Bad Blogger

Hi everyone-I haven't been up to blogging, not for lack of time....but I am just too tired at the moment. I hope to have something up and interesting for you tomorrow night.

I am trying to rest up for my girls weekend with Terri and get into work tomorrow morning. However, I did watch several episodes of "Heroes", which T is happy that I am almost caught up.

Thanksgiving 2007 and Thankful Post 22

This year's West Coast Thanksgiving was at the Arizona Murphys, with Michael and Terri coming to visit us Wednesday evening and staying all weekend. Several Thanksgiving traditions have been started over the last five years, many of which I am grateful to share and a few that we would rather not have made a tradition. Here is breakfast on Thursday morning with a ham, egg and cheese "braid" that was more of a "X" style (sorry, Sheila-recipe interpretation isn't a strong point. I could not figure out the measuring of strips, even WITH Terri, then braiding them, so I just put them on haphazardly).

A new tradition started this year with my son Ian helping make the apple pie. We picked out the apples together earlier in the week and he helped put the apples in the shell and pinched the crusts together. When it came time to actually eat the apple pie, he ignored it in favor of the chocolate pie and ice cream. The apple pie came out pretty well! I also made a lemon icebox pie, which Michael definitely turned into an ice block when he turned down the freezer temps. Another Thanksgiving tradition for him.
Terri posted an appetizer recipe on her blog, one that she was planning to make for all of us. I quickly put her in charge of appetizers, a role I don't think she was bargaining for, but she is the appetizer queen. But, since we are a reciprocal little bunch, I will be happy to make appetizers on the next visit.
Another tradition is taking a picture of the sunny, balmy temperature of the day. It was a chilly 76 degrees on Friday, which many Arizonans were dressed in long sleeves and jackets and flip-flops.
We ate Thanksgiving Dinner around 6pm, with lots of coercion to get Ian to eat something. Connor ate all of his corn and passed his olives and stuffing to Terri, since he wasn't interested.
Normally, Thomas is the one teaching our boys questionable table manners, yet here is Cool Uncle Mike giving Ian something new to try.

Giving thanks. Ian was especially thankful this year for his pillow and his blanket.
And Uncle Mike proudly looks on as Ian tries the spoon to nose trick.
Ian has been watching the Backyardigans "Super Spy" episode (this is a brilliant little show, my thanks to all of the creators!) and participation in the dance sequences. Uncle Mike was allowed to help when it required two dancers.
Daddy was recruited when they needed three dancers. See, Aunt Soooz, we are grooming your little dance partner!
I just had to include this pose because it was too funny.

Michael and Terri also helped us rearrange furniture and rooms in our house, organizing us in a much better way. I didn't take any photos because we were all busy moving furniture around.

The biggest highlight of our weekend was a huge milestone for Connor. This little guy surprised us in his OT appointment by signing and saying "more" while Thomas was squeezing and rolling him on the floor. Later that evening, Thomas was rolling and hugging him on the floor and stopped to ask if Connor wanted more.
And he did! Here is our little guy doing the sign for "more"!!!!!! He has been doing this sign several times this weekend and we are incredibly proud and thankful for this!

On Friday, we took our holiday decorations and put up the tree. Ian was so excited, saying, "This is a beautiful tree! This is going to be great!" He was an excellent helper too. His reward: hot cocoa!
Here's the other reason for picking this photo of Ian above. He looks like a boy. Not a little boy, not a toddler. Just a regular boy without the all of the littleness. Like I can almost see more than I want to right now.

Finally, the boys went on a hike with Ian, while Terri and I shopped for our cookie decorating supplies. During that time, I was feeling a little funky, not too hungry, so I had a peppermint mocha frap, which hit me like a ton of bricks, I felt pretty shaky from all the caffeine.

The 5th Annual Cookie Bake began. We came home, made the dough and rolled and baked the cookies. Ian was a terrific little helper, in fact, he lasted until the last few cookies before getting bored. Following the cookie baking, I had to rest as I was beginning to feel feverish and achy. This is NOT a tradition we care to repeat-as Terri posted in her blog-last year's aftermath was horrendous.

I ended up with a lot of pain in my abdomen, which I was willing to stay home and sleep off. As it turns out, my husband took me to the ER, where we stayed from 6pm-1:15am. The pain was worsening on my left side (I have no appendix, although one nurse told me it can regenerate!). After a CAT scan and ultrasound, turns out they didn't even figure it out! So I am on mega doses of antibiotics and painkillers and I have to follow up tomorrow with one of my regular docs. Today I am feeling achy and nauseated from all of the meds, but I am functional. Hopefully, we can quash this unpleasant tradition after this year!! Yikes!

