M&M Family

our pumpkin M&M family! The girls had a blast paining these.

Good thing Dan is an artist!

at the neighborhood trunk or treat

Dan- what a good sport! :)

I even wore this get-up to the school parade.

When did we become that family that totally over does it when it comes to Halloween?

Meggie! too cute!

Kate trying to make the silly scared face Orange always has!

Kate turned out to be our best shaped M&M!

Annie! lovely in green (the only real girl M&M)

Happy Halloween from the Murdocks!!

BEHIND!!

I am behind.

behind in my life (laundry, cleaning and grocery shopping)

behind in catching up with friends who live near and far,

behind in blogging,

behind in my sleep!

It is an overwhelming feeling. I don't like feeling behind because try as I might I can't get caught up.

Life has just been keeping us busy . . .

We started school- Kate is in all day Kindergarten and LOVES it. She loves the idea of homework- and learning to read! Bless her heart- she has more enthusiasm than anyone I have ever met and doesn't have an "inside voice"- but her brown eyes melt me like butter.

Annie is in 2nd grade and is as close to perfect as they come. I wish that I could bottle her and keep her 8 forever. (guess that means that we also missed her Birthday since I was last blogging. We had 20 kids over for dinner, games and a movie outside. There was more drama than necessary, and fortunately Annie didn't get too caught up in it all.) Annie also got baptized on September 12th. We had aunts and cousins (and grandpa) in from out of town which made the weekend extra special. She is a soccer star and a great little reader and has recently taken up texting. I just adore the person she is becoming!

Meg goes to preschool 2 days a week and also to dancing. She LOVES dancing and wants to go every single day. For the first time- I am loving 2 1/2. (with my other two I was pregnant again and on bed rest- or had a new baby when I had a 2 1/2 year old.) Meg is so stinking fun, and cute and full of life and curiosity and love. She counts and sings and twirls and shuffles and laughs her way through our days. I love when she says "welcome" and "i love you too." The other day I was driving along thinking about how funny she is and I looked in the rear view mirror where she had a swim suit on her head! Silly girl!

I also got a new job back in June (working in my dad's office)- which means I now have 3 jobs in addition to being wife, mother and primary president. I thought I would work less at the hospital and more in the office but so far that hasn't happened. And although I used to be able to do it all. I can't anymore- nor do I really want to.

Please remind me to quit one or two of my jobs before I get the next one okay??

Now off to conquer the laundry!

Beach Week 2009

Another fabulous year at the beach!

lots of my pictures are on Nick's camera (hint hint) but here are a few favs.

our little blondie!

Kate

could these two be any cuter??

(thanks for all of the times you took my kids in the water!)

Annie

Kate & Annie still love each other after 10 + hours in the car

all of us- well most of us anyway. 65 and 8.5/9ths if my math is right

Mush insisted we stop for a DATE shake. Are you kidding?

Of all the 100 flavors- DATES??

cute little Meggie Moo!

Scott eating a deep fried twinkie.

Mushie and Papa- sharing a "date" shake!

the look on Kate's face says it all. She didn't think it sounded very good either!

we love our beach week friends!

Heart Strings

Wednesday was Annie's last swim meet. She qualified for conference in the back stroke. It was hectic to get all three kids up and fed and to the pool at 8 am.


As we were climbing out of the car Kate turned to Annie and said in her darling little voice " You do a great job out there okay!" my heart melted at her love and support as my eyes filled with tears.

(silly Kate wearing one of Annie's caps)

We walked into the pool and the coach gave Annie a new cap with her name on it. She put it on and looked so big in her uniform and MURDOCK cap, as I left her with the coach and walked away I had to wipe away the tears. Not even sure what I was feeling- she is getting too big.

(yes the picture is Meg not Annie, but you get the idea of how cute it is)

And then Annie's swimming the in morning prelims qualified her for the final that night. They take the top 16 swimmers for each race. Annie was # 16. But when we checked in for warm-up the times had been adjusted and Annie was not # 17- the Alternate. (Don't get fired up- it was very fair, they use the auto wall clocks in the pool but because the kids have never used them before they also have timer and one little girl's clock had not stopped even though she had won her heat in the morning- all fair). We were bummed but she was a really good sport.

We decided to stay and see what happened. Her race came and we noticed that lane 5 was empty- so we were yelling from the balcony. The announcer noticed an empty lane and asked for an alternate. (The coach had told me not to get my hopes up the alternates never swim) So next thing we know Annie is in the water- we were cheering like she had won the race (just excited that she got a chance to swim) The race is about to start and enter stage right a coach who has suddenly noticed that his swimmer is chatting and not in the water. So Annie climbed back out. This time I cried- Sad for the yo-yo of emotions that a 7 year old had to experience over swimming.

Recently my sister and I had a conversation about parenting.

Is it 50% fun experiences and tender moments and

50% sleepless nights and cleaning up throw-up?

Or some days does it feel more like 90/10?

I still haven't decided but I do know I love my kids more than anything.

Even if they make me want to scream and cry, I share with them the good, the bad, the disappointments and the celebrations.

It is overwhelming and humbling to have responsibility for such amazing little people.

We did it! We did it!!

We (and when I say we -I mean WE- thank you to Sarah and Lauren and my mom who watched Meg during the first few days) are proud to announce the latest milestone in the Murdock family!

MEG IS POTTY TRAINED!! whoot! whoot!!

she drives me crazy and she melts my heart! what a funny kid!!

Happy 4th of July!

To celebrate the 4th we went with the Parker family to Stadium of Fire. The highlights were the Jonas Brothers and the Fireworks.

My favorite moment of the night was when we were dancing and singing along and Annie leaned over and asked me who my favorite Jonas brother was. I answered "Joe" and her face lit up as she said in a dreamy little voice "yea! Me too!!"

A sweet a simple moment that I will always treasure because my kids and I were having so much fun together and to my 7 year old I was totally cool! Hope we always like each other this much!

Happy Father's Day Dad!

I feel that I owe so much of who I am to what you (and mom) have taught me.

Thank you for showing me how to forgive and let it go.

Thank you for teaching me to "give it away." It has helped me to apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my own life and find peace.

Thank you for insisting that I not fight back.

Thank you for believing in me- that I can be anything I want to be!

Thank you for supporting me in all that I have chosen to do. You have always been there cheering on the sidelines for me- whether in sports, dance or life.

Thank you for your wisdom and guidance and listening ear.

Thank you for wanting us to all get along. I am so grateful for the wonderful friendships that I have with all of my sisters.

Thank you for gentle reminders to eat and get some sleep and life won't look quite so bad!

Thank you for teaching me to enjoy life- whether it is a night out on the boat, $6 burger night, or a walk on the beach there is always such a wonderful feeling when we are together as a family!

Thank you for your example of caring for those around you. Between you and mom- you really might save the world!!

Thank you for helping me to be better and try harder. I still have a long way to go, but amazing examples to follow!!

I love you,
A