Spring Fever

Hello Friends. The Murphy's are back in action, all present and accounted for, and ready for Spring. If there is anything I've learned from my old man over the years (2.58 yrs to be exact), its that one should be careful when one makes bold statements. That said, I am prepared to make my first bold statement of the year: Spring 2011 is Here! I know what you are thinking...February? Well, it has been in the 60's (70's in some cases) for about a week now, and it looks like another beautiful week ahead. I am ready for it, and I have decided to declare Spring 2011 officially open for business. Dad - lay down the pine straw and grass seed, and let's get this yard in order.

With an early Spring declared, let's take a peek at the dearly departed Winter of 2011...

Anne Colins took her first trip to the Greasy-V at the tender age of 2.5 weeks -- impressive performance AC.


Hmmm, you may be wondering what I am up to in this next pic...A maglite, a 25' tape measure, and a pair of common kitchen tongs....oh and a resting Molly the Cow.

Yep, Doc Cooper is in, and its time for Molly's nightly check-up. This is a body fat test, and the results were not flattering...though a gentlemen does not share such personal details about his canine.

Dad's Day! It was Dad's Day at school a few weeks back. My pals and I hosted our Dads for coffee and play time at school. It was outstanding.

Uncle Ethan (soon to be Godfather Uncle Ethan to Anne Colins) came to town to meet his new niece. I'll admit, he displayed some pretty smooth infant holding technique...he's got her tucked safely under his arm like a Gordo High School football.

Bottle/Sippy cup break time at the Murphy house in this one....Cheeeeez

Oh Boy Dad....you are in trouble. Anne Colins is giving a little sneak preview of her soon to be patented and oft-displayed "Daddy, Pleeeeeaaaaseee can I have ." Looks pretty good, but it could use some polishing Sis.

We had a family Valentine's Day celebration. Anne Colins was dressed accordingly...

...Not dressed accordingly here, but looking pretty cute.

Pick a caption for this one: A) It takes two to tango, or B) Dad is an idiot.

Mom and I had a date last Sunday to the Circus. It was amazing, and I have requested a return visit each and every day (read hour) since. Fortunately, we discovered the Ringling website and a 3 minute circus video complete with singing clowns and elephants and a train. I like to play this very loud and 8-12 times in a row at 7am on Saturday.
I met up with some of my pals at the circus. Luke came to visit us at our seats....in Club Level. Evidently (as Dad ranted), if you wait until the day of the show, you cannot buy tix online, so you have to jump in the car, rush to the retail outlet at Publix and take whatever the lady behind the counter gives you. In this case, "best available" = expensive and Club Level. Oh well, worked for Mom and I.

Popcorn by the pound...
Mom and I went down onto the floor before the show...and stayed until they escorted us to our seats...that was a nice touch -- must have been Club Level treatment.

My pal MJ was at the circus too. He is a big kid and very cool.
When I am not operating on Molly, I enjoy building towers out of canned non-perishables. (No green beans were injured during shooting of this photo.)

.....and Winter 2011 is over (hopefully). It was a wild ride for the Murphys and we are stronger for it. We have Anne Colins' baptism next Saturday. I am looking forward to some quality time with both of my spiritual advisers. Aunt Jen heads over from B-ham, and Uncle Skip is jumping the red-eye from Vegas. It should be a great weekend.

I hope to see all of you dudes soon. Happy Spring.

CDM

Anne Colins' Homecoming and The Blizzard of 2011

Howdy folks. We are finally thawing out here in Hot-Lanta after a week of being snowed and iced in the house. 'The Shining'-quality cabin fever set in several days ago, and were it not for Comcast's On Demand Mickey and Elmo, Mom and Dad may not have made it out unscathed. Dad and I hit the finally cleared roads this morning and met Meriwether and Mr. Grant over at the Hippo Hop to exercise any lingering demons, so I am now back to my charming self and ready to blog.

The rents brought sweet little Anne Colins home from the hospital last week, and took all the textbook 'bring home the new baby' pix. Here we see Dad and Anne Colins showing their good sides and pearly whites next to the biggest pink bow ever tied. (Brought to you by Aunt Jennifer....when she goes, she goes big -- loves it!)


