Max's First T-Ball Game

Maxer started T-Ball last week and had his first game on Wednesday. Thought I'd share some pictures to document this momentous event. He seems to really like the game so far, which is a relief as Gavin had some concerns he may be bored and not enjoy the game at this age. Gavin is thrilled because they have Max hitting both right and left (chip off the old block, you know), and Max hit the ball well from both posts on Wednesday.

He's ready (not long after this picture was taken a ball went right between his legs).

At his second at-bat, right-handed.

He made it to first (although it took a minute for reflexes to kick in and for him to start running).

Busted chewin' on the mit at third base. I suppose he would have been picking dandylions if he were in the outfield.

Thanks to Darcy Bartholomew for taking these pictures, my camera ran out of batteries and she saved the day!

Sleeping with the Murphys

So, I write this blog to create a family journal, so to speak. I like to keep track of all the fun and exciting things we do, milestones that are reached and the trials and tribulations of being a family. I have decided that I am going to start creating more entries regarding the day to day aspects of life in our house, so we don't forget how wonderful each day is in the Murphy household. Today, I want to write about our family sleeping arrangement (which I am guessing the majority of you would not choose for your house), and the joy it brought me just yesterday morning.

You know that feeling when you know, I mean really KNOW, how completely and utterly blessed you are and you really, TOTALLY, feel content. I was lucky enough to get that feeling yesterday morning when I walked into our bedroom after my workout at the gym.

First, a little background: most pediatricians would tell you that the sleeping situation at our house is not ideal. Miss Brighton, at nearly 2 1/2 years old, still sleeps with Mommy and Daddy EVERY night from about midnight (sometimes earlier, sometimes later) on. She will typically wake up, stumble down the hall, and whisper "Mommy, I sleep wif you" until I pull her into bed with us. Then, she snuggles contently in between Gavin and I, rotating from one to the other of us for snuggles all night long. What's worse according to pediatricians, is that we did not even put her to bed in her own bed until she turned 2. We did the same thing with Max and Bella, snuggling with them on our bed until they were 2 and then putting them in their own beds after they reached the age of 2. The transition with Max and Bella was seamless, they loved sleeping in their big kid beds and no longer required any assistance falling asleep. Brighton, like in all things, was a bit more high-maintenance and screamed bloody murder until we relented and snuggled her to sleep - now in her own bed. The truth is, we kind of like snuggling her to sleep and dread the day when our youngest child no longer wants us to do so.

Well, in addition to Brighton sleeping with us from whenever on, we usually have one or both of the older two sneaking into bed with us before wake-up time. This is usually after 5 in the morning. If it is before 5 (okay maybe like 4:30) we send Max and Bella back to bed until it's "morning". Generally, however, if it is after 5 (or maybe 4:30) we'll let them climb into bed with us as well. This results is all five Murphys in Mom and Dad's bed on the weekend from about 5 to 7 when we all roll out and head downstairs for coffee (Mom and Dad) and cartoons.

Now, many of you are thinking we are crazy. Perhaps (as pediatricians do) you'll say that none of us are getting any sleep, or at least not "deep" sleep. And no, I am not an "attachment parenting" devotee, but I guess that is obvious since I work outside the home. I would disagree with our critics regarding the lack of sleep. I sleep like a log (unless a child awakens me as a result of a nightmare or some other issue, which would happen regardless of where we were sleeping). Brighton sleeps like a log. And Max and Bella sleep until 7 or 7:30 on the weekend, when they would be up at 5 or 6 otherwise (I will admit that the sleeping situation is rather crowded after 5 on the weekends, however).

Not only that, but Gavin and I both LOVE it. Just the other day, Gavin asked if I thought it was weird that more people didn't sleep with their children. We talk frequently about how sad we will be when Max and Bella just go downstairs, turn the TV on, and watch cartoons without even letting us know they are awake. We really like our morning snuggle time. Maybe because we both work and feel like we miss that opportunity in the daytime, or maybe simply because we are physical people and so are our children and we appreciate that opportunity to hold them tight and let them know, without words, how much we love them.

