Santa Monica Boulevard

 Jackson turned 10, we celebrated all day, 

and then hopped on a plane early the next morning for his epic 10th birthday trip.

By 7:50 am, we were bound for LA!

The airplane was really awesome, too, and everyone had their own TV.  Wow!
When we landed, it was raining...

but by the time we got to our hotel room, the sun was out.  What a view!
Hello, California!

We ate lunch in the hotel and then went outside to check out the beach a little closer.  

We were SO ready to soak in some quality time with each other.

 

The kids were immediately drawn to the rings.  

They had a blast running, climbing...

swinging...

spinning...

and hanging upside down like little monkeys.

All four of us were amazed at how deep the beach is in Santa Monica.  It's beautiful!

I loved being able to hang out with this precious girl.

Daddy and Jackson were all smiles, too.
We were all in awe of the huge waves and gorgeous ocean.

I think he's pretty pumped about turning 10!  Right after this, I asked Lila if she would like to touch the Pacific Ocean.  She said, "sure!" and ran off to do just that.  Since it had just stopped storming, though, the waves were big and really unpredictable.  She happened to stick her hand in the water just before a huge wave hit the shore.  And it got her!  She was soaked from the waist down.  Oops!

Thank goodness were were near our hotel--she and I ran back up so that she could change pants and shoes.  We met the boys back at the playground, where these two ninjas tried out their skills.

Then we walked over to the Santa Monica Pier--such a great place!

The clouds started rolling in, though, and very soon it was sprinkling.  Oh well. Back to our hotel.

Lila really, really wanted to take my picture inside the lobby.
Her artistic side was getting antsy, I think, so I obliged.

A half hour later, the rain was gone, so we went right back to the pier.  First things first, the roller coaster!  You get to ride it two times in a row, too.  Bonus!

After that, we all rode the ferris wheel together.  

Such a fun way to see the beach and shoreline.

The kids rode the roller coaster, and then hopped on the big, rocking ship.
Lila was all in, her brother was not so sure!

We stayed at the beach as long as we could.
Late afternoon is always our favorite time of day at the beach.

Very soon after that, we were at dinner with Leslie and Aunt Glenda!

We enjoyed our visit with them so much, and Jackson even got another birthday dessert.

It was an evening filled with lots of laughs with our sweet family.
The perfect way to end our first day of Jackson's birthday trip.

Happy 10th Birthday, Jackson!

10 Years Old!  Say what?! 

That means that Jackson's daddy and I are 10 years older than the day he was born.  Say it ain't so!

Friday morning this kid woke up on cloud 9.  He had opted for no party this year when I offered going on a weekend trip instead.  Smart boy!  At 6:30 am, he opened a gift containing an LA Dodgers ball cap and discovered that we were bound for Los Angeles the next morning!
He was SO excited.  Really, truly, just giddy with excitement.  

His sister and I raced around town for a bit, collecting birthday donuts for his whole class and then Wendy's for lunch.

Jackson is 10!  He shared a donut with each one of his classmates...

and then had a group of friends over to play when school got out.

These kids played soccer in our backyard for a while...

then moved on to 3 v 3 basketball.

It was a gorgeous day to be outside.  A couple hours later, he was at football practice.  Even though it's flag football, he and Caden collided heads.  J's lip got cut and his front tooth was knocked loose.  His face was just covered in blood.  Not ideal for anyone, especially on their birthday.  We left practice early and went home to regroup.  No time to be lazy, though.  We had a family birthday dinner at Desperado's to get to!

At his request, he opened some presents before the food arrived.  This four-square ball and target practice football were from his favorite cousin.

In the meantime, Cami was making the rounds.  She sat in Gigi's lap for a while, then went to see Memaw, Aunt Maria and Aunt Lyndsie.  Our little social butterfly!

$100 for the birthday boy--wowsers!  

It was a really fun night with the whole family.

"Happy Birthday dear Jackson, happy birthday to YOU!!!"

Be My Valentine?

Whew!  Valentine's Day seriously snuck up on me this year.  After six games the weekend before, there simply wasn't much time for preparation.  Thank goodness I had pre-ordered these cute tags from Etsy.  By 10:00 the night before, I had successfully assembled 22 for Jackson's class, 20 for Lila's class, and 8 for Cameron's class.  Plus four teacher gifts.

