Life and Times of the Murphy Five: 2009

Monday, December 28, 2009

Chrismas Day

Christmas morning was as fun as we had hoped it would be. Riley ooohed and ahhhed over the gifts that Santa left for her - a new kitchen and shopping cart! We let her play with her new toys for about ten minutes and then had to make her sit down and open her stocking. Boy did Santa pack it full - maybe too full! We then attempted to open our gifts as a family. Riley showed little interest and it was really just Brett and I openning all of the gifts. From MOmmy and Daddy Riley received some new clothes, puzzles, leap frog fridge phonics, baby doll stroller, bath toys, farm toy, blocks, and hat. Mommy and Daddy got some great gifts too. Like, a new outdoor fire pit for Daddy and a digital frame for Mommy!

We then went to open up our gifts with Grandma and Grandpa Burch and my brother and his family. Riley loved carrying her cousins' toys around, but showed little interest in her own. After openning our gifts and a couple mimosas we headed over to my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate Christmas with a great lunch. The highlight was watching Great Grandpa Melvin and Lois open their gift (Iowa letter jackets)...and Riley's majorly dramatic pout session in the middle of it! Riley refused to take a nap and crashed on the way home around 6. She was up again around 9 (which is an hour past bedtime) playing with all of her new toys. We were finally able to get her back to bed around 10:30. Here are a few pictures:

Playing with her kitchen.

Playing with her shopping cart.

Her new piggy and baby stroller.

Her new tent!

With her cousins at Grandpa and Grandma Burch's.

Her new Elmo phone.

The dramatic tantrum! Right on all of the wrapping paper and boxes.

Great Grandpa Melvin and Lois

Her new baby doll carrier!

Christmas Eve

This year was a bit different. We spent Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Murphy and Uncle John. Aunt Libby spent Christmas with her fiance's family in Tennesee. We missed Aunt Libby and David, but get to see them very soon! We decided to open our gifts to one another and it proved to be a good idea. We weren't able to make it back to Grandma and Grandpa Murphy's house on Christmas because of the snow. We had a great time and Riley didn't come home empty handed! She absolutely loves the tent that Grandma and Grandpa got for her! Here are a few pictures.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Christmas Is Almost Here!

Things have been crazy around the Murphy household the past couple weeks as we've been preparing for Christmas.

We baked some Christmas cookies while we were snowed in during the blizzard. Riley loved helping with the cookies for the first 5 minutes, then she was off running around the house.

We are finally done with all of our shopping. I have just a couple gifts to complete. Yes, I'm actually going to attempt to make a couple gifts. Hopefully they turn out as cute as I hope!  Riley and I worked on wrapping some of the last gifts last night. I wrapped and she played with the bows and put the presents under the tree. She loved helping with this.  The first couple of gifts ended up IN the tree, but after showing her they belong UNDER the tree she put them all in the right spot!

We attended cousin Addie's Christmas program at pre-school. Addie did a great job and sung every song! Riley loved watching the kids sing and danced along with them. She loved even more that she was able to play with Kennedy and Addie after the program.

We took the longest trip ever through Jolly Holiday Lights. We turned Riley's seat to front facing and packed Daddy's car with Grandma and Grandpa Burch. We made the mistake of going at 7pm on Saturday night. Riley spent the first hour of the trip mesmerized by the idea that she could actually see what was going on and look out the window.  The second hour and a half (yes, the trip took 2 1/2 hours) she had fun playing with Mommy and Grandma in the back seat. She liked looking at some of the lights and really loved going through the "tunnels." Everyone else in the car was in agreement that it might be their first and last trip through Jolly Holiday Lights!

We hung our ornaments from Grandma and Grandpa Murphy. Grandma Murphy was actually able to find ornaments with all of our names on them. I was quite surprised to find one with Riley, but love that they are on our tree!

Here is our little Riley Claus:

Finally....Some Hair!!

I had to show off this picture to prove that Riley really does have quite a bit of hair now. It keeps coming in faster and faster!

Santa's Watching...

We don't catch this very often, but here is our little tantrum thrower!

Playing With Daddy

Baking Cookies With Mommy

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Riley Nicole At 16 Months

I can hardly believe that Riley is already 16 months old and almost 1 1/2 years old! She is growing so fast and seems to learn new things every day. Here's what she's up to now:

She is down to one 2-3 hour nap a day. This really started about 6 weeks ago, but I forgot to mention it.
She loves to play with the TV remote. She will always bring me the remote, point to the TV, and say "back" to ask for The Backyardigans show. This is still her favorite show.
She has a new favorite snack: pretzels
She is wearing a size 4 shoe and 18 month clothes. Last we checked she weighed 21 lb 5 oz and was 30.5 inches tall, which puts her about the 15th% for weight and the 30th% for height. She just graduated up to a size 4 diaper!
She can "blow," but only through her mouth. We're still working on blowing her nose.
She can identify about 6 letters (that I have actually confirmed) from the alphabet. She loses interest in this activity pretty quickly.
She knows blue, red, and sometimes gets yellow right.
She likes to "dip" her meat and whatever else is on her plate in ranch dressing.
Her favorite foods continue to be anything green: kiwi, peas, brocolli, green beans. Green foods are always the first to go. She also loves yogurt, sweet potato, cheese, and applesauce.
She doesn't have a sweet tooth at all. She will only eat a couple bites before refusing more.
If you offer her a drink with a mouthful of food she will always spit her food out in order to ger her drink.
She loves to play with older children, especially her cousins!
She is still very shy, but warms up after 20-30 minutes and is in the middle of everything. She truly likes to be the center of attention.
She knows who santa is and his reindeer. She can point out Chirstmas trees and snowmen. She will answer yes (with one swift head nod down!) if you ask her if she loves Santa. But, she still doesn't understand Christmas.
She likes to "smell" things, but also licks whatever it is that she is smelling.
Her favorite place in the house is her room. She loves to climb on to the chairs at her little table and color. But, she mostly loves to take all of the crayons out and put them back into the box over and over.
She still loves to take a bath.
She likes to take her friends' toys and then give them back to them. I think she does it knowing that it gets a rise out of them! She is constantly doing this to her friends at Hedy's house.
She hasn't really said any more words since last month, but is constantly jabbering and attempting to say words. Hopefully she'll surprise us soon enough and just start talking. We can't wait for that day!

Merry Christmas From The Murphy's

Monday, December 14, 2009

Riley And Bailey

I threw a party on Saturday for my good friend, Sarah, who is leaving for grad school at NYU! We are really going to miss her when she leaves in a few weeks, but we know she'll be back some day! It was a fun night of celebrations and a great opportunity to get Riley and Bailey together. Bailey is my friend, Becky's, daughter and only 4 months older than Riley. They had so much fun running around the house and playing ring around the rosey.

All dessed up for the party!

So....what should we do now???

Yep, ring around the rosey!

Riley And Santa

We took Riley to see Santa Friday night. We went back to the Santa at Jordan Creek Mall who proved to be as good as he was last year. We weren't sure if Riley would sit with Santa or not, but surprisingly she spent a lot of time with him! We were waiting on the group ahead of us for some time so she enjoyed reading a book with Santa. This might be the only reason that she sat on his lap! Here are a few pictures!

Friday, December 11, 2009

How Much Wood Could a Woodchuck Chuck...

...if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Just had to share this one!! It makes me laugh every time!!! I'm sure she'll love this picture, and her mother for this when she's older!

Pictures With New Camera

Here are a few pictures that I took over the weekend. I still haven't completely figured out how to upload the pictures. These ones are copied off of Costco's website after I uploaded them to work on our Christmas cards. Hopefully the next few posts will be better!