First Place!

First Place!

In between  matches...playing

Sisters cheering brother on!

Christian is continuing to follow in his daddy’s footsteps in wrestling, with many accomplishments under his belt already. Last year, he finished 2nd in state in his weight class! This year he has continued to improve. HIs weight class is a little tougher this year though. The ages are 7&8 year olds and up to 50lbs. He is the youngest and smallest of them all that I have seen, which can be an advantage!

So far this year he has placed third in all his tournaments. A little bit tougher competition with some eight year olds in the mix, but still a great job. I have never been more proud of him and his accomplishments. This past weekend Christian was in his 4th tournament. He had been under the weather the past tournament and his stamina had not been quite normal. However, this weekend he was at the top if his game.

Quickly pinned!

‘

It always makes me incredibly nervous watching him wrestle. I just want him to do his best, but it is a litte stressful. I don't  enjoy watching my child get thrown around. I always watch his competition, so I can know what he's up against. These bigger and older kids definitely have some new moves this year. 

This past tournament Christian pinned his first opponent pretty quickly. I had never seen this kid before, so he must be new. Christian had a by, which meant he had to wait until some of the other wrestlers in his bracket were knocked out. He was ranked number two in his weight class this tournament. We did a lot of waiting...Then he wrestled again and it was a pretty good match, and he won. As the other bracket dwindled down he wrestled one more time. Then we waited to wrestle for 1st and 2nd place. If he lost, he would have to wrestle a few more times, but he still would of come out in third place. However, he won! What a great match it was, they were in a tie at the end. Christian got a take down, which scored him the winning points in the third period!

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Trace, his wrestling partner! Also, won a medal!

We are so very proud of him and the work he has put into wrestling. He truly enjoys it which is all that matters.

Proud Daddy!
Great job! We love watching you wrestle! 

Busy already in 2014

As the new year starts, so does everything else. With three children comes multiple extracurricular activities.

Henley started back to dance, which is in full swing and they are learning their moves for recital. Both girls started back to gymnastics. Henley has been on hiatus from gymnastics for about a year. However, now that two of her best friends, Skylar and Grace are participating, she wanted to try again. They had the very best time and she was so excited to be back. After the first class, she could not stop talking about how much she loved gymnastics.

Lucy on the other hand is a huge fan of gymnastics. We had to take off last semester because with the move, it was just too much. I have not seen anybody so excited to start back. She is definitely our little monkey, weighing a whopping 20lbs soaking wet. Lucy has the physique to be a little gymnast. In fact, she practices every chance she gets hanging from anything and everything in our house! The lower oven is probably her favorite spot! I can’t believe it has not fallen open and banged her on the head yet!

Welcome 2014

Normally Brian and I have a big New Years Eve party. This year with the new move and the holidays falling right after, it was just too much. We opted for a more low key night with just a few couples over to celebrate the new year.

We have always welcomed children to our parties. It does help that we have older teenage girls who babysit and entertain them all down in the basement. Since we had about 10 kids, three being our own, it was not really necessary this year. They are all at an age where we can let them do their own thing and know if they need us, we are right upstairs.

Brian cooked a tenderloin and everyone brought sides and appetizers. The alcohol was flowing for the adults and sparkling cider for the kids! We had a blast and the clean up was much less this year! 

2013 was a year full of health, happiness and love. We ended it with a new member added to the family! Our new nephew Walker Joseph Mizerany! What a blessing you are and we love you already!

Hoping everyone has a healthy, happy and blessed new year!

Christmas with the Murphy’s continues

Since we can not be in two places at once, we opted for a second Christmas with my family. It is too hard going to multiple places on Christmas day with all the kids. They like to be able to enjoy their gifts and they can’t do that being drug everywhere. Brian and Christian went hunting the day after Christmas, so the girls and I went over to my parents to do a little baking. This is a tradition usually done before Christmas, but this year was just to busy. We decided to do it the day after while the boys were away.

Then the next day when they were home, we celebrated Christmas with my family. Here are some of the highlights!

Hen and her American Doll Kaya in matching PJS

Making Snickerdoodles and rolling them in sugar

Chocolate chip

Really they get no presents...

A cool bow and arrow set

The long awaited Rainbow Loom!

American Doll Horse

So excited

for...

her own Bitty Baby!!!

What a wonderful Christmas we all had together with friends and family! Here is to hoping for a wonderful 2014!