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.

22 things i am thankful for on this 22nd day of november

1. My amazing husband, even with his weird quirks and sports obsessions

2. My wonderful daughter. Seriously, she is the best.

3. All the rest of our family, both mine and Tyrel's. You couldn't ask for any better.

4. Psy, for his glorious way of keeping my daughter entertained.

5. For the huge blessing of the Gospel in my life.

6. Walmart in Yankton for carrying Pillsbury apple and cherry turnovers. 

7. For my trials and all the things I learn from them.

8. Tyrel's job which allows me to stay at home with Kdawg.

9. Ty's grad school experience and getting this much closer to being actual big kids.

10. For Little Debbie not going out of business a la Hostess. Let's be honest. I would not survive without Swiss Cake Rolls.

11. Amazing friends from South Dakota to Idaho to Minnesota to Utah to everywhere else and all over.

12. Belle, for being Kemry's best friend and keeping her entertained.

13. DVR. What would I do without it? Oh yeah. I would have to watch sports all the time ;)

14.For this SNL skit and this music video.

15. That Kemry got some dance genes somewhere. They surely weren't from me.

16. Our new furnace. As much as we didn't want to drop $3,500 when we already had no money whatsoever, we are grateful to have heat during these chilly months.

17. For the chance to be a mother, and especially for the runny noses, the crayon on the wall, the late-night cuddles, and the constant presence of mac-and-cheese in my hair. I am so grateful that it aches my heat.

18. Living 5 hours from my family {but not thankful that we now have to live a bazillion from Tyrel's}.

19. For this great country we live in and all of those that keep it great.

20. For makeup removing cloths that remove my raccoon eyes every morning. The world would have one more zombie without them.

21.For the $1 we spent at a garage sale for a play shopping cart. Kemry's favorite toy and best $1 ever spent in the history of the world.

22. For the fact that Halloween, Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas, and Kemry's birthday run all in a row so we can end the year/bring in a new one with endless partying for the rest of our lives.

Have a great Thanksgiving! 

Spend it with your families!

{That was my anti-Thanksgiving shopping plug for y'all!}

hanging out with our first tornado and such

That title drew you in, right?

I knew it would!

It is all truth, too.

{Check it out here if you don't believe me}

And while they were pretty much baby tornadoes, I think if it did this much damage to a house that is a block away from us, I think we can {marginally} accept the title of tornado-surviors.

 

 

 

 

source

No damage was done to our property, although we just recently had two {huuuuge} dead trees taken down in our backyard that would have possibly fallen on our neighbor's homes if they were still there.

It was ridiculously warm on Saturday, and the thought even passed through my mind, "It kind of feels like tornado weather."

Hardy har har.

It is November. 

You don't get tornados this late in the year.

The wind was so loud it woke me up.
Tyrel came into the room and told me to come look outside.

We opened the door but couldn't see much except this white blanket of death-rain.

The transformers on the power lines around our home started to explode, so it was time to close the door.

Except the wind was so strong we BOTH had to use all of our strength the get the door shut.

Our power went out, and the storm continued for another 5 minutes or so.

And then that was that.

Just like nothing happened.

We heard chainsaws all night long, so we figured a few trees fell down here or there.

But in all reality, they fell down everywhere, closing a few roads all-together.

The sirens didn't sound, and our weather radio didn't go off, so we had no idea what really happened until Sunday night, when we started peeing our pants a little as we watched the news.

Living in the Midwest, I have been in a bazillion tornado warnings.

They usually go something like this:

1. Wow. It is really warm out. And muggy. And I feel gross.

2. We are under a tornado watch? Pssshh. Let's keep playing by the river.

3. Hmm. The sky is green. Let's head home. We can play outside there.

4. Tornado warning? Time to get out the lawn chairs and watch the clouds twist above your house.

5. Well, now there is hail the size of a grapefruit. Maybe we will go inside and watch from our picture window.

You usually don't make it to the basement unless it is really nasty outside.

{And yes, we are all stupid South Dakotans, but I promise this is the pattern for most people in my town.}

But this was Tyrel's first time.

Tornado virgin no more!

We live not far from the airport, so we often hear planes flying over our house,

A few times, Tyrel would wake up concerned because there was a really heavy wind plus the noise of the plane.

"Is that a tornado?" he would ask me.

After this big microburst, a plane flew over and of course spooked Ty.

I comforted him, and we fell asleep to lullabies of trees being sawed in chunks.

But, to his credit, the next day we found out the truth.

One point for Tyrel.

{Even though it was still only a plane after the storm passed. Half-a-point for Vandy.}

things my husband teaches my child

 I think this might have to be a new series on my blog.
He teaches Kemry lots of things.
For example, how to properly announce a touchdown.
Or how to chant "B-Y-U".
Or how to give "elbows" after high fives and knuckles.

Or this ridiculousness:

Now all she wants to watch is "Op op styyy"
I think we are in for a lot of entertainment with this one, am I right?
{And, for the record, I did not teach her sexy dancing on the floor, but I don't think Tyrel did, either...It must have been Grandpa Murri ;) }

an iphone dump for your patience

Sorry I have been a little MIA.

I have been feeling a little under the weather.

Some mystery bug has been kicking my patootie.

The headaches, backaches, exhaustion, and grouchiness have been killing me slowly.

I am feeling a little perkier now, huzzah.

And don't worry.

You didn't miss a moment in the Murri Family's life.

Zip is new in our little home.

{Other then Kemry putting her hand under my chin and asking "You okay?". I die.}

We have zoomed past the election and are in full speed toward some turkey dinner.

We are itching for some family time and can't wait to buzz to SoDak for some Thanks and Giving.

After that comes Christmas, then a quick trip back to Idaho, and then my baby turns 2.

All the while, I am fighting off the urge to break out the Christmas decorations and blast that jolly music.

But Thanksgiving deserves a moment too, right?

In an early nod to Thanksgiving, the thing I am absolutely, 100% most thankful for is family.

My parents and brothers {and Melissa, of course!}.

My in-laws {yes, all of you ;) }.

My extended family.

And my sweet little famdamily of three.

We get to stick together, through thick and thin, whether we want to or not!

And now I will dump upon you my neglected iPhone pictures.

99% of them are of my family {em, Kemry}, and I love them dearly!