So, we didn't get to decorate the cookies together. They will just go in the freezer for now. Thankfully, everyone else is feeling better-oh, yes, there were some moments where Michael, Thomas and Connor were not feeling so great this weekend.

Michael and Terri-thank you for coming to spend the holiday with us and we enjoyed our time with you, as we always do. Thank you for being pinch-hit babysitters and interior decorators.
We love you both.

I am so grateful for traditions, new and old and my son Connor's precious word "MORE!"

Thankful Post 21

What do I have to be thankful for? Three happy-go-lucky boys and abundant laughter that fills the air. Yes, this is Tom doing push-ups with two bruisers on his back.
A Murphy sandwich!
Wishing my family and friends a happy, healthy Thanksgiving full of laughter and love. I am grateful for each and every one of you.

Thankful Post 20

This one is for my sister-in-law, Suzanne. Of course, I found so many pictures that I loved, so enjoy. She is one of those gorgeous gals, not just moderately pretty. I have to agree with Terri that her beauty radiates from the inside out.
Okay, I imagine my siblings-in-law might not be impressed that I dug up this relic, but you can see they cleaned up once the 80's were over. Suzie rocks the 80's era better than anyone I know. I wished my hair would reach those Long Island heights.

On the weekend I met Suzie, we were at the Murphy house and I was in the den with Sheila. Tom and Suz were in the kitchen when a huge spider appeared. The two of them were screaming and yelling-the spider was pregnant and when they hit it, babies spewed everywhere. I am a spider-phobe, which Sheila knew. She raced in and made them quit yelling and act cool, so I wouldn't find out, which I didn't.


Suzie can be an exuberant story teller, weaving tales of childhood with new twists each and every time the story is repeated. (yes, she does have the repeating story gene-friends of Murphys know it well) And in her presence, you feel like you are the only person in the room. You have her full attention-no distraction, no change of subject, no judgment. She has the gift of listening openly, which is a rare find these days when everyone has advice and opinion.

Then there is the cosmic dance connection that occurs between her and Thomas on wedding dance floors. Over the summer, the two of them broke out in full Michael Jackson routines without any rehearsal or forethought. The spontaneity made me cry with laughter. Suzie then encouraged all of us to learn the Thriller dance, which she proudly led at Chris and Kristen's wedding.
Suzie has visited the West Coast Murphys several times and it is always great fun.

My beloved sister-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer just before her wedding. She is a strong survivor and has turned around and grabbed the hand of many other women who needed a friend in their own fight. It has changed all of us. We learn to hold our loved ones closer and let them know love is all around them every night when they lay their head on the pillow and greets you when you wake. She has fought back with grace and spirit. And those are two things that cancer could never take from her.

My son Ian arrived amid her cancer treatments and helped to provide some distraction and excitement to a difficult time. I remember very clearly that we had no official name chosen after he was born. Suzie was the first person I spoke to following Ian's birth and she was the first one to hear his name from Thomas. And from that day on, she has been Super Aunt Soooz ever since.
Ian loves his Aunt Soooz. She is already grooming him for dance partner status, although I think he was teaching her a few moves on this last NY trip. She loves her "little buddy."
Connor spent a good part of his summer vacation growling with Aunt Suz. She would growl at him, he would growl back and laugh. When the growling stopped a few weeks later along with other words-and as things progressed toward his diagnosis, Suz was with us every step and anytime either Tom or I needed her voice. I remember the initial conversation Suzie and I had (for three hours!) about Connor and life in general. After talking to her, I felt like I could breathe in deeply and go forward.
Some of my favorite photos:


Suzie is married to Jeff, who is another GREAT brother-in-law (is anyone losing count with all of these in-laws? Because I think I am!) These two are like frick and frack. Ride in the car with them and get treated to running monologues, Seinfeld routines, several inside jokes, dead-on accents and they just don't stop. Crazy Uncle Jeff helped me one Christmas in dismantling the annoying wire ties from Ian's new toys. As you can see, Suzie and Jeff didn't miss a beat and fashioned those ties into glasses. You can see why Jeff is Crazy Uncle Jeff. I had to put all of the photos of him in because they all made me laugh!


