thankful – Casa de Murphy

November 2017

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

December 1, 2017 casademurphy

Happy Thanksgiving! There is much to be thankful for, and reflect on, as we head into this holiday season.

We kicked off our Thanksgiving Break with a trip to our happy place — the Magic Kingdom. This was most likely our last trip to this park before our passes are blocked out for the rest of the holiday season, so it was fun to check out all the Christmas decorations. It really put me & Liam in the spirit! Stephen had to work, so it was just the two of us hanging out. We found Snow White hanging out by Main Street in the Candy Cane Garden. It was such a sweet surprise.

While at the park, we decided to ride the Jungle Cruise over in Adventure Land, which I hadn’t been on in years & Liam had never been on yet. I didn’t realize until we got over there that it was done up with Christmas decorations & renamed the “Jingle Cruise”. There were the cutest decorations all throughout the ride, the boat captain’s commentary was all themed to the holiday, as well, and they were playing the “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas” song in line. I have to say it was so perfect and we loved it! So happy we found that! ❤

We took a road trip for the holiday & headed up to Jacksonville to my dad & stepmom’s. Liam fell getting out of the car on the drive up there & hit his cheekbone on the pavement. Based on his symptoms, his doctor recommended us to take him to get checked out at the ER. Not gonna lie that we were shaken up for hot second, but thankfully all was well & he is okay. The Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital in Jax was absolutely AMAZING and we will forever be grateful for their care. Also truly grateful for the support of our family & my sweet friend, Beamer, who was dealing with me texting her at the crack of dawn asking where we could take him up there.

Love this boy! A little scraped up but blessed that he checked out okay.

We got back to my dad & stepmom’s after our hospital adventure with enough time to still tune into the Macy’s Parade. It was the perfect distraction & helped to get us settled in & calmed down for the day.

I didn’t snap too many pics during our stay, but this was one memory I had to capture. When my dad is in the kitchen, this is how you find Timber. Sitting at attention & completely focused on him. Can you tell he loooves his Papa? It can’t be that he gets delicious treats or anything 😛 …lol

The obligatory pic of our fabulous dinner 🙂

I was one of those who did crazy online shopping both Thursday & Friday….but, we did brave the crowds for a bit on Black Friday to grab a few things I couldn’t find in my online travels. Thanks to Papa G & G-Ma for keeping an eye on little man while we shopped.

Friday evening it was nice & chilly up in Jax, so we had a fire out back to roast marshmallows & make s’mores. It was so fun!

Saturday morning, we headed back home. It was a great visit but we also wanted to save time for regular chores & breaking out the Christmas decorations (more on that next time). On Sunday morning, we had a visitor from the North Pole make his appearance again — Mr. Elf!! Liam loves the Tsum Tsum toys from Disney, so he was stoked to get an Advent calendar from Mr. Elf with that theme.

Mr. Elf also brought a letter from Santa. It was so sweet to see Liam’s eyes light up when we all read that together. He was a little more skeptical this year on how Mr. Elf got here & back from the North Pole …but this letter is the real deal. When we finished the letter, he said to us, “I BELIEVE …all 3 of us do and we have Christmas Spirit” ❤ ….yes, Little Man, yes we do.

A few weeks ago, he & I went to the mall to visit our favorite Santa’s helper (as we like to call the mall Santa’s). I was excited because we got the same Santa for the 3rd year in a row. Just love it! Liam asked for a skate board ….that was a shocker to us, but we’re working with Santa on it.

It was a great weekend, overall. Definitely looking forward to the holiday season. Everyday is a gift, and we have much we have been blessed with. We are THANKFUL you have taken the time to stop by our little spot on this great big cyberspace.

Until next time, friends,

November 2016

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

December 2, 2016 casademurphy

Happy Thanksgiving! Our pastor said the following sentiment at church on the Sunday before turkey day, and I thought it so appropriate & super cute…..

We hope you & your family had a holiday weekend filled with the five F’s:

FAITH

FAMILY

FRIENDS

FOOD

FOOTBALL

charlie-brown-thanksgiving

We took a road trip for the holiday & headed up to Jacksonville to my dad & stepmom’s. Keeping with tradition, we kicked off our morning with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was so cool that this year’s parade was it’s 90th anniversary!

2016-11-24_thanksgiving-1

He drives us nuts at times, as any 5 year old does, but this boy is the most loving kid ever. Definitely take pause on this day to celebrate just how blessed and thankful our family is. There is MUCH to be thankful for each and EVERY day….all the little things that we all too often take for granted.

As I look back on year’s past pics — HERE , HERE , and HERE ….I am amazed at just how much Liam has grown. Especially since last year. What a growth spurt! His little baby face has changed so much ❤ …definitely tugs on this mama’s heart strings.

2016-11-24_thanksgiving-5

These two silly boys 🙂 …They were permanent begging buddies in the kitchen. Hilarious!

2016-11-24_thanksgiving-2

Cooking up some yumminess in the kitchen! Almost time to eat!

