Murphy Men and Mama: 2011

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Having fun!

This group of 6 are continuing to enjoy each others company, especially for Birthdays. This was our night out at PF Changs a few weeks back for my Birthday. Thanks friends!

We all got into decorating the tree this year and I was such a good mommy... I didn't move any of the ornaments to a "better" place. :) And with the placement of Caeden's head I almost don't even look 5 months pregnant here. :)

Tonight, Jay and I finished the lights outside. We really love the soft glow of white lights and are enjoying this great time of year! We hope you too are stopping to soak in the cool weather, great sights and contemplating about all that CHRISTmas is about!

Our Star student!

Caeden was chosen as the star student this week for school and it started out with getting to bring Sniffy the classroom dog home for the weekend. :) Sniffy went everywhere Caeden went.

On Thursday, Daddy got to be the class reader and the kids loved the book Wombat Divine. Daddy did a great job reading and Caleb LOVED that he got to participate in Kindergarten and cried real loud when it was time to go.

Here Caeden and I played the "BIG 5" with his class. They asked each of us 5 questions about each other.... thumbs up for a correct answer with applause and a thumbs down with an aaaaa if we got it wrong. The pressure was on... but Caeden got 4 out of 5 correct about mommy and I got 5 out of 5 right about Caeden. We made a big poster about him, brought in special snacks and had a great week sharing our special boy with his class.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

So.....

Here we are today at 19 weeks! Wearing blue and coral to support boy or girl in the ultrasound.

And here we are after we found out. Boys bending in to kiss their SISTER!!!

Yes! A princess will be joining our palace and we are all thrilled!!!! I had to get a pink "it's a girl balloon right after we found out. I was so excited to bring home pink right away. :)

Sweet Caeden came right out with his chalk in pink to write I love baby. Can you feel the love sister? :)

Lord, we are sooooo grateful for a healthy little girl in the womb! It was such a joy to "see" her today and all her cuteness growing. Ahhh the miracle of it all! Thank you, thank you Jesus!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Twas the Night Before....

I thought this was cute of Caleb hiding recently, asking us to come find him. :) We know he's in there but then there is the unveiling and we get to really see him. That's what it feels like in preparation for our ultra sound tomorrow afternoon. We can all see my belly growing and we are all excited with anticipation as to whether we will have 3 brothers or a girl to join our clan! A dear friend reminded me in a sweet email today that God is GREAT and WISE and PURPOSEFUL in all He does. Baby, we rejoice in your life today and SO look forward to "seeing" you tomorrow! We know the Lord has plans and purposes for your life that will be so amazing. He is developing you perfectly and wonderfully in my womb and we are grateful for the technology to have a sneak peak tomorrow. Boy or girl we love you already! Stay tuned for the announcement!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Caeden's Friend Party

Caeden wanted a night time dinner & costume party this year with his friends and we all had a blast! Here are our adorable guests!

He had so much fun making his cake to include all of his guests. :)

Caleb was so thrilled to be able to dress up and join the festivities! Cutest Spiderman and Batman around!

We ate pizza, had cake, wrestled, played games, and laughed the night away. Thank you to each of our guests for the very fun evening and thoughtful gifts! Happy 6th Birthday bud, we love you!

Friday, October 28, 2011

My favorite addition to Happy Birthday!

Caeden has had a wonderful 6th Birthday! This however, was my highlight and too priceless not to post tonight! Jay, Caleb and I were invited to come to Kindergarten to celebrate Caeden and bring treats for the class to enjoy. He made a cake which the kiddos all loved and this is part of the festivities before the play time and snack outside. I love the dancing girls in the back. I am so grateful that Mrs. Poulson is having them speak & sing blessings over each other. Happy Birthday bud! You have 16 new friends that adore you like the rest of us!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

The last few weeks...