Jeff is quite a super guy in his own right. As a catering chef in NYC, Jeff is frequently called upon by the Murphys to cook gourmet meals (he reminds me of MacGyver in a chef kind of way) and he never disappoints. In addition to his work, he hosts a radio show with great music-sadly he hasn't reached Phoenix yet. He also is a hardcore record collector. On visits to LA, he is gone for hours at a time, shipping boxes of records home. On the NY homefront, he has been known to stalk the Selden thrift shop. He is also an outstanding photographer and I hope one day I'll get a chance to go on a photo tutorial with him. He will be proud to know I remember his greatest advice - "Be prepared."




I love my sister-in-law and I want her to know that she is welcome in my guest house anytime so we can figure life out together. I am thankful she relishes her role as an aunt, thankful that she loves each of us for who we are unconditionally. oxox

Thankful Post 19

I could write a book about my sister-in-law, Terri. After all of the pictures I posted, it might just turn out that way. I considered holding off on posting about her until after this weekend, as she and Michael will be visiting for Thanksgiving, but the inspiration was kicking in.

As the story goes, I met Terri the evening before her wedding. I found her to be pretty jet-setty (I still do-lucky duck!) and so it was hard to catch up with either of them until we moved out West.
Perhaps we bonded after realizing we could beat the boys in doubles tennis. Honestly, Terri keeps track of the points and I move from place to place as she tells me. Our real tactic is getting the boys to start arguing with each other. Once they start bickering, we know victory will soon follow.
(gosh, I really need to get back to playing some tennis! I am actually wearing running shorts!)

Michael and Terri have always enjoyed traveling and learning something while on vacation. They even decided to learn how to sail so that they could vacation on the open water. I have not been sailing with them, but Thomas loves it. I am just impressed with all of the amazing things that they set out to do together, yet they are also relaxed and independent enough to do many things off on their own. Lessons to learn from.

Terri and I love the holidays. Here she is trying on some homemade lip gloss made by our SIL Suzie. One Christmas when we were all visiting CA, she cross-stitched our names onto stockings. I made the mistake of saying aloud how cool that was, because Terri then bought me three cross-stitch kits and taskmastered me into completing one. I have to say that the other two still remain in the packaging (sorry, Terri!) She has some really practical crafty skills, like sewing (which she also tried to teach me and that shirt remains in my closet unfinished), cross-stitching, scrapbooking, DVD making, etc. I love crafts, so I am very happy to drag along to Michael's and JoAnn's whenever we visit. Terri also checks both of my boys' baby scrapbooks for up-to-the-minute updates on each visit to AZ. Which reminds me...

Color is also important to Terri, especially in the home and on the walls. Her house is painted with a beautiful yellow and blue, another room has orange...you get the idea. She isn't shy with color. My husband, on the other hand would paint our entire house white from top to bottom, so Terri has tried to get Thomas to branch out a bit. When Jesse, Tew, Tom and I painted the nursery, Terri was very concerned about the colors. We used a sage green and sky blue. This is Terri's initial first look at the nursery. Later, she tried to have Tom paint one of the main room dividers red. Never happened, but I did paint our bedroom red. We recently painted it back to taupe and white. Boooring, but we have our reasons.

Thomas and I love our traditional meetups with Mike and Terri in their cute Sierra Madre town. They live in the best little town, with a great walk (and workout-lots of hills!) into the downtown with great shops, restaurants, etc and everyone sitting outside like an actual community! We love it! So, we make the trek out usually after school ends and for our now traditional Fourth of July parade. This photo was taken by a passerby at the parade and she did cut out the boys, but for some reason I love that it is all four of us looking shaded and happy.
Terri and Michael have also invited us on several excursions, including Las Vegas (below) and Mexico. Honestly, the Mexico one was a riot because Tom lost his birth certificate and we had him going that he might get left in Mexico without presenting it. He actually had his mom fax the certificate to him. And the border never asked for it. I was under the impression that I was along for my Spanish-speaking skills, which honestly came into play ONCE. Most of the Mexicans appeared to speak better English than I do. We also discovered that the street vendors like to stalk Terri because she'll talk with although she doesn't usually buy anything. She had quite a following!

My sister in laws-one of my favorite photos. They just look so happy and cute. Terri has generously arranged trips for pedicures and spa days - one of my personal favorite gathering activities!
Terri could probably wear shorts and flip-flops in most weather. I am surprised she is in sneakers here, because much of the time she is barefooted. Then there is Tom in a lightweight sweater and me in a winter coat. In California. Quite a trio.

