Jordyn's Owie

This afternoon I picked up the girls from preschool. I opened the passenger-side door so the girls could get in their carseats, and then went around to the other side so I could get Nick in his. I was buckling him in, and looked up just in time to see Jordyn topple out of her seat, bounce off the van floor, out onto the gravel parking lot. : (

Of course she started crying immediately. I ran and picked her up and there was blood everywhere. I am fortunate enough that a very nice mommy ran over to help. She let me use her cell phone (I had mine but the battery was dead) to call the doctor's office. The very nice lady there told me to bring her right in...someone would see her a.s.a.p.

I met the boys at their bus stop, thankfully neither had music after school today, brought them home and left Patience and Nick with them. And off to the doctor's we went!

Dr. Morgan cleaned up the incision, gave her a numbing shot (much screaming), gave her a stitch (less screaming), and then gave her a sticker and a ring from the treasure box (smiles!).

Here she is:

White Rock beach

We've lived here all of the girls' lives and have never taken them to White Rock beach. Shame. I can blame that on our ridiculous summer swimming schedule, then being pregnant, and a myriad of other excuses. So I will.

On Saturday Don took Patience and Jordyn to the beach and as you can see, fun was had by all! The weather cooperated, the ice cream was delicious, and they were lucky enough to go during a kite-flying festival.

Happy meal

The homemade version.

Two petite deli sandwiches because we had dinner rolls but not sandwich bread, and a "smile" of pesto pasta leftover from dinner on Tuesday. Viola!

Warm weather (finally)...

Today was the first day of this school year where the girls didn't wear jackets! It's been a
very cold spring. Additionally, they are wearing short sleeves and capris. It feels heavenly!

Dear Nathan...

I know how disappointed you are in your beloved hockey team. Although I'm not sure why. They haven't changed one little bit. Your expectations of them have changed because of their phenomenal regular season. You allowed your hopes to rise, and now they're dashed because the Sharks are performing in the post season the way they always have.

Sure, the Stanley Cup is the holy grail of hockey, blah, blah, blah, but you know what? It doesn't take any character to be the fan of a winning team. Character is the holy grail of life, and your Sharks are teaching you character in a big, big way. Commitment. Are you going to stick with them through their highs and lows, or are you going to jam when the going gets tough? Patience. Are you demanding the Stanley Cup this year or are you willing to wait it out? Perfection takes time. Are you willing to wait? Contentment. Are you willing to be happy with what they've already given you this year? Or are you going to demand more before you can be happy? Resilience. How quickly can you bounce back from a disappointment? There are more, and I'm sure you can think of them yourself...

Hockey isn't life. But being a hockey fan sure can teach you great life lessons. Keep your eyes on the real prize, son, and don't let these playoffs get you down. Because you know what? Things are going your way...

Love,
Mom

Sunday morning pictures

Cool Tricks!

Nick, at 1 week shy of 7 months, is sitting up! I have to admit, I was getting a little concerned...

Ta da!

And I can sit up while looking at this cool thing!

What big eyes you have!

He's figured out the solids!

Tonight for dinner we had a delicious (if I do say so myself) pot roast with gravy, peas, salad, and a sweet potato souffle. Let me tell you, Don couldn't shovel the sweet potatoes into Nick's mouth fast enough! The souffle had just come out of the oven, so Don was being careful to cool each spoonful, and that just about drove Nick crazy...he would cry and scream in between spoonfuls! He ended up eating a lot of sweet potatoes...I am not looking forward to the diaper it produces. But I am happy that he's decided that real food is okay to eat.

The boys are back in town...

Dylan came home from his Disneyland band tour at 1:30 this morning. Thankfully, our neighbor brought him home from school so we didn't have to do anything but leave the door unlocked last night before turning in! I wanted to get laundry done, so I unpacked Dylan's bag while he was sleeping this morning. Imagine my surprise when I found two black shoes...but not a pair! That's right, he packed one of his black dress shoes, size 11, and one of Sean's black dress shoes, size 9. The good news is that there was a right shoe and a left shoe. The bad news is that he had to wear them for the entire first day at Disneyland. Ouch!

I'm thinking the next time he packs to go somewhere he'll take a little more care...

Other than the mismatched shoes, he said the music workshops there were amazing and that the experience cemented his desire to be a professional musician.

He left for the trip a little sick, crud held over from our trip last month...just some lingering congestion. But he came home really sick. He's still in bed, although he did get up for a bowl of soup. I think I'm going to go get him some high-powered decongestants.

Sean also came home today from his trip to Don and Waneta's. They tried to get him home last night on Greyhound, but when they took him to the Merrit station they found out that he couldn't get on that bus because he's an unaccompanied minor and the Langley station would be closed by the time the bus got there. So, they put him on the first bus this morning and Don and the girls went to pick him up just before 11. He came home, had some lunch, packed his backpack, and went to school in time for his last two classes.

