Way too cute...

Here they are, in all their glory!

Mom, did you notice Jordyn's outfit? It's so nice to be able to use all those adorable clothes again!

February 26 Update

Hello everyone! Last week was a busy one...hence no blog post, so I'll try to give you a recap here.

We started the week with a few of the big kids sick, which resulted in days home from school.

Jordyn had her 1 year immunizations, which Don took her to. It was very sad for both of them, but they did survive. Don says he'll never do that again.

Patience continues with her swim lessons. She got a bonus lesson again last week because Marianne lets her come whenever someone is not going to be at their lesson. She had a minor setback on Tuesday, resulting in a "time-out" on the side of the pool, and eventually being expelled from the pool because, where Patience is stubborn, Marianne is stubborn AND in charge. She returned the next day and did exactly what Marianne was asking her to do on Tuesday. Go figure...

Danica was with us three days this week (well, 2 1/2 really...more on that later).

My mom was supposed to fly in Friday evening for Jordyn's birthday and Dylan's jazz concert, but the flight loads looked heavy so she was going to try to come in at 2:30 instead. So, we made hurculean efforts to rearrange our day, including Danica's grandma picking her up at noon so I could fetch mom from the airport. I'm watching the Alaska Airlines website so I could track her flight, and it shows late. Well, shoot. We have club speeches Friday night and the schedule is getting tight. The next update on the website shows the flight is CANCELLED! I call her cell phone only to get a very depressed grandma...yes, the flight is cancelled (due to mechanical problems) so of course all of the paying passengers are getting routed on later flights, making stand-by travel impossible. Since she was going to have to fly out 5:00 a.m. Sunday, we decided it wouldn't be worth her trying to fly in on Saturday. That was a big disappointment to everyone involved : (

On Friday night, we had our 4-H club speeches. There were two heroes that night, and they both happened to be my sons : ) In 4-H, public speaking is a competitive event. You start at the club level, and the top speakers there go on to the district level; the top district speakers go onto regionals. For seniors, the top regional speakers go on to the provincial competition. For every 4 speakers, or portion thereof, a club can send 1 speaker to districts. So, if a club has 4 junior members competing, they send one on. If they have 5, they can send 2. Our club, which has EXCELLENT public speakers, had only 4 juniors competing. I needed one more junior to speak at the club level so we could send 2 speakers on to districts. But where would I find a junior who was willing to write and deliver a speech in 24 hours? Sean! That's right...I explained my dilemma and asked him to basically deliver an impromptu speech, understanding that my expectations were not that his speech would be perfect...he just needed to do his best. He did, and his speech was actually quite good! And, we did send on two wonderful speakers to disctricts. Our second-place speaker owes Sean a HUGE favor : )

The second hero of Friday night was Nathan. Nathan wrote and delivered an excellent speech on Friendship, complete with his signature examples from Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. But the other senior speakers were pretty darn good, too. It was going to be a tight race. Seniors, after delivering their prepared speeches, have to deliver an impromptu speech. They all leave the room, the judges decide on a topic, and they come back in, one at a time, get the topic, have 1 minute to prepare, and then deliver a 1 to 2 minute speech. This year's topic was "The person who inspires me the most and why." Again, the other senior speakers were good. Really good. It wasn't looking good for Nathan. But HE NAILED HIS IMPROMPTU. It was the best unprepared speech I've ever heard, with the perfect combination of sincerity and humor, he had the audience laughing and crying. It was amazing, and I'm not just saying that because HIS SPEECH WAS ABOUT ME...it really was a fantastic impromptu...textbook perfect. I was so proud of him. He did place first, and will go on to the district competition this Friday night.

Saturday was another good day for our household. Dylan had his jazz concert on Saturday night, and we had planned for some time for Kelsey to babysit for us...but with Mom's plans falling through, everything kind of changed around, and instead of Kelsey watching the girls, Valarie came! It was great (mostly) except for she is clearly out of the "mom" stage and into the "grandma" stage, because both girls were still awake at 9:30 when I got home, both having a great time with Auntil Babadee, as she was letting them do anything they wanted... But it was great having her (thanks, Val!). And the concert was great! Mom would have loved it, especially "Georgia On My Mind." Dylan was in two jazz bands and one vocal ensemble, in which he had a solo. Unfortunately the acoustics weren't too good and it was difficult to hear him. But I'm sure it was amazing : )

Is that enough information? I could say that Val and I took Nathan, Sean, and Hailey shopping Saturday to get Nathan some clothes for his Ottawa trip...he needs "conference wear," which is inbetween casual and dressy. We got some incredible deals at Wal-Mart, and Val was able to lend her fashion expertise.

