Introducing Tony Vu

Tony is our international student from Viet Nam! He is here primarily to become a fluent English speaker. Right now his reading and writing skills are very high, but his pronunciation is low. He's getting better everyday! He's in grade 9 at Poppy, and plans on attending there for another 4 years. Tony is a friendly teen who gets along well with the whole family. He plans on playing basketball at Poppy, which starts pretty soon (I think). Tony's taking advantage of the international student activities...he's already attended a 4-day trip to the north end of Vancouver Island, and he's going to EUROPE (!) with the school during spring break. I'm sure you'll see lots of Tony on my blog, as he'll probably be here for the next 4 years : )

Tony arrives at our house September 1, 2011

Tony with his mom and his Canadian mom.

Tony's mom spent a month in Canada...3 weeks in August and then another week after settling Tony in with us. She speaks no English...we spoke through a translator.

Introducing Lucas Motta

On August 26 we went to the airport to get our very first long-term international student, Lucas. He's from Brazil and he'll be staying with us for the first semester, which ends at the end of January. Lucas is 16 and is in grade 11 at Poppy along with Sean. He speaks excellent English, along with some Spanish and of course Portugese. He loves soccer and is on Poppy's undefeated soccer team. He's a social butterfly, with more friends in Canada than me, and he's been to Vancouver at least 20 times in the 2 months he's been here. We are enjoying hosting him, and we'll miss him very much when he returns to Brazil.

Some cute pics of Nick

Nick got dressed up all by himself!

Happy birthday, Nick!

Nick turned 3 years old amid very little pomp and circumstance. : ) He did, however, get a cake! And he was thrilled with it!

First day of school for the girls

Jordyn starts kindergarten, and Patience is in grade 2. They both have wonderful teachers...and they both love school!

Happy birthday Haley and Tony!

In the middle of October we were able to celebrate Haley's 18th birthday and Tony's 14th birthday since their birthdays are just a few days apart. We celebrated in true Murphy's fashion...with a DQ ice cream cake! Neither Tony nor Lucas had ever had an ice cream cake, and they both appreciated it! In fact Lucas mentioned opening up a Dairy Queen in Brazil...he could become a millionaire : )

Haley got a cribbage kit (board, cards, pegs) and a restaurant gift card. No sensible underwear this year : )

Ice cream cake! We couldn't decide on a theme, so we went with Cars because we knew that at least Nick would appreciate it...

Our complete family except for Nathan and Don, who took the picture. No, we don't fit around this table.

Tony received an iTunes giftcard and an Xbox controller from us, and a complete skateboard set-up from his parents. He's wanted a skateboard forever, but there was no place to ride on where he lived in Viet Nam...

Introducing Miss Bailey Quinn

This year I told Sean that he was limited to 2 extra-curricular activities (not including cadets). He chose volleyball and jazz band. Until September 16, when he decided that jazz band wasn't nearly as entertaining or interesting as having a girlfriend! Bailey is also a grade 11 student at Poppy, and also has big plans for her future and is getting the grades and is involved in the activities to make those plans happen.

Halloween 2011

This year Patience and Jordyn are both dressed up as witches and Nick is wearing the lion costume that is now on its 6th or 7th wearing! Old Navy costumes are adorable and they will last, unlike the costumes that we've purchased recently for the girls, made out of lining instead of fabric, tearing into shreds at the least provocation.

Last night Don and I took the girls and Nick to our church's Halloween carnival, "Bucaneer's Bash." The had a great time, of course.

Today at school they wore their costumes for the Halloween parade and then wore them all day long and enjoyed Halloween parties in their class rooms. This year their school has thankfully toned down the Halloween festivities. I remember last year they nearly did me in with some contest or commitment every day of the week!

Tonight they will go trick-or-treating with Sean and Bailey in our neighborhood. Don and I will sit in a quiet, empty house drinking red wine and enjoying the unbusyness of the moment.

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

Welcome back to my blog! Here is the very latest picture from the Murphy household...of Thanksgiving dinner 2011. On the left is Tony, our international student from Viet Nam, and next to him is Lucas, from Brazil. Sean was invited to eat dinner at his new girlfriend's home, so he isn't in this picture. I do plan on doing some very condensed catching up. I obviously will not be able to recreate all of August and September for you but I will try to at least list the highlights.