Mother's Day Cowpokes 2009

Here is a video of the kids being cute for their Mommy, but honestly moms everywhere will enjoy it... maybe I'm biased though.

Come On Ride That Train

Teri and I from the very earliest of our relationship have talked about how we want to take a time or two a month and have one on one time with our kids. We think that Daddy taking James on a guy’s trip, or Mommy spending the evening with him at MacDonald’s Play Land are very worthy pursuits. We feel the same about Liv and any other children that we may have, but James is just getting to the stage where he can appreciate it. Some may call it “dating” their kids, and when our children are older we will want to take them out and show them how interacting with the opposite sex is supposed to look like, but right now it is jut fun time for the sake of undivided attention with Mommy and Daddy.
Today, James and I broke away from church a little early (oops), and went to the Nashville Model Train Show. He is very enamored with trains and specifically Thomas the Train. He loved it, and I had a hard time in the end pulling him away from the convention center. The only thing that could get his mind off of leaving the show was a statue of Billy Graham at the Lifeway building in downtown Nashville that he wanted to high-five!

Oh yeah, James quote of the day (and also a phrase he is saying a lot right now about various things he sees…
“Daddy, what’s that?”
“That’s a train track.”
“Daddy, I want to eat that train track!”

Fall Foliage Fun

On Monday afternoon, we trespassed into our neighbor’s yard to grab these shots of the kids playing in the leaves (We have our own hardwood trees, but their leaves are pretty lame).

This is one of the reasons that autumn is our favorite time of the year. I mean look at those colors!

Our kids loved playing in the leaves, and a few times James forgot that they don't always cushion your fall like pillows do. He jumped into the pile, rump first, and popped to a stop right on the hard ground beneath. It didn't phase him much, though. He would get up, shake it off and move on with his job of trying to kick every leaf in the neighborhood.

Liv on the other hand, really enjoyed the hearty, earthy flavor of the leaves.

Autumn Ushered In With Friendly Neighbor

Our neighbor, Lira(whose house you can kind of see directly behind her), is a very sweet precious lady. A few months ago she welcomed us to the neighborhood with a basket of peaches, and today she gave us this pumpkin as a "Welcome to Fall" gift.

Coldplay Makes Baby-Lovin' Music

I don't know why, but I have a few songs out there that make me cry and fall in love with my children all over again. It seems like Coldplay has songs that make me think of my kids more than any other band or artist out there (even more so than a few of the songs that I have written for them). James was born in 2006 when I couldn't get "Fix You" out of my mind. That song is eternally linked to watching him come into the world. Liv also has a playlist full of songs, but recently the Coldplay track "Reign of Love" just sounds like my little girl. On the new cd, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, it actually shares a track with "Lovers in Japan". If you are listening to "Lovers..." wait until around minute 4 of the song and will magically appear for you.

A Few Other Songs in the Murphy Kid's Playlist:
Fighting It- Ben Folds
Sweet and Low- Augustana
Where You Are- Chris Murphy
Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)- John Lennon

James' First Blog

Hello there. This is James' first blog. He likes to talk about ABC's. He thinks they are fun. He likes to sing the song, and now he will sing for you...

Three Good Times in the PM

For some reason Liv would not settle down after Teri put her in her crib. She usually does fuss a bit, but she really was wailing in her room so Teri knew that something was wrong. Teri peeked in to see what the matter was, and she found Liv, standing in her crib for the first time, not knowing how to get back down. She is growing up fast, but hopefully she'll learn how to sit back down sooner than later.

Tonight James was unusually quiet going down (they are often opposite in the way that they settle into sleepy time), but we figured we should not look a gift horse in the mouth and accept that he may have just been tired. We soon realized, though, that James was so quiet because he had snuck out of his room and crawled into Mommy and Daddy's bed. It shocked Teri quite a bit to find a sleeping child completely under the covers when she went to change into her bed clothes.

Finally, after everyone had settled Teri and I were hanging out on the couch, watching TV and talking. After catching me at a certain angle she leaned into my ear to whisper what I thought would be a "sweet nothing". I readied myself for a nice flirtatious comment when she said, "From this angle you look Middle Eastern." Yep, it was a sweet nothing alright!

"Liv...You Ready...?"

Last night Teri spent the night with a few friends here in town when the ladies retreat they were going on was cancelled due to Hurricane Ike. I hope it was a good time for them. Because the kids were with me I got to play Mr. Mom in a way I usually don't since I am at work most mornings. As I was cleaning up breakfast I heard the funniest comment coming out of James' mouth. I am assuming that it was probably put there by Teri at some point. He looked at Liv and said, "Liv, You ready for our big day? We gonna go to WALGREENS!" Big day indeed.

Funny Sidenote

James started telling us jokes where he just says the word "joke" loudly, and waits for us to laugh! It gets us everytime!

Day of Fun at the Farmer's Market

Here we all are (I'm on the other side of the camera as usual) at the Franklin Farmer's Market. It was a good time. We sampled delicious food, saw cool crafts, and listened to a really good Bluegrass band named The Howling Brothers.

Here's a quick video of us enjoying the music.

James' Bath Time Fun

I just couldn't resist throwing this up on the blog. I was very careful not to show off James' "bottom half" so everyone can watch without covering part of the screen or turning away. Enjoy James in all his cuteness!

Best Buds...So Far

We could not be more proud of James and Liv. They seem to really like each other too. These were just so cute we had to post them.

Murphy's Throw In Towel and Admit Defeat to Winter Ails

This photo was taken in the midst of a week that we would rather forget. Teri and the kids came home from California (in what was supposed to be a fun filled vacation, and instead turned into a week where the kids competed to see who could throw up more) sick with what seemed like the flu, except that it stuck around for two weeks with both kids. Teri only had flu like symptoms for a day or so, but when she arrived back in Nashville she got an upper respitory infection. The next day I came down with it too, and we have both spent more than a week recouperating. All said and done, we have all been over 101 degrees at some point, taken five trips to the doctor, and spent a total of probably three hours standing in line at Walgreens filling various prescriptions. Fun, fun, fun.

James' Winter Stroll

Ready and suited up in the finest dog-wear you can buy.


Where did he go?...


...Oh there he is.


Triumphant after a long, hard climb!

Big James' First Slam Dunk

He may look small in stature, but it really is effortless for him to "get rim"

James Wins Big Brother of the Year!

Within seconds of seeing Liv for the first time we saw James turn from rambunctious 19 month old to sensitive big brother. We honestly did not know how James would react to Liv's arrival, but he has shown everyone that he has much love to give. He did tell me that even though he looks like a lover boy in these pictures if anyone wanted to mess with Liv that they would have to go through him first. We're proud of him regardless.