We are moving AGAIN!!!

OK I am going to try to make this a short post (yeah right!!)

For those of you that don't know, Sean lost his job on Halloween. He isn't sure why he lost it and it's still a shock for him.

What this means for us is that we have to move yet again. There are no jobs here on the island that we could get and make it financially. We have made the decision to go to an area where jobs can be found. We will be moving to Anchorage.

My parents have graciously opened their house to us until we get back up on our feet. We will be moving the weekend of Nov 10Th. A short 8 days!! We will be shipping all of our stuff on the barge. Sean will be driving the car up to Anchorage, he will have to take a ferry from Ketchikan to Haines and then drive to Anchorage. The boys and I will be flying from Ketchikan to Anchorage.

Please pray for us during this time. We know that God will provide but it's still a scary situation to be in.

All right I am off to bed I will keep everyone posted!!

Love the Murphy Family

Halloween

So this wasn't the best Halloween for us as you can imagine but before we got the bad news we were having fun.

Little Liam was a dragon, he wouldn't stand still long enough for me to get a picture of him facing me so you get his back side :) He came with Mommy and helped in Aidan's class room for the party.

Aidan who is on the left was Optimus Prime from Transformers. Riley was a clone trooper from Star Wars, I think.

We didn't go trick or treating but we took them to one of the churches here that had a Harvest/Halloween Carnival and all of the kids had fun.

Basketball!!

Riley and Aidan are both playing basketball this year. So far they have had 1 game. It was so funny to watch the little guys play, I have never laughed so hard!!



Aidan was number 35. He did really well. He gets frustrated easily because he hasn't mastered dribbling yet.

Riley was number 24 he is the one in the middle with the black shorts on. He is the tallest one on his team, (go figure!!). He is doing really well he likes to steal the ball and loves to pass it. I don't think that I have ever seen a kid pass so much!!

Sorry that the pictures aren't that good. Our camera isn't the best and the lighting wasn't good either.

Christmas Card

OK so the other night I was making cards. It started out to be making cards to send to my brother Kyle who is in Afghanistan, but I got off track and figured out what our Christmas cards will be this year!! I love the Merry and Bright set that Stampin' Up sells, the little snowman is so cute!!

Sorry Kyle!! I will try to make some here in the next few days to send to you guys!!

Stampin' Up

I have recently signed up to be a Stampin' Up demonstrator. Stamping is something that I found when we lived in Barrow and have been doing it ever since. So I thought that I would also use this to post some of my work :) Some of it is my original work and some of it's cased from other fellow stampers. So here are a couple of cards that I made a few days ago.

Update on the Alaskan Murphy's

It's been awhile since I have updated this. It has been a busy summer to say the least.

The boys had a blast being able to play outside. They would go out at 10 am and play until bedtime. They have also started school and are enjoying it so far.

Liam is now walking and starting to run all over the place. He tries to keep up with his brothers. It is so much fun to watch him express himself. He has funny faces and noises that he makes that make us laugh. He is our little entertainer.

Sean is still plugging away at work. His sales are up so he is happy.

I have been working a lot at ProMech. Which is one of the float plane airlines here on the island. I love it. Unfortunately, in a way, I am no longer working there. That was one of my most favorite jobs that I have ever had. I had to stop working because we no longer have a sitter for the kids. Which in a way is goo because now I am a stay at home mommy once again!!

So now that I am a stay at home mommy I will be able to keep this updated!! That means more of me bragging about my kids and of course more pictures!!!

Cross Country

Starting a new school year here in Craig has been great for Riley and Aidan. They both love their teachers. They both started cross country as well. Aidan decided after about 2 practices that it wasn't for him. Riley on the other hand loves it.

Here are a couple of pictures from his first meet.

Here they are stretching. Riley is #30 with his back to the camera

Lining up at the starting line.

Coming up to the finish line.

He placed 2nd!!! He was so proud of himself. So are we!!

Liam's Rain Gear

Living in South East Alaska we have gotten used to the rain. Here are a couple of pictures of Liam in his rain gear!! (really it Aidan's rain gear)

Deadliest Catch ~ Nothwestern

If you have seen the Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel then odds are you will recognize this boat!! They were here for commercial fishing it was weird to see "celebrities" here in lil' ol Craig Alaska!

Riley and Aidan thought that it was super cool to meet Edgar Hansen. He was very nice to sign autographs and take pictures with all of the kids that showed up.

Star Fish AKA Patrick

OK for those of you that know Aidan. He is a total Sponge Bob fan!! Living where we are at right now there are plenty of "Patricks" to go around!!

He went up and down the beach to find all of these!!

Liam even had fun with them!! He loved it when the star fish would stick on his shirt!!

It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange!!!!

It’s based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on.

So here’s how it works. I will make and send a hand stamped gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange.

What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

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New way of doing pictures.

Birthday Boy!!

So Sunday July 8th was Liam's 1st birthday. I can't believe how big he is getting. He isn't walking on his own yet but is getting closer everyday!! Here are some pictures!!

He LOVED the chocolate cake!!










