This week in pictures

We had a VERY busy week this week. I think I was able to get the majority of the hightlights in pictures though. SOOOO, my blog story will be told in pictures this week, with just a short explanation of each one. :-)

Maddy started soccer this week! With Daddy & Grandpa as coaches. They are the Blue Angels! (I know she is wearing orange in that pic, but it was practice and I wouldn't let her wear her new shirt until the game today, post to follow on that!)
Peyton with a pretty soccer ball at practice.

Maddy had back to school night on Tuesday, so here she is in her classroom. Very cool stuff.

Peyton found a new toy.. And I spent about $4 on that box!

Friday was the St James School Carnival. Here is Alex and her friend Sophie who goes to both daycare and pre-school with her.

Alex wanted something BIG, but Mom overruled.. And she got a pretty little butterfly on her cheek. Not her entire face like she wanted. Whew!

These last two are just a couple pictures I thought were really pretty. We went and visited with Diane our daycare lady at the hospital and took her these flowers. She seemed to enjoy them! I know if I were to get flowers I would!

Thanks!

Just an update.. Diane is doing great. She is still in ICU, but will be moved to a regular room this afternoon. She ended up having a hysterectomy along with removing what turned out to be a large cyst. She will be "off" work for 6 weeks, but her daughter Michelle is taking over her daycare during that time. At her house.. Hopefully the kids won't interfere with her recovery. We want our Diane back and better then ever! Thanks for the prayers!

Prayers Please..

I got some news pretty bad news this morning. My daycare provider for the last 6 1/2 years, Diane, is having emergency surgery right now. She was having some severe pain yesterday when I dropped my kids off but she kept the daycare open. This morning when I was dropping off my small kids for the day, her daughter rushed out of the house saying that her mom was in the ER all night and tests found a cantaloupe sized tumor in her lower abdomen. She is a wonderful lady and takes awesome care of my kids. So send some prayers her way.. Thanks!

A new household hazard..for Peyton that is.

Hmmm. What are these boxy looking things that go up? I wonder..? Can I crawl up them? Sure I can! Lets see, put my right hand here, then my left knee goes here, and then my left hand needs to match up with my right hand, and my right knee with my left. Yup. Ok, I am up one of these funny things now. Time to do it again. And a few more times. Oh look! I am at a big space at the top! Maybe I should now turn around and see what I have done! Whoa!!!! Klunk klunk klunk klunk klunk... Oh. Guess that wasn't such a good idea to look behind me after all. I should probably cry now. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Ok, Mommy is here. I really am alright. Just kinda scared a little. Wonder why she is kissing my head so much? She must think I am hurt. I will stop crying now so she knows I'm good. Whew! Ok so Momma put me down again. Off I go! Hmmm.. Wonder what that is...

Yes. If you couldn't get what I just wrote, Peyton took a short tumble down our stairs this morning. She really wasn't hurt. Promise. She is an active and curious little booger though! Always looking for a new thing to explore. :-)

Exciting news!

My baby sister called me last night to let me know she is pregnant! I am very excited for her and bro in law Charlie. She has had 2 prior pregnancies with what is called a Blighted Ovum. Which means a sac developed, but sadly no baby. This time around there is a little sweet pea in there! She is due early May. I know... Seems like a very long time away doesn't it? Congrats Elizabeth!
(maybe this time we will get a boy! Wouldn't that be a strange thing..)

Inside Maddy's Mind

This afternoon, after I picked all my girls up from Daycare, we were driving to go to Gwamma & Gwapa Murphy's house when we saw these 2 teens walking down the street. They were both dressed "goth/grunge" like. In almost all black, tall black Doc Marten boots, you know the kind of clothes I am talking about.. And one of the kids had, uh, his (or her) hair pulled up in a REALLY TALL mowhawk. With spraypainted circles on it. (I am still wondering how much aqua spray he (or she) used to get it to stand up that straight for a long period of time..)Maddy, my sweet blonde haired, blue eyed, innocent little girl, noticed...it. And of course asked me why said kid dressed like that.

UMMM. Crap.

Me: "Well Madikins, everybody expresses them self a little differently then everybody else. And those kids, well, have their very own, uh, style."
Maddy: "What do you mean by expresses, Momma?"
Me: sighing because I can tell this is going to be a fun conversation.. "Ya know how when you are happy you sometimes will shout out for joy? Like, YAY! Its a stay home day?!"
Maddy: "Yeah"
Me: "Or when you are so sad, you will cry?"
Maddy: "Yeah"
Me: "That's a way to express your self. Its when you are showing on the outside, what you feel on the inside."
Maddy: "OH!! So those kids must feel kinda dark inside huh?"
Me: "Yeah, I guess you could say that."
Maddy: "So could you expwess being nervous? You know like when you walk into, uh, like the 6th, or 4th, or 3rd gwades.. and 1st gwade too? And you are walking through the halls and you don't know youwa cheacher and any kids in class, and your heart is kinda jumpy and your tummy feels funny, and you kinda maybe want to cry cuz well you are nervous? And you are maybe a little bit afraid? Like that Momma?"

