Murphy Memories

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Happy Birthday, Benji and Miles!

 They weren't able to celebrate their birthday with friends or family (because of covid) but we had an eventful birthday all the same. We went on a hike to Lion's Den Gorge, Benji picked Red Robin for lunch and Miles picked The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. We had to pick the food up, bring it home, and eat it at our own table but we will remember it always! We opened presents right after they woke up and played all day long. It was a wonderful day! 

Happy birthday to our Pokemon loving 6 year olds. We love you!

Six years old! 

Oliver loved watching the boys
open their presents... 

Excited for their new scooters!
These gift cards might have been their 
favorite gift of all. Grandma and Grandpa know
them well! 

YUM! Burger for Benji, Macaroni for Miles

And Corndogs for Oliver




One of my favorite hikes!


I definitely lucked out with such amazing boys. 
All smiles!
Miles REALLY wanted to balance 
across a little reserve of water. 
He fell in. 
But he dried off, tried again, 
and made it across! Way to go! 
We love Lake Michigan







Happy Birthday, sweet boys. 

The boys loved their buttered noodles and
macaroni and cheese from the Cheesecake Factory.
(Josh and I cheated and got Gilles' burgers because
we couldn't afford food from the Cheesecake Factory.
Oliver got fresh cooked noodles from our own stove) 

Puzzle notes from Uncle Trev entertained them 
for quite a while!
They're rich!

Hello April

 April brought a lot of change with it. Cities and stores started to really enforce mask wearing and social distancing. Parks were taped off and movie theaters, bowling alleys, arcades, restaurants, museums, etc. all shut down. We weren't allowed to congregate for church and groups of more than 10 were not allowed to get together. Stores wouldn't allow anyone to enter if they weren't wearing a mask and big chain stores changed how may people could enter at a time and even changed their hours of service. 

The big boys weren't allowed to attend school in person so I became their school teacher by default. I was a little nervous at first but we came up with a routine and stuck with it! We continued their specials throughout the week and I was their spanish teacher, art teacher, gym teacher and math teacher. :) It was actually a lot of fun for all of us! Campus shut down for Josh too and he spent his days studying at home or for hours at a time in the Ice Arena parking lot when he needed quiet...since libraries and Barnes and Noble were closed too. 

The classic April Fool's day trick.
Anyways, April did bring a lot of change with it but that meant a lot of down time for all of us to get back to the basics and spend even more time together. We rode bikes, played outside, and went on a lot of long walks as a family!

Going on long walks
and catching a lot of 
Pokemon with Dad!

Happy Easter!
Followed by a wonderful virtual
Easter egg hunt!

A virtual Easter Sunday with Nana and Papa

Josh got to try out Dad's Christmas gift, 
a backup car battery charger. It worked
like a charm! 
He drained the car battery during one of
his study sessions in the parking lot
of the Petit Ice Arena.


Miles went on a walk with Dad
to find an old fashioned mailbox.

Nicely done!


Thanks for the awesome drawing
Nana S! We love some good snail mail!
Oliver was very fond of it.

We would often walk to Pick N Save
but only Josh or I could go in. This is where
Oliver would patiently wait! 
Another bike ride for the books :)


Josh and I tried out a new Mexican 
food place. No joke, this burrito
weighed more than my babies 
and was bigger than my hand! 

Everyone loves a weird dance party


...you had one job. 
This paint job fail made me laugh 
every single time we passed it!

Spiderman for a day

This one is quite the character.

Obviously we get donuts
for the icing. 


Counting for hide and seek!


Miles HATES how loud the
vacuum is so he opted for his 
noise cancelling...hat.

A bandaid champ!

An accidental puncture wound

They got everything to balance on the 
first try and had to send a picture to Grandma.
They were so proud! 

Life these days.