Looks like Dad waited until I left Anne Colins' nursery to take sole credit for those spectacular stripes. Don't worry fans, we have photo evidence of my personal touch in an earlier posting and I took the liberty of setting the record straight with little sis....we had a good laugh at the old man's expense! Nice try D-A-D!

Cooper, Mom and Anne Colins sharing a moment.

Anne Colins, you are too small for this crib.

Anne Colins, seen here wearing her first hair bow...I will have to ask her if Mom staple-gunned that thing on or used the hot glue gun...either way, you are one tough cookie sis...and your pink bow is cute as a button, regardless of application technique.

As I alluded to earlier, Atlanta was hit with a massive snow storm last Sunday night and Monday during which the City was dumped on with 3-5 inches of snow. Schools were closed for 5 days, and streets were not clear of ice until Friday. While complete chaos set in with the adults, we kids loved every minute. Dad and I hit the snow 4 out of 4 mornings for hiking, sledding (on a trash can lid), and golf - yes, golf.

Yes, GOLF. My ball got crazy carry over the icy front lawn. My middle irons went a mile....Golf - 4 letters, 4 seasons.

Well, here we have evidence of some loopy behavior by Dad... I think it was the cabin fever. I rushed to his side and for a man to man, and he came to his senses.

Adios amigos, stay cool out there....CDM!

My Little Sister is Here

Hello Family and Friends,

I am blogging live from the maternity ward for the first time since I launched this blog back in 2008, and I have a special guest here with me that I'd like to introduce. My baby sister, Anne Colins, was born yesterday at 12:42pm Eastern time. I have been teasing her on this blog for months now, and she has finally arrived. She is beautiful (Mom says she looks like I did as a newborn). Sneak a peak at the new Murphy Pack, and notice how Anne Colins fits right into the 'Looking good, feeling good' family motto:

Now, let me take a moment to discuss the logistics of the blog going forward. As mentioned in my last post, I am taking on a new partner - Anne Colins. Obviously, Anne Colins is not ready to swing right into regular (read 'every 4-6 weeks) posts of the quality our readers have come to expect (and demand at times). I will be taking the lead for the time being, showing her the ropes, imparting wisdom, etc., etc......I might also add that while it can be considered nearly impossible (nearly) for a newborn to hit the ground blogging right out of the womb, Dad needs to figure out also how the heck to do two blog voices....but that is a Dad issue, not a me issue so on with Anne Colins training....

....So for the last 9/10 months, all I've heard is how excited we all are about your arrival Anne Colins. I wasn't in the delivery room, but I've seen photos and if this is the kind of treatment you get on arrival when Mom and Dad are happy and excited, I don't ever want to bring home a detention slip.

Anne Colins, you don't look happy here...

I think I've seen similar treatment for the largemouth bass they catch on Dad's fishing shows...at 19-3/4 inches, are you a keeper or did Dad need to stretch you that last 1/4 inch?

I like the intensity here Anne Colins...you are going to be a tough cookie.

After the weighing, measuring and scaling, it was time to meet the family. Mom, you were incredible.
Stu, Mimi and Anne Colins...

Aunt Jennifer and her brand new niece...
K, D, Aunt Meg and Uncle Josh came to welcome Anne Colins as well...

It has been a big couple of days for the Murphy family with the tremendous addition of sweet little Anne Colins. Both Mom and baby sister are healthy, and I am really excited to be a new Big Bro. I have so much to teach, to give...playground strategy, finding sticks, taming wild yellow labradors, trucks, dirt digging...the list goes on. Anne Colins, welcome to the world! We are going to have a blast together.

Adios from the Maternity Ward...CDM & ACM.

Anne Colins Countdown

I, Cooper Douglas Murphy, am excited to say that I will be a big brother very soon. While I've heard that my world as only child will be turned upside down, I can't help but get excited about my new little sister, Anne Colins. In case you have not yet heard, my Mom is pregnant, which means a stork (a big bird...not The Big Bird) will come over to the house soon and drop off a baby sister.



Anne Colins is due to be induced on Tuesday, January 4th. Mom has put this into her calendar in ink, so it is all set. The Countdown to Anne Colins is officially on with 2 days to go.




ACM is a solid set of initials...almost as cool as CDM.

Sit still long enough in my house lately and you are likely to be monogrammed...seriously, Molly got an A-C-M right on the tail.

