party like your last name is murphy

Almost Four...

2009-03-19T09:23:00.001-07:00

WHOA! Not sure I'm prepared for this, although we've been having some really cool conversations with Briggs lately. You never really expect them to get it when they're little. I mean, you KNOW those kind of conversations are coming but when they do your world is still rocked! Really, that little squishy thing is no longer a baby? It's hard to wrap my mind around.

Briggs: Mama, when I'm zero I was in your tummy.
Me: That's right, Briggs! Before you were born you were in my tummy.
Briggs: God put me there. Then I was one, then two, then three...
Me: And soon you'll be four.
Briggs: Mama, then I'll be nothing.
Me: What do you mean?
Briggs: When I'm nothing, then I'm gone. But I'm in heaven with Jesus! Will I be lost from you?
Me: (holy moly) Remember Briggs, anyone who asks Jesus to save then will be in heaven.
Briggs: The we will all be together and it will be so much fun.
Me: It sure will.
Briggs: And I can see Dada's dada.

WOW.

Inspiration...

2009-02-21T11:42:00.001-08:00

Okay, it's been so long since I've updated, I need some 'umph'. Our photos finally uploaded on our slow as heck computer but they seem all too overwhelming right now. So this post has nothing to do with us, really. I saw this recently and just about keeled over with excitement. In addition to pears, I also have a weird thing for trees. Can't explain it, I just do.

I will, I repeat WILL do this in my house someday. Don't care when or how but this tree-art-thing will one day be on my wall. I love it.

Happy Halloween

2008-11-02T00:29:00.001-07:00

Treats and crafts at Briggs' first class party, flowers for Nana at the airport (arriving from Africa), trying to get a photo of thirty costumed kiddos,"pumpkin treating" - Haddie, a sweet flower and a stinky skunk fighting to stay awake after a long day, too much candy, and a PB&J dinner at 9:30 pm. You gotta love this weird and crazy holiday! Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-11-02T00:12:00.001-07:00

Picking out pumpkins with the Thompson crew at the cutest little pumpkin patch.

And I saved the best for last... :)

Simpler times...

2008-11-01T23:36:00.001-07:00

Ironically our friend Lorie was just talking about how her need (and amazing ability as a professional photographer) to capture the perfect shot can sometimes conflict with enjoying the moment. Her solution is to attempt to lay down the big guns and go with the "little camera." Even with my little point and shoot, I sometimes feel the same way and wish for the days when I didn't have to check messages, respond to a billion emails, and yes, catch each and every emotion my children have ever had on film. Last week I got my wish.

We took a spontaneous trip to Disneyland (our FIRST as just our little family of four) and wouldn't you know it, four shots into the day, the camera went dead. Of course, I was paralyzed and distraught beyond belief for a good ten minutes, but then I did something very un-Jenn and simply LET IT GO! Cameraless and free! Truly, it was one of the best days... with only memories to prove it. Fortunately, we did get our first set of annual passes (thanks to our fabulous family and friends who had been contributing to our fund over the past year) so in all honesty, there's no doubt I'll have ample opportunity to snap a billion and one Disney photos this year. But sometimes just simply soaking up the moment is the best way to go...

Vegas, Baby!

2008-10-29T13:34:00.001-07:00

Some time back, I whisked Ryan away for a surprise getaway to none other than Vegas. The inpiration for the trip was really our favorite comedian, Jim Gaffagin. Ryan and I LOVE him. Absolutely hillarious. Ryan really wanted to write this post (which is why it is months behind) but finally gave over the reigns due to time constraints. He would have said something dry and sarcastic about bacon and Hot Pockets so use your imagination. I think Ryan has a crush on him. :)

We stayed at the Wynn (which was amazing and very UN-vegas-esh) and had yummy drinks by the pool, lounged by the waterfall over coffee and ice cream, shopped, saw Gaffigan and were on constant lookout for celebrity sitings -apparantly someone famous is almost always at Wynn. It just so happened that the US Olympic Basketball Team was staying at our hotel that weekend; at one point we hung out for awhile about 10 feet away from Lebron James... until I decided to start snapping photos, (which by the way did not come out-sad), and got booted by their security entourage. Oh well.

