Forever.....

It has been so long since I last posted. I had to do a double take on the date. It was Kayla's second birthday and I blogged about Cayden. What kind of mother am I??? Well, we have had a very busy time at the Murdock house, here is a brief summary of our comings and goings, I will upload pictures later.

Blaine-finally got a job where he was home all of the time, making barely over minimum wage. he had a 95 minute commute to work each way but it was for a large company and we thought that he would advance quickly. Well, come to find out that those above him that he was in line to take their positions were making only 1-2 dollars more an hour then he was. He got a call from his old employer in Salt Lake, that made him a really sweet offer and he gobbled it up. He is now working for Action Couriers again and will be the terminal manger for them. Right now he is assisting to open the terminal and driving for them until they get the terminal up and running.

Emily- still working at St. Joseph's hospital in phoenix, my commute is 75 minutes each way, I am working in a neuro rehab unit that is not very appealing to me. I work with confused, brain injured, stroke, and spinal cord patients and many of them are combative. Needless to say, any of you that know me, this is not a good fit for my personality. I am trying to move to another area but there is a nursing surplus here and for every job open there are a minimum of 75 applicants. I started going back to school for my bachelors degree, a task that I had planned on completing prior to getting remarried and never did. I have 5 more terms left, that puts me at graduating around the beginning of 2012. That is if I can continue to be a full-time student. I can not wait!!! I am loving being a mother, I just do not love that as my children get older, they think that I am less knowledgeable. I know, payback stinks!

Josh-he started his sophomore year at Queen Creek High School. He is loving the school so much more then the last one. He had a larger selection of classes to take and they have a real football team. He decided that he did not want to try out for football this year. He really wants to drive and earn money to go out dates. He talked to the custodian of the high school, and they said he could work there after school and after functions like dances. He was very excited. he has known that he will not be able to get his licence until he has a 3.0 GPA, well it is not near that. He keeps asking if he can take the permit test and I have not caved in yet. I am thinking that I will stick to this one. It is going to be $998/6months for his car insurance with bad grades!!!! He gets a $100 discount for good grades and drivers training. I need the discount with that price!!! He turns 16 on the 21st of this month.

Jared-turned 13 this June!!! He is officially a teenager, and mentions it frequently. He started eighth grade at Newel Barney Junior High. He is liking most of the classes and teachers this year. He has an issue with being bored so he goes to the nurse on a daily basis. I have now limited the nurse visits to bleeding, broken bone, or high fever. He has not been to the nurse in 1 1/2 weeks! I am so proud of him. He is going to try out for basketball this term. I think he will do OK, it will depend on how good the others are if he makes the team or not. He is doing very well with his grades A's and B's. He does have one C, in math. He did not think that he should have to show his work because "I got the right answer, why does she need to see how I got it?" After a meeting with the principal and myself, he is now showing his work. He is constantly testing the limits, but I think it is because he is so creative and wants to be able to bend everything every way. He is making more friends, so I am not as worried about him.

Cayden-started the first grade this year. He was so excited because his teacher told him that first grade was more fun then kindergarten. After the first day he said, "Mom, first grade is not more fun, you have lots of work in first grade!" He is getting all A's and has gotten 100% on every spelling test. He is reading above grade level at home and at grade level at school. He did not want to take the reading test for the teacher, so he didn't. She figured that he could read some so put him in the grade level group. He is so stubborn! He is growing so fast and is constantly asking what words mean and what things say if he can not sound them out quickly. He is like a sponge, he wants to learn everything right now. I love it!

Kayla-turned 2, she is finally on the weight charts!! She is at 7% for weight and 40% for height and 60% for head. She is so independent and wants to do everything herself. She loves babies, barbies, purses, shoes, and jewelry. She is such a girl, I am loving having a little girl! We do fun hairstyles, dress up, put on "whips" (lip gloss) and "whoshon" (lotion). She is in love with Dora and will watch it all day everyday if she is allowed. I have 60 Dora episodes on TiVo, who know there where that many to see. She watches them over and over again. I can pretty much quote any episode with minimal prompting. She is so loving and loves to give hugs and kisses. She is slightly spoiled by all of the above family members. Oh well.

I will upload some photos when I get a chance, hopefully within the next week. Blaine is coming home for the weekend and gets in tomorrow, so it may not be until sometime next week!

Cayden

My little Cayden has graduated from kindergarten! I can not believe he has gotten to be such a big boy. He is learning so much and so fast. I feel like I am missing it all of the time. I even missed this amazing event. Fortunately both Blaine and Grandma Whittle were able to go and see him do his little program. I am so thankful that I am blessed with such a wonderful family! P.S. I did not want to miss it. I could not find anyone to work for me for a few hours so I could go :( But my amazing husband took tons of pictures for me so I could see how cute he was.

Happy Birthday Cayden!

Cayden turns six tomorrow. Since all of my family was here on Saturday, we had his party Saturday. Here is the cake that we made together. He helped to put the ingredients together and stir. He says that the best part is licking the bowl. He put the sprinkles on and put the candles on. He was so excited to light the candles. He kept asking when he could light the candles for about 2 hours before it was time to light them. Josh helped him with the lighting and he thought he was so cool!

He was not able to blow out the candles in one breath. He split them too far apart.