Anyway, back to my feeling of contentment and blessedness (if that's not a word, it should be). I get back from the gym at 6:15 am yesterday and head up to shower. When I walk into our bedroom I find the four people I love most in the world all snuggled in our bed together, fast asleep. Max is on the end of the bed, Bella next to him with Brighton curled into her armpit, and Gavin with his arm over Brighton. They were all sleeping so soundly with sweet faces that I swear were curled into content little smiles. They looked so peaceful and happy and . . . loved. Like they loved one another and like they knew they were loved and like they were snuggled into a warm cocoon of love. It was beautiful. I took a breathe, watched them all sleep for a few moments, and then jumped in the shower to begin another crazy Murphy week day.

Easter Sunday

Wow, what a beautiful day in Montana Easter was this year. We had a great time at brunch at the YCC, and then went to Grandma Barbi's for an amazing dinner with Gavin's Uncle Jock and Auntie Gayle and their daughter, Karley. The kids had a ball (especially on the basket hunt Grandma Barbi prepared for them) and we had a nice time visiting with the Wests, who we do not see enough.

My three little cuties on Easter Morning.

Max with the Easter bunny, this is too cute with him peeking under the Bunny's ear.

Bella LOVED the bunnies. Every year the club gets live bunnies for the kids (as well as baby ducks (ducklings?) and chicks). I cringe as I watch the kids all kid-handle the animals but the kids love it.

Another family picture. These are so few and far between usually, and yet we took two over Easter weekend and another on the cruise.

Here is a great picture of Auntie Gayle giving Bella a hand finding her basket at Grandma Barbi's before dinner. The idea was to follow your line of ribbon to the end, where the basket would be. Well, there was a LOT of ribbon to handle so each of the kiddos got a little assistance.
Below we have a shot of Max following his string.Bella is shown below with her loot (and the string that lead her there). What a fun thing to do - Thanks Grandma Barbi!Finally, we have all three of the kiddos with their baskets. What a fun Easter. Everyone slept well last night, needless to say. Brighton was actually asking to go "night night."

Easter Egg Hunts!

We started Easter Weekend with an Easter Egg hunt over at the Bergesons. Nate and Jess Dolan and their kids were in town (Nate is one of Gavin's very best friends from high school), and we were lucky enough to attend a small Easter Egg Hunt over there on Friday night. It was spectacular (as was dinner, thanks Heather) and the kids had a ball. After the announcement was made that the Easter Bunny had been by, the kids looked at all the loot on the lawn and waited in anticipation until they were released for the hunt.

Bella and Riley were thrilled with their Easter Egg Hunt haul.

This is a picture of J.J. Dolan, his best-cousin Riley, and Max, striking young men, aren't they?

On Saturday Grandma Barbi joined us for the annual Easter Egg Hung at the Club. The kids had a blast riding the ponies, saying "hi" to the Easter Bunny and finding LOTS of eggs. We got a great family picture as well - with the empty swimming pool for our lovely background. It really was a fun day for the kids.

Max and Bella took a great picture with the Easter Bunny. This is the first year Bella has let the Easter Bunny or any other character in costume near her. This may be attributable to her recent realization that the Easter Bunny is "really just some person with a costume on, he's not real." When I asked her how she knew this, she looked at me with an exasperated expression (she can do exasperated VERY well), and said, "because, MOM, there is a zipper or a button on the back of EVERY Easter Bunny - that means it's only a costume." I then asked her about Santa, and she said, that he was TOTALLY real, he just wears funny cltohes.

And the girls and I went on a lovely horse and buggie ride.

While Max took a spin on the pony - Bella enjoyed a pony ride as well.

Here are McKenna (Nate and Jessica Dolan's little girl) with Bella and Max.
And Max and Bella with their Grandma Barbi, who is so loved by them both.

Nassau!