We gambled a whole twenty bucks and did not win. Boo.

Had crepes in Paris. Gotta love the 1/2 size Eiffle Tower and attempts to avoid triple chins in said photos...

And I'm not sure if I've ever shared Ryan's addiction to Mardi Gras beads. He's obsessed. I'm not sure if it's the hunt or the music or what, but he beelines to the beads. No matter where we are, concerts, fairs, the Rio....he's gotta have him some beads. Haddie appreciated her new costume accessories when we got home too. :)

Montano De Oro

2008-10-07T13:53:00.001-07:00

We snuck over to the coast a couple of weekends ago to get out of the blazing heat and hit up some of our favorite spots... Firestone Grill for lunch in San Luis, a walk along the creekbed with Chocolate Milkshake frozen yogurts from Country Culture, and a quick jaunt over to the Atascadero Zoo (I was actually traumatized by this zoo when Ryan took me back when we were dating - I swear there was an anorexic tiger there and it was the saddest thing I have ever seen! Fortunately the zoo's current tiger inhabitant 'Sala' was very healthy this time.). We spent the rest of the day running down the massive sand dunes at Sandspit in Montano De Oro and dodging monster jellyfishies that were all over the beach! It was a great little getaway, but every time Ryan and I go over and drive past the wineries we secretly wish we had ditched the kiddos so we could stop and do a little tasting again. Apparantly it does not bode well to have a kid in one hand and a glass in the other.
One of these days... :)

The Begining of an Era

2008-10-05T00:57:00.001-07:00

Briggs started preschool this fall and is absolutely LOVING it. We are now inundated at home with imaginary classrooms where Briggs is "Miss Jeanie" (his teacher, of course), and pleads to go to school on off days. The only issues we are still working on are tears picking him up (he does not want to leave), and more tears from Hadley dropping him off. The first day when Haddie demanded she have "her" backpack for school, I knew it we were in trouble. Briggs let her carry his lunch pail in and she bawled her eyes out when she realized she was not going to be staying. So, on any given day I'm either dealing with her crying (literally) "I want to go to school, too!" or "I want my Briggsy." Poor thing. Apparantly my kids love school. Here's a couple shots for the archives... And yes, that is the brightest, darn tootin', cutest little backpack ever. Thank you McNaughtons!!! Briggs loves his first REAL backpack.

Then Briggs snagged the camera and thought it appropriate to capture Mom & Dad on the first day of school also... :) It was quite possibly an even bigger day for us, you know. :) Our little man is growing up!

Auntie II

2008-09-18T18:18:00.001-07:00

Dear II (pronounced "eye-eye"),

Thank you for coming all the way up to play with us a couple of weeks ago. We had so much fun at the water park, getting ice cream, making cookies, watching movies, playing soccer, and dressing up! We love the treats you left for us too! Come back and play with us again soon, and we'll keep begging Mama and Dada to take us down to the beach too!

Love, Briggs William and Hadley Gwen

P.S.
Hadley loves her new dress too! She wore it out on the town with Mama for a girls night out while the boys saw Star Wars and got lots of compliments :) She kept saying "I'm Tess!" which made no sense to us until we saw her friend Tess in the same dress the next weekend. What a smart little memory!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Really?

2008-09-18T17:50:00.001-07:00

First of all, can you tell I have some extra time on my hands? That's two posts in one day, baby! Don't get used to it. :) I promised myself to post once a day until I get all caught up. I rock.

Secondly, can someone please tell when THIS face will cease? They both do it. Like ALL of the time. It's painful. And I may never see a cute family photo again.
Arg.

Goodbye, Summer!

