Tech support, the next generation

Nick and Don were trying to make Nick's Thomas the Tank DVD work on the kids' computer. After much trying, they gave up and watched it on the television. But I thought this was so cute : )

Murphy family rules

Don and I did this little project together after seeing some examples on the internet that we both really liked.

Pumpkin scones

Everybody's new favorite. Super yummy. Recipe is here.

Snow

This is what we woke up to this morning! By the evening it had warmed up and started raining, so now most of it is gone.

Laundry room progress

Don worked hard all weekend on the laundry room. He primed and painted Friday night and Saturday, and then laid down laminate flooring on Saturday and Sunday. The flooring makes the room look so much more tidy! The room is so small that it's hard to get good pictures of a whole wall, but I tried to show you some of my favorite parts.

This is a clothes hanging bar that Don installed on the south wall.

This is the green wall. Evenutally a clothes-folding table will be against this wall. That project is for another weekend : )

White on white : )

Feb Blues 2011

Saturday evening the D.W. Poppy music program put on their annual fundraiser "February Blues." It was great to hear Sean sing in the accapella jazz choir...they were so awesome...and in the Senior jazz band. Dylan and Haley came. This is the first music performance at Poppy that Dylan has been in the audience instead of on stage : )

There was a silent auction that brought in lots of money. Dylan donated 4 trumpet lessons and I donated a large cheese pizza delivered to Poppy at lunch time! It was a great evening.

The first step in becoming an NHL star

There you go, Nathan...we're doing everything we can to make your dream come true!

Laundry room progress

Today I got completely caught up on the laundry and then started emptying the contents of the entire room (except for the appliances) so we can work on it this weekend. We're supposed to be snowed in, so Don thought it would be the perfect time to work on an inside project.

I'll hopefully have some impressive pictures to post over the weekend : )

No news is good news

There's really not much to report here, except that the weather has been absolutely freezing! Today after school Haley brought Sean home (LOVE having another driver in the family) and Dylan met her here. We had hot chocolate (pictured above) and then the big kids started on their studying while I started dinner, which was Texas Toast french toast with yummy toppings and sausage from our side of pork.

For two days now, Nick has not taken an afternoon nap. So I guess there is some news! He's a very tired boy. This morning he fell asleep in front of the t.v. for about an hour, and would have easily fallen asleep this evening if it weren't for a very active bath and playtime with Daddy. The nice thing is that his bedtime is now 7:30, so we get some down time in the evening after the Littles go to bed.

Tomorrow night Dylan has a Wind Symphony concert. Sean is babysitting so that Don and I can both go. We're picking up Haley and taking her so that they'll have just one car after the concert is over.

We got an email from Mom and Lee yesterday; they are both fine in New Zealand...far away from the epicenter of the earthquake and they're planning on being home by March 3 or so depending on space availability on the flights. I am looking forward to having them only 1000 miles away instead of half a world away. : )

Sean's truck!

This morning Don and Nick took Sean and me, bright and early, to the Cutler's where Nathan's truck has been parked for the better part of a year! Sean and I drove it back to Aldergrove, stopping at both the US and Canada borders to export and then import the vehicle. We still have to do an inspection tomorrow morning, and then it hopefully will be good to go, and it will get Sean through highschool!

Mother and daughter tea party

Last night at Pioneer Girlz Club there was the annual Mother & Daughter night. In the fall they had the Father & Daughter Ho-Down and in the spring they do something for the moms. This year it was a "Victorian" tea. Patience got all dressed up in her (only) dressy dress and I did her hair all fancy, as you can see! She looked lovely, even if Queen Victoria probably wouldn't have approved : )

Patience and I ready to go!

The great cake they served there. It was half chocolate and half white! With a delicious cream filling...

Our friends Paige and Charlene. Paige lives a few doors down from us and went to kindergarten with Patience last year. This year she attends a different school so it's nice that the girls can still see each other every week at Pioneer Girlz. And it's nice to carpool : )

Bonafide card-carrying citizen!

