HaPpy NeW YeAR 2o09!

Sam and Ethan. . .great buddies!

Sam, Max and Ben celebrating. . .

not sure what the duct tape is all about, but its not a bad idea, maybe we should let the kids play with it more often!

Lulu and Daddy sharing a "cheers" at midnight!

Natalie, Sam, Max and Ben partying it up. . .



OK, So Christy, Donnie, Pancho and I were invited to an adult party on New years, but we also wanted to celebrate it with the kids. So we decided to watch the ball go down at midnight live on the East Coast. It was only 9:00 our time, but my kids actually fell for it. They really believed it was midnight! So we celebrated with them, put all the kids down on Christy and Donnie's floor in sleeping bags and left them with a babysitter, then we headed off to the Fitzpatricks house to ring in the New Year with some "real drinks"!

Lulu lost her first tooth!

Lucy with a missing space where a tooth once stood . . .age 5 years 2 1/2 months

Can it be true? I always think of Lucy as my baby, so I was a little bit shocked when she told me a few days ago that her tooth was loose. Then she made the tragic error of telling her dad. Panch can NOT let a loose tooth stay in any of our children's mouths for long. He LOVES to pull teeth. Kind of sick I know, but he is good at it. (maybe he should have been a dentist). Anyway, he had that tooth out minutes after she told him it was loose. Oh and by the way - Yes that is blood all over her face. What ever happened to just letting a tooth fall out naturally? I thought that Lucy would be so excited about the whole tooth fairy thing. In fact, I have been saving a tooth fairy pillow, that someone gave me for her, at a shower 5 years ago. But of course kids never do what you expect them to, and she didn't seem to care one way or another that there was a handful of change under her pillow the next day. My guess is that either her brothers have already educated her on the likes of tooth fairies, or that a handful of change just isn't that exciting in these current economic times.

Leavenworth

Its so beautiful there!

Max & Sam . . . Oregon fans even on the slopes!

Lucy and I outside of our hotel . . .

Cousins...Will, Sam, Kyla, Max, Casey, Lucy, Hunter, & Annie

The day after Christmas, we packed up the car and drove 5 hours to Seattle. The next day we drove over to Leavenworth. What should have been a 2 hour drive turned into a 4 hour drive after we got stuck on the pass for 2 hours !!! It was all worth it when we got to Leavenworth though. What a beautiful town and we had so much fun with my brothers & their families, my cousins, Aunts & Uncles and of course Grammy and Papa! It was such a fun trip! We went skiing, sledding, shopping, eating . . . we can't wait to go back next year!

More Leavenworth pictures. . .

Francine with Annie on her tiny skiis

Lucy and Will

Casey, Will and Sam loved sledding

The family at an authentic German Dinner

Christmas Day at our House

We had Mom and Dad and Liz and Doug over to hour house for Christmas dinner. Our kids were so excited for Ellie and Jack to come see all of their new toys. It was very nice to just relax and hang out with family and friends on Christmas day!

Merry Christmas

Opening presents at Grammy and Papas House. Sam got some Mario Cart RC Racers, Max got a set of Tanks that really move and fight eachother, and Lucy got a Barbie sing-a-long machine! Thank You Grammy and Papa!

A Snowy Day in December

Our House in the Snow

Snow "angel"? - I'm not so sure!


Snowball fight anyone?

The kids got to stay home from school for a snow day! They were so happy and excited. They ran out to play in the snow for about an hour. Then when they came back in the house we played games (Sorry, spoons, go fish), drank hot chocolate, baked cookies and sat by the fire, then it was back out to the snow only to do it all over again. It was a perfect snow day!

Baking Cookies

Since we had the day off from school due to the snow, we decided to bake sugar cookies. I think there was more "eating" than "baking" but I think baking sugar cookies is a must at Christmastime! We had to do it!

Apparently it is very tiring being a Daddy and a Little Girl. . .

(notice Lucy's pajamas are on inside out, my kids are under the impression that if you wear your pjs inside out it will snow!)

HaPpY BiRtHdAy PaNcHo!

Happy Birthday Pancho! How did I luck out to get such a great guy. He's funny, smart, handsome, a great father, and super husband! We went out to the Roadhouse for his birthday with the Hakalas, Ficeks and McCarthys, but I forgot to get a picture of all of us together (I hate it when I do that). Luckily I snapped this one as the waiters were chanting some kind of Happy Birthday song to him. Yes - that is a coffee filter on his head and a toilet seat cover around his neck!

