yearly memory making pic. I have to say that we were successful with this for Liam’s 1st Easter back in 2012. Here’s that pic {not the greatest quality, sorry}, which was taken on March 25th, 2012…

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After that 1st year, he figured out that a giant bunny was not so fun, so last year & this year were a no go in the picture department. Luckily, last year, we opted to trek over to the Millenia Mall, as my OCD self wanted to do pictures with “that” bunny. Yes, I know…I am crazy, but to me, how the bunny looked, mattered 🙂 …When it became apparent that the picture wasn’t happening, the guys working the station motioned us over to the side of the area and asked us to do these candid spring time pictures. I guess it is their business that they run along side the Easter Bunny get-up and it’s a quick session but you get all the pics they take on CD for $40 with no sitting fee. Not a bad deal, at all, in our opinion. Plus, we think the pictures turn out pretty darn amazing!

Here’s a look back at last year’s pictures that were taken on March 10th, 2013. ….

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Since we were figuring Liam was not going to be friends again with the Easter Bunny, we planned a trip back to Millenia. Last year, the two guys who took his pictures told us they would be back again this year, so I was counting on that. Not gonna lie when I say I was excited to see them when we arrived. Liam said  he was going to sit with the Easter Bunny as we were on the way there, but as soon as he saw the big guy, it was a big, fat, NO…lol. We were not gonna force it.

This year’s pictures were taken on Sunday, April 6th…so, just over a full year later. We got almost 40 pictures this time around. Here are some of our favs. What a difference a year makes, right?!?!

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Happy Spring!!! // Happy Easter!!!

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Love you, Liam Michael

xoxo