The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

The Pumphrey Christmas Tree

Do you like my slicked back hair?

Can you believe it is already Christmas time? It seems so hard to believe, but it is here whether we are prepared for it or not!

We decided to go ahead and decorate and put up the tree, knowing that the next few weeks were going to be filled with many other activities.

Colleen was so excited to help with the decorations. We told her that the Christmas tree would grow where ever we planted seeds. So she went around the house pretending to plant seeds. Then, during her nap time, Jeff and I took out the tree and put it up by the fireplace. When she woke up she could hardly believe her eyes!

Kellen was amazed by the tree as well, but shockingly - he has not tried to touch it yet. We will see how much longer that lasts.

Since we have the tree up, we decided to do a few test runs for Christmas pictures. You can see all the pictures we took. Kellen wasn't too happy with the whole process and he hated being dressed up in his suit. Perhaps it is the slicked back hair Jeff gave him? He looks like he should be a "goodfella"

Hopefully, Christmas picture attempt # 2 will be more successful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Uncle Tony with Kellen

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

The whole Murray Family (minus Aunt La La and the new babies) got together for a wonderful Thanksgiving feast at Aunt Ti Ti and Uncle Landon's house.

Colleen enjoyed playing with her cousins and LOVED picking Advent people.

We have a tradition in the Murray family that each sibling pick and Advent person. During the four weeks of Advent, you must be extra nice to that person and then get them a Christmas present.......the whole time - keeping it a secret from the person.

This year we decided that some of the kids were old enough to start participating in this activity and they were VERY excited to "pick names" from all of their cousins.

Kellen had a wonderful time too! He enjoyed playing and hanging out with Uncle Tony - his Godfather.

I think the whole family really enjoyed seeing Aunt Eileen and Uncle Matt who were in from Castle Rock, CO. Too bad our camera battery died before I could get a picture of them

Elf Yourself!

After seeing the hilarious "Elf Yourself" on our friends, The Linkers blog site, I had to go and create one for us.

I think Colleen looks the best. She actually looks like a little elf!

Enjoy - http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9578783699

Mommy and Daddy's Night Out

Jeff and I were excited to get a night out without the kids over the weekend.

We had to attend Jeff's cousins wedding at Martin's West. We had a great time, but the food could have been better. I was VERY happy to see that the desserts made up for the bad food. I think I had a sampling of every dessert they had.

Thanks so much to "Miss Jen" for babysitting for us. We know you went through a lot to get to our house and we REALLY appreciate it!

Haley Anne and Josie Rae have Arrived!

Josie Rae....."I don't want to get up"

Josie Rae with her tongue sticking out

Aunt Ri Ri with Josie Rae

Haley Anne getting her feeding from Mommy

Haley Anne getting changed

Aunt Ri Ri with Haley Anne

My older sister Laura was supposed to go in for a c-section today to deliver her twins.....but the girls had other ideas

Last Wednesday, my sister called me at around 8:30am telling me that she thought she had a slow leak. She needed to go to the doctor to confirm if her water had broken.


I told her that I would drive her over to her doctor and then bring her back, if it was nothing.


It wasn't nothing. Her water had broken and the twins were coming!


After a long day at the hospital, Haley Anne and Josie Rae arrived at 3:43pm. Haley Anne was 3lbs 15 oz and Josie Rae was 4lbs 10 oz.


The girls are so adorable and I have posted a bunch of pictures that I had taken on Saturday when I went down for a visit.


Haley Anne and Laura are home as of yesterday and we hope Josie will be home on Tuesday.

Colleen remembers EVERYTHING

The funniest thing happened yesterday, so I had to share it.

We were on our way into school and Colleen was fussing that we forgot her baby doll at home and she wanted to go back and get it.

We were already late, so I told her perhaps Daddy could drop it off.

Colleen stopped in her tracks and started crying.

I told Colleen "Hurry up and get inside. Kellen has a poopy diaper and I need to change it!"

Colleen stopped her tears and replied "Mommy, poop is a bad word. You should not say it"

I almost started laughing. I couldn't believe she remembered that I told her not to use the word poop and that she was correcting me!

So I responded "Sorry Colleen, you are right. Kellen has a messy diaper"

She then said "That is good Mommy. Much better!"

Kids Visting Santa

Colleen sitting with Santa

Kellen sitting with Santa

On Saturday we took the kids down to visit Santa Claus at the St. Joseph's Christmas Bazaar.

Aunt La La, Kiely and Uncle Tony joined us also.

