Cousins

3 of my brothers kids are living w/ us for a while.  My boys are enjoying the instant playmates.  During Thanksgiving break we went to the zoo on Dollar days.  It was a croweded mess.  Then last saturday w/ my museum membership we went to Heard Museum and saw the dinosaurs.

Click pictures to make bigger.

 

All the "Murdock" Grandkids (minus Alexis who is still in MO)

 

Smelling the stinking elephant's bum

 

Bryonna was struggling to get on the dino.

Look at Luke's scared expression.  Poor baby.  ;-)

 

 

Douglas is 6

Douglas turned 6 on November 13.  We celebrated on Sunday the 11th with Great Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma and Papi.

 

The traditional 6 balloons w/ $1 in each.

 

 Douglas still loves hunting and camoflauge so I made camoflauge cupcakes and my mom did the camo frosting.  My mom bought a pack of toy animals that we put on each cupcake.  He loved it b/c he would say, "Oh, thats the big horn sheet I got a perfect shot on."  He plays a Cabelas hunting game on the Wii.

The next day at school was the book fair where he got to go through and make a wish list.  I can't stop laughing at what books he selected for his wish list.

1.   World War 2
2.  Extreme Military
3. War in Afghanistan and Iraq
4.  Dog tags (Semper Fido)

I'm sure he just saw all the camoflauge soliders and guns and picked the books based on that. Love that boy.

Trick or Treat

Well Halloween is gone.  The afternoon started off horribly w/ Douglas and Harrison whiny and fighting.  I took them anyway to the outlet malls trick or treating at 4, ate quick corn dogs and Dad was home to go trick or treating down the street.  It was so fun.  The street was busy w/ people and it was interesting b/c our side and most of the houses passing out candy.  The opposite side was pretty dull.  I loves watching Luke mumbling for candy and then saying thank you.  so fun.  One thing I want to do differently next year is have a crock pot meal at home and invite friends over.  We'll see.

Or friends we were w/ at the outlet mall. 

This house on our street went ALL out.  Douglas enjoyed it but Luke screamed and Harrison didn't care for it either when they went inside the black walkway.

 Luke liked the big rat.

The scary black walkway.  See Luke doesn't look to thrilled.  Later Harrison would say he hates that house.

 

Trunk or Treat 2012

Our ward combined w/ our old ward to do Trunk or Treat so I was super excited to go.  It was fun but too cold to eat outside and too crowded.  I think most agree not to combine again.  Anyway, Douglas saw this army costume at Kid to Kid and Harrison wanted to be a ghost.  I knew he wouldn't wear a sheet over his head so we improvised.  Luke had no choice.  I decided his costume.  I got the idea from pinterest.  He was by far the cleverest, cutest kid there, if I do say so myself.  :-)

I believe I told the kids to smile.

 

Shooting Star

I received an email from Douglas' teacher the last week of September explaining that Douglas and one other student was selected as the Shooting Stars from their class.  Every class in the school has 2 kids selected that best demonstrated the attribute for that month.  The attribute for September was "Respect".  All shooting stars were announced in front of the school at Monday rally, had a picture taken w/ "George the Star" and the principal, received a shooting star army tag necklace, and had an extra recess.  I'm very proud of Douglas.  I was surprised that he was selected for the first month and a little prideful.  :-)  He's a great kid and is the perfect on for respect. 

State Fair 2012

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The State Fair of Texas is a family tradition.  Toyota had fishing again.  The fish kept stealing the worms and when we'd tug on the pole the fish would get off. 

The mock farm is the best.  We do it every year.  They plant seeds, water peach trees, feed chickens, milk cows, etc. (all pretend of course)

The boys rode several rides but to use the rest of our tickets I had to get on one w/ them b/c Harrison is too short.  This wide was wilder than I expected.  It spinned wildly.  Douglas liked it but poor Harrison did not.  This was when the ride finally stopped spinning.

It was a long fun day.

 

And here is one of Luke just b/c he is so cute.

 

 

 

 

Douglas' picture

Douglas colored this picture and I love it.   The blue sky is morning.  The brown and red in the middle is a storm and the black on the right is night.  The black tent is Nephi's "b/c he listens to Jesus and the smaller, fancy tent is Laman and Lemuels b/c they don't listen to Jesus".    I find it fascinating that he put together that Laman and Lemuel who don't listen to Jesus might have a fancy tent. 

