Monday, April 25, 2011

taking a breath...

Easter after church (pre-meltdown)

Murphy doing his favorite thing, driving

heaven joy, what else can I say?

they work the SAME way upside down, MOM I dont know why you need a picture!

Madden at the big egg hunt party-pre Aunt BB subjecting us to the stomach bug in the car for two hours...we love her anyway though :)

pre surgery last week-one brave tink tink (one faking it brave momma)

distract distract distract

future roomies-wont this be so cute in their dorm room if we can convince land to LEAVE SOUTH CAROLINA FINALLY!?!

such a fun band on a friday night!

Aunt Al and Madden-just chatting


what a crew-my arms are about to break if you're wondering...

easter bunny loot (round 1-that bunny got around it was like Christmas everywhere we went)

He's trying to let himself out the back door so he can get in CC's car-its such fun to try stopping him-ha!



and here they are again pre meltdown angels
but just for a minute...its been hectic to say the least around here and this week is looking even crazier.  I just had to share some pictures of everything we've been up to lately!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

2011-04-10 Murphy's Third Birthday - candles.AVI








Murphy is officially 3 even though he hasnt had his "official" party.  I am combining their birthday party this year so he has a couple of weeks to wait-poor guy.  Although judging by this video I dont think he minded too much!  We had a wonderful day at the new playground at Shelby Farms followed by a delightful lunch at McDonalds (chicken Mcnuggets are his new favorite)...then lots of playing outside with his new tee ball set and finally pizza and cake for dinner!  Madden was a bit confused...why was Murphy opening ALL the presents fortunately for all of us, Murphy has no trouble sharing.  Here is a video and a few pics! Also...My brother and Madden have a new thing-no one knows where it came from but they act like they are sumo wrestlers every time they see each other.  They even have a weird clap off before they get into their stances...who knows, should I be worried that they speak each other's sumo language??
 













Saturday, April 2, 2011

Count it all joy....James 1:2

First- I have to share a funny story...we have started putting Madden down promptly at 7:30 and Murphy goes at 8.  This way he gets an extra 30 minutes of story time etc with daddy and also its kind of a big boy privilege.  The other night after Madden was in her bed, Murphy grabbed her glow worm and took it over to the chair in the corner of the den (aka "Madden's chair", where she has to sit if we get to "3" for a few minutes to calm down and think about her offense- ha).  The glow worm fell off the chair a couple of times but finally he had the poor doll folded just so -so that it would sit in the chair.  He then looked sternly at the poor worm, shook his finger and head back and forth and said no, no, no, no, no, no (you get the idea) turned around and walked away from it.  Do you think Madden's spent some time in her chair?  Murphy apparently had gotten to "3" with poor Miss glow worm and that was that.

A week from tomorrow is Murphy's 3rd birthday-SIGH.  I know I go on and on about them growing up so quickly but seriously did I not just get over the fact that he was turning 2?!?! We have been through a lot this year, starting school, tonsils, walking, more hospital...I could go on and on.  We have also learned to "count it all joy."  What a perfect way to think of Murphy-aka "heaven joy", or more recently "joy buckets".  Through everything we do with him, we learn something or are reminded of the blessings in our life.  A flash of his smile takes away just about any troubles, and to hear his giggles seriously makes me melt.  To see my little fellow toddling towards me grinning ear to ear, makes me want to be a better person, a better mother, and gives me the strength to do things I never thought possible.

After our guy spent a week in the hospital, he stayed home for a week with me.  So that was 2 solid weeks together.  When I took him back to school the following week it was almost as hard as the first time I ever took him.  I realized that Murphy does nothing but ADD to your day.  He is laid back when I am stressed, he smiles when I am worried, he laughs at something when I am racing around trying to get things done...and then he makes you stop.
You just stop for a second and soak in his smile or give him pounds or hold him and when you do stop for a minute and think of everything God has provided and the son that he gave us... we are thankful...because for the past (almost) three years when I look back even at the difficult times-
we can do nothing but count it ALL JOY.





murphys second birthday morning-ughh that smile

Yep still taking them...

This boy knows how to take a vacation...



its so funny to watch the babies pull up their vehicle of choice to watch tv-its like a drive in around here

One day before school-its a wonder I dropped him off after that smile





living it up on vacation again

Joy buckets at the hospital being sweet joy buckets

getting ready to do some hammering at the lumber yard-the boy loves some tools


First trip to the dentist