The Life of the Murphys

The Secret Box

Bella's class does Show and Tell a little different. Instead of having an opportunity to share something every week, her class has a "Secret Box" that each child takes home about once a quarter. When it is your turn to take home the Secret Box you come up with three clues that describe your Show and Tell, which you have concealed in the box. The student then reads the clues to the class, and the class tries to guess the Secret Box's contents. Bella chose to bring a beautiful "Joy" bell this year that her Grandma Barbi gave her last year for Christmas. The bell is in the shape of a heart. Her three clues were as follows:

Her dad tried to get her to include "it rings" as a clue. But Bella decided that would be too easy.

Bella was VERY excited because no one in her class was able to guess her Show and Tell. Her good friend Rylee informed her that it was very hard because "it is a body part AND a bell!"

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Despite the cold, Daddy took the kids for sledding adventure on Saturday while I stayed home and finished Christmas decorations. They were ready for hot chocolate when they returned!

Bella's Christmas Dance Recital

Bella performed magnificently once again at her Christmas dance recital this year. To kick off her class' dance, she and another little girl gave a little speech, where they explained that Christmas was about giving, not receiving. Her delivery was perfect.

Then, she performed with her class to "Santa Can You Hear Me?" It was adorable and the girls did a great job. You can see all that attitude in Bella's little hip-thrust above.

At one point during the program half the class got down on one knee, while their classmates gave them a gift.

Bella LOVES dance. We are very proud of her.

Max's Christmas Performance

We are so blessed to have our children attending such a wonderful daycare. They all go to (and have gone to) Center for Generations at St. John's Lutheran Ministeries since the twins were four months old. The daycare is located in a nursing home/assisted living facility. Our children interact with the residents on a daily basis, whether eating lunch with them, singing with them, or participating in parades through the facility. For the annual tree lighting ceremony at St. John's this year, Max volunteered to be in "the band" at the ceremony. He was chosen to play the harmonica, and was actually taught how to play the instrument. He did a wonderful job and we were very proud of his performance. He really jammed towards the end and was hysterical trying to get the other kids to pay attention and play their instruments. I think we have a musician in the making!

Here he is with his hat and snowmen antlers before the performance.

And during. The kids were absolutely adorable.

Doing his thing with the harmonica.

Following the performance (and a rousing applause), we sang Christmas carols, saw Santa, and went on a hayride tour of the campus. The lights were beautiful, and we sang Christmas Carols as we meandered. It was a great way to kick off the Christmas warm fuzzies!

The Nutcracker with our Girlfriends

Bella and I had a "date" on the Sunday following Thanksgiving to see the Nutcracker. We were joined by our wonderful friends Liz and Katie Nemer and Amy, Ava, and Flora Fink. We had a wonderful time eating lunch (Olive Garden), ice cream (Baskin Robbins), and enjoying the show.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to spend the afternoon with Bella. She is growing up so fast.

Katie and Bella.

Liz and Katie - what a great picture.

Flora, Ava, Bella and Katie enjoying their ice cream. All the girls wore their Christmas best and looked beautiful for the occasion. We will do it again next year with Brighton!

Thanksgiving at the Ranch

Every year we head to the Ranch for some relaxation and fresh air. We always have a wonderful time hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Joe, Auntie Ali and Connor and Carter. It is amazing how removing ourselves to the peace and slow-pace of the ranch can be so revitalizing. I came back to Billings ready to kick it into high gear and get ready for Christmas!

Our safety-obsessed friends might cringe at this picture. Notice that Max and Bella have their helmets on when they're riding on their own, it was only when they were riding at speeds of 10 miles per hour with their parents that we went helmet-less. See, that's safe, right? When in Rome...

What a beautiful setting for our four-wheeler ride.

Connor, Max and Bella enjoying some pool time. I love Bella's "pose."

The two "baby" cousins at the moment, Brighton and Carter. They are growing up so fast.

An Early Thanksgiving with the Overstreets!

We were lucky enough to get to spend some quality time with Auntie Chani, Uncle Luke, Tavia, Reece, Colton and Kienna on Wednesday night before we took off to the Ranch for Thanksgiving. We miss them all so much since they've moved to Texas, but we felt blessed to have the time with them during the Holidays. Come back soon, you guys!