Colleen had a great time. At first she didn't want to sit on Santa's lap.....but after some bribery, so sat on his lap.

Colleen asked for "Mommy Make Me Better" a doll that you can play doctor with, Moon Sand - that "never dries out" and Aqua Dots.

We had to explain to Colleen that Santa no longer makes Aqua Dots because they are not safe and they are Mr. Yuck. She asked why....and we explained that a little boy swallowed one and it made him very sick.

She said that little boy did not make a very good decision.

Kellen's Family Party

Kellen begins eating his cupcake

Kellen still eating his cupcake

Kellen upset that is cupcake is almost done

Tiny Tiger outfit from Aunt Ti Ti

"Do I have to wear this silly crown?"

"Happy Birthday to You"

Birthday Boy waiting for his cake

Plaid is in...according to Colleen and Kiely

We also had a friends and family party on Sunday.

We had everyone over to watch football and enjoy some food and fun. Too bad the Redskins couldn't pull out a victory for us!

Kellen enjoyed seeing all of his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

He also enjoyed eating MORE cupcakes! He is going to think that he gets cupcakes everyday since he has gotten them every day since Thursday!

Kellen got a lot of clothes - which were much needed. He also got some presents too! One of which Colleen has already claimed. The Alphabet Apple from Jenn, Mike, Jack and Finn.


Thanks to everyone who came - we had a great time!

Kellen's School Party

What is she doing with my cupcakes?

Do I have to wear this silly hat?

Kellen and his friends at school LOVED the party.

When we set the cupcakes down, they all tried to grab the ones they wanted. The only one who did grab one, was the birthday boy!

We also got Colleen out of her class so that she could come down and sing for her brother's party. She really enjoyed coming to the babies class and eating cupcakes instead of the carrots her class was having for snack

Kellen's 1st Birthday!

Think I can knock Colleen over?

Daddy, can you read this?

I don't want to be in here

"Fun to be One" hat

I LOVE tissue paper

Kellen turned 1 year old on November 8th!

I still can't believe he is already a year old. The time has flown by so quickly. I can't believe my baby is gone and I have a toddler now!

Kellen's birthday started out with the whole family waking him up - singing "Happy Birthday to You". Kellen was a little confused to say the least.

Next Kellen got a special breakfast of mini waffles with a candle.

After breakfast, Kellen got to open his presents from us and Colleen. He had a great time with the tissue paper and enjoyed the truck we got him.....but didn't enjoy sitting in it.

At school, we had a party for Kellen and all of his little friends. Kellen did a great job with the cupcake. It helped that he held it with the icing on his palm - so the mess was contained to just one hand.

At home, we gave Kellen his favorite dinner - pasta and then we all sang to him again and he got to enjoy ANOTHER cupcake.

Happy Halloween, part 4

After rushing home from Aunt TiTi's house, we quickly ate dinner so we could start Trick or Treating.

We thought we were doing a great job, running on time, until the doorbell rang at 6:15pm....our first customers!

Colleen quickly got dressed in warmer clothes and we headed out at 6:30pm.

We headed out to our neighbors and then down to the townhouses, a block away. Colleen had a blast "walking fast" up to each house that had a light on. (we taught her that she can only go up to a house that has the lights on)

After realizing that Kellen had a poopy diaper, we decided to head back home. This was actually a good thing, since Colleen's bag was already filled with candy and she couldn't carry it!

So we headed back, but it was still early and Colleen still wanted to go to more houses.......so Jeff took Kellen back to the house, we emptied Colleens bag into Kellen's and I took Colleen out to our neighbors behind us.

Colleen went crazy! She was no longer "walking fast" she was RUNNING!

Colleen says to me "Come on Mommy. I need my exercise!"

I wasn't wearing running shoes, so it was a little hard for me to keep up with her, but she did entertain everyone on the block who was passing out candy. They couldn't stop laughing at Snow White running down the block with her Mommy chasing after her.

Colleen was also getting a little cold. So I look and she is sitting on the grass.

"What are you doing?" I asked Colleen

"Getting my butt warm" She said to me. So funny!

After going around the block (which is very big) we headed back home, expecting to see Kellen in bed.

Nope!

Jeff never had the chance to change Kellen because kids kept coming. All the little girls who came to the door fell in love with Kellen the fireman! We were impressed he never took off his hat!

At 8pm, we had run out of the MANY bags of candy we had and half of Colleen's candy that she had gotten. We decided to turn off the lights and put the kids to bed. Kids kept coming up to the house, we could hear them, but the realized we were done and didn't ring the bell.

We hope everyone had a great Halloween!