2016-11-24_thanksgiving-3

We had a great spread for our Thanksgiving Day meal — all the traditional trimmings, and including both a turkey and a ham. Stephen helped with keeping an eye on the ham, which we cooked on the grill. So tasty! Liam even helped baste it at the end.

2016-thanksgiving-collage

The day after Thanksgiving, we took full advantage of living in the Sunshine State and went for a walk on the beach. It was a little cool but definitely refreshing. We even took the dogs with us, and Timber had a ball! It was his 1st time with his paws in the sand in years ❤

2016-11-25_thanksgiving-weekend-1

Timber followed Stephen out to the sandbar and then swam back to me. So cute!

2016-11-25_thanksgiving-weekend-7

Buddies! 🙂

2016-11-25_thanksgiving-weekend-10

We headed home on Saturday. I had full intentions on putting away the Thanksgiving decor and putting up ALL the Christmas. LOL! — it was a good plan. It ended up taking me most of the week but no worries.

What was super fun was that Mr. Elf flew back to see us from the North Pole on Saturday night! Liam woke up to him hanging out here on Sunday morning ❤

He brought him some new pj’s and some candy. More about that next time!

2016-11-27_mr-elf-returns-2

It was a great weekend, overall. We hope you all had a restful & fun holiday weekend, as well.

thankful

We are THANKFUL you have taken the time to stop by our little spot on this great big cyberspace.

Until next time, friends!

Script Signature

October 2016

Thankful Through the Storm

October 10, 2016 casademurphy

This last week has been an emotional one for us here in the sunshine state. Early last week, we started watching the news diligently and following along to see where our 1st hurricane in 12 years hit would along our east coast — Hurricane Matthew.

By Wednesday morning, as I participated with Liam in National Walk to School Day, I knew it was just a matter of time before we all received news of school closures & preparations for the storm to come. Sure enough, we received word late that morning that both the county schools and the university where I work were both closed down Thursday & Friday. This was real & it was time to get prepared.

The last time a major storm affected our area here in Central Florida, Stephen & I were not yet homeowners OR parents. I have to be honest that preparing for this storm AND waiting for it to come felt VERY different this time around. I had a lot of nervous energy on Thursday. I just kept cleaning & doing laundry. I had to keep busy. I also took Liam to Publix….He was hilarious, as he kept yelling out, ‘you were right Mommy, the shelves are empy!!’ — I had told him that the store might look different because many people were buying food & water to prepare for the storm 🙂

We prepped as best we could in the time we had. All of our patio and front yard stuff got piled into the garage, along with our stockpile of water. Again, since we hadn’t been through a storm while in the house before, we kinda felt like we were winging this a bit.

Tub full of water….always a precaution. We did remember that from Charlie.

We went to sleep (well, as much as we could, anyhow) on Thursday night knowing that the winds were picking up and Matthew would be moving through by early morning.

We dozed off and literally woke up to answered prayer ❤ ….the storm veered to the East about 10 miles, and it was just enough to keep the eye & all the worst winds off shore from our area. We had some high winds & gusts and a good amount of rain still throughout the day, but nothing overwhelming. So, so thankful & blessed!!

We were so relieved to see that our family & friends here in Florida were all okay, as well. Especially Stephen’s family in the Vero Beach area, as they were much closer to Matthew’s impact. We were also worried about my dad’s house up in Jax, but they fared well, too. Both of our mom’s are also here in FL & they are also doing well! Prayers for all those still recovering & waiting for power to be restored. St. Augustine is one of our favorite places to visit, and they were hit very hard 😦

On Saturday, we all went outside, as a family, and began the clean up process. Luckily, the debris wasn’t overwhelming for us. It was nice to get it picked up, and as we were outside, we saw many of our neighbors also out cleaning up their yards, too. Liam enjoyed being a helper….Timber, as well! What a difference a day makes in the weather, right?!?!

Being cooped up in the house for a few days did give me a chance to finally finish up our Halloween decorations! Liam & I also baked up some yummy Halloween cookies 🙂

Once we were out & about, we took a trip to the Orlando Science Center to check out their new traveling exhibit — TOYTOPIA. It was so cool to see so many of the toys that Stephen & I played with as kids. Liam enjoyed the Toy Story display and the awesome model trains that was both Lego & electric!

Introducing Little Man to a little nostalgia from the movie, BIG! 🙂

We closed our weekend out with a visit to one of our local pumpkin patches …that definitely always brings all the feels of fall! ❤

Until next time, friends!

Script Signature

Latest & Greatest News, November 2015

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

December 2, 2015 casademurphy

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you & your family had an awesome day with your loved ones and were able to reflect on the many blessings that we all have ❤

****************************************

We kicked our holiday weekend off with a super cute lunch at Liam’s school. Little man was thrilled to also see his daddy pop in to join us, as we thought he wasn’t going to be able to make it. It was a great time!