Today Patience got a library card! We've been using my card to get her books for reading, but then I saw an ad that if your kids get a card and they check out "juvenile" books with it, no fines will accrue even if you bring the books back late. So, even though we're pretty good about due dates, no fines are better than small fines!

Valentine's Day

Jordyn had a Valentine's Day party at preschool so she got all dressed up including curly hair for school. We made rice krispie treats for her to bring to her party.  After school Dylan and Haley came home and the kids opened up their presents from Don and me. Patience and Jordyn each got a Zum, which is a kind of Webkinz that they had both been coveting for a long time. Dylan and Haley each gor a Webkinz so they can now go online and play. Nick got some high-quality fruit snacks and chocolate covered raisins. And Sean, though he was still in bed most of the day yesterday, got candy and a Dairy Queen gift card.

Dylan and Haley decided that instead of going out for sushi for Valentine's Day that they would try to make it themselves...and they did! Dylan had purchased everything they'd need to make a few different types of rolls and then they looked for online instructions, etc. They were quite happy with the results and are looking forward to more practice. I was quite happy with the way they cleaned up my (upstairs) kitchen when they were done! After seeing the kitchen mid-way through the project, I wasn't feeling too hopeful. But they pleasantly surprised me : )



Birthday milkshake

It is now a tradition: Don takes the Littles out to White Spot for milkshakes to celebrate their birthdays! Here's Jordyn happily digging into her chocolate shake : )

Laundry room makeover

You know how we love to do renovations! It's been a long time since we've Don's had a project...according to my blog it was January 2010 when he painted and fixed up the upstairs bathroom.

So now we're starting the laundry room. Don woke up this morning feeling human (thank you, Lord) and he said we needed to make a list of projects around the house. I never let an opportunity like that go by so I suggested we start on the laundry room.

Here are a few "before" pics so you can be sufficiently impressed by the improvements Don is going to make using his fabulous handyman talents : )

So, on the list of project specifics, Don is going to paint the walls and ceiling, build some cabinets that will hold laundry baskets/hampers and provide a surface on which to fold clothes, and lay some new linoleum.

We did really well on our "scope-creep" problem. Normally, Don and I would go in and look at what needed doing in a room and before you know it we would decide to remove walls, install windows, add a second story, get a bigger television, etc. This time we actually decided to keep it super simple and inexpensive. Don wanted to raise the floor to be level with the hallway, but after seeing how many things (mainly: pipes and plumbing) it would affect, we decided to keep our laundry room "sunken."

I spend a lot of time in my laundry room, so I'm super happy that it's going to be more efficient and look nicer. Happy Valentine's Day to me!

The (sick) full house

More than 1/2 of us have the flu!

Thankfully, 3 of the affected are of the adult or young adult variety, meaning they can make it to the bathroom to...do whatever people with the flu do.

Thankfully, the MOM is not affected. Otherwise it would make taking care of the Littles (especially the puking one) difficult or maybe impossible.

I'm praying this is the kind of flu that runs its course quickly and everyone is healthy for the weekend.

Happy 5th birthday, Jordyn!

Bless her little heart. Yesterday when I reminded her that her birthday was today, she said, "Do I get to go to school? I said, Yes, and I'm going to bring cupcakes for snack time." Then she said, "And do I get to go to my ice skating lesson?" I told her she did. She started clapping her hands and saying, "This is going to be the best birthday EVER!" What an easy keeper!

So today she did have cupcakes at school, she did her skating lesson, and then she came home to a big family dinner (spaghetti), presents, and our traditional Dairy Queen ice cream cake. She was thrilled with everything, as you can see:

PASS!

Both Patience and Jordyn had their last skating lesson for this session and passed on to the next level...Level 3 for each of them! I was very excited and proud. Jordyn was the only student in her class to pass and Patience was one of a very few to move on. The next level will get more challenging...it might very well take them 2 or more sessions to move onto Level 4.