Here is a picture of his cake. We went for a baseball theme.

After cake bath!! He loved his little party hat!

Liam with his little girlfriend Charlie. She was giving him loves!!

4th of July

This is the first time in almost 4 years that we have been somewhere that celebrates Independence day the old fashion way!!

We went to the parade in Craig and then went to Klawock for the 4th of July games. The kids had a blast!!

For every competition that they participated they got $1.00 and for every event they won they got $2.00. I think that it's the city that does it soo they had given out a bunch of money.

Of course you can't forget the babies!! They had given out stuffed characters to the babies that were there!!

Here are some pictures

Here is a picture of Aidan in the wheel burrough race. He didn't win but Riley did. I didn't get a good picture of Riley in it.

Aidan won the cookie munch contest. Not sure how much more he could have fit in there!!

The 3 legged race. They didn't do to good on it but it was hilarious to watch!!

And of course you have to finish the day off with Tug-O-War!!

You can't make me smile

When I go to take a picture of Liam the first one his eyes are always closed. I think that he has a look on his face as " You can't make me smile for you"

My manly men

They thought that they were "cool" because they took off their shirts to ride their bikes.

CRAB FEAST!!

I think the pictures pretty much explain it!! We got the dungeness crab off the dock for $6.00 each!! We bough 4 of them and they were YUMMY!!

Lil Liam

Liam is such a light in my life!! All my boys are but with the age gap of 5 years between Liam and Aidan I had forgotten how much fun it is to watch babies discover things for the first time!! With his birthday comming up I can't belive how fast he is growing up!! He has recently figured out how to get stuck. He thinks that it's the funniest thing in the world, he will sit there and laugh instead of cry!!

Speaking of getting stuck, here is Aidan in his tinker toy bucket. Sean had to help extract him out of it.

Sandy Beach

There is this place called Sandy Beach, it is one of the very few "sandy" beaches around, about an hour north of us. We took the boys to it on the warmest day that we have had yet. They had a blast playing in the sand and in the sunshine

Aidan who HATES to be cold and wet was the first one to jump in!!

Liam loved the sand!!

It was an awsome family outing!! We will be going back!! Next time we will take stuff to make smores!! Yummy!!

We made it!!

Ok sorry that it has taken so long to update this!! We have been so busy trying to adjust to living on the island!! It is so beautiful here!! I am going to make multiple posts so that I can post alot of pictures!! The picture above was taken when the boys and I went for a walk!!

Computer in the shop

Ok sorry that it has been awhile since I last posted, my dad's laptop was in the shop being fixed so I didn't have a way to get pictures off my camera!!

Ok so now for an update. Riley and Aidan are doing very well in school. We did however have our first run in with cheating with Riley. I got a call from his teacher saying that he had cheated on his spelling test!! I think that the teacher thought that I thought that it wasn't a big deal, I was so shocked that he cheated. I knew that it would happen some day but I couldn't believe that it was when he was in first grade!! Needless to say the past week has been kind of boring for him, he lost all of his privilages, no tv, no friends, no playing outside and no video games. In some ways it's also a punishment for mom!!

Aidan is getting very excited about his upcomming birthday!! We are doing a bowling party with all of his friends on Monday and then on his real birthday we will do a family party. So we have been busy planning a Sponge Bob birthday party.

Liam is getting bigger and bigger everyday!! He is amazing me each day with what he can do!! He is now crawling all over the place and man is he fast!! He has also recently been pulling himself up, he is very proud when he does that, it sooo darn cute.

Sean is still in Craig he will be flying to Anchorage on the 16th for Aidan's birthday. If everything goes as planned the boys and I will be leaving with him for Craig on the 22nd. That is if there are seats available on the flight. If not then I think the boys and I will stay until June when we fly Sean up again to help me fly to Craig with all of the kids. I can't believe how hard it is to fly by myself with a baby in the mix!!

As for me I am doing good. I am tired, but what mama isn't!! I can't wait for Sean to be here, I am tired of being a single mom!!

Well all of the boys are asleep so I should get to bed!! Hope everyone is well and we love you all!!

After school snack.....

Well Riley and Aidan had some friends walk them home :) Just kidding. They saw the moose on the way home from school. The picture is taken from my parent's front door the moose were accross the street. For some reason the moose are out!! We also saw another one friday night while we were getting out of the car in the Lonestar parking lot!! They are such beautiful animals!!

Boys are in school...

I took the boys to get their pictures done so here are a few!!

So the boys and I are still in Anchorage/Eagle River. I have enrolled the boys in school in Eagle River, there is a school right behind my parent's house so it's really close. It looks like the boys and I will join Sean in Craig after the school year.

Sean had some touble finding houing, he has found a house for us but it needs the carpet replaced and needs to be painted. So he will do that while he is there by himself. We thought about enrolling the boys in school here in Eagle River and then pulling them out and putting them in when we get to Craig but we weren't sure exactly how long it will take to get carpet so we decided that the boys and I would stay until the end of the school year.

I will try to post later today about Riley and Aidan's first day in a new school!!

Love you all,

Shannon