Our final destination on our adventure was Nassau. It was so much fun, although we did not spend the day at the beach, we went straight to the Atlantis Resort and . . . the water slides. It was a blast, and the winner winner for favorite stop among 4 and 5 year olds on the trip. Before heading to the water slides, however, we toured the acquarium which was incredible. Below is a shark sitting on top of one of the water slides that actually run through the acquarium. You can see the two individuals on inner-tubes coming through the circular tube (which is the slide). I went down this slide when the shark was sitting there, and it was really amazing. Ali, Kendall and I also decided to take a trip down the "scary" slide, you know the one that is at practically a 90 degree angle to the water? Yeah - we are totally fearless. Here is Connor, Max and Bella standing beside Grandma the Great checking out the two HUGE stingrays - cool.And below is another picture of Connor, Max and Bella with Grandma the Great. We all feel so blessed to have her to come on this spring trip and in our lives.

Below is Max with his grandma - that mohawk was provided by Grandma Deb.

Auntie Ali and Carter enjoyed several trips down the water slide.

As did Brighton and I. I love this picture, as it demonstrates the joy of motherhood. Brighton, obviously is on my lap. Those are Bella's little legs you can see to either side of my rear. And in the background, coming down the slide behind us and trying to catch up, is Max.

Little family picture in the pool.

And that's all folks . . .almost. Any writing on our trip to the Caribbean would not be complete without a description of our trip home. We arrived at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale without incident. However, on the leg of our trip from Ft. Lauderdale to Denver, we ran into an issue. Now, my children have been blessed in that they are seasoned air travelers. They've flown to Hawaii, Mexico numerous times, Phoenix, Texas, Portland . . .you get the drift. We have NEVER once had any problems with air sickness - that is until our 4 1/2 hour leg at the BEGINNING of our travel adventure home. My little Maxer became nauseous, and then puked - and when I say puked I mean power puke, more chunks and liquid than you can imagine puke - all over himself about 1/2 way through that flight. The poor little guy had vomit in his hair and all over his clothes. His underwear were wet.

Gavin was sitting two seats behind Brighton and I with Max and Bella at the time this happened. I heard Max get sick, and turned around to see his little body heaving all over itself. Gavin was looking frantically for an air sickness bag(seems like you find 10 of those things in the back of every seat until you need one), to no avail, and I couldn't get to him in time. After it was over, Max was sitting there, arms out, looking so pathetic I wanted to cry. The look on his face said, "what just happened?" "this is disgusting" and "I want my mommy" all at the same time. I then handed Brighton to Gavin and sent him and Bella to our seats while I joined Max and the chunks. The airline was gracious enough to give me about 50 paper towels (you know the little ones, the non-absorbent ones from the bathroom, yeah those) and a can of seltzer to clean up the mess. It was on the wall, all over the seat, in the seatbelt clip, I'm sure all you mommies out there can imagine. I won't even try to explain the smell, although suffice it to say that the gentlemen (no mommies) sitting around us were all audibly gagging.

I promptly took Max's clothes off (he is now sitting in his underwear, which are wet), put his hoodie on him, and began the 45 minute process of cleaning up the mess with non-absorbent paper towels and seltzer. At the same time, I'm trying to comfort Max who still doesn't really understand what the heck happened and Gavin is trying to keep Brighton from kicking the seat in front of her (he got a dirty look and nearly threw the b*!#$ off the airplane), and comfort Bella who was freaking because she had one tiny, tini piece of vomit on her bare arm. At this point in time I am just thanking God that it was Max that got sick and not Bella - can you imagine?