Yesterday a.m. Sean and Dylan had swimming, then onto church. I did some housework that I had been too busy for previously, in addition to 5 loads of laundry. Last night the kids (all but Jordyn) had movie night with a rented movie and popcorn. It's nice that Patience is getting old enough to do that. After the movie, we all participated in a "5-minute Room Rescue" (living room and girls' play area) and then it was off to bed for the girlies. The boys and I watched the amazing "Senators vs. Sabres brawl" on youtube.

It was a busy, but productive week. This week has the same potential...check back for updates!

Knock, knock!

Nathan taught Patience a "Knock, knock" joke this weekend when they were taking a walk out back together. It goes:
"Knock, knock."
"Who's there?"
"Boo."
"Boo who?"
"You don't have to cry, it's only a joke!"
Then Patience laughs hysterically (every time).
And she tells the joke over and over to anyone who will listen.
Our Knock-Knock Joke era has begun...not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Our California Trip

Nathan and I had a lovely, uneventful trip to California this past weekend. We left Thursday night after dinner and baths for the girlies, and headed south to Val and Dave's. There, Nathan went to a Baker basketball game with Kelsey and one of her friends, and Val, Hailey, and I got some visiting in. I also got to see some of Val's artwork that she's doing for her graphic design course. Apparently, Val is one of those people who is good at anything she puts her mind to!

We left bright and early Friday a.m. Four o'clock to be precise. Val and Dave didn't hear us leave, but their puppies did! I drove the first bit while Nathan got a bit more sleep. I got us south of Seattle and then we switched. I drove through Portland, which really wasn't too bad during the time of day we were there, and then Nathan pretty much drove through the rest of Oregon. It rained on and off pretty much through the day. We got into the Bay Area around 7:30, which is how I planned it...I figured if we got there late enough, surely we wouldn't run into the famous bumper-to-bumper traffic. But I was wrong. Everyone and their cousin was driving from the East Bay into the SF area! So it took almost an hour to go 15 or so miles...so frustrating to be "so close and yet so far." We finally made it to mom's and had a lovely lasagne dinner. Nathan showered, I jammied, and then we settled down in front of the t.v. That's when I realized how tired I was, so I excused myself to bed and Nathan played Grandma's game cube (yes, she is the coolest grandma in the world).

Saturday a.m. I had Nathan do some homework before we headed over the hill to the home of the Sharks, HP Pavillion. We left around 10, and stopped at this wonderful little warehouse in Moss Beach, of all places. We did some shopping, much to Nathan's horror. He was very motivated to get out of there and head to San Jose.

Finally, we left, and Nathan drove over the hill and into San Jose. We got to the Shark Tank, and Nathan found out how quickly $60 goes there. Lucky for him, his grandmother was willing to buy him some Shark souvenirs, as was his mother. All in all, he left there one happy Shark fan!

After that, we did some more shopping and then headed to Cold Stone Creamery, a wonderful ice cream store that we liked so well that we even returned the next day for round two. Saturday night we watched The Guardian. Great movie! We stayed up late (for me) and headed to bed around 11:30.

Sunday morning mom and I headed into Half Moon Bay, purchased two lattes, and then window shopped our way up and down Main Street. While we were doing that, Nathan was doing more homework and watching two NBA games. We got home, thought about packing, and then sat out in the backyard where it was warm and sunny. That was really nice! Around 4, we headed back to Pacifica for a little more shopping and ice cream.