2015-11-25_KRK Thanksgiving Lunch

We headed up to my dad & stepmom’s house in Jacksonville for a few days, so that meant a road-trip. Timber is not as great a traveler as he was in his younger days. So, below is how he rode for the majority of the trip….in Daddy’s arms. Not to mention the fact that our normal 2 hour drive literally took us FOUR hours….SO not fun with our whining fur baby & one impatient/excited 4 year old….but, we eventually made it up there & had a great time 😉

2015-11-25_Roadtrip

Had to start our Thanksgiving morning with Macy’s Parade, right?!?! 🙂 ….I think I was more excited to watch this than Liam. LOL!

2015-11-26_Thanksgiving 5

I honestly didn’t snap many pictures throughout the day, but this was a cute one. Timber was unsuccessfully begging for a hand-out 😉

2015-11-26_Thanksgiving 4

So thankful that this guy calls me mommy ❤

2015-11-26_Thanksgiving 1

Turkey time!!!

2015-11-26_Thanksgiving 3

Always the helper in the kitchen….potatoes may or may not have been dropped on the floor a few times 🙂

2015-11-26_Thanksgiving 2

We took a trip to St. Augustine to see their “Night of Lights” …the city was all decked out in beautiful white lights. Liam was in awe & walked up & down the sidewalk singing Christmas songs to himself & us….cutest.thing.ever ❤

2015-11-27_St Augustine Family Pic

2015-11-27_St Augustine Night of Lights

We asked him to stand in front of the Ponce de Leon monument to snap his pic….instead, he thought it was the perfect place to make shadow puppets…hilarious & imaginative!!!

2015-11-27_ Liam St Augustine Night of Lights

Loved the tree in the town square, so we took a quick family pic ❤

2015-11-27_St Augustine Family Pic 1

Here’s a look back on previous posts from Thanksgiving:

HERE

It was a fun & relaxing weekend. So nice to spend time with family and also talk to those that we weren’t able to be with. Life may be busy & hectic, but when we take time to pause & reflect, we really do have much to be thankful & grateful for. Each day is a gift ❤

Until next time, friends!

Script Signature

Latest & Greatest News, November 2014

Recent Happenings

November 21, 2014 casademurphy

Remember me? It’s definitely been awhile….this momma was sick these last few weeks & honestly, the thought of sitting at the computer (for anything other than what I had to do for work) was just not appealing.

In the meantime, life moved on, as it always does, right?!?! LOL…I just tried to keep up. Thankfully, I had Mr Murphy there to help and lucky for him, he didn’t get it. Liam got a touch of it, but I’m happy to report that we’re all feeling much better now.

So, here’s what we’ve been up to the last few weeks….

**************************************************************

Halloween was so much fun! Liam was ALL about it! He was allowed to dress up for school, but yes, I was afraid his costume would get messed up soooooo he wore a back-up {go ahead & laugh….it’s ok}. He had a great time sporting his ‘Sheriff Woody’ costume all morning. We even saw from the cameras that he kept his hat on! — way to go, dude! 🙂

2014-10-31_Halloween 004

Halloween night, we went over to our friend’s, the Bengels, and hung out for dinner {delish homemade pizza!} and then the kiddos trick-or-treated together. The ‘Hulk’ made his appearance for this main event!

2014-10-31_Halloween 008

Getting ready to hit the neighborhood! Liam walked the entire trip. Such a little trooper! He loved going up to the doors & saying, ‘trick-or-treat’ …he’s still talking about it, a few weeks later 🙂

2014-10-31_Halloween 023

The next night, we headed back out to gather with our friends for a 2nd Annual S more’s Roast. It was the 1st cool night of the season, so it worked out perfectly! The adults attempted a roasted marshmallow Kahlua shot….pretty tasty, I must say.

2014-11-01_2nd Annual Smores Roast 006

The kiddos had a blast roasting marshmallows & making s more’s out back once it got dark.

2014-11-01_2nd Annual Smores Roast 030

*******************************************************************

Last weekend, we headed downtown for the Touch-A-Truck event. This is a community event where the kiddos can explore various big trucks, construction vehicles, and public safety equipment. Liam LOVED it!

Here he is checking out a steam roller.

2014-11-15_Touch A Truck Event 004

There were a few mini monster trucks there. He thought they were the coolest things ever.

2014-11-15_Touch A Truck Event 011

We even got to squeeze him into the driver seat of one. Such a big, little man 😉

2014-11-15_Touch A Truck Event 015

Fire Truck!

2014-11-15_Touch A Truck Event 018

********************************************************************

Saturday evening, we headed over to Mimi, Papa D & Aunt Heather’s to celebrate baby cousin, Sierra’s very 1st birthday ❤

2014-11-15_Sierra 1st Bday Party 007

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

2014-11-15_Sierra 1st Bday Party 014

On Sunday, I got a little creative while daddy was watching football & made this turkey with Liam. I asked him for 5 things he was thankful for to write on each feather….He said: mommy, daddy, timber, rainbows, & letters ❤

2014-11-16_turkey craft 005