Lots and lots of reading lately! As much as I would love to say I am feeling awesome, I am improving but still nauseated on and off and throwing up occasionally. So, we have gotten to have a lot of cuddle time. :)

And we've been having concerts! This particular song was a Glee special. :)

And we have been watching movies. Secretariat was the one that brought out this picture. :) Caleb was the "blue jockey" as he calls him, and what every jockey needs are a pair of goggles when they race their horse. :)

And luckily through these tough few months Caeden has been having a blast in Kindergarten! This was Mickey and Minnie day last week. I was able to stay for an hour of the party to sneak a peak at it all and man oh man is he in an amazing class with a fabulous teacher and lots of great kiddos! Thank you Jesus! Our sweet, sweet son turns 6 tomorrow! EEEEEEEEE! Fun blog posts to follow. :)

Friday, September 30, 2011

our latest....

Jay had a double hernia surgery on Tuesday and it went well. He does have pain while he is recovering but that is to be expected. We have been laughing that we look like Grandpa Jo and Grandma Josephene in Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory. We've been laid up on the couch together while his precious mom has been taking care of us, the boys, and the house. Thank you God for taking care of us through her, what a blessing! I do feel like I have started to turn a corner this week, less throwing up and moments with out feeling nauseated. Praise the Lord!

Jay and I hobbled into my Dr.'s office yesterday for our 3mo. check up. We got to hear little one's heart beat for the first time and that was very exciting! All checks up well and our next appointment is Nov. 17th when we will get to find out whether we are adding another sweet boy or a new little girl to our family. :)

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Caleb, oh how I love you!

Is this cute or what? While Caeden is off at Kindergarten Caleb and I get to spend a lot of time together. I feel bad that 99% of it is at home right now while I am throwing up, but he seems to make the most of it. As we play "guys" (action figures of every kind) he'll say, "I have a wonderful idea...." or "that's awesome," "amazing." Last night I looked at him and said, "you're pretty cute" he looked back at me and said, "that's right, God made me cute AND smart!" So thankful for the smiles he brings during this tough season for me!

He has been so sweet in this last month, every time, and I mean every time he would hear me throw up, he'd come ask, "mom, you ok?" I kept thinking wow, that is one thoughtful 2 year old. Now that I've been throwing up so long it has turned from "mom, you ok?" to "you are always throwing up", or "I don't want to hear you throw up anymore!" I know buddy, I don't want to throw up anymore either, I am sure hoping that we are nearing the end of this for all our sakes.

I'll leave you with one last funny. Grandma Shelley was over helping with dishes in the kitchen, I was on the couch and Caleb was in and out of all the rooms doing his own thing. At one point I thought he's awfully quiet right now... "Caleb", I said, "whatcha doing?" He came out and said, "I don't like that brownie very much!" I said, "what brownie?" He came back out with a package of daddy's cigars with a nibble off the end and said, "these." :) for the next 45 minutes we sat on the couch together with a bucket in between us because he said he had a stomach ache and thought he too was going to throw up. :) I don't think he'll be looking to smoke cigars anytime soon. LOL!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

We welcome you little one....

That is....... our little one. We are expecting baby #3 in April. We are very excited for the next member of our family to arrive. Boy, or girl we know that God ordained your days long before we knew you would be a part of our family. We are so excited to meet you! In the meantime...

Please be praying for me as I have started throwing up and Daddy has gained a lot of extra responsibility around our house. As scary as it feels at times to be so sick we know a few things....

1. Strong hormones are at work making a healthy baby.

2. God is always with us, His presence is Mighty in our lives and He will be strong when we feel/are weak.

3. It is a blessing that Caeden will be in Kindg. all day (post below) and I will only have 1 monkey to look after most of the day.

4. We are surrounded with an amazing group of family and friends that have already brought meals, helped watch the boys and are praying for us. Thanks to each of you that are the Army God has given us to get through this battle! I am eternally grateful!

5. As long and treacherous as it seems it is only a season and I won't feel like this forever! Thank you Jesus!

Stay tuned, we will keep posting as we learn more about our sweet new addition!

Yay for Kindergaten!

This is Caeden's Kindergarten classroom. Daddy took Caeden today to meet the classmates and get comfortable with the room day. Tomorrow is the first day of 8 to 3 school! Here the class are holding hands praying to make God the Lord of their classroom. I love private school!

