Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas!

So many pics...We had a great weekend. Saturday we hit the harvest fair in Newton. Alana LOVED the rides. Arden & Cari were a little unsure about it, but they rode everything with Alana except the giant slide and Cari refused to ride the kiddie roller coaster. We all split the fried dough, and Chris and I decided that funnel cake is better. We ran into a few friends and ended the excursion at the Newton Centre playground across the street.

At home...

This is one of Alana's maps. I think she is so talented and creative. She also makes funny creations with string and hairclips and such and makes up various games.

The girls watching a show from the couch.

Harvest Fair 2010 in Newton

Pics from Tougas Farm, where we ate apple cider donuts, picked pumpkins, went on a hayride, and fed the baby goats

Daddy and Arden on the hayride

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere!

Once they figured out that they needed to pick their pumpkin and put it in the cart, they wouldn't stop. I would take 'em out and they would put new ones back in. We finally ended up with about 6.

The goats were so sweet and gentle, but they stunk to high heaven.

This was the papa goat.

Videos to come shortly...

Pics of the twins at nursery school

Hey, click on the link to view pictures of the twins at school. Their photos are towards the end.

http://picasaweb.google.com/tlcnurseryschool/MidOctPhotosNewton?authkey=Gv1sRgCNihprfTr9CUSA&feat=email#

Wow, it's been a month since I last posted!

I have to tell you. It is a warzone here lately. The kids are ALWAYS fighting. I can't accomplish anything during the day.

Luckily it's not all bombs and guns...Cute things heard around the Murphy house include...

Upon handing me this pan, Alana said: "Mom, I cooked you this starfruit." I didn't know she knew what a starfruit looked like!

Upon my scolding Arden for yet another naughty thing she did, Cari wagged her finger and said: "Bad gurrl"

Upon my entering their room in the morning, Cari said: "I wake. I wake"

While I stared up at her from the bottom of the slide telling her I would catch her, Cari said: "I cayful. I cayful" and refused to come down.

Upon seeing Blue on our bed, Arden said: "Nook, Boo sweepin"

Upon hearing Lani's cries from the timeout bench in the other room, Arden said: "Uh oh, Nana sad"

Videos:

Happy Birthday, Grammy!

Grammy, you've been gently asking for pics since we got back from vacation, and while I might normally procrastinate another couple weeks, I guess putting up the pics is probably a pretty good b-day present. So here you go.

Alana can write her name! Obviously, she has a little trouble with the letters but I think that's pretty typical.

Alana plays piano

Random shot of my cutie pies.

From our vacation at Smuggs in northern Vermont (near Stowe)

Sun, Day 1 - Drove up in the pouring rain. Kids did well on the 4 hr trip. We were on the "first floor" but Chris had to lug all our stuff down a flight of stairs and down a hallway. It took him awhile and he was quite unhappy. We both thought this trip was going to head south fast. Our 2-br unit was nice and had a lot of amenities (including a crockpot).

Mon, Day 2- Still raining and in the low 70s. Rather than hit the various waterparks at Smuggs, we drove through the "notch" (mountain pass) to Waterbury and hit Ben and Jerry's. The tour was a bust as the factory was not in operation and the kids were a little wild. However, it was cheap and the free ice cream was delicious!

Outside Ben & Jerrys

Lani was acting up a little and Daddy was still tense.

Tues, Day 3 - The rain has blown away but we're still a little discombobulated. We walk down to the Smuggs Village green and let the kids play on the playground for awhile. It was unimpressive, but the kids had fun anyway.

We rented this Mountain Buggy onsite. What a good idea because this baby could handle any terrain.

Finished up the morning at the on-property Mountain Grille at 11:30am. We were the only ones there of course and the food was expectedly terrible.

After their naps, we headed to the Mountainside Pool, which is much more impressive than it sounds. It has a great wading pool area with a grotto, an infant area and tubes. There is a giant waterslide for older kids and adults, a standard swimming pool, and a small waterslide for those under 48 inches. Boy, did Alana and Arden love that slide. Lani went down it over and over again and Arden would have also if we had let her. Cari went down the slide once and that was enough for her. She preferred hanging out in the wading pool with us.

Wed, Day 4 - We dropped the kids at daycare and camp and headed out to the Long Trail. Someone left a bungee cord hook in the road and we got a flat next to a beautiful pond. Called AAA, waited a bit, then drove to the nearest tire place. Had a grand lunch at a nearby Mickey Ds while the tire was replaced. Drove back, rested, picked up the kids and headed to the Funzone. What a blast.

Thurs, Day 5- Alone again, we headed out again for a morning of hiking. Had breakfast at a funky little place in Johnsonville (I think), then hiked a portion of the Long Trail North. Very nicely marked and maintained trail by the Green Mountain Club. Vermont is truly beautiful, rustic and serene and just littered with streams.

Drove back to Smuggs and I headed to watch Lani's camp group march in a parade while Chris picked up the twins from daycare. The theme was western barbecue.

Lani's campmates were ears of corn.

Parade:

Fri, Day 6 - Took the mountain buggy strollers (rented a single for Lani too) and walked the Stowe Rec Path. Wow! Lots of different scenes to pass by besides the ubiquitous streams. There is a farm on the path with petting animals and a corn maze.
The kids were excited to get out and pet the calves.

Little Dr Doolittle made a beeline for the calf and started petting. She doesn't have a bit of fear towards animals.

One of the many foot bridges on the path.

Lani running (don't laugh)!

Numerous horse trails intersect the path. One can ride horses astride or take a gentle carriage ride as this family was doing.

The babysitter we hired thru Smuggs arrived at 5pm and Chris and departed shortly thereafter for dinner at the Partridge Inn and a movie. The Inn specializes in seafood and dinner was great. We both mostly enjoyed the movie, The Kids are Alright.

Day 7 - Packing up to go. Here are a couple of shots of our unit after we trashed it.

Overall, we had a blast. We were so sad to leave. Lani was crying. She wanted to stay at Smuggs "forever". Sigh.

Hello, Funnyface!

Cari getting ready to go on a binge.

Lani doing her best Cheryl Ladd/Charlie's Angels impression. And, Arden, well she's just being Arden.

My girls like to do funny and scary faces as you'll see below.

Arden is the queen of funny faces.

Now that's scary!

Cari, so dainty and sweet. Cari who hates messes. She doesn't do "scary."

This is her scariest face.

Hmm, Lani can look scary without even trying ;-)

Lani's scary face...

And here she's trying to be a moose.

Soccer and Headbands?

Lani loves to be the teacher's pet, or in this case, the coach's pet. Here she sits between 2 coaches, experienced soccer teens whom they import from England for the summer. Lani is virtually the only student that follows directions during Soccer Tots. I suppose that is why she was nicknamed the Rule Enforcer at St. Mark's!

The twins enjoying a frozen gogurt.

Arden is enamored of crowns and headbands. (Cari prefers hats) Whenever she spies one on her wanderings thru the house, she picks it up and plops it on her head. These first two videos were take perhaps an hour apart. Here she is combining her fondness for headbands with her obsession with my laptop.

All of the kids love to watch themselves on the camera playback screen. In the video below, Lani shows Arden what she has taken on her toy camera.

This video is just a random bit of flotsam in our lives.

Arden reads

So cute!