CRAP!!!

Me: "Oh sweetie, were you nervous when you went into school? Are you still nervous?"
Maddy: "Yeah, I was pretty scared.. But I am much better now. I have a new best friend. Her name is Peyton just like my baby sister Peyton. She even spells it the same. And I LOVE my cheacher Mrs. Taylor. She is so nice. But she did tell me that we are only going to get 3 recesses for a little bit longer, then we will only get 2."
Me: "Oh, that stinks, but I am very glad you are not nervous anymore. I want you to tell me if you ever are ok?"
Maddy: "Ok, I will"

**Whew**

Wow. Thats all I could think. My little 6 year old has quite a lot going on in her sharp, still needs to be sheltered, mind. And all I can think is I have 3 of these sharp minded kiddos to deal with. I am gonna be brain dead before Maddy gets through Elementary school!

Alegator's 1st day of Preschool!

She is getting so big..
Always laughing!

I swear her backpack is a big as she is...

It seems like yesterday my sweet Alex was born. Now she is a pre-schooler. I am so very proud of my little Alegator! I love you Alex!

Peyton is 9 months old!

On the day she was born

1 Month Old

2 Months Old

3 Months Old

4 Months Old

5 Months Old

6 Months Old

7 Months Old

8 Months Old

Today at 9 Months Old

1st day of 1st grade!!

1st day of Preschool at St James

1st day of Kindergarten at Memorial Elementary

1st day of 1st grade at Buel Elementary

Wow! Where has the time gone? Maddy Grace is a 1st grader. She started 1st grade at Buel Elementary School this morning. She is an amazing little girl and I am proud to be her Momma! I love you Maddy!

Vacation recap

Shoot.. We're home. I wish vacation could last longer! We had a great time in Sunriver. Swimming, playing games every night, playing at the park, playing basketball, eating great food, and for me reading and taking pictures. I took over 300 this week. I can't imagine ever doing that will 35mm film. Ah, I love technology! And I also read 4 books. Big books. Totalling approx 2200 pgs or so. Granted they are considered "teen" books and were also very fast reads. But I became addicted! It was the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. They are books about Vampires and Werewolves, among other things. But I truly enjoyed them. I guess it shouldn't be so hard for me to understand why I liked them so much. I loved the Harry Potter books. I would read all day everyday if I could. But I think my family would have a tiny problem with it...

Maddy learned how to "swim" this week, and Alex learned how to float on both her front and back. Alex was swimming from the wall to us by her self also, but we were only about 10 or so feet away and most of it was the pushing of the wall part. BUT she was comfortable which is a great thing! Maddy is like I said able to "swim" now. What I mean by "swim" is she can move her arms and legs to propel herself forward. But, she has to stand up to breath. I tried to teach her to roll over onto her back and float for a while when she needs to take a breath, then to switch back to her tummy to continue the swim but heck no! Momma doesn't know anything.. I am very proud of her though. She has always been my most, um, cautious child. Peyton sort of enjoyed the water. When I was holding her. She is turning out to be a total Mommy's girl. As much as I love it, it can be really hard when she will go to no one else but me. Oh well, I am sure she will outgrow that phase soon enough. Pey is also cruising against everything now! She will even take one step to go from the couch to the coffee table. Crazy huh! She will be 9 months tomorrow. Well I am going to end here with some pictures of vaction.
(I am asking for forgivness now.. There are a bunch! Sorry!)

Momma's gots a new toy!

Oh yeah.. I got a new camera! I am SO excited about it too. It is a Nikon D40 SLR. LOVE IT! And right before vacation too. I can just imagine all the great pictures I will be able to take! Of my girls, the sights, and what ever just suits me at the time.

And another Oh Yeah for Vacation, TOMORROW! We are leaving town around 10:30 or so. We rented a house and we will be spending 8 nights there. Love that too. I very much need some time off work. I did have to sweet talk my Mom into coming to my house to pick all of the tomatoes & zucchini we have growing.I went out this afternoon to pick them and got a bowl full and 5 zucchinis. She is being paid in, yup, tomatoes & zucchini!
(this picture was taken with my new camera)

That's it for now. I will post pics & stories after we get back!

WOW!