Here is our boy dressed in uniform for the first time, tall handsome man. :)

This is his teacher Mrs. Poulson. She came to our house last week for a home visit and it was wonderful! This woman was made to teach Kindergartners. I feel sooooooooo blessed Caeden will be in her hands every day this year! Their classroom mascot is the Frog... for Fully Rely On God! So perfect for us! Thank you Lord for your hand of blessing upon us!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Another wonderful get away!

Our dear friends the Lyons have a gorgeous Ranch that is 80 acres of gorgeous mountain scenery and they blessed us with an amazing cabin stay this weekend and we were the only ones on the property!

My cuties.... we had such a great family time!

Fishing....

boating...

bridge walking...

horse back riding...

times two.... can you believe our little monkey could ride that well?

and tree climbing.... :) We had great weather, good food, fun times, and an opportunity to do so many things that we don't do very often. Thank you Lyons for blessing us and thank you Audra for being a fabulous hostess while we were there! We are so grateful!

Our big boys!

We took off the front bar of Caleb's crib early this week and he is loving the freedom that he has to get in and out to read books or play during the day. :) He did fall out one night with a big thud, but after a little bit of crying he was ready to climb back in and keep sleeping. :) He will still yell, "I am awake mom" instead of coming out to see me. :)

Our other big boy is on the countdown to Kindergarten. He starts later than all of his friends but we have a few fun things coming up. His teacher Mrs. Poulson is coming to our house on Monday to see his room and get to know us all a little better. He was told he gets to ask whatever questions he'd like... so he is starting a list. :) We'll have a back to school meeting with classmates and parents next Tuesday and then Wednesday the 24th is the first day of school. EEEEEE!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

The new and improved!

Whala, we are now sporting a fresh white kitchen, lower cabinets were painted with a new coat and the red walls were replaced with white. :)

some things are the same, just new colors...

and some things are new. (I want to put a pic of our family in that frame, and come to think of it I might put it in a new place with a bigger frame. :)

the new light colors do have us smiling!!!

It's like a breath of fresh air!!!

these were the same three things hanging that got a lift of color.

Here was the old red and brown. I was so blessed to have my parents take the boys for a fun time in Show Low for 2 days and I got to go project crazy!! I repainted and redid everything by myself! A lot of sweat equity here, but even Caeden says, "mom, I like it, it's cool!" We are all grateful this is how I spent the weekend! ;)

Baby Audrey

Our dear friends the Bentley's just had added a sweet girl to their family last Sunday! Welcome beautiful one!! We are so excited to do life with you!! God has big plans in store for your life!

So fun to hold a little smooch in my arms, she is such a little angel! We love you already Audrey!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Day 5.... vaca CA!

This was our pretty entrance to our little abode this week. Inviting huh?

I thought this family shot was pretty "perfect". I'm always trying to get a great shot and you know what?... with the 4 of us it usually just turns out more like this.... Caeden looks scared, Caleb isn't looking at the camera, I have a dorky hat from the dollar store on (because I forgot mine) and if you could read Jay's mind here, it would be saying, "how many more family pictures will we have to take?" :) Picture perfect don't you think?

A little ball for Caleb and daddy.

and a little rest too. I think the 3 of us wore him out this trip!

Me and my babe! (and dorky hat!) LOL

Caeden was thrilled that daddy went swimming with him. The ocean isn't Jay's favorite... oh how he loves his son! Notice the goggles on Caeden? So funny! He was the ONLY kid I saw all week that wore goggles or a life jacket in the ocean. Well prepared, well prepared!

Caeden was busy collecting sand crabs today. Can you believe how full his bucket is?

This was our favorite beach of the 3 we tried this trip. Leucadia state beach. How fun is the walk way leading down? It was super secluded, minimal people, cool high cliffs, a shower at the bottom and a lot of surfers to watch.

Unfortunately, all things come to an end and our vacation is now over. We have many fun memories, a rejuvination in our spirit and a gratefulness to God for all He has provided!!

Until the next time... May the road rise to meet you, May the wind blow at your back, May the sun shine warmly on your face and until we meet again... until we meet again. May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

PS some of you have been excited about daily posts, and I am glad you enjoyed it while it lasted... vacation is now over and home life has returned. :)