Bree and Bauer’s Blog

I really thought that 2010 was going to slow things down in the Murphy household, but it seems like I was very wrong.  Somehow we are in March and its been weeks since I’ve gotten to blog.

But have no doubt we’ve been having fun.

We escaped to Lake Kiowa for a couple days.  Lots of quality time with granddad and grammy!

There was time for some soccer and yes the ball went in the lake more than a few times!

You can’t go to the lake without a trip to the beach for Bree!

Bauer is ready for SUMMER!

Back in Arlington, we are already gearing up for football season…yay for Bree’s new TCU outfit!

Not only is she a great cheerleader, she has become a great photographer…she took this pic!

We practiced our cheering skills at Allison’s 5th grade playoff basketball game…Go Packers!

Cousins love to hold hands!

The last big recent adventure should really be told by my fabulous husband, but I’ll try to do my best.  This past Friday, my body was taken over by the worse stomach bug I can remember in a long time.  All I could do was lay in bed.  I had told Sean a couple weeks ago that there was a “Tent and Tales” camping event at River Legacy (a park not far from our house) coming up and it may be fun to take Bree and do the campfire and all the assorted camping stuff that goes along with it.  He agreed.

He ended up agreeing to take not only Bree but Bauer as well so that I could sleep.  Somehow he managed to put up a tent and not lose either one of them.  IMPRESSIVE.  He managed to feed them and pack enough diapers, snacks and supplies to make them very happy campers.  He ended up bringing Bauer home to sleep, but Bree and Daddy truly camped out all night.  Yep, my three year old is a bonafide camper!  So fun!

Bree “helping” Daddy put up the tent.

A post “tent is up” snack!

Checking out the site of the future campfire!

Roasting marshmellows…

YUMMY!

Two peas in a pod!

Again, we are so blessed and sorry to have been too busy to blog!  Happy March!

Julie Covert Murphy almost lost both of my children multiples times at the science place childrens’ museum! Good thing one has an outfit to get noticed and one has hair that gets noticed….people were so hospitable to point me in the right direction. Oy!

The above was my status on facebook after we managed to get back to our car (all three of us) from the Science Museum in Dallas.  I felt very ambitious this morning and planned such a fun morning for the kids before our lunch date with the girls at noon in Dallas.

We typically  like to check out childrens’ museums in other cities when we are traveling and the other day I realized (while reading a fellow mommy blog…thanks Julie May) we had not taken advantage of the one in our own backyard.  So of course I needed to rectify that situation as soon as possible.

Sean was reffing hockey all day so I would be flying solo on this mission.  I felt so overconfident from my successful “no stroller” zoo trip, that I thought the Childrens’ Museum would be just as easy and fun.

It was just as fun, but if a sweating, out of breath, slightly neurotic mom means it was easy then I’m in the wrong line of work.

I lost track of how many times I looked around and was missing a child.  There was so much to see and do and I found myself getting distracted trying to take it all in.  In those seconds of my own wheels turning in my head, B & B were able to check out something just out of my line of vision.  Okay, way out of my line of vision.

Bree ended up at a birthday party we were not invited too…twice.

Bauer wound up hanging out at the farm while Bree and I were still hanging out on the firetruck.

It is definitely not a place made for two adventurous and mobile toddlers and one mommy with no “Go Go Gadget Arms”.

But we still managed to have a blast and will go back.  We just learned that maybe a Saturday morning without a stroller may have been some type of “Mommy Error”.

Live and learn.

In the meantime:

We managed to get all kinds of sandy looking for dinosaur bones…

But the sand was worth it once we uncovered this…haha!

We rode horses…

…and drove firetrucks (simultaneously).

We played music…

…and deconstructed quite a few displays!

We played with water toys…

…and found some great wooden puzzles under the lights.

We drove a John Deere…

…and milked a cow (sound effects included)!

We terrorized some chickens…

…and drove cars around and around and around!

We planted seeds (rolled balls into holes)

…and announced our presence at every turn (thank goodness)!

After that hour and a half of Children Museum bliss, we headed to meet my Theta girlfriends for lunch.  It was truly a big playdate in the middle of Chuys.  My friends have babies now…it seemed to have happened overnight and I am soooooooo excited.  Hailey, Brandt, Piper, Bree and Bauer all dished about the latest in the world of babies and toddlers, while us Thetas got to get in a few words as well!