He said he had a great time and that Waneta bought a Wii, making her the coolest grandma ever!

It's nice to have the big kids home. Now it's back to reality...

Easter bubbles

Don and Waneta gave our family a huge Easter basket filled with all sorts of goodies: a plush bunny for Nick, jams and syrups, lots of candy, and bubbles for the girls! Here they are playing with them this morning. It was sunny (thankfully) for a while, so they went outside to blow bubbles. Please forgive the quality of these pics...I took them from the upstairs window which apparently could use a good cleaning : )

Continuing the solids...

Nick will gladly eat anything on your plate. He even ate chicken from Don's plate yesterday! And he loves oatmeal if you're eating in the morning and are willing to share it with him. What he doesn't like is babyfood, especially cereal. I even bought some cereal that looked really good...multigrain with apples and yogurt. What's not to like?

We tried putting him in a highchair to see if that helped. It didn't.

Nick checking out his new digs.

Nick hating the cereal.

Easter 2009

Yesterday morning we went to church in our new building (yah!) where Nick fell asleep on Don for most of the service, which meant I actually got to stay in the sanctuary for most of the sermon! It was an Easter miracle. He woke up when it was almost over and wondered why he wasn't eating...so I took him into the nursery where he half-heartedly nursed between watching the kids play.

We drove south to Val and Dave's. Val had a delicious meal all prepared. You can read about it on her blog, as well as see some more pics. Nathan had driven up from Monroe and it was great to see him. I hadn't seen him since our Disneyland trip. He looks great. I'm so proud of him.

The kids had a great time opening their basket and finding eggs. The girls all had a great time playing together...I can't wait to have many more holidays together although poor Nick will be the odd man out until Lindsay has a little boy : )

Pics of the Littles

Small.


Medium.

Large.

All present and accounted for. Safe and sound. Miraculous, really, considering Jordyn's penchant for getting in mischief, making messes, and just generally being...well, naughty.

Northwest news

On Wednesday evening Don and Jordyn took Sean up to Merrit to spend the long weekend with Don and Waneta. Jesse was also flying down from the Edmonton area so the cousins will get some bonding time in! I hope grandma and grandpa survive : )

Then on Thursday morning, Dylan went off to school with his luggage as the band was leaving for the Vancouver airport at 11:00 for their trip to Disneyland. So far we haven't heard from him, but no news is good news in my humble opinion. He'll be coming home late Monday...sometime between midnight and 3 a.m.

So, we are now a small family again! I'm taking advantage of the extra time and energy by doing some spring cleaning, organizing, etc.

All the littles seem to be getting colds, which is very unfortunate : (

Jordyn was "Special Helper" at preschool on Tuesday. She was so excited to be such an important person that day. She got to bring show and tell yesterday and she brought her Minnie Mouse spinning toy that grandma bought her at Disneyland.

Today Don is finishing the bathroom project! All that's left to do is the trim around the window and the bathtub, but now that we're back upstairs using that bathroom more, finishing the project became more important. He'll hopefully also get to detailing the farm truck, which got rode hard and put away wet at Christmas time.

Nathan is doing well, despite the Sharks' pathetic loss to Phoenix last night. He now has a blog! You can get to it from the link on my sidebar.

And that's about all that's happening in the Murphy family...

Jordyn's New Do

If I survive Jordyn's toddlerhood I will be so thankful. She requires constant hypervigilance.

Just this morning I was upstairs nursing Nick in the rocking chair, thinking how peaceful everything was and just plain enjoying the morning. He fell asleep while nursing, so I went and layed him down in his crib and then went downstairs to check on the girls.

Well.

I came into the hallway just in time to see Jordyn exiting her room with a guilty look on her face. Crap. I asked her what she did and she shows me a hand full of hair. I mean a lot of hair. Not that she has so much to begin with! While I was upstairs revelling in the peace, she was in her bed, under her comforter with my haircutting scissors.

She is not a good hair stylist. Mind you, she might have done better if she hadn't been lying down under her comforter while she cut her hair.

So, all the peaceful feelings gone, I fixed her hair as best I could, gave her a quick rinse in the tub, and then started laundering her bedding to get all those little hairs out. And this is how she looks now:

I thought that Don might have been a little upset to see his daughter looking like a son, but he said that he thought it looked cute on her!

I really wish she had kept her ears pierced... earrings would have really helped make her look more feminine. By the way, who do you think she looks like now?

Moving Up...

....stairs, that is!

Yesterday afternoon the boys and I moved the kitchen from the suite end of the house back up to the upstairs part of the house. It's getting quite warm and sunny (yah!) so now the cool of the upstairs is appealing! Heck, if you got options, use them!

The fully functioning upstairs kitchen.

The girls playing with Nick and his toys. This is the perfect time for us to move back upstairs as now Nick has the entire living room floor to roll around and play on. I brought out a huge basket full of baby toys and he and the girls had quite a good time with them this morning.