2008-09-17T08:52:00.001-07:00

So apparantly it will be in the 80's this week. Man, that's practically winter here. I am so over summer. You can't exactly associate the start of a new school year with brisk air here as you are never guaranteed a true fall until after Halloween. (sigh). And then 2 weeks later it's full blown California winter (foggy and bla as all get out). But maybe we'll get lucky this year.

So, so long summer. At least the kids will miss you...

But I will not. (At least not until next spring). Bring on the sweaters, beanies, leaves, hot cocoa, fires and blankies. Okay, and any excuse to get Haddie back in my favorite dress before she outgrows it works too!

Why we love storytime...

2008-09-16T21:12:00.001-07:00

Um, hello! They serve mini frappaccinos for heaven's sake. Oh, and the books are pretty cool too. :)

Changes...

2008-08-20T14:04:00.001-07:00

So I can't say that I ever expected to do what I'm doing right now but after 4 years at home, I felt like I needed a little more "adult" conversation and a window into the rest of the world outside my home. Don't get me wrong, I love being home with my kiddos and even the past week has proved that I still need to be with them the majority of the time. Especially after a couple of emotional days; the first day gone Briggs told me to go back to work when I got home, and the second he ran and squeeled and didn't let go of my leg for nearly an hour. Of course I cried both days. :) But I've had a blast this past week at Bakersfield's newest store:

(That's right, people, we're movin' on up!)

- getting everything ready for it's grand opening. It's sort of like being back in college on one of Sasha's crazy Wildflower or Open House comittees... unpacking mass boxes and creating displays. The people are great and it's been a breath of fresh air to work with so many different people spanning decades of different life expereiences. And strangely enough, I'm one of the only thirty-somethings there, which I actually really like.

When we lived in the Bay, Ryan and I spent a huge chunk of time in this store oohing and ahhing over all of the fun gadgets. If you don't already know, I married a pretty good cook! And since Pottery Barn is one of the sister companies with great employee benefits, we joked that if it ever worked out, I was definitely going to work for a spell at WS. So here we are. The last couple of weeks have been crazy as I've been pretty much working full time, but as of next week my availability will be nights and weekends for casual hours; something I could not be doing right now in my old career. It's nice to do something just plain different. As a new store, their need is really all up in the air so it may not work out long term but I'm having fun with a new season of change for now.

In addition, Briggs is starting up preschool two mornings a week this fall... again, something I never dreamed he'd be doing at three. Other than using scissors and the possibilty of getting over some of his perfectionism in the art arena, he really doesn't NEED it. But ever since he learned where the schoolbus was actually headed, he's been begging to go to school. Because he's such an energetic little guy, I know he's going to love the interaction. As an added bonus, it's a Christian preschool so they'll be doing lots of Bible stories and we'll be working on memory verses a little more at home too. I'm excited to have Hadley all to myself on these days too. She's at an age where she is really desiring one on one attention (something she has never had a whole lot of due to their ages), so this works out beautifully. And we'll still have lots of mornings and afternoons all together too.

Life is good. And dare I actually say it? ... Yes, even Change is good. :)

Lazy Summer Days...

2008-08-07T15:02:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday To Us!!!

2008-07-31T14:17:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Jenn's 31st (yikes!), Patrick's 23rd and Haddie's 2nd birthdays at Disneyland this year. July 3rd is such a weird day in our family. :) But we love it. I keep telling mixed stories when anyone asks how the day went. Really, it was great. But man, we were worn as all get out after chasing Miss little 2 year old around. With the highlights of her day being ditching her expensive Tinkerbell dress/gift to run around in her diaper and throwing a fit (literally, see photos) because she couldn't run through the middle of the parade to find Minnie, thank goodness her ticket is still free. Okay, in all fairness though, we all loved the teacups. Totally Disney clique' but absolutely true. After closing down the park, Ryan and I also had an enlightening epiphany. We are so not 20 anymore. Let's just say that after switching seats over 5 times just to make if home, we vowed never again will we not get a hotel. Rock on thirtysomethings!

Two.

2008-07-06T23:28:00.001-07:00

How in the world does time fly so quickly from this...