It was SOOOOOOOO fabulous (did I mention how excited I am that my Theta friends have babies). And I am seeing many more in our near future!

Marissa and Hailey!

Sarah givin’ Bree-Bree some hugs!

Kori chillin’ with Brandt.

Queso Monster saying “cheese” for the camera…he really was happy!

Our lunch/playdate was an epic success meaning no major meltdowns and still sane Theta mommies and aunts at the end!  Can’t wait to all meet up again soon!

We had one more fun surprise of the day.  Our best friend Martin’s mom was in town for the weekend and she got to stop by and see the kiddos.  They brought gifts and we played and played.  Bree showed off her dance moves, while Bauer showed off his awesome train set.  Come back soon Mrs. Todd!

What an amazingly blessed day!

We said goodbye to the dolls, to the tea parties, to reruns of Max and Ruby and to the trains this morning.  They have been played with to capacity.  We needed a break outside the playroom.  And when I saw that weather forecast for sun and temperatures into the high 50s for the morning hours, I packed up the kiddos and we headed to the zoo.

Oh how we have missed the zoo.  Oh how we have missed Spring like temperatures.  Oh how I’ve missed running all the energy out of my kids by reminding them that elephants and flamingos are just around the corner.  Oh zoo therapy…

We got there as the doors were opening this morning.  We were the first and only ones on the inaugural train ride of the morning.  Bauer was so excited and said “Woo-woo” more times than I could count.

Bree tried to play cool, but she was just as excited to be back on the zoo train!

Finally a picture together…woo woo!

After the train ride, we went on the inaugural carousel ride of the day…I’m pretty sure we went around a lot longer than normal, but the kids were just fascinated with the up and down motion of the horses.  Bree told me all the horses names…she said they were all from her favorite show “Horseland”: Pepper, Button, Chili, etc.  That girl has a mind like a steel trap!

We then were headed to the Penguins, which much to our dismay are on “vacation”!  I was getting the kids all excited about the Penguin exhibit and a zookeeper overheard and let us know that the exhibit was being remodeled.  Bree wishes them a great “vacation”.  So we stopped instead at the animal car…which only became more appropriate once my two were in the mix.

We continued on our walk through the zoo (this is the first time we did it sans stroller or wagon) and did make it to the actual animals!  Hello elephants!

Hello sunbathing turtles…

Hello fish…

Hello statue of a baby elephant!

There were also a multitudes of meerkat sightings, flamingo sightings, giraffe sightings and more elephants down the path.

It was a much needed outing and not only did the kiddos take a 3 hour nap this afternoon, but momma did too!  Zoo therapy might be my new favorite kind.

There are still some random spots of icey snow left on the ground.  It’s few and far between, but it just reminds you that a week ago today, there was snow EVERYWHERE.

We got over a foot of snow…it hasn’t happened in 30+ years in DFW and that’s precisely why I don’t remember it ever being like this before.

Our kiddos think that snow is kinda normal…first Christmas Eve and now this unexpected foot of snow in February.

We got a very LONG weekend due to it and thus a little bit of cabin fever to go along with all the new memories.

Checking out the piling up white stuff…

Finally getting a “taste” of it…

Giving some love to our snow creation…

Finding his “poker face”…

Eating more snow…

Sean attempting to get some broken limbs off the trees before they joined us inside the house.

Day 2 provided even better snow to play in…Bree was EXCITED.

Especially about the fort that Daddy helped her build.

We also introduced the kids to “hot” chocolate…way more interested in the marshmellows at this point, but it’s our favorite part as well!

Today it was almost 65 degrees.  Its amazing how a week can change things in Texas!  Thanks for the memories Mr. Winter!

The Murphys only needed to press one button to get ready for their Superbowl “Party”…

RECORD!

We dvr’ed the Super Bowl and started it late so that we could actually watch it.

Our intimate party guest list for Superbowl 2010 consisted of the usual suspects and the whole lot of us did not have a timetable as far as the game went.

But we definitely had a timetable for cookies…

Instead of a “half-time”…we had bath-time…

There was tackling of chairs instead of people…

We had “hide and seek” helmets…

There was leaping for the sake of leaping with no balls in sight…

And instead of peptalks, there were night night stories and a bedtime routine.

