Cutting of the Tree

I had forgotten how funny the blogger sight was, How you have to arrange your pictures in a different order than what you want them to appear. Every year we go and cut a fresh/live tree out on the farm. All but one time we have gone to Hubers. Today was so cold. The wind was cutting right through you. Here is the winning tree. Matt had this great idea about how we select our tree.

We always walk through the farm saying I like this one, and then walking a few steps and saying I like this one. When we turn around to compare the ones we like now we don't remember the first one we liked. So, Matt had this great idea Each person would get a clothes pin to mark their favorite tree. It worked splendidly. Carolyn's tree won this year.



Corbin yells out "Good night, Daddy, look at all those trees!" He couldn't believe that we would have so many choices. :)


We had so much fun inspite of the weather. It is so nice to come off of the farm to warm hot cider for everyone.

My new post and everything!

Merry Christmas, I will try and be a little better than I have been over the last, what, six months?!
I have read the last few entries on many of you and life keeps moving at a break neck speed, huh? A little update for the Murphy family:
We are madly trying to get the house all holified, presents for the first half of the month engagements (went to black Friday for the second time!), going to the Winter Wonder Slam tonight to celebrate Adam and I's Birthdays, I will be making some graduate/licensing decisions this month as my teacher license expires this spring.
Adaline has grown and grown! She is so tall and long that she is in sizes 2T and 3T at age 18months. She is such a chatter bug and talks happily to anyone who listens or even just to herself. She is such a girl; loves to hold babies and purses. She can't keep her hands off the Christmas tree. She has already smashed an ornament against the wall. She loves to draw, keep your pens and pencils out of sight.
Corbin is doing great at preschool and loves going to class, at least after he is out of bed, dressed and ready to deal with the fact that we have to get started with our day. His Indian name for this Thanksgiving was "Mighty Bear". He must be doing some of that roaring at school. He has such a kind heart and loves on his little sister often.
Well, off to the concert!

A Tale of Two Little Munchkins

Click here to view this photo book larger

Adaline Lynn Murphy Birthday #1

What a great day we had Saturday! Little miss tea cup had a great party. We had an amazing day, great family and friends to celebrate with, Italian food, cake and punch, and a beautiful little girl to celebrate.

Addie was in such a great mood. She such a precious one.

She was so funny opening presents. She sat in her little chair and watched everyone oo and aah at her. Her favorite thing was reading/eating her cards. Too cute

Amy and the girls got Addie that adorable swimsuit you see on the chair. It is so much fun having new babies and toddlers in our family again. They bring so much life to our family get together.

Now when it came time for the cake Addie looked at it and then at me as if to say "Are you sure you are letting me eat sugar?" So what does she do. She gives it back to me. I let her have a bite and that is all she wrote. Now she wants to eat everything we are eating. Sweet or not.

Ths is the famous big brother. He ran and played the entire time. He didn't even sit still long enough to eat dinner. How could he not with Nana and Peepaw, Grandma and Grandpa, Mark and family so many of his favorite people all here to play with him.

Happy Birthday my precious girl!

Addie's First

There will be many firsts for our baby girl, but April 7th is her first birthday! Yay! One of the ways we celebrated today was to paint her fingernails. So, today Addie has had her first day with painted toe nails and fingernails. So cute.
Addie is cutting her top teeth so she has been quite the fussy little girl.
We are going to celebrate her birthday Sat. My baby girl's first birthday. :)
One of the firsts we are looking forward to are her first steps and the first time she says "I love you."

My precious one....

