here is our christmas post, thankyouverymuch

We had quite a lovely Christmas.

The last few have been kind of crazy for us, so it was due time for a little quieter one.

{2010: We drove through a snow storm on Christmas Eve to surprise my family at my Grandma's on Christmas Day. Peachy and all...except I was PREG-NAAANT! Like huge, guys.

2011: We were able to celebrate with both the Murri and Borders clans, drove past a murder scene on the way to church that morning, and decided to start trying for baby #2.}

This year, we drove down to my parent's house in South Dakota on Christmas Eve and stayed for two days or so.

I hadn't had a Christmas in my house in 5-6 years, so I was all giddy like a kid again.

We had such a great time, and it was nice to do something a little more low-key.

I am disappointing, however, that I hardly took any pictures.

We were all too busy Kemry-wrangling.

She made BANK, folks.

She got so much new, fun stuff that she had no idea what to do.

So she pretty much went crazy.

She finally conked out, so we were all able to squeeze in some nice snoozes, too.

Over the next day or so, we just ate food, watched Kemry play with Belle, and enjoyed our time together.

I hope your holiday was as wonderful as ours!!!

naughty and nice

Kemry has been naughty.

Lately, she has been more than naughty.

We put her in time out more and more each day

{and I don't think it is working, but I guess consistency is the thing?}.

My husband, though, has been nice.

Terribly nice.

Nice enough that, as I was DYING with the cold/sinus war of 2012, he would comfort Kemry when she woke up 2 times a night {for 2 weeks now?}, screaming bloody murder.

And then get up and work a loooooooong day the next morning.

While it seems that Santa brought night terrors, separation anxiety, and major tantrums as Kemry's early Christmas gifts, he also dropped off some extra kindess and love for my husband to scoop up.

{But let's be honest...Tyrel is really always that nice and kind to me}.

Every day, when I am about to cry and quit my job as a mom {mentally}, I look at that sweet little toddler and realize that I am so lucky.

So so lucky.

Who cares if I am getting less sleep than when she was a baby?

Who cares if my walls are covered in crayon?

Who cares if she still thinks the toilet is the most fun toy in the world?

I am so so lucky to have the best partner to switch off sleep with.

To get out the Magic Erasers for the umpteenth time with.

To mop up the water with.

And with recent, heartbreaking events scattering the news daily, I am so grateful to be so lucky.

 I hope you all are, too :)

anatomy of a birthday

I did it.

I turned a quarter of a century.
And I did it with one single bone-breaking incident, 17 years of schooling, and plenty of teasing from my brothers.

As much as I loved the first 21-ish years of my life, the last 4 have been the greatest.

I met a cocky boy that I did not like one bit, married him {once I realized he wasn't that bad}, and had the cutest little bundle of joy on the face of the earth.

This birthday was more eventful than planned.
Tyrel was scheduled to work, so I was just going to hang out in my PJs all afternoon and eat all the sweets I could get my hands on.
But then my crazy parents drove up to surprise me {best surprise ever, mind you!!}.
And then Kemry got sick, which meant endless cuddles.
And then it snowed a bazillion inches, and we almost died coming home from Church.
But then Tyrel got off after an hour of work due to said snow.

My quiet day alone turned into mass chaos, and I was so excited about it!

I tried to take pictures, but these next three explain why I only got a handful shot:

It breaks your heart, doesn't it?
I think I only saw her awake on my birthday for 3 hours when all was said and done?
 I did get to sleep on an inflatable mattress in her room for two nights.
She wouldn't let me put her down.
But I am always looking for reasons to cuddle, especially sleep-cuddle, so I didn't mind.
Besides, that way I didn't have to get out of "bed" to put more Vicks on her feet and make her drink some water.

I usually make Tyrel go buy me a Coldstone ice cream cake for my birthday,
{because it is no fun making your own}
 but my momsie had one all ready for me.
It was the loveliest thing ever.