Trying to get a Christmas Card Picture

We used this picture for our Christmas card this year!

I guess they really do love eachother . . .sometimes.


Aren't they cute? Oh a mothers love. . .

I thought this was actually a pretty good family picture for us. It was taken with a timer.


Letting off a little steam after posing for so many serious pictures.

ThAnKsGiViNg!

Sam, Pancho and Annie

I love Thanksgiving! It's all the fun of getting together with family without all of the "gift buying" pressure of Christmas. Of course it probably helps that my Mom always hosts an absolutely delicious meal at her house with the table beautifully decorated, so I just have to show up with my appetizer and green bean casserole and have fun! This year we had My brother Sean and his family and my brother Kevin and his wife Kate down from Seattle. We also had my cousin Michele and her family as well as 2 sets of Aunts and Uncles and their kids (my cousins). All in all there were about 32 of us. Once again, Thank goodness for Mom, I couldn't pull that one off! We always have so much fun together. We watched football, ate, talked, and laughed a lot. Of course it is never a meal at the Murray house until we all go around the table and answer one of Dad's questions!

I even talked my sisters-in-law into going shopping with me at Walmart at 5:00am the day after Thanksgiving! Yes-that means we got up at about 4:30. Everyone thought we were crazy! Actually it was kind of crazy when we got there. First we waited outside in the dark, cold rain. Then when they opened the doors it was a stampede! Kate and I were running for the camcorders (on sale for $250) We lost Francine, who ended up finding her way to the long line for GPS's (she scored one for Dad for Christmas). Then we were off and running for the Mp3's, toys, a vacuum and more! I LOVE shopping and I got even more invigorated by the competition of it all, everyone grabbing and running. Kate and I even got in some fighting words with a lady over a comforter at Target (which was stop #2). What fun! My one regret is that I don't have any pictures of our adventure, Oh well maybe next year (if I can talk them into going with me again!) I love my "sistas".

Morgen, Sam, Max, Annie, Will, Lucy, Kaillen and Keaten

Kate and Francine (my sister-in-laws or "sistas")


The cousins - Will, Annie, Lucy & Sam

LeTiCiA's BaBy SHoWeR!

Leticia and I have been friends since High School (along with Christy). Our husbands met in college (which is how I met Pancho). We have had all three of our kids within 2 or 3 months of each other. Cade and Max are 3 weeks apart, Sam and Gabrielle are 3 months apart and Lucy and Will are 2 1/2 months apart. So we have been pregnant together many times! But alas, Chad and Teesh took it one step farther than Pancho and I by going for child #4. Christy and I were so excited when we heard that there was going to be another baby in the group (since she and I are definitely past the baby stage). Another baby to hold!!! We were very happy to give her a shower along with her sister Amber. The three of us planned a pink and brown mother/daughter tea party!

We had it at my house and the guests included Leticias relatives and friends and all of their daughters. There was one daughter who was conspicuously absent though, that would be mine. Lucy wanted nothing to do with a girly baby shower. When she heard that the boys were going over to the Hakalas and she might get to play with her best friend Ethan, her decision was made. So much for my "girly" influence. The shower was really fun though. We ate, played games, opened presents and had tea. It was a lot of fun to put on and Teesh got so many nice things for her "baby girl"! We can't wait to meet her!

Gabrielle (big sis), Melissa and Natalie in front of the dessert table

Christy and I with the "mommy to be" Leticia

I think we had 32 guests in all! What a fun group!

Max's Football Team

Max has played soccer since he was in kindergarten. This was the first time that he asked to play football "like Dad". How could I turn that down? He wanted to play tackle football, but since he was in 3rd grade and this would be his first experience with football, I asked him to try flag for a year and if he really liked it, he could try tackle in 4th grade (mean mom - I know). The only problem was that our school didn't have a flag team, only a tackle team, so I put him on another school's team. He didn't know anyone. I was nervous for him, but nothing phases Max. He just walked out there and started playing! The coach didn't seem to sure about having this random kid on his team at first, but he soon changed his mind. Max played Tailback and ended up scoring most of the team's touchdowns. He is really fast, Pancho nicknamed him "lighting". Their team ended up going undefeated 11-0, and they even won the championships! It was so much fun to watch him whizzz by the other team and run into the end zone! He can't wait to play next year, and yes - I am going to give in and letting him try tackle.

Thunder and Lightning

Is it just me or do they look like the Bad News Bears?


Max getting a trophy from his coaches - they were begging him to be on the team again next year!