... to this?

Happy Birthday to our Haddie girl!

My ring.

2008-05-21T08:35:00.001-07:00

Disclaimer: Do not judge my point and shoot wanna-be photography skills. :)

Ryan and I celebrated our SIXTH wedding anniversary just over a month ago, on April 13th. We had a lovely, simple day of massages and gelato; the plan being to do a weekend getaway this summer sometime. For some time now, Ryan has been on my case about his own ring, wanting to get it back on his hand for more than a couple of hours before pain set in. For some reason (Bako water retention?) his ring size has gone up 1.5 sizes since our wedding day. So he was happy to get a beautiful (can you call a guy's band beautiful?), new band.

As for my ring, I honestly have always adored it. I remember almost crashing into oncoming traffic gazing relentlessly at it the during our engagement while driving (real safe, I know!) It is a modest diamond set in a simple tension set. Recently, the wear and tear of life had rubbed down several of the edges quite a bit, so Ryan had me take it down to SLO for a tuneup/reshaping. I always love walking in that little shop, taking me back to days before we were married in a moment's time... And after three visits down there, I finally retrieved my ring again.

You see, unfortunately for the jeweler (and most other people in my life), I have a good eye. Ryan always said I should have either been a lawyer (for my arguments) or a jeweler (with fine attention to detail). It really is a double edged sword. Being detail oriented can be positive, but sometimes it's so much easier to see things through rosy colored lenses. I swear I can see what takes the jeweler a 200x magnifying glass to see. A slight difference on one side on my ring has always really bugged me, and I was hoping we could rectify that with the reshaping.

It's funny how life's circumstances can change how you see things, and who you are, if you let them. Before we were married, I could not imagine having a diamond any larger than a third of a carat. I am a minimalist, simple in nature and that seemed perfect. When Ryan proposed with a half carat, I thought it was the hugest thing I had ever seen! But after time, if we are not on our guard, ugliness can set in. I remember several years later at one point feeling a tinge of unusual envy, looking a another's ring, thinking "Gosh, I guess I kind of wish mine was it little bit bigger." And I hated that feeling. It has taken work (on myself) to let God allow me to look at the things in my own life and find contentment.

So, when I put my ring back on my finger this time, of course, as expected, it was not "perfect". It's not noticeable; anyone else would think I am crazy. But I see it. And I accept it. And more than that, God is doing big things in me. I don't want it to be perfect anymore. I love it. Just the way it is. As a reminder that you can love the imperfect.

God's love is perfect, but we (the recipients of His love) certainly are FAR from that.
And if I want to be more like Him, I want to love like that.
Thank you for my new ring Tig. I love it. And I love you. -the other Tiger

Weeeeeeeeeee!!!! {squeal}

2008-03-09T17:06:00.001-07:00

Okay, so this post is a bit out of order but I just couldn't wait. Lorie took Hadley's (2 month belated) 18 month photos this past week and I could not be more excited! Here are a few of my many favorites!

Aren't they fantastic? We Love You, Lor! Thank you!!!

Mean Mama

2008-02-27T13:29:00.001-08:00

Let's just say that the sewing gene has obviously skipped a couple of generations.

*Ryan would like me to add a disclaimer in order to prevent CPS from showing up at our doorstep; she got herself into this mess. My part only consisted of snapping endless photos instead of an immediate rescue. :) Sheesh, I'm not THAT evil!

Ode To Nana & Pops

2008-02-25T09:35:00.001-08:00

Living near my parents, naturally Briggs & Hadley associate quite a lot with Gaga & Pawpaw ...which we know can be hard for Allan & Nancy who are missing their little pipsqueaks growing up. :) It's no one's fault. It's not fair. It's just what it is for now. However...