But Sean and I enjoyed every minute of our unconventional “party”…

Or are we the conventional ones???!!!  Hmmmm!  Food for thought.

All I know is that this superbowl party was Bauer approved and that’s good enough for us!

Way to go Saints…thanks for giving us a great show!

There are times when you just see something and think…I’m so glad I’ve gotten to experience life raising both a boy and a girl.  It never ceases to amaze me how even though boys and girls are “supposed” to be interested in completely different things, they just find a way to make it work together!

I was cleaning up Bree’s doll stuff this week and I noticed something strange on the wardrobe that holds all her dolls clothes in her doll house.  I guess Bauer had been there and was trying to figure out what would look good on his train car.  I couldn’t resist taking a picture!  I’ve now seen the trains travel to the dollhouse in person.  He’s a creature of habit, that boy!

What happens when you have a 3 year old fairy princess…

…and an 18 month old hockey player?

You get to take them for their well check doctor visits at the same time!

Now is that impeccable timing or what??!!!

Last Thursday morning, I did just that.  I packed up my fabulous duo and we headed to the Fort Worth for our well checks.  We watched a few scenes from the Lion King, had some tag teaming by the nursing staff to get height and weight and all those fun facts, and showed off our fabulousness to our dear friend and amazing doctor, Dr. Jenica Rose-Stine.

Doing two well-checks at once is pretty much just controlled chaos (controlled because you are in one room with the door closed).  But the kids did amazingly well.  I even remember some of what was said.  These are the highlights I found most interesting (this should be interesting for you to read Jenica).  As a three year old, you should be able to recognize and draw a circle…Bree drew a circle and a square.  As a three year old, your speech should be able to be understood 75% of the time.  Jenica felt as though she was right on track.  Awesome.  She also told me to not worry about this whole potty-training race.  At 3, there is a 50/50 chance your kid won’t be potty trained.  So in a nutshell, I should be able to find some people to commiserate with at least.  I have no idea how tall Bree is or how much she weighs, but I do remember she is 95% in height and 94% in weight.  So it makes sense that she towers over all the little girls in her dance class :)  But we are all about proportion in this family.  Again right on track!

As for Bauer, he weighs a chunky 32 pounds and is 97% in weight and 96% in height.  So as my sweet neighbor said it, there are 18 month olds bigger than Bauer, just not any in the state probably!  He has at least 10-15 words he says regularly.  We took him off cows milk for awhile due to some unfortunate side effects (output unacceptable), but Dr. Jenica said to try it again, so we did today and all is right in the world.  YAY!  Bauer decided to show off his bowels during his check-up…two big poos in less than 5 minutes…JOY!  Dr. Jenica got to see firsthand, our little drama king and his loud grunting that goes along with number 2. Everything else checked out great on B & B and I once again was filled with such gratitude that our check-ups are so uneventful.  Well, the gratitude came to mind once both kids were buckled in their carseats and I got to breathe for a second on the way home.

We even were able to finally get in a dose of H1N1 vaccine…so hopefully we will escape without that “fun” memory in 2010!  Overall, success.  No one escaped.  And really for two toddlers, there was limited crying.  I credit Jen and her staff.  AMAZING!

The reward for being so good at the doctor’s was a trip to see Grammy and ride on the mall carousel out by her house.  This provided for even more adventure than Grammy and I ever planned.  We survived though and then Mom and I got to hang out for an uninterrupted few hours during the most amazing nap time ever.

Vaccines + Carousel + Rain Weather = Heaven in the form of a nap.

It was a great way to spend a Thursday afternoon for sure!  Thanks Grammy!

The week continued to be fabulous today due to it being Pajama Day at school for the kids.  Bree is in love with PJs…so really this is the most fun day of the year for her.  Bauer just doesn’t like to change clothes so it was a win-win for everyone.  Sean and I also had a special day.  And no we didn’t wear pjs all day.  But we did have a “date day”.  We both took off from work and spent the hours the kids were at school together.  We did a long run out at White Rock lake in preparation for our 1/2 Marathon in April and then ate all the greasy wonderfulness that is Snuffers for lunch.  It was a much needed reconnection day.  And we even saw the sun for most of our run….oh how I’ve missed the sun.

Kids in PJs after school!

Kids in pjs (and fairy costume) playing hockey with Dad.

Happy weekend everyone!