Sunday evening we watched Extreme Home Makeover, and then went promptly to bed. I set my alarm for 3:00, but actually woke up by myself at 2:40. I got Nathan up, we got in the car, and repeated Friday's drive except in reverse. I was in Richmond by 4:00 a.m., and there was actually commute traffic at that hour coming from the East. We were well onto I-5 by 5:00 a.m. And when Nathan woke up around 6, we were in Red Bluff. We gassed up, switched drivers, and then we were off. We got into Bellingham around 5 p.m., hitting hardly any traffic in Seattle. We picked up pizzas at Papa Murphy's, and dairy at Edaleen's, and then made it home by a little past 6. The girls were happy to see us, but not incredibly so. Jordyn was quite happy to stay in her daddy's arms, as that is where she had spent the past 4 days, apparently.

We had dinner, did some unpacking and cleaning up, and went to bed! This morning I forgot it was already Tuesday. Luckily Don remembered about the trash and recycling! Patience had her swim lesson where she once again did not cry at all.

Look Who's 1!

I can't decide if this year went by quickly or slowly! I think the days were long but the weeks were short...

At any rate, Jordyn is clearly out of the baby stage, and is now 100% toddler. She's happy to play with Patience for longer periods, and, thankfully sleeps through the night regularly.

She still says no words...sometimes mamamama or dadadada, but that's about it.

She hones her climbing skills daily. Now the couches are no problem, neither is one of our chairs...I imagine in a few days nothing will be safe and we'll have to store our chairs ON TOP of our kitchen table to keep her from climbing up there.

She loves to be carried, but not sat and cuddled with, unless there's a bottle involved and she's hungry. She won't cuddle and take a bottle just for the fun of it. She's shy with strangers, especially if they talk directly to her.

She's sedate and serious where her sister is energetically hilarious and engaging. They are different in so many ways, not the least of which is their looks.

Happy birthday, darling Jordyn.

Cousins

Here are Miss Kelsey and Mr. Dylan... taken in December, I think, when the girls stayed with me for a weekend and helped on the farm.

We've been fortunate to have cousins (and LOTS of them) in a variety of ages. They've had the pleasure of traveling together to Disneyland, Hawaii, the best vacation ever (houseboating on Lake Shasta), not to mention the summer Kelsey stayed with us and swam on the Langley summer swim team.

Of course, Val and Dave have kinda dropped the ball and haven't produced little cousins for Patience and Jordyn. But they do have a plethora of four-legged friends that Patience is excited about, namely horses and short dogs.

This week I'm getting ready to take a whirlwind trip to California with Nathan. I need a short break and he needs 30 hours of driving practice before he takes his driver's test.

More later...

Saturday Morning Relaxation

This morning Jordyn single-handedly removed some couch cushions... just enough to make a nice place to kick back. Then Patience, not wanting to miss a modeling opportunity, jumped up beside her. I have several shots where one is smiling while the other is looking away, but I think this one is the cutest of the two of them.

Busy day today...I'm running a 2-hour dog training session that Nathan was supposed to do until something better came along, namely a weekend tournament in Kamloops for basketball. Then we're going to try to get the agility equipment moved so our 4-H dogs can start using it on a regular basis.

I'll post more later!

The Girls Play

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6. It's a wonder Pam and Adrian even let Danica stay here, with the terrible habits my lovely daughters teach her.

So, Pam, if Danica tears your couch cushions off and uses them as an indoor play place, don't blame her.

The order of the day here is apparently lavendar t-shirts and jeans.

It's a beautiful sunny day, but cold. If it were next winter, and everyone were a year older, I'd bundle them up to play outside. But with Jordyn, that just doesn't sound very fun. We'll just have to stick with the indoor play place for a while longer.

Peek-a-boo!

This picture is worth 1,000 words...

Patience shoes her horsie...

Watch out, Uncle Dave! You have up-and-coming competition in the farrier trade. Not only can Patience shoe her horsie, but just look at the fashion statement the shoes make! Not your boring ol' steel shoes...

Patience had swim lesson #3 yesterday, again with brother Dylan in the water with her. She is still crying when Marianne is working with her, but is fine when she is "swimming" with Dylan. It'll be interesting next week when Dylan is back in school and can't accompany her.

She started with her, "I not go hummmmmm," when I was putting her swim suit on her before her lesson, and quickly added, "I not feeling well" to her reportoire to try to get out of going to Marianne's pool. Poor Bubelah. But swimming is one of life's little necessities in the Murphy household.

Look who has ankles...

