Remembering Memorial Day

Our visit to Cabrillo National Monument in Point Loma on Memorial Day in pictures.

Looking down the stairs in the old lighthouse

Lani takes a break from walking. Little legs get tired you know

Wait for me.

Rock climbing

At home as usual...

Arden ("What's happenin'") Murphy

Cari ("I am so mortified") Murphy

The Blues Sisters

Today's update...

The babies are SOOOO fussy. They don't nap more than 45 minutes at a time, their hands are jammed down their throats, and poor Arden moans and cries in her sleep. They are teething so hard. I hope they sleep tonight. We all need a break.

The babies are getting so big. They are now able to enjoy Lani's old exersaucer. 

I've tried several times to load the videos of them in the 'saucer. I don't know why it keeps failing

(as it did on my prior post).

The clip below shows how Lani likes to get all her "music" going and start dancing to it.

It's really quite cute.

What isn't cute is her PMS...preschooler meltdown syndrome. One minute she's happy sociable

and sweet. The next minute she's balling her eyes out or flat on the floor screaming and refusing to cooperate. What happened to my malleable little girl?

I have a variety of clips for your viewing pleasure. Sorry I did not get a chance to edit them down so some are a couple minutes long. I expect the diehards (you know who you are) will be happy however. I have a couple of really cute to-die-for clips that I'm saving for the next posting. To be continued...

This clip shows Alana, Karlene, and the teacher's daughter holding hands while they dance. Can you say "adorable"? Ahhhh

Alana tries to make Arden laugh in this clip.

The other clips didn't load properly. I'll try again later.

It's been awhile since I last posted. I've been exhausted due to a lack of help the last 2 weeks. In addition, we just replaced our old Dell (model name: piece o'crap) for a Mac. I've been a bit stymied by it. (When did I become a technophobe?) The right and left click's don't work. The delete button doesn't work. Where the h*** are the backspace key and page up and page down keys? Now I know what it feels like to be my parents and stare into the face of the techno-abyss.

These photos are a few weeks old. For historical accuracy, Gramma Rose visited us before my dad stopped in en route to Pennsylvania. Apparently, the old homestead is in shambles. The front window was busted out, floors were groaning from lack of repair, the concrete steps are crumbling. Sorry no pics of that however.

Caryss and her twin. jk that's Blue

Caryss, Grampa Joe, Arden, and Alana

Cinco de Mayo celebration in Old Town. This is where we picked up the nasty bug.

Daddy at Cinco de Mayo
Alana looking smashing in a hat given by Aunty Yin and some beads from Corona beer
Arden & Cari. Hmmm, they look p-o'ed.
Gramma Rose and Alana.
Don't remember the name of the band but they were pretty good. Gramma Rose even bought a CD.

Our friends Laurie and Karlene attended a recent tap/ballet class with us. Laurie is the blonde adult to the left and Karlene is the little blonde girl holding Alana's hand.

Alana loves the star-shaped wand.

More adoration for the wand. That's Karlene in profile behind Alana.
Karlene following the teacher's lead. Alana is standing in the back, "anxiously" waiting her turn. Or more likely staring at a bug on the floor.
More photos of our day to come.

Swine flu

Got your attention, did I? I don't think it's swine flu but the Murphy's in SD are enjoying a lovely cold. I got hit the worst so far, tho Chris is feeling worse this afternoon. I got up with the babies at 6am, fed them, played with them and put them back down at 8am, then passed out. Unfortunately, Lani can't go to school until she is 100% better so Chris stayed home to help with her. Thank God, our babysitter Katelyn came today to watch the babies. Plus Grandpa Joe is in town on his way to PA. Lani really warmed up to him from the moment she saw him (again). It was very cute.

Some cute pics of Arden in an outfit that Gramma Rose gave her.

Here's a great pic. Gramma Rose with all her girls. Caryss, Alana, and Arden, respectively.

Alana and Grampa Joe. They were having a very serious conversation about spiders and dancing.

Happy Half-Birthday!

The twins are 6 months old today! They had their greatest, happiest, bestest day ever. They were all smiles and almost no fussing. Now if only Cari will let me sleep I will be the happiest mom ever. (Coincidentally, Lani's report from school was ab-fab. Miss Jessica said she was all smiles and sooo helpful today. Way to go, big girl!)

I normally sit in the middle chair between the babies and feed them their bottles, then their solids. Usually they chomp at the bit for their food, but tonight they were content to hang out and watch us all eat first. Big Sissy is playing with a pot that Grandma Rose bought for her at Ikea. Watching her "cook" is so much fun.

Our Day at Quail Botanical Gardens

Alana, Grandma Rose, and I made the trek to Quail Botanical Gardens yesterday. Sadly, Daddy was away but we managed to make the best of it. The Gardens have seen a number of nice upgrades since we were last there with more to come. A lovely waterfall, a rainforest area, rare plants from Hawaii (olulu?), signs indicating drought-tolerant plants, etc. Also, the Seeds of Wonder children's garden is much improved. Lani potted a little succulent to take home as part of their hands-on exhibits. There were also bubbles bubbles bubbles. So messy but so much fun. And there is a new miniature train exhibit that Lani went crazy for. Pics of our adventure follow.

In a rare but daring move, Lani decided to sleep on the way to our destination. It was only 11:15am.



Here's grandma. Just kidding, obviously. We saw some fabulous topiaries including this one with the face made of pottery. They've also introduced a few sculptures, which add a nice artsy touch to the gardens.


This is the real Grandma Rose. Still looking stylish in her 7th decade.

Lani enjoyed the trails and, particularly, the lizards and butterflies. We can't wait until the butterfly gardens are installed.

Taking a much needed break near the waterfalls. Little benches are tucked away everywhere.

Such a lovely day.