First 2 weeks of school

Douglas started Kindergarten 2 weeks ago and Harrison started "big boy" preschool.  We did a mom's joyschool preschool last year for Harrison but this year he goes to the elementary school for his preschool class.

Douglas loves school.  I'm not surprised and I had no worries about him adjusting.  I say this from a teachers prospective, thinking back to my year of teaching, but Douglas is the perfect student.  He wants to please the teacher, he's kind, and he's obedient.  For disclipine their names are clipped to green and they can go down to yellow and red or up to silver, then gold.  Douglas really wanted to be on "golden".  He made it to silver the first week for being polite in the cafeteria at lunch and receiving a super awesome compliment.  He brought home a "happy note" from his teacher.  Last week he made it to gold and he brought home a happy note and treasure box toy (aka happy meal toy).  On his 3rd or 4th day of school he wet his pants in music.  It was his first time to go to music class.  I asked him why he had an accident and he said the music teacher told them "not to talk when he's talking."  Bless his sweet heart, he didn't want to interupt the teacher b/c the teacher told them not to.  We had a talk about that.  Anyways, he's doing well and a couple of the kids from his class are in his soccer team so that's fun to.

Harrison has been loving school too.  I thought he would whine a little the first day but no.   He does a great job telling me about school when I pick him up. 

I'm very glad the boys like school and seem to be doing well.

Harrison is 4

This cute fellow had a birthday today.

Harrison is a mixed bag.  He drives me freaking NUTS!!!  Yet, he has this irresistable, sweet, loving side.  He is my cuddle bug.  He has the cutest little personality.  He has great facial expressions.  His face is very expressionate.  Wide eyed happiness or droopy face sadness.  I call him my bipolar child, although I suppose I should stop. 

He started big boy preschool last week and loves it.  What amazes me is that he tells me all about his day.  I didn't expect for him to tell me anything.    I plan on asking him a questionare tomorrow so it should be interesting to see his answers. 

We love him so much.  He is a joy.

I took him to the store several times and had him show me what he wanted.  Mom and Dean took him on a little date 2 days before his bday to the store and he showed them what he wanted and they bought it and then took him for icecream. 

We continued our tradition of giving them balloons w/ money in it.  Look at his face tensing while he pops them. (4 years old= 4 balloons w/ $1 in each)

His alligator cake.  Harrison isn't really "into" anything so I saw this cake on pinterest and asked him if he wanted it and he said yes. He can be easy to please.

 

Food Storage

I went to a friends house the other day and saw her food storage.  I was blown away.  It is a full bedroom full of shelves that are full of cans of food, etc.  It motivated me to start our food storage.  I'm sure my friend has a full years worth.  I'm aiming for 3 months right now.  The limited space I have is the pantry and the closet in Luke's room.  Anyway, I've been looking for ideas on pinterest.  I've decided the best way for me to start is w/ 72 hr meals.The reason for having 3 days of food set aside from the rest of the pantry is because its been shown that when a disaster occurs it takes about 3 days to overcome the emotional shock of it all. In those 3 days, a family still needs to eat and drink. So, the meals should be in their own containers, labeled, easy to find, and not touched until ready for use. They should be shelf stable and last at least 6 months. In fact, just to insure the food stays fresh, you should eat the food every 6 months and immediately re-stock.
  I'm going to plan 3 days worth of food that is easy too prepare, meaning little water and heat to prepare it.  Basic meals.  They will be in a box or in a ziploc bag if they fit.  Here is what I have so far. I need help finishing.
Lunch #1: crackers, tuna, mayo, dried or canned fruit, cans of V8, trail mix packets, can opener
Lunch #2: crackers, peanut butter, jam, dried or canned fruit, pudding cups
Lunch #3: crackers, beef jerky, dried or canned fruit, nutella, graham crackers

 Dinner #1: can soup

Dinner #2:
Dinner #3

Breakfast #1: oatmeal packets, canned fruit, dry milk
Breakfast #2: oatmeal packets, canned fruit, dry milk
Breakfast #3:

Please help me w/ ideas.  After I get this put together, I'll move on the the 3 months of food.  I am going to find meals that my family likes, replace say chicken for canned chicken, etc and put them in bags/ boxes together w/ the recipe and triple it so I will have one said meal 3 times in my storage, if that makes sense. 

Any ideas, suggestions?