I have been so busy these last couple of weeks.. I guess Blogging has been one of the last things on my mind. One thing that has kept me busy is watching one of my favorite things. The Olympics! I love watching them. Especially the swimming. And WOW can you believe what Michael Phelps just accomplished? That is totally and completely awesome! Granted it wasn't all him. Those relays. Man, Jason Lezack.. He deserves a WOW too. Swimming in the Olympics was always a HUGE dream of mine that I obviously never achieved. But I love the thought that maybe one or all of my daughters will one day be an Olympian. Can you just imagine the PRIDE the parents of the Olympic athletes must feel? Their hearts must just constantly feel like bursting from it. I know I feel like that with things my daughters do. Like Maddy going into the 1st grade. I know every kid goes to the 1st grade.. But every kid isn't my kid. Or Alex. She is so smart, and I am just so proud to be her mom. Not to leave out Peyton. I am just tickled that she is crawling everywhere and cruising around the furniture. It's like she is going to take off walking at any minute. At only 8 months! In all honesty, I think I feel more pride in being a mom then I would ever have felt as an Olympian. And I want to be the kind of parent that her kids feel safe with, who feel like they can come to with any kind of problem. That will make me feel SO accomplished. So anyways..

We are also Off on Vacation next week! Yay for 8 nights in Sunriver! We love that place. It is so relaxing, and fun too. Maddy is, I think, more excited then I am about it. She was upstairs for a while on Saturday, and I didn't know what she was up to, so I called her down. When I asked what she was doing, she replies with,
Maddy: "packing for Sunriver in 7 days"
Me: "oh yeah, what did you pack?"
Maddy: "Uh, 8 pairs of pants, 8 pairs of shorts, 8 long sleeve shirts, 8 short sleeve shirts, 8 tank tops,8 dresses, 8 skirts, 8 pairs of panties, 8 pairs of socks; 5 swim suits; my swim suit cover up, my goggles, my hat, my sunglasses, my iPod, and uh, I think thats it."
Me: "Oh..Thats alot of stuff, did it all fit?"
Maddy: "Yeah, but Alex is stronger then I am, because she had to zip my bag up when I sat on it"
Me: "Ah, I see. Do you think that maybe you will need some of that stuff this week?"
Maddy: "No, I don't think so."
Me: "Mmmm. Ok kiddo."

So, needless to say, she is ready for vacation!

I will try to post once more before we go if I find the time. Check back later! S

Swimming Lessons!

The big girls had their very 1st swimming lesson today! They were so very excited to start learning how to swim. And yes, for all who know me, this is truly pathetic of me, the swimmer, one who spent 12 years of her life on the swim team. The one who lived and breathed swimming. Who broke her foot and still swam in 3 races in the High School State Championship finals. The one who actually TAUGHT swimming lessons. To wait until her oldest was 6 years old before getting her into swimming lessons. I saw my one of my old swim coaches/boss/mentors there, and he looked at me and said "these couldn't be Stacey Murphy's girls. If they were they would know how to swim by now." This would be the same man who dubbed me "Spacey Stacey" at age 7.. Granted it was and is still true to a certain extent. I would sort of just zone out, uh I mean really focus, sometimes. I think my oldest might take after me.. If you watch the slideshow I am sure you will pick out the picture I am talking about. 8-0



All in all, my girls did GREAT! Maddy did have a scared moment, but she worked her self out of it pretty quick. Alex is just a natural. Future Olympians? We'll just have to see!

Yummmm...

I have decided to start posting some of my favorite (easy) dinners. Last night I made something I don't have a name for.. So lets call it Stove top enchiladas.

Take:
1.25 lbs ground turkey (or any ground meat if you please)
1 can tomato soup
1 can cream of mushroom (or chicken) soup
1 can of corn (mostly drained)
1 pkg taco seasoning
5 or 6 flour tortilla (burrito sized) cut up
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Brown the ground turkey, drain. Back on the stove top in the skillet used to brown the meat add taco seasoning to browned ground turkey. Mix. Add the soups & mostly drained corn. Mix. Add cut up flour torillas. Mix. Top with shredded cheese. Let cheese melt & serve! So yummy and easy too..

An Alex dinner prayer

Every night before we eat dinner we always bless our food. And more often then not its the girls who are saying said blessings. Here is an example of an Alex prayer..

Alex: "Deaw Jesus, Thank you for all dis yummy food. Momma, whats dis called wight here?"
Me(with one eye on her plate looking to see what she is pointing too): "Pork roast, sweetie."
Alex: "for the powk woast. Momma, what is dis one?"
Me(again looking at her plate): "Mashed Potato's."
Alex: "and for the mashed tomatoes. What is dis part momma?"
Me(once again looking up): "That would be corn on the cob"
Alex: "oh, and the corn cob. Oh and my yummy milk, can't fowget the milk. Oh wait I hab water. Oh and I guess thank you for Peyton's food too. And her milk from Momma's b.."
Me: "OK, ALEX... Time to wrap it up kiddo"
Alex: "uh, dear Jesus, Amen"