Happy Birthday America – Casa de Murphy

July 2017

Star Spangled Fun 2017

July 19, 2017 casademurphy

We love the 4th of July in our house, so I can’t let the holiday sneak away without sharing our long weekend fun!

We started the weekend off with Liam’s belt promotion ceremony with Victory Martial Arts.

He moved up in belt rank to Cheeri recommended from Baeoh in the Tiger program. We continue to be so proud of him for his accomplishments, hard work & dedication. Huge thanks to Mr. Johnson and Mr. Valle, as well! Mr. Valle is off to college now, so we will miss seeing him each week, but we’ll definitely be keeping in touch!

Saturday evening, we intended to go mini golfing but the rain thwarted those plans. Instead, we headed to the bowling alley.

The boys were very competitive with one another. My score was awful….hahaha! A good time was had by all, though!

My little artist creating a work of art with his gnome for the front walkway.

We couldn’t let the holiday go by without a celebratory photo. Trying to get both of these boys to BOTH look at the camera was work, peeps! As you can kinda tell, Timber was not amused with my antics. This shot was Liam’s favorite, so it wins for getting posted 🙂

Monday, it was a just me & little man hanging out while Daddy was visiting his Grandma. So, we had a movie date. Despicable Me 3 was super cute!!

On the 4th, we all got up bright & early and headed out to Cocoa Beach. The weather was gorgeous but it was a scorcher out there.

The sand by our chairs was too hot to play in, so we were building castles by the sea shore ❤

Finished masterpiece by Liam & Daddy….

We decided to forgo our usual trip downtown to see the fireworks this year, and instead, we did some at home. It’s always a little more challenging when holidays fall during the week, so we decided to be creative this year. It worked out well since we’ve actually been seeing quite a bit of fireworks lately on our trips to Disney. So none of us felt like we were missing out {I looove my fireworks!}

photo credit of mommy & daddy by Liam 🙂

Our little firecracker!

You can link up to the posts from previous 4th of July celebrations — HERE

It was a great weekend celebrating our nation’s birthday! ❤

Until next time, friends!

July 2016, Latest & Greatest News

Star Spangled Fun ~ 2016

July 12, 2016 casademurphy

The 4th of July weekend has evolved into an important little family tradition for us. While it’s not a major holiday filled with all the hustle & bustle most of us are accustomed to, it’s one that we’ve definitely grown to look forward to with our little man. We usually have one or two low-key family hangouts over the long weekend, and of course, fireworks.

To link up to last year’s fun, click HERE

2014’s festivities — HERE

2013’s festivities — HERE

We kicked off our weekend with some birthday fun at Monkey Joe’s for one of Liam’s friends from Pre-K, Jase. There were several of his little buddies there from school, and some of them hadn’t see one another since graduation a few weeks back. Needlesstosay, these boys had a great afternoon!

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Sunday evening, we caught up with some friends for yummy dinner & dessert. Take a look at that smores dip! …it was delish! The kiddos had a grand ‘ole time with sparklers, too. I don’t think we could let a 4th go by without sparklers 😉

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All the holiday festivities didn’t start for us on Monday until later in the day, so I got a brilliant idea to go to the park & splash pad with little man…instead of the pool. I told him it would be fun to change things up. OMGEE….it’s been so hot…I think we both questioned my judgement later on 🙂 ….still had fun, though & was all smiles!

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We decided to give the fireworks at Avalon Park a try this year in an effort to stick closer to home since we had work & camp the next morning. We way underestimated the number of people that we thought would be there. Parking was crazy!!

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Despite the massive amount of people crowding the streets in Avalon, we managed to find awesome seats in the grass right on the lake. These two sweaty boys were still all smiles!

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Patriotic little man ❤

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Headphones make great noise mufflers for loud fireworks! 🙂 ….He really enjoyed the show!!

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It was a great evening celebrating our great nation’s birthday! ❤

Until next time, friends!

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July 2015, Latest & Greatest News

Star Spangled Fun

July 8, 2015 casademurphy

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!

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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.

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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.

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All decked out in their RED, WHITE & BLUE ❤

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Before fireworks & fun-time on Saturday, we grilled up some deliciousness 🙂

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Little dude had to grill up something of his own too….just.like.Daddy 😉

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only one word for this —> YUM ….all about balance, right?!?!

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After dinner, we headed over to Lake Eola to hang out & catch some fireworks.

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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!

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For a while, it looked like it might storm, but we got this awesome sunset just before nightfall.

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Fantastic show, as always, City of Orlando!!

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We had a great holiday weekend celebrating our great nation’s birthday! Hope you did as well!

Until next time, friends!

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July 2013, Latest & Greatest News

Latest & Greatest News — Star Spangled Ed.

July 7, 2013 casademurphy

Happy Birthday, America! 🙂 We had a blast celebrating the 237th birthday of this great nation over this holiday weekend & hope you did, too.

As we creep up on Liam’s 2nd birthday in a few short weeks, I thought it would be fun to take a look at last year’s 4th of July pic in comparison to this year’s ….

7.04.2012 ~ 1st 4th of July ~ Mommy's Little Firecracker! — 7.04.2012 ~ 1st 4th of July ~ Mommy’s Little Firecracker!

7.04.2013 ~ 2nd 4th of July ~ Patriotic Boy, All Smiles!

On the morning of the 4th, Liam was quite the little man with helping Daddy put the flags up in the yard. We did this over Memorial Day Weekend, as well, and I foresee it now becoming one of our new family traditions.

In the afternoon, we hung out poolside at Mimi’s house to soak in some rays and enjoy a yummy cookout. Liam was also excited to finally meet Aunt Heather (Daddy’s sister), who was in town for the weekend.

Swimming with Daddy ....Liam is quickly becoming our little fish! — Swimming with Daddy ….Liam is quickly becoming our little fish!

While Daddy was grilling, Liam wanted to "help" clean up...too cute not to share. — While Daddy was grilling, Liam wanted to “help” clean up…too cute not to share.

Later that evening, it was off to Lake Eola for “Fireworks at the Fountain”. This was Liam’s very 1st time seeing fireworks and we were SO so happy that the weather held up and it did not get rained out. While he got a tad bit frightened when they first began, once he saw that we were enjoying them, he did, too. While I have always loved fireworks, myself, it was truly magical watching them through his eyes!!

Lake Eola ~ Fireworks at the Fountain 2013

Captivated...Watching the "MAGIC" in the sky while safely sitting in Daddy's embrace :) — Captivated…Watching the “MAGIC” in the sky while safely sitting in Daddy’s embrace 🙂

Amazingly, Liam lasted the entire show (which was WAY past his bedtime) and the madhouse mingle back to the car and drive home. By the time we made it home, though (after 11), he was spent & over-tired. After sleeping in the next morning, he was up & at ’em, ready to take on the world…again! 🙂

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