I'm hooked

So every Tuesday I have a little ritual. I have been putting the kids to bed and watching Lost and The Good Wife. I really like Lost this season. There are so many new characters and new ideas. I am curious how they will end this season. I am the type of viewer to like a show and movie really well and then if the ending is not to my liking that heavily weighs into how I ultimately like the show. So, we shall see about Lost.
Needless to say I am looking forward to tomorrow night.
The Good Wife is good. I like the law and courtroom scenes. This is the only night of the week I sit down for shows. Of course this also means that I like Law and Order. I am alone is this at my house. If I'm really living it up I'll make some hot tea or popcorn to go along with my TV night. I know, I need to tame it down. :)

spring glitches

So, with spring comes those fun, stinky lady bugs. I love lady bugs and apparently Addie does too. She still sticks everything in her mouth and tried the lady bug the other day. yuck! I was sure that I saw her do it and went fishing in her mouth with my finger to find nothing. She looked up and I saw it sticking to the roof of her mouth. double yuck! So, I finally got it out and my beautiful blue-eyed girl was able to live another day. :)

Lots of savings

On Wednesday evenings we have a class at church called STRIVE. You've probably heard Michelle talk about this class. Well, one night they focused on couponing. There really is a science to finding the best deals. Well, I'm all about the deal and finding savings. So, I have been working on getting better at saving money on things I buy. We probably spend $200-$250 in groceries a month. Yesterday I only bought sale items and used a coupon on everything possible. I went to Walmart this time. I really like Aldi and Meijer, but Walmart is close and they price match other adds. I took the JayC, Kroger, and Dollar General add with me. I have been getting coupons from the Sunday paper (which is on sale for $1 delivered every Sunday) and online.

Here are the items I bought. They filled the island in our kitchen. I bought 95 items and found them on sale or had a coupon for almost everything. Out of 95 items I used 16 coupons. I got deals like Matt's creamer reg. 2.76 sale 1.99 and $1 off coupon for 2. I ended up getting 2large international creamers for 1.50 each. Or lunch meat oscar myer shaved deli meat is reg 3.98 sale 2.50 plus $1/2 so they were $2.00 each Motts apple juice on sale .99 dinoyogart reg 1.37 $1.00 off coupon. Anyway, I was so excited. The best deal of all... are you ready for this? The reece's dark chocolate cups were .50 and I had a coupon for .55 off. So, they paid me .05 to eat reece on the way home from my savings hunt! Awsome!

A website I love to check out is hip2save.com. She tells you all kinds of tips on how to shop. She loves Target and if you are a target shopper definitely check there before you go to the store. Two of the deals I have gotten from the sight are crocs for Addie $8.99 shipped to my house. I wouldn't normally spend crocs prices for a kid but since this was so low thought I would try them out and see if I like them. Also and you have a week left of this deal. You can make a photo book, bound with text and beautiful by Picaboo for free. You can make a 20 page book for only shipping price till the end of March. I am making one for Addie's first year. I have the coupon code if you need it. Also the sight features new products that they let you sample for free or even video tours of her getting deals at the stores. My regular check of the sight is for Walgreens/cvs/right aid/and Target. She walks you through the ads for the week and points our what you can get and how to use the coupons to get you items for real cheap and sometimes free.

Now I know you are wondering how much I spent on my 95 items. I didn't have coupons for the baby food, addies hair bands, bread,and other similar items that I wanted, but all the items with tax= $153.20

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Life of Two

I know I have been neglectful of my duties to my fans. :) I can't believe it has been over a month since my last post. Well, my children have grown since Christmas. So, that is what we'll start with today.
Corbin and Addie love to cuddle and see each other every day.


Every night we brush teeth, change and get ready for bed, read a Bible story and pray.

Addie loves getting into her food

This is how you will find my children on most days. One sock on and one off. I didn't even notice they were both missing socks until later.

Addie is nearly walking and Corbin is getting better and better at communicating and speaking what he is thinking and what he needs. Growling and roaring is still a common communication tool but he is now using more words to go with his sounds.

Two little teeth

Yes, It has happened at last!
Addie has gotten two little toophers. Our nights are much more peaceful and she is so much happier now that the teeth have made an appearance. Here is a little update on my precious one.