Jordyn is wearing a pair of the cutest little boots that Mom bought (in two sizes) when Patience was a wee baby. Imagine my disappointment when she was never able to wear them because I couldn't zip them past her chubby ankles.

Our little Jojo is so petite in comparison to Patience. She had her one-year check-up yesterday and she's growing perfectly along the 50th percentile. Patience, in comparison, was barely hanging onto the graph, somewhere between the 95th and 99th percentile.

So, among other things, I'm enjoying wearing shoes on my little daughter...

Another couch wrecker in the making...

What do you see on the couch? That's right. One-year-old (almost) Jordyn. And what do you NOT see on the couch? That's right. Cushions.

That's because Jordyn's big sister, who shall remain nameless, has taught her how to climb on the couch and throw all the pillows off. Now this is her favorite activity, coupled with looking out the window once she gets up there.

Can't she get hurt up there? Can't she fall off? Yes, and frequently. But does it stop her from doing it? No. Such is my life...

You Know You're Old When...

Your child is old enough to donate blood! Today Nathan took another step on the road to adulthood. He and I had back-to-back appointments to donate blood, but when we got there, I was told that I couldn't donate because my iron was too low. I was shocked! Not.

But Nathan's was perfect...his little blob of blood sank to the bottom of the vial with lightning speed so he continued on through their processes, interviews, questionnaires, etc. Of course he thought the juice and cookies were a great bonus.

I came home with a pamphlet listing iron-rich food which I'm supposed to start consuming regularly.

It's amazing how fast they're all growing up. Jordyn will be one in less than two weeks, and Nathan will be thinking of moving out in less than 18 months.

My Over-Achiever

Can anyone guess which of my kids was selected to participate in the 2007 Canadian Mathematics Competition?

Swim Lessons!

There was an old woman, who lived in a shoe, the had so many children, she didn't know what to do!

Okay, I'm not technically "old," although if you ask my children they'd probably say I am. And I don't live in a shoe...but the rest of the nursery rhyme fits me pretty well.

On Tuesdays Patience has swim lessons. I'm able to bring her to Marianne's pool. Not a problem. I can even entertain Jordyn in her stroller during the whole 30-minute lesson. It's being in the water with her that has me stumped! No, I don't have to be in the water, but if I'm not, Patience has to sit on the steps while Marianne works with the other kids.

So, this morning I had a brainstorm! I happen to have several other children who could probably help out from 12 to 12:30! It just so happens that Dylan has a spare during that time, so I picked him up from school, drove around the corner to Marianne's, and tada, Patience has her very own helper, and was out in the water the entire 1/2 hour. It worked out perfectly!

Thanks, Dylan, for being such a great big brother...

Happy Birthday, Sean!

Here is our once baby, now middle child, Sean at his 12th birthday party. Slumber party. Never. Again.

Actually, Don and I slept fine, considering the boys were all down in Boyland and we were far away from the action. But according to Nathan, they didn't sleep at all.

But they're having a great time. They've been playing with Nathan's Wii, eating pizza, chips, cake, ice cream, pop...and now Don is making crepes. It's 8:30 and the parents are due at 11:00. We can make it!

On the agenda today, I'm taking Dylan to the bank to do some 4-H banking, taking Nathan to another basketball game, and then we'll have Sean's family birthday celebration this evening.

There's still snow on the ground, but skies are blue and the roads are finally clear for driving. I'm starting to feel the gardening itch for the first time in a few years. I think I'll do some gardening this year (on a very small scale...like maybe 40 sq. feet).

More later...

Hide and Seek!

I'm cheating... this picture of Patience and Danica is actually from last week, but it's so cute I had to post it.

We've been busy, but not with anything monumental, so I haven't been inclined to blog. So, I'll just fill you in on our mundane lives : )

We've had snow! In fact, the snow and icy roads made us cancel our 4-H meeting on Wednesday night, which was a pity. Nathan's basketball game was also canceled. So far this school year the snow has really wreaked havoc with many events.

Nathan's basketball team is on Vancouver Island without him because he has two tests next week (in Physics and Math) and we felt that missing more school was just not in his best interest. Keep in mind he was out of school for more than 3 weeks between the Hawaii trip and Christmas holiday, so it's really time to buckle down and concentrate on school work. It's amazing that this semester has only three weeks left, and in the third week Nathan will be taking some pretty substantial provincial exams. Eeek!