Just when I sit down and start snuggling Max and rubbing his chunk-filled hair, he gets sick again. This time, we had the bag handy. He made it almost entirely in the bag with the exception of a bit that landed on the blanket. So, I asked the airline stewardess for another blanket, please? She informed me that blankets were only for first class (so how the heck did I get the first blanket, oh yeah, that was from the nice airline stewardess). I looked at her with my best "are you !#$@* kidding me" look and calmly explained, "well that may be M'am (she probably would consider herself a "Miss"), but my son is wearing nothing but underwear and a hoodie and his underwear are wet with vomit so he is shivering. We don't have any other pants for him, so I would really appreciate it anything you can do." She looked at me blankly and firmly advised that blankets are not for coach passengers. Well, thank goodness that the whole plane was very nice and offering assistance throughout this ordeal because after refusing two nice men's fleece jackets (I couldn't bear to wrap my vomit covered son in someone else's coat, although I was getting close), and everyone giving her the look of death whenever she walked by, the lady came back with a blanket. We wrapped Max up, he slept, and when we arrived in Denver was back to almost 100%, aside from the smell and the outfit - an airplane blanket skirt and hoodie with puke-soaked Converse.

BUT, we are 45 minutes late into Denver. We still have an hour, so Gavin and I are thinking we are good. Well, the airline took 30 MINUTES to get our stroller off the plane. Yes, 30 minutes without any explanation. AND we had to switch terminals from U.S. Airways to the sister-airline United in Denver. So, after finally getting the stroller off the plane we boarded one of the those little cars that the elderly and physically disabled passengers use and flew through the airport to the escalator. We then ALL ran down the escalator (smelling like vomit and with Max in an airplane blanket skirt), hopped on the train to Terminal B, ran back up the escalator, and headed to the B gates. Our flight, of course, was Gate B19, ALL THE WAY AT THE END of that terminal. After running (Gavin in the lead with Bella and our cross-dressed son Brighton and I running behind with her telling me I was "stinky" the whole time) we made it just in time.

This was a very good thing, as I don't think anyone could have held me responsible for what I would have said to the airline personnel had we missed our flight. The kids were AMAZING the rest of the trip, although it was 11:00 pm (1:00 am Caribbean time) before we landed in Billings. I cannot express how thrilled we were to crawl into our beds that night.

Tortola

Tortola was our our favorite destination. Cane Garden Beach was gorgeous (as you can see below). The local drink of Tortola is called the "pain killer" and it was . . . strong. I suppose its possible that is the reason I loved this island so much, but kids and parents all had a great day enjoying the beautiful weather and relatively uncrowded shore. Look on.

My baby girl Brighton spent her day making "birthday cake" in the sand.

Bella enjoyed body surfing - look at that toothless grin!

As did my handsome little man.

Brighton clung to me or Gavin anytime she was in the water, although she wanted to "sim" all the time.

I love this pictures of the big boys playing with Carter and Brighton. It captures the color of the water as well as the setting very nicely. Also demonstrates how easy it is to entertain children when the weather is warm, and your near water and sand!Connor and Max enjoyed their pops in the coconuts. Don't worry, Kendall and Grandma drank all the booze out of them first.

And here is the newly engaged couple with their little niece and nephew, Bella and Connor, right before we climbed back on the ship and on our way to Nassau.

Antigua

Antigua (as you can see) was absolutely gorgeous. The weather was perfect, the beach was uncrowded (so we didn't have to worry about losing kiddos) and the drinks were AWESOME - best Pina Coladas of the trip, and, yes, I sampled them at every venue. We also enjoyed local brews, one of which was called Red Hook I believe.

Mommy and Brighton taking it all in.

Bella and Daddy snorkeling.

A close-up of Bella snorkeling. She was finally able to get the hang of it and was as successful (although not as daring) as Max.

Max got his first sunburn while snorkeling in St. Thomas, so had to wear a surf-shirt the rest of the trip. Looks pretty stylin', though.

Brighton loves her sunglasses and demanded that she put them on whenever she was in the sun, or whenever Mommy put hers on.

Ry-Guy (Kendall's fiance - I think the nickname is sticking) was wonderful with Carter and Brighton. They made a fantastic sandcastle, thanks to Ryan's patience.
Connor, Bella and Max - too much fun.

Here are Kendall and I enjoying a Red Hook while we watched the kiddos have fun in the sun. Ahhhh, Caribbean living.

And . . . . she's spent.