Adaline Lynn

Light brown hair-hopefully to turn blond
-Baby fine and still not long enough to beret or pony.
-Often sticks up on the right side. :)
Chubby cheeks-from her father
-so soft and kissing worthy
Two teeth!-with more in progress
Cute pot belly that is quickly sticking out of her 9month shirts telling me to move her into the next size.
Little pudgy hands that like to wave, clap, grab and point her right pointer finger. She breaks out in giggles when you point and wiggle your finger up to hers. Her little clap is so fun.
Rolly polly leggums- She loves to crawl, bounce, and walk along the hearth below the fireplace.
Thick precious feet that never want to wear shoes- Addie's feet are not quite as square or thick as Corbins were but similar. She takes off her shoes and socks constantly.
My little girl is such a jabber jaws. She loves making noise, talking with herself and Corbin.
My precious one.

The last of 2009

Well, maybe I am catching up to the present. I am just now putting to rest my Christmas photos. I love Christmas and the holidays. The kids had so much fun. What I really enjoyed was Corbins enthusiasm over the Christmas story and how he savored each gift. It took hours to open presents, not because we had a lot to open, but because he wanted to check out and play with each item. Adaline was enamored with everything Corbin was doing. Here is a photo of Corbin playing with Addies toys. Bonus! Everything addie has is corbins. hee hee. Or so he thinks.

Addie and her two gifts for Christmas. She really liked her First Doll Baby.

Corbin was in heaven with all the cars. Remember the blog about him finding his gift? Well, he fell in love all over again.

This is his little tool set from uncle Adam and aunt Dana. He is more safety inclined than his father. Sporting the cool goggles.

People keep telling me to enjoy this time with my kids and how much fun they are now at Christmas. I can tell you I have soaked it all in this year. I have just enjoyed spending time with my little family so much . God has blessed us beyond measure.

Uncle Mark and Aunt Kara

Mark and Kara came by right before Christmas with fun surprises. Corbin loves with Mark and Kara come over. They are not our friends, they do not come to see Addie. No, Corbin thinks they are all for himself. He loves when Mark plays. Over the summer a visit from Mark always included a trip to the rock pile. Digging and playing in the gravel is fun for a two year old. Now he likes to play cars and tools.
Well, I can't figure out how to post these pictures in the right order, oops.

Corbin is dancing here with a smile just giddy with anticipation. What did Uncle Mark bring?

Thomas the Train! He wouldn't stop playing for me to get a good picture. He just couldn't wait for the men to get the train set put together.

Bonus: Corbin thinks that all of Addie's gifts are his too. But Addie loves to share. :)


I love his expression here.

Addie stood at her new piano and just played away. It's as if she has been taking lessons.

It even has a bench for her to sit on. Kara said how she looks like an old lady organist. Can't you picture the old ladies at your church at the organ here?

Both of the kids love playing with their gifts and there is nothing more special than when people come to spend time with them. The new piano finds a featured place in the living room but the train set is a little more fragile around an active 9 month old. So, the train set is upstairs where Corbin gets to play with it uninterrupted.

Pretty Lights

After the kids Christmas Party the girls suggested going by the Charlestown Square and Park to check out the lights. I thought this is probably the closest we will get, so I took the kids by. It was bitterly cold that night buy we did it. I was so impressed! The square was amazing. There was music and everything. It was way too cold to go down to the park but we drove by.

Corbin loved the lights. He was dancing around and insisted we stand and look at the lights a little bit longer.

Everything was so pretty. I would highly recommend this to anyone for next year!

A mini-me christmas

Jami put together a little kiddie Christmas. Here are the cheesers.

Cooper, Pierce, Hope, Corbin, Adaline, Levi and the green blanket is reserving baby Maggie's seat

Notice Levi's arms around "his baby"




The kids had a ball eating hot dogs, mac n cheese, and puppy chow (thanks jami)

The kids had a great time playing and tackling each other. Thanks for a great party Jami! We missed Jill and her kids. The kids will out number us soon.