I may not have had any gifts for my own family, but at least all of the classmates were covered!

Madison found a cute heart-shaped bun on you tube, so she and Boom came over before school for me to make that happen.  Thank goodness they did, because that meant our kids got to wake up to Valentine bears and chocolates!

Mrs. Ward loved her "You're so Magical" cookies.  

She also loved getting to see Lila for a few minutes--sweet girl was up half the night coughing, so I let her sleep in.

A few hours later, she was all smiles at her school Friendship Party.

This girl always has the biggest smile and hug for me whenever I come into her classroom.
Makes me feel so good!

Happy Valentine's Day from the Murphy Magic...

and from Ms. Garner's whole class!

We think Ms. Garner is a GEM!

After spending time with the calm 1st graders, I zipped down the hallway to the rowdy 4th grade.  These boys were hyped up!

There were so many really cool Valentine boxes this year--looks like we are going to have to step up our game for 5th grade and not just recycle the same box again!  It's served it's purpose since 2nd grade, though:)

The kids enjoyed all of their games...

and loved trading treats with their friends in other classes, too.  Not totally sure, but if I had to put money on it, I'd guess that Jackson has a small crush on Brentley.  Look how awkward his body language got after I suggested he put his arm around her!

After we left school, the Valentine's Bus made it's first stop at Gigi & Boom's house.
We delivered love to them and then moved on!

Next stop--Memaw's house, where we delivered more love and picked up our littlest love bug.

Our final stop was at Meme's house.  The kids loved giving her pretty flowers and I loved seeing how happy it made her.  We couldn't stay too long because we had to get to Lila's soccer game across town.

Coach Dad led the girls to another victory!  We dined at Waffle House (yep, that's how we roll), and then headed to Jackson's basketball playoff game.  Alas, it was not to be, though, and the Bumblebee fell asleep en route to the game.  She was still fighting a sinus infection and really, really needed to get some good rest.  Daddy took J to the game and the rest of us went on home.

It was a whirlwind of a day, but I got to spend it with the ones I love the very most.
What more could I ask for?

All About Cami

Miss Cameron Nicole

Three Year Old Stats

36.4 lbs - 75th%

38.5 inches tall - 80th%

BP - 104/73  (very high, probably due to not wanting to be weighed!)

She is every bit of 3 years old right now.  Cami was in quite the mood for her check-up on Monday.  She refused to get on the scale.  After the 12th time, she stood just long enough for it to register.  She then decided a silent protest was in order, and refused to speak at all. She did let the doctor look in her ears and nose, listen to her heart and lungs, but opening her mouth was out of the question.  After 42 times of asking nicely, she got some help from a tongue depressor so that the doctor could see in her mouth.  Two words might best describe this kid - strong willed.  Very!  We left with a recommendation for me to read the book The Highly Spirited Child.

That being said, she is extremely bright.  She can spell her name, mom and dad.  She can count to 20 without missing a number.  She can correctly identify 17/26 uppercase letters.

  Who doesn't wear their tall black leather boots to gym?  Although I haven't read the book yet, I'm pretty sure it would say, "if your 3 year old wants to look like a goose and wear black boots with shorts to gym, let her!" so I did.

She and I had a day to ourselves this week, and it was just perfect.  We played at the gym, one of her favorite things to do, had PB&J for lunch at home, and then...

gathered up some bread to go feed the ducks at the park.  She loved it, and so did I. 

All of the little ducks were so hungry!  The geese, not so much.  

Although this kid definitely pushes my buttons at times, she loves fiercely and has such a zest for life.  I know that she will grow up to be a very loyal, loving, smart young lady.  We've just got to make it through the next few years first!

Junie B. Jones

To cap off our whirlwind weekend, we took the girls to see Junie B. Jones at the Dallas Children's Theater.  All of us love this book series and think that Junie B. is one funny girl.

We got our programs and found our seats very easily.

The 5th row was perfect!

I so wish I could have taken pics during the play, because the sets were all fantastic!

What a fun way to spend the afternoon, especially since we have two musical theater girls!

The show was great, but the icing on the cake was getting to meet Junie B. Jones after the show was over.  She was awesome, and really sweet, too.