Dylan has been having a blast with his new keyboard. It has a lesson mode, where the keys light up to show you which ones to press, and a chart on the display shows you which finger to use. I'm pretty sure this is not how real lessons would go (right, Heather?) but he's enjoying the challenge. After you play the song, it shows you your score. If you score 70 or higher, you get applause (Dylan loves this feature). The funny thing is that because electronic games have not been welcome in our home this week, the boys have decided that the keyboard can be a pretty good substitute.

Sean stayed home from school (his dad's decision) on Wednesday because of the snow. On Thursday he didn't want to go, but I forced him out the door. I'm glad I did, because his (great) teacher took the kids outside for science and taught them things about the snow, like how to make an igloo or a Quincy. The kids had a blast!

Jordyn is quickly closing the gap between she and Patience. It's not going to be long until there's more playing and fighting between the two. In the past two weeks, Jordyn has decided that daddy is who she wants : ) It's very cute, and of course Don is over the top with her adoration. I think Jordyn is cutting her other top tooth, which will make two for the top and two for the bottom.

Tomorrow is 4-H for the boys. Nathan will be helping out with dog training in the a.m., and then all the boys will have Outdoor Living training in the afternoon. I'm hoping it doesn't snow...I'd hate to cancel tomorrow because of the weather.

Tomorrow night Val, Dave, and the kids are coming over. The kids are having Pizza here and the adults are going OUT. We've been wanting to take them to our favorite Greek place for ages, but we've never made it happen...so, hopefully, tomorrow we'll get to dine with them there.

I think that's about it for now!

Rich in Girlies!

Good morning from the tree farm! This morning we woke up to a beautiful dusting of snow and the appropriately cold temperatures to go with it!

We had a quiet evening last night, beginning with Nathan driving Dylan and me to WalMart, during which I didn't gasp or brace myself once. This is a huge step in the right direction.

After the girlies went to bed, Don played tech support (it's like a reality game) to niece Joleen and sister Val. During that time, Nathan and I listened to the Sharks have a feeding frenzy with the Red Wings. The 9-4 victory was exciting even just listening to it!

This morning we are having fun playing with new Christmas toys (some of them haven't even been played with!) with Danica. All three girls LOVE the kitchen, table and chairs, and tea set. Today is the last weekday of Christmas vacation for the boyos...they'll be off to school bright and early Monday morning. Ugh... It's been such a nice, relaxing two weeks (three for Nathan!)...

Pretty Hair!

Patience has never been a fan of having "pretties" in her hair. She'd take em out as fast as I could put them in so I eventually gave up. But this Christmas she got some really cute hair things in her stocking and to my surprise she likes them! She'll willingly sit so I can brush and part her hair and make pigtails.

The hysterical thing is that Jordyn is fixated on Patience's hair pretties. She follows Patience around, trying to touch her hair, and even pulled one out when Patience was sitting on the ground not paying attention. So I put Jordyn in her highchair and proceded to "do" her hair. She sat relatively still! I pulled up all her long hair and made it into a little palm tree, and wouldn't you know it, that little girl left it in her hair all day long! Patience walked around saying, "I soooo pretty!" and I think Jordyn was thinking the same thing : )

Patience's Tea Party

This might have been the cutest thing that happened in the history of my being a mom to daughters.

If Patience has a nap during the day, she's up late. Far later than I like to be up! But sometimes it's just impossible to keep her awake during the day, so I have to pay the consequences. I have to admit that she is very self-sufficient, so being up late with her is not difficult...it's just....late.

So this evening she was up late playing and I was on the internet when she came in the kitchen, grabbed my hand, and said, "c'mon, Mom." She lead me into her little play area where she had set up a tea part for four. Her guests, along with me, were Jessie and Woody from Toy Story. So we sat (I sat gingerly on her new little pink chair) while Patience poured me cup after cup of "tea," and then I switched to coffee so she could run back and forth to her kitchen where she has coffee maker with real brewing sounds.

It was very precious...a memory I'll have for a long time (especially now that I've blogged it). I love having daughters (thank you, Lord).