More Holiday FUN!

After visiting Santa at the Santa Brunch, Bella and her friend Reese were able to hang out for a moment - and show off their "best friends" necklaces.

Max decided to give himself a Santa beard.

And when we got home, the kiddos made a fantastic snowman...all by themselves! I was inside wrapping presents and came out to this masterpiece. I love the sea shells - they make great features.

The ARROWHEAD CHRISTMAS PROGRAM and SANTA BRUNCH!

Max and Bella did a fantastic job performing at their school's Christmas Program. My favorite song was "Mashed Potato" but all of their performances were smashing (or mashing).

Max is pictured top row, third from the left.

Bella is also in the top row, fifth from the left.

We also had a great time with Papa Jerry and Pam at the Santa Brunch last Sunday. The kids loved sitting on Santa's lap and telling him all about their Christmas dreams. Max, however, was having a hard time smiling "nicely" for the camera - BOYS!

The little munchkins are growing up!

Brighton's Conversation with Santa

The week after Thanksgiving we attended a fundraiser night at Barnes & Noble to support Arrowhead Elementary. When we arrived, Brighton could hardly believe that Santa was there! After waiting patiently in line for her turn to talk with the Jolly Old Sole, she approached him for her opportunity to let him hear all about her Christmas dreams.

Well, Santa promptly noticed that Brighton was a bit younger than the other kids and asked her, "you are too little to go to school, aren't you?" "Nooooo - I am a BEE!" Brighton replied. At that point Santa shocked us all by asking Brighton if she went to St. John's (which is precisely where Brighton attends daycare and preschool). Our jaws hit the floor when Santa said, "I'm sure you know Lucy and Sydney, then." Brighton almost screamed, "THEIR MY BEST FWIENDS!!!" Gavin and I, along with about 10 people in line, were now listening attentively to see what Santa was going to know about Brighton next. Brighton continued to stare at Santa adoringly until he asked, "and what is YOUR name, little girl?"

Brighton went silent. She looked confused, even disbelieving, and she said, "you don't know my name?!?!?!?" To which Santa responded that he had quite a lot of little boys and girls' names of which to keep track. Brighton, not believing that Santa knew her friends Lucy and Sidney but didn't know HER, said rather loudly, "SANTA, you know my name, you've known my name since my FIRST CWISTMAS!!!! .... It's BRIGHTON BRADLEY MURPHY!" Everyone laughed and the conversation turned to Brighton wanting "everything she sees on TV." Needless to say, it was pretty darn cute - we're still giggling a bit about it.

Sledding at the Ranch!

While relaxing at the ranch (swimming, watching movies - REALLY relaxing), we decided to take the kids sledding. We had a great time cruising down this little hill, although a little more snow would have been nice to cover the sage grass.

Wednesday before Thanksgiving

We love our new tradition (this is the second year) of spending the Wednesday before Thanksgiving with the Overstreet Crew. We head to the ranch for Thankgsiving each year and the Overstreets come to Montana...this gives us the opportunity to spend some quality time with our Auntie, Uncle and Cousins!

Max, Reese, Tavia Luke, Chani, Grandma Barbi, Colton, Bella, Me, Gavin, Papa Jerry and Brighton, and Cade all joined us for night of family fun.

Brighton's ARIEL Birthday Party!

Brighton's Fourth Birthday Party was a great success. She had a ball with about 24 of her closest friends at Kids Klubhouse in Billings. It was a lot of fun for the kids - they all left sweaty after playing so hard.

Brighton is obsessed with Ariel at the moment the cake - Ariel's Grotto - is shown above.

The Birthday Girl at the bottom of the slide with a shiner (she ran into a table a few weeks ago - it was MUCH worse a week ago).

Brighton with some of her friends.

Getting ready to have some cake and ice cream!

Halloween 2010

We had a great time on Halloween this year with our pirate, our mermaid, and Ironman. Unfortunately, Ironman got a migraine early on in the evening (before the two parties) and missed part of the festivities. By the time the girls and I returned at about 7:00, he had slept it off and felt much better. So I was able to go out trick-or-treating with Max all by himself (the girls were beat). It ended up being a great opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with Max, something I always look forward to.

Fun with Cousins in AZ

We took a great break for some fun in the sun in Arizona the middle of October. While we were there, we spent some time with our cousins (the Franklins) and our friends (the Christians) at the zoo! The kids had a ball, and we enjoyed the nice weather and break from the day-to-day at home.

Bella, Ariana, Brighton, Cierra, Max and Jaysha.

Bella, Jaysha and Ari

This picture of Brighton and Jaysha is adorable - they are four days apart and Lisa and I actually had the same due date!

We were also blessed to spend a night with Willie and Melissa Christian and their adorable daughters Stella (blond) and Roxie. They are sweet girls, and it was fun to finally meet them!

Gotta love Jana!

Jana Graham once again outdid herself with fabulous pictures of the kiddos. These are only the pics she sent as a "sneak peek" so there is more to come!! They are growing so fast, and we are having so much fun.

Duck Island

Mom (Grandma) has attempted to create a duck habitat on the little island in the middle of the pond. She uses the raft (pictured below) to bring food and other goodies onto the island for the ducks. There are two that use the pond and the island, although they have not claimed the dog house as their own to date. Mom is hopeful that the ducks return in the spring for some more pampering.

Here are the kiddos and Gavin with Daffy and Daisy in the background. I didn't get a picture with Mullie in there, but she followed this raft around as if her life depended on it - and Weimers are not supposed to like the water!

That would be Duck Island behind them.

Dillon Labor Day Rodeo

We had a great time at the Rodeo on Sunday before we took off for home. Auntie Kendall and Uncle Ryan and Grandma and Grandpa went too. We ate lots of good fair food and enjoyed the show.

Brighton REALLY liked her new cowGIRL hat!

Max was really excited about these ribbon fries. They were just looooooong pieces of greasy golden goodness with a cheesy powder dumped on top. Healthy - no, but very tasty.

Virginia City and Mining for Garnets in the Ruby Valley

We had a wonderful time visiting Grandma and Grandpa Bradley at the Ranch over Labor Day Weekend. While G&G went to the Bobcat Game on Saturday, the Murphy Crew went up to Virginia City for a day of history and a mining adventure! We had a great time doing all of the things we love about Virginia City...learning about Plummer and his gang, the Vigilantes, the gold strike in Alder Gulch, and visiting the candy store!

We went for a ride on the stage coach and learned a lot about the magnitude of the gold strike of 1863. Most fascinating to Max and Bella, however, was the haunted hospital in Virginia City. It was a good thing we were the only folks on the stage coach, because Bella kept interrupting our tour guide's story about Alder Gulch with questions about the haunted hospital of Virginia City. Gavin and I could hear the entire conversation through the speaker, and were laughing at Bella's questions...is there SERIOUSLY a ghost in that hospital? is she a good ghost? does she make people better? have you ever seen her? do YOU believe in ghosts?
Not only that, the kids got to see where mom worked the summer of 1995 - the Overland Express Restaurant (the white building the background, below).

After our adventure in Viginia City, we stopped to pan for garnets on the way home. It was a great experience for the kids. We bought a big bucket of dirt for $20, used a screen to separate the dirt from the tiny rocks and gems, and then turned the screen upside-down on a piece of foam. The kids used their special mining tweezers to careful pick the garnets out from the rest of the rocks. It was more fun than we anticipated, and we all enjoyed ourselves!