I wish you could have tasted how amazing it was!
If I could send you a piece wirelessly, I probably wouldn't do it.
I don't want to share.

We all snuggled in to take refuge from the huge mounds of snow forming outside.
We ate too many cookies, watched not enough Christmas movies, and even snuck in a video chat with my siblings to close out the night.

I hope you all have birthdays as wonderful as mine always are!

{PS. Look at that facial hair. Can you see it? Barely? Well, it is there. And it is gross {sorry Ty}. Maybe for my 108th birthday the Murri boys WON'T grow Christmas animals on their faces}.

throwback thursday

Kemry woke up with a 102.4 degree fever this morning.

We are not new to high fevers.

It was what kept her in the NICU after she was born, what prompted several 2 am runs to Urgent Care, and what guarantees some cuddles all day.

Miraculously, she has bounced back and is wreaking havoc in our house once again.

And I just love it.

We did spend a little time cuddling, though, and we decided old Kemry videos are the best medicine.

I wanted to post one on the blog, but they made my uterus hurt so badly.

{But mainly my annoying mama voice in the videos is what stopped me.}

I decided to dig up some old {old old old} photos and post them instead :)

Forgive me if you are in these photos.

But, really, you knew what you were getting into when you entered into friendship with me!

Any good memories these bring back to you?

getting our paint on

I do think the holiday season is in full swing.

What do you think?

How many Amazon Lightning Deals have you gotten already?

I am not even going to answer that question ;)

 

We Murris sure love holidays.

 

Valentine's Day = Chocolate.
Thanksgiving = Food Coma.

St. Patrick's Day = Celtic's Mascot {and you know how Ty loves his Celtics}.

 

But then there is Christmas.

It has wonderful religious ties to it that we make sure to celebrate and add to tradtitions.

It gets a whole month of celebration {plus some}.

Food. Presents. Family. Horrified kids taking pictures with Santa.

It seriously doesn't get better than Christmastime.

The only downer to Christmas is that whole working retail thing.

If you haven't worked retail, you have no idea what a crazy mess Christmas can be.

NONE.

{Or how about being 8 months pregnant and a manager in a retail store during Christmas?

I should have gotten a medal.

Or at least a case of Diet Coke.}

We don't get to see much of Tyrel this month. 

But the long hours and overtime are sometimes worth it.

And we make sure we spend all the time we can together as a family.

Kemry and I have decked out the house and find little things to keep ourselves occupied while we wait the eternity of hours until Daddy comes home.

Yesterday we whipped out the watercolors for the first time.

She loved them, mainly because she could get the paint to stay on her arms.

There will be another "Getting Our Paint On" post after the new year.

It will be a lovely installment about painting your walls after your toddler gets crayon-happy.

I think it will focus on how stupid it is to have flat paint in your house when you have a little one with sticky hands.

But we bought a totally flipped house with brand-new everything {minus the furnace, cough cough}, so we shouldn't complain.

That fresh paint looked fresh for one whole month!

Count your blessings, right?

In the meantime, I might finally get around to the house tour?

It looks so gosh darn cute all Christmas-like.

Keep surviving the week!

You can do it!

a day of giving thanks...and wearing fat pants

I have been slacking when it comes to taking care of this poor blog.
I have been too busy enjoying family and a teething almost-2-year-old to even eat breakfast.
I am back, however, and will continue sharing the boring parts of our lives that you guys thankfully enjoy for some reason!

We were blessed enough to hop down to South Dakota for a quick Thanksgiving with my parents.

Guys.

This was the first Thanksgiving I have had at my  house since my freshman year of college.

That was a long time ago.

The same thing goes for this Christmas.

Needless to say, it was overdue.

We had the loveliest of lovely times.

I think Kemry enjoyed it the most, though.

She got Grandpa, Grandma, AND Belle.

Plus endless fruit snacks and cheese sticks.

Heaven.