Baby brother bliss

It would appear that Patience has inherited her grandma's love of babies!

Our evening in pictures

Patience's usually smiley self...


Sean babysits Nick...

Ta Da! Jordyn finishes dinner...

All while Dylan plays video games...

Shopping!

On Saturday afternoon my wonderful sister and I met at the mall so I could buy some new improved summer clothes. I used the winnings from my "Biggest Loser" contest (almost $200) to buy them, so I didn't feel one iota of guilt! That's the best kind of shopping...

We went to Old Navy and I bought 3 pairs of shorts, all walking shorts or longer, in brown, black, and khaki. I also got several new shirts...none of them t-shirts (aren't you proud of me?) and a tan light-weight jacket that'll go nicely with everything. It was so much fun. Except for Nick. He hated the experience. As soon as I strolled him into the mall he started crying! Poor Valarie wrangled an unhappy baby while I tried on a gazillion pieces of clothing.

After all my money was gone, we headed over to WalMart where we helped the Easter bunny buy some fun things for the kids' baskets. I'll post photos after Easter so you can see what they got, but suffice it to say that the girls will be so excited. On Easter morning we will be going to church and then we'll go straight to Val's for an Easter egg hunt and dinner; so the Easter bunny will not be visiting our house in Aldergrove. I hope the girls understand.

Lindsay and Madi met us at WalMart so we had a blast choosing fun things for the baskets, choosing a cute Easter dress for Madi, and then having a bite to eat at McDonalds. Their Southwestern salad is quite good!

The Licensed Driver

On Friday Don drove to Everett where Nathan was taking his driver's test for his Washington license. If you've been reading this blog for quite some time, you might remember that it took Nathan 4 tries to get his license up here in Canada. That's right, 4. Don, bless his heart, took Nathan every single time and never seemed to lose hope or patience. The funny thing is that Nathan really is a good driver. He's just not a good tester. He finally did get his license the spring of his Grade 11 year and since then he hasn't had one ticket or one accident.

He found out when he moved to Seattle that his Canada license is no good in the state of Washington. This was very bad news for Nathan, as he envisioned repeating those driver's tests, one by one, until he finally passed. Since he lived right downtown, and since he didn't own a vehicle anyway, he never bothered to go through the testing process to get his Washington license. Until now, when he agreed to housesit and dogsit for a shipmate who is back east for training. He now lives a good 45 minutes away from Seattle, and has a Nissan Pathfinder available to him. This all prompted him to go through the hoops of getting that driver's licence.

The first step was to take a written test and get his driver's permit. He had to conquer his fear of public transit in order to get to the licensing office. He got there on a Monday only to find a sign on the door saying they were closed for some bizarre reason. Walking back to the bus stop, he got pooped on by a bird. Poor Nathan. Not his day. He went back a couple of days later and passed the test on his first try! This was a huge improvement over the many times he took the Canadian test.

So, he then scheduled a driver's test for Friday, April 3, in Everett. He asked if he could use the Yaris to take his test in, as it's a tiny little car that's easy to drive and park. Much easier than the Pathfinder. Don took half a day off so he could be in Everett in time for Nathan to practice a little before the test. Everything went according to plan until they went into the office and learned that Nathan's apointment wasn't on Friday the 3rd, it was on Friday the 10th! You can imagine the emotions that were floating around the office at that time!

Nathan rescheduled his test for this morning at 10:30. A very elated Nathan called me at 10:45 to tell me that he passed! On his first try! Using the Pathfinder! We're all very excited and proud of Nathan. Mostly I'm proud that he did all of the administrative stuff himself in getting his permit and his license. He found information, locations, made phone calls, etc. to make this all happen. Without my assistance. For Nathan, that's huge. He's clearly on the road to becoming an independent adult. Phew.

And now we have a licensed driver.

Nick is starting to enjoy playtime with daddy.

Oh Jordyn

How long does it take for an experienced laundress to get a load of laundry into the wash? 90 seconds? Maybe 2 minutes? In that amount of time Jordyn got the bandaids out of the bathroom and started decorating Nick. That poor child is going to be her unwilling victim for years to come...

Dorothy's visit

Dorothy visited yesterday, bringing the girls some Easter baskets filled with chocolate eggs and 1.2 billion stickers! The girls always enjoy visiting with Dorothy...she is so fun and lets the girls do things like decorate her face, sweater, and earrings with stickers : )

This is Dorothy's Easter hat that she made for her Red Hat Ladies brunch this weekend.

Goals for April

1. Stick to budget.
2. Lose 5 pounds.
3. Use 1/2 of the food in my deep-freeze.
4. Use 1/2 of the food in my pantry.
5. Move my square-foot garden frames into the back yard.
6. Plan garden, including getting new soil and seeds.

Playing

Nick and Jordyn playing "house." Nick was the baby and Jordyn was the mommy.