15 months- Luke

Luke is my monster child.  He's 15 months going on the terrible twos!  I've never had a child start this early.  When he's mad, he scrunches up his entire face, open his mouth and SCREAMS.  Good thing he's so freaking adorable and the first 14 months of his life he was so sweet. Luke
-loves to play with his brothers, although Harrison just loves to knock Luke over
-Luke has up to 6 words (which is phenomal to me since the other 2 boys only said dada at 15mths) dada, bye bye, hi, go, nigh nigh (night night), mama
-He tries to repeat what you ask him to and comes pretty darn close
-signs "all done" and "more"
-loves to go upstairs and play w/ the boys toys
-Can climb the boys bunk bed ladder  :-(
-Can climb the OUTSIDE of the stairs  :-(
-Is NOT shy.  He'll go to anyone, sit in their lap, have them pick him up, etc
-Has A LOT of teeth.  11 teeth w/ 2 of his molars coming in.

I have to take some pictures and post them later.
-21 lbs 10oz (12%) 
-31.5 inches long  (62%)

Sweet Luke

Luke's been walking for about a month now.  The end of March he would let go of things and try to walk but fall.  A couple weeks later he was taking about 3 steps, fall, get back up, repeat.  He's still wobbly but he's walking.  We took our family pictures in April and I made a special cowboy onesie for Luke.  I'm a little proud.  :-)  Then I found the boots at Old Navy and I couldn't believe my good luck.  Enjoy!

This is a classic Luke look.

Beautiful boy

Luke is 1

My baby is ONE!!!  This year has FLOWN.  It gets faster w/ every child.  I wish I could bottle up moments at each stage so when they are grown I can visit that again.  Luke is a gift.  And I don't mean he's a  lovely little boy.  I mean he is a GIFT right from God.  A true blessing indeed.

Click on the pictures to make them larger.

Caterpillar cake

Oh My Goodness!!  What Luke did w/ his cupcake was amazing!!  I've never seen or heard of a 1 year old eating his cupcake like this.  Luke knew EXACTLY what to do w/ that cupcake.  He picked it up w/ 1 hand took a bite and repeat.  He did NOT let that cupcake out of his hand.  He ate the WHOLE cupcake out of his hand and when that was gone he ate the pieces that had fallen off.  I couldn't believe it.  Grandma and Great Grandma also gave him some ice cream.  I was just stunned that he ate it one handed.  He knew what to do and we didn't have to show him.  CRACK me UP!!

one handed grab

20lbs     11%

30in     55%

-speed crawler

-waves and claps

-screams loud!

-has 4 top teeth and 3 bottom

-loves muffins and pancakes

-really likes pulled pork and meatballs too

-Had more illnesses that I can count his first 12 months.  HOLY COW

-He is just a happy easy going boy

-nickname:  Luke-ia  (Harrison started calling him that a while back and it's stuck.)

-If you lay on the floor, he is sure to crawl over to you and "flop" himself on you.  Either that or give your hair an open mouth kiss.  ;-)  Drool galore!!!

I thank Heavenly Father everyday for my little Luke.  I'm so thankful to have him in our home.

Luke is 9 months

I can't believe Luke is 9 months old.  Crazy!!!  Luke started crawling December 5th.  It took a couple weeks before he realized he could crawl anywhere but now he is nonstop.  He pulls up on everything too.  He also has 7 teeth now, 5 of which came through in about 35 days.  That's a whole lot of teething!!  He loves baby cookies, Graham crackers, and puffs.  I've been giving him small table food (rice, torn off bread, etc).   He's just getting over a cold and ear infection.  He's been sick the last 6 weeks w/ a week off maybe.  He is my sickliest child.  The doctor said its just b/c he's number 3 and brothers love on him.  I took him to his 9mth appt a week into his latest cold/ear infection.  He hadn't eaten much the last week so his weight dropped but he is

17lbs 12oz 7%
28in 34%

That's about it. Oh and he says mama.  He doesn't know I'm mama but he says it.  :-)

Fire house

Harrison's joyschool is studying "community helpers" this month.  2 weeks ago at my house we talked about firemen.  A week later we toured a fire station.  I really liked this tour.  A woman fire fighter led the tour.  She was great w/ the kids.  The kids "drove" the truck and got to put on the mask, helmets, and jacket if they wanted.  She even let a couple mom's try on all the gear.
Douglas didn't have school this day so he got to enjoy the tour too.

I wanted in on the fun too.

Here are the kids at my house for the fire unit. Travis picked up hats from "Firehouse Subs" for the kids to wear and I built a "burning building" for the kids to put out.