We took the kiddos up to Frazier Park the other week to get some more use out our snow clothes and had a blast. With his first step onto the snow, Briggs' eyes widened with glee and he started sqealing. "Yaaaayyyy, it's snowing! Where are Nana & Pops? NANA & POPS!!!! Where are you?" It just about broke my heart explaining to him that they couldn't come play in the snow with us that day. Apparantly snow = Nana & Pops. Their first memories of snow have effectively and permanently been burned in their little hearts and minds. We love you Nana & Pops!

Briggs was too busy for photos and all over the place. We bribed him to go down the hill on his own which was hillarious. He rode down screaming for chocolate.

Hadley spent much of her day like this...

... not because she was cold, but because she was ticked that she had to wait her turn on the big hill. Crazy girl! She nursed her wounds by eating snow as usual. :)

Tradition

2008-02-24T21:57:00.001-08:00

Rewind a week....

So I have a love/hate relationship with Valentine's Day. On one hand it seems silly that one is 'expected' to show affection on this one particular "Halmarkish-heightened-expectations" day. And on the other, the Sleepless in Seattle in me has always loved any romantic notion... and all that those twitterpated days of dating had to offer on such a holiday.

But when I thought about it more, my affinity for the day really came back to simple childhood pleasures ... the days of paper hearts ... traditions of classroom Valentines ... awaiting the yearly oversized package of MnMs in the mail from my grandparents, the inevitable heart-shaped earings, red socks and occasional flowers from my mom in the morning.... and a candy shaped box of chocolates from my dad when he got home from work that night. The day didn't need to be romantic (although I did love seeing that between my parents too, and think that is just as important to model for our kids). It was just about showing the people you loved how important they were. And I loved that.

This Valentines Gaga stopped by to continue her spoiling tradition... she always has and always will love giving little goodies on pretty much every holiday known to man. Fortunately Ryan and I apparantly aren't too old for the spoiling either. Woohooo! Thanks Mom & Dad! (And that is some serious bedhead on Briggs!)

After hearing Katie's family tradition of having a heart-shaped meatloaf every year on Valentine's day, I decided I HAVE to make/bake something heartish each year too! Not that I have anything against meatloaf, but I think I'll keep my options open :). I was considering lazy cookie cutter grilled cheese hearts, but instead we opted to accept a dinner invitation for a Valentine's Papa Murphy's special with the Gehrings this time around. So fun!

And just for kicks, I totally ripped off this cute, crafty idea... pink hot cocoa from World Market in little mini mugs (aka espresso cups)! Too cute, right? Well, they ran out of cocoa :( so I had to improvise. Strangely enough, Briggs & Hadley were ridiculously excited about their food-coloring-spiked regular old milk. Ha!

So... Ryan and I have decided that Valentine's is a day for our entire family. We'll leave the candlelit dinner for our anniversary and celebrate together. We'll make Valentines for eachother, bake something heart-y and simply enjoy that people that God has given us to love. That's the kind of tradition I want to pass on to Briggs and Hadley on silly little days like this. Family love.

And the three dozen tulips that arrived unexpected were pretty wonderful too! :)

Christmas in Washington

2008-02-04T17:22:00.001-08:00

Okay, so here's a quick Christmas run through in pictures, as promised. Only one month behind! That's pretty good for me :).
We spent the week in Port Townsend, Washington with the Vances, hit up the snow, saw Nancy & Allan's home in progress (aka our future summer vacation hotel), and explored these crazy, creepy bunkers at the fort where we were staying... no joke, it was something straight out of LOST! Definitely worth the post. Enjoy!

Hadley's Dedication

2007-12-18T09:09:00.001-08:00

We had Hadley dedicated at church this past Sunday. Basically this is a personal and public commitment that Ryan & I will raise our daughter in a home that serves, honors and teaches her to know Jesus and for our family & church body to hold us accountable to this desire. It was a significant and special time for us as it was with Briggs. And it was amazing to have so many other friends (who have become like family to us) stand with us and dedicate their own little ones...including Ryen & Hayden! Pawpaw, Gaga, Uncle Andy & Uncle Pat came to support us too! Until now, we had been out of town each of the Sundays our church held dedications. Briggs jumped up and down on the stage, Hadley screamed her head and wouldn't allow Pastor Jeff to so much as touch her but what can you expect when you wait until they're this age? Oh well, that's life!