Here we are with all of the presents and my six year old boy! He is kinda happy!

Here he is opening presents. I love the faces he makes!

Here is Cayden doing a dance. He has a snack of graham crackers and frosting. It was my favorite treat growing up. I loved that there were so many people in the family cuz we got this treat only with birthday cake left over frosting. YuMmY!!!

Clothes, clothes and more clothes!

I has started to warm up here a bit so I decided that I had better get the spring and summer clothes out and washed for the kids to wear on warm days. I started with Kayla's clothes because I needed to get them out of the storage box and find out what she has and what she needs. Cayden has his shirts hanging up already so it was easy to see what he had already and I got rid of the size 5 when the weather got cooler. I knew his task was far easier then Kayla's was. I find starting with the harder task first is better for me. Here is Cayden "helping" me sort through the clothes. He pretty much just moved my piles around making the task take twice as long, but we had fun. Kayla thought it was time for dress up and she put on this skirt that is a bit short and this hat that goes to a dress that will fit her. She is such a silly girl!

Here is the pile of clothes that will fit for spring. I have been so blessed! I was really worried about not being able to get her clothes cuz money is very tight, but look at all this. I do not have to buy a thing! These were all donated to me by my sister and my sister in laws. I am so thankful for everyone that helped me out without knowing it. I was able to get most of the stained out of things that were super cute and I did not to put them in the to donate pile. The three boxes behind this pile were all donated too. They are size 6-9 months and 12 month clothes. I really have been so blessed! The lord is watching out for us and helping us in tiny ways every day. I can not express how thankful I am!

Here is my little princess. She was getting ready to go see grandpa. I told her we were leaving and to get her toy to take in the car. She grabbed her purse and said "keys" , so without looking I handed them to her. I turned around and saw this little princess looking super cute and all ready to go!

February ~summed up in photos~

February has gone by so fast. I hardly had time to catch up. I was able to snap a few photos of the kids. I made waffles one morning and Kayla started using the fork to comb her hair. We had not seen The Little Mermaid, so I am not sure what she was thinking other then it was fun at the time. Here is Jared with Kayla. She wanted some of his cereal so he put her on his lap and was feeding her. She loved every minute of it.

This year was Cayden's first Valentines Day party. This was the valentine that he brought home for me!

He was suppose to bring his own valentine box from home. He mentioned to me that one of his friends had brought in a monster box, so I looked online for something different. The results were this cute Zune with headphones. The ribbon has cotton balls attached for the headphones. It worked and since we did it late at night before it was due I thought it tuned out great!

Cayden's treat box was so full that he said, "Mom I am gonna have a tummy ache if I eat all of this." He decided to share his treats with Kayla. She loved the suckers and wanted more as soon as she finished one.

It was so nice outside that the kids could play in the afternoon without jackets on. Cayden was playing with Copper and put him in the back of the 4 wheeler (another Savers buy for $20). He was having fun with Cadyen pulling him allover the backyard, so much in fact that Kayla was mad that he would not pull her around too!

I finally made time for crafts and finished this bow board for Kayla's room. I was sure that the board would make plenty of room for all of the bows and flowers that I have been making for her. This was super easy, I took a painting canvas and covered it with batting and then a cute fabric and secured it to the back with a staple gun. Then attached coordinating ribbon with a staple gun. That was it. 30 minutes tops!

Here is the finished product hanging in her room. I have made way more bows and flowers then will fit on one board. I am going to have to make another one very soon! I love the way it looks hanging in her room.

The biggest happening this month was we finally got rid of the binkie! It was not a fun time for any of us, but it finally happened. Now it is one less thing that we have to remember when we go anywhere. I am so glad that it is gone. I am always so bugged by kids that are walking around in public with binkies in their mouths. Kayla was allowed to keep her binkie much longer then the boys were. I am not sure why other then she is the baby and I have been much more lenient with her.

That is the summary of our month! Hope you enjoy keeping up with us.

Savers Shoes

So, I have a new favorite thing. I was introduced to it when I first moved here from Utah last year. It is Savers! I love shopping here for stuff. You never know what you are going to find there. Yes, it is a thrift store but the sell top of the line stuff that is very gently used. For instance I found these totally cute shoes for Kayla for $3.99 and was not sure if I wanted to spend quite that much on shoes. Well, I talked myself into it and she loves them. I decided to look online and find out how much they are in the store and figure out my savings. They are $51.95 if they are not on sale. I did find them on sale for $35.99. I do believe that I have gotten my monies worth out of them, she wants to wear them everyday whether they match or not. I have to hide them if they do not match and she forgets about them soon and will wear something that does match!

Epiphanie

I was playing on facebook today and came across this:

EPIPHANIE IS GIVING AWAY A CANON 5D MARK II, OR A $2500 AIRLINE GIFT CARD. GO TO THE BLOG FOR DETAILS ON HOW YOU COULD WIN! :) EPIPHANIE IS GIVING AWAY A BRAND NEW CANON MARK II or $2500 AIRLINE GIFT CARD! GO TO THE BLOG FOR DETAILS! :) http://tinyurl.com/yejcmkl

Of course I am making sure that I do all I can to win some free stuff. Time will tell if I win or not. It would be super cool to have the camera and a fun bag to put it in :)