Thomas the Train – Casa de Murphy

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.

Make a wish….Blow out the candles little dude!!!

Everyone hanging out …enjoying yummy cake & pizza!

One of my fav pics of the day ….so hard to get everyone smiling at once but that’s okay. Wonderful memories!

Stay tuned for Part #2 of the Birthday Party tomorrow!! 🙂

Note: The reviews expressed are solely my opinion & I do not receive any compensation or kickback.

February 2014, Latest & Greatest News

Our Week in Review

February 12, 2014 casademurphy

Last week sure was busy, right?!?! I feel like I start off each week with the greatest of plans to get ahead with cleaning & organizing throughout the week and then, the week gets by me before I know it…Oh well!

Friday was the National Wear Red Day 2014 to raise awareness against the No.1 killer for us, ladies — heart disease. So, in honor of the cause, I sported my red for the day. However, I will also share that I’ve been making many lifestyle changes over these last few months to improve my health for not only myself, but also, for my family. One of these changes included a trip to the cardiologist and getting a stress test. VERY THANKFUL that my results came back clear but I will admit, that it was scary waiting for them to come back because you never know what could be found. If you can get checked, I would recommend it. It can’t hurt. I did it for a few reasons, but mainly because I want to better myself and FEEL BETTER — be more healthy. I want to see my child grow up …he’s my main motivation to be a better me!! 🙂

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In other news, potty training has been a huge focus in Casa de Murphy, as of late. You will most likely hear me talk about quite a bit coming up, as we are gearing up to do a FULL ON switch over from diapers to underwear with little man. Whew…pray for me! LOL …I think Liam is totally ready….just not sure about me.

Up until last week, while Liam has done wonderfully with going potty at home very often, he has flat out refused to even set foot in the bathroom at school. Then, last week, he had a break through! He used the potty at school a few times!!! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! Never thought I would be so proud to hear him say, “mommy, I used the potty”, but I was when he came running up to me at pick up & said that.

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Another milestone is coming up…we got word last week that Liam will be moving on up to the 2 1/2 to 3 year old room on Monday, the 17th. He’s already been spending a little bit of time, here & there, in that room, and it’s right next door, so it won’t be a shocker. Another plus, is that he LOVES his new teacher, Ms. Candice. She’s the one who got him to use the potty at school for the 1st time AND in her room..well, the boy’s potty room in there….haha!! I think he will do great in his new room, so we are all excited for this new change.

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The weather over the weekend was not the most fun. I guess compared to snow in most other parts of the country, we can’t complain….but the rain get a big thumbs down from me. Aunt Heather & baby cousin, Sierra came to visit for awhile on Saturday afternoon. Getting any pictures with Liam & Sierra was a big fail on my part.

After they left, we took Liam to Barnes & Noble to play with the Thomas & Friends train table. Since we got the train table at home, oh my goodness, this little dude is obsessed with Thomas the Train and his choo-choo’s!!! WOW…totally didn’t see that coming, but it is super cute to see him getting into them.

Since we only had a few Thomas trains with what we got with the table, we had taken him there to buy James the train, as he saw him on one of the movies we watched {yes, we are also watching Thomas on Netflix….lol}. HOLY COW, no one told us that Thomas & Friends as so pricey!!! Granted, they are very good quality trains {we are sticking with just the wooden choo-choo’s} but, oh man!! Definitely an investment.

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On Sunday, the sun finally made an appearance, so we took advantage of that & played outside! Liam enjoyed using the bubbles in his bubble mower for the 1st time. He kept wanting to stop to look at the bubbles & not realizing that if he did that, the bubbles would stop coming out….funny!

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