What we did last weekend...

2007-12-18T08:53:00.001-08:00

It was brutal and it hit all four of us at the same time...but at least it only lasted 24 hours. Note how dad has the nice warm blanket, and the poor, skinny, sick child is laying on the cold ground.

Nice.

How Cute Is This Kid?

2007-12-18T08:49:00.001-08:00

One of those days...

2007-10-17T14:13:00.001-07:00

So I'm feeling discouraged today. In addition to the kids STILL being sickly and my house STILL in disarray, Hadley started throwing full on fits yesterday. I'm still not sure if it is a product of feeling crummy or just the beginning of the inevitable. I busted out my parenting books, and sure enough, the terrible 2's really runs the span of 15 months to 3 years. It's so hard seeing her like this as she has been such a happy little thing..I was sure she was going to be easier than Briggs. Then I start to worry. Did I have them too close together? Would it be like this if I hadn't? Do I spend enough time with them... together... individually? I should be taking them to the park more often. I should be more willing to get messy with them. I should have my act together and this stinking house clean so that I don't have to focus on that constantly. And the list goes on.

I know I am intentional about constantly thinking about their needs but at times like this I doubt myself. And it's hard to know if the extent of this is just a necessary stage or something I could be preventing. Ugh.

Being a mom is hard.

Catch 22

2007-10-09T21:33:00.001-07:00

So we got the official sign that it is finally fall. Two kids dripping in snot for almost a week now. Not mild, typical todder drippy, we're talking double banana slugs out the shnaz yuck. I love fall but the last couple of years a part of me has begun to dread it... we are one of those families. You know, the ones with the crappiest immune systems known to man. It's true, and since Ryan met me he swears that I somehow flawed his genetics as well. So I am anxiously awaiting this first bout to pass, wondering why in the heck they always have these bugs for so long and wondering if I am doomed to spend another anti-social winter cooped up in my house going crazy!

Three & Oh

2007-08-28T13:05:00.001-07:00

Thirty. I love it. Now just about everyone I have said this to looks at me like a crazy person. How could anyone be that excited about being another decade older? Closer to the beginning of the end? That's me... I actually felt RELIEVED. I know it sounds strange but my 20's were a bit, let's say ...tumultuous.

At age 20 I was single, sleeping through 8 am classes, and not exactly sure what I was doing in 10 minutes let alone 10 years. At 30, I am a stay at home mother of two, fully equipped with a wonderful husband, a house and the question of how in the heck did I get here? The diploma, ring, wedding, seven jobs, eight moves, two kids and five years of anniversaries along the way somehow seem like a blur. Now don't get me wrong, I love where I am, and am becoming more accustomed to these changes but that's just it.. it was a LOT of change, and if you know me, I don't do long term change very well. Ryan and I will both tell you that our 20's were the best and worst of times. And that story is definitely too long to tell on a blog :) But we have come out alive :), stronger, happier, and more secure to say the least. I finally feel like I am starting to slow down and just enjoy today for today.

So I guess I feel like my 30's will be a little less like a rollercoaster, with less major life changes between now and the next decade, right? Of course, I am probably totally and completely wrong, but I choose to live in sweet ignorance for the time being. Anyway, here's to 30! We celebrated Ry's with a quick trip up north to see the Royals vs the Oakland A's and dinner at a sports pub, of course. It was a fantastic day. Happy Birthday Tig!

We finally caved...

2007-08-26T21:41:00.001-07:00

In honor of officially entering our thirty-somethings, we have finally joined the blog world. You can still check out our photos through the our link if you'd like to see 18 billion shots of us. But for the rest of you, we figured you'd rather settle for a brief synopsis. We'll see how well we do with updating as we happen to fantastic at procrastinating. Who knows, it could be therapeutic! So welcome... html...xml...bla bla bla... I'm so confused!).