We both have a love of warm weather. Here I think Terri is showing the temperature for the East Coasters on one of our holidays. Terri keeps cool by going swimming in very cold water at her school and at her home, if Michael hasn't warmed up the pool too much. I am personally with Michael on the warmer water temps.

Terri was the first family member we talked to when we began announcing that we were having our first child. She was off the charts excited and immediately decided on her official name as "Fun Aunt Terri". Ian called her "Aunt Grandma" for awhile, but we got that straightened out.
The only problem with "Fun" Aunt Terri, was that she was WAY too good at putting the boys to sleep. Hand her a baby and she would sing them to sleep in seconds with her "Cutest Boy" renditions. She was a little worried that she would become "Boring Aunt Terri" but we changed it to "Soothing Aunt Terri" instead.

One of the funniest stories about Terri and Ian was her first official offer to babysit for us so we could have a date. She flew in and laid out the rules. We had exactly 2 1/2 hours for dinner. Okay. Ian had a baby swing and we made sure he was changed, fed and out the door we went. Terri was sitting the glider right next to Ian, reading a book while he swang. We returned before our curfew to find Terri and Ian in the exact same spot, as if they hadn't moved. Turns out they hadn't. Ian fell asleep and never woke up once. Terri told us that she poked him a few times to make sure he was breathing and alive. And that is really all we ask for is that the sitters keep 'em alive! So after finding babysitting a piece of cake, she and Michael have given us several other reprieves, including watching Ian for Jesse and Tewlyn's wedding (apparently they were trading downtime-first Michael had Ian for an hour, then Terri, eventually they were passing Ian off every 15 minutes-so much for piece of cake).
As a skydiver, one of the first gifts Terri gave Ian was a "Future Skydiver" outfit. She proudly showed him how to "catch some air" and prepared him early on for an eventful future.

And when Connor came along, the outfit was passed down and Terri continued her tutelage. I am afraid Connor will take it heart, as he already has no fear of heights or falling. Shows her good teaching skills! (and yes, this is two different babies, though they look shockingly similar!)
Terri is a terrific FUN aunt (yes, she did graduate to Fun Aunt Terri!) and we are so happy that she and Michael are able to be a big part of Ian and Connor's life. She teaches the boys the finer points of life---once in the grocery store, she told Ian how great chocolate ice cream was and if Mom doesn't buy it, scream really loud. Roll on the floor if you have to.

Michael and Terri even flew out for Ian's first soccer games and she color-coordinated her pom-poms for the 45 minute event! That is true spirit.
One of our Christmases together...I even see Linus, our old cat in there. Terri really tried to bring Linus from the Dark Side, but it never happened. Her cat Samuel is such a character and really sweet.

This year, I have Christmas decorating on my Thanksgiving weekend list so that Terri and Michael can help. Terri is a big fan of Christmas music, so we'll get the music going, hot cocoa for Ian and Thomas, and have some fun. Terri likes to help me set up my houses and she is very good at organizing and decorating.
Game night is one of our must-do activities for every visit. Terri has to be the funniest opponent I have ever played. With Pictionary and Cranium, once she is giggling, she cannot even draw. She also has a really great method....if Michael doesn't guess the picture, she redraws it-exactly the same way she did before and begins emphatically circling things. It is way too funny, I am laughing as I write this. We actually kept one of her drawings on our refrigerator for awhile.
A few years back, we began our cookie baking/decorating tradition. It was such fun given all the calamities, that we continue to try new cookie ideas each year, although we don't seem to improve very much. We have more laughs over this, so I am really looking forward to this weekend's annual cookie bake.
Yes, as Terri mentioned in her blog, last Thanksgiving was a lot of fun but the aftermath left no one unscathed. I see now why I ended up with the Thanksgiving duties this year. I thought it was just my turn.
Although she did say she was making an appetizer, so I'll keep that in mind if we have repeat performances this year.
Terri is one of my best friends and I enjoy every visit and always look forward to the next. She brings a happiness and light-hearted approach to life and you cannot help but smile and enjoy the company. She is a well-rounded person, who is generous to everyone-loved ones, strangers, students. When she started blogging, it was great fun to be the blogging mentor.....but she really took off with it and has built her own blog community because in her writing, she is what she is in real life and she shows loyalty to her friends near and far. I am thankful she is telling her stories so that I can get to know her even better. She is truly one of my favorite people!