In an effort to be an open minded and sharing big bro, I have decided to relinquish the role of sole family blogger. In this act of good blogmanship, I will introduce a new chapter of the blog from which Anne Colins can share some of her own stories (key word 'some' - I will hold position of Editor in Chief). (Basically, this will be a new forum for me to use long adjectives like spectacular, fantastic and stupendous while displaying the real-time molding of a sweet little sis by her incredibly cool big bro.)

Check back for updates on Anne Colins arrival.

Happy New Year everyone....CDM.

Christmas 2010

The Christmas season was action packed and fun filled. It began in early December and continued right up to New Years' Day.



It began with Miss Rose's annual Hanukkah party. Boy-o-Boy, Miss Rose makes a brisket that will make you want to slap yo mama (it is just an expression Mother, I would never dare)....but it's darn good. My pals Will and Jack were in attendance as well. It was a blast, and we got to hang out with Uncle Haber too. Happy Hanukkah everyone!


After we celebrated Hanukkah, we began the Murphy family Christmas festivities. Mom, Dad and I went for our annual Christmas tree trip, which includes a Waffle House waffle and bacon for dinner. Let me tell you something, those waffles are world class.



We decorated the tree in the second week of December this year, and I got to help. I kicked off the night by firing a beautiful glass ball ornament right down the pipe and into the built-in cabinet. That particular glass ball will no longer take part in Murphy family Christmas festivities.



Here, I am hanging a relatively indestructible ornament made of metal....see the tongue - I remind myself of a young Michael Jordan....nice.
And the grand finale...the Angel...hmmm, this tree is just a smidge taller than last year. Dad, let me help by climbing on your back...nope, still just a tad short...
...Let's try a different angle, but this time, with me on your shoulders...YES-Jackpot...brilliant.

Miss Meriwether - we spent some lovely time together during the holidays. She is clearly impressed with my tree decorating moves...Speaking of moves, see below for the old school yawn, stretch, and arm around the shoulder move caught on camera by chaperon Mom mid yawn and stretch...

We kicked of the Christmas week parties with Meriwether and her Mother and Father. Then we headed to Aunt Meg's on Christmas Eve-Eve. This trike was waiting...awesome. Uncle Josh was kind enough to clear a track around the house, so I could ride circles all night.

Christmas Eve started with a lovely children's Mass at Christ the King (CTK) with Aunt Meg, Uncle Josh, Uncle Skip, K, D, Mom and Dad. I decided to behave well for the entire Mass.

K, D, and Uncle Skip came over for dinner after Mass. Mom set two beautiful dinner tables, including below for Christmas Eve dinner.

I had some serious K time last week. Here we are looking at different cameras. K will never make it to the next level if she can't find the rolling camera.

I got to hang with Uncle Skip who came in for the weekend. I received some "quality" advice during Mass from my spiritual advisor.

Christmas morning! Santa came to town big-time. This is a train whistle. The theme was books this year....and noise makers, lots of noise makers.

Hey pups! Molly and Deuce got in on the action. New beds and tons of treats...literally tons...Actually, upon further review of this photo, Dad has placed it in the wrong chronological order...notice the ornaments, the angel, etc. Here the girls are supervising tree decoration. Thanks pups...

For her next act, Mom was host for Christmas dinner. Mimi, Stu, Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Ethan are due any minute, but wait....the water is no longer running...Strange. And look, a crane, a backhoe loader and giant trucks blocking our drive. That's right friends, the City of Atlanta has just rolled up at 10AM Christmas morning to shut off the water and fix a broken water main. Dad claims the main had been broken for well over 2 weeks, but I'm sure they were just really busy. We were without water for 3.5 hours, but Mom still managed to throw a heck of a party.

And finally, Mother's Christmas table. She set it days in advance...simply wonderful. Thanks Mom.

Aunt Jennifer introduced me to walkie talkies. I don't quite have the hang of it yet, but I like it when they make noise and Dad throws his voice from one to the other.
To cap off it all off, we got snow on Christmas day too! In fact, Mimi and Stu were snowed out of Big Canoe, so we got to hang out an extra night and day. It was awesome. Dad and Stu taught me the art of the snow ball.

Well folks, that is going to wrap up 2010 for me. We hope to have a special new arrival very soon. Anne Colins is due any day now. Stay tuned...CDM