Exciting Times in Port Jervis

So the Murphy Family Band Geeks have had a busy weekend. First, Keith and the kids played at the Kmart Salvation Army kettle for 2 hours and froze their toes. Then later that evening we had a Tree Lighting in downtown Port Jervis that the Broome Street Marching Band played Christmas music for. I was amazed at how many people came. I guess there is not much to do in a small town because there were a lot of people there. The salvation Army was there with free hot chocolate and cookies. They are even having a light decorating contest and then they will drive the Senior Citizens around to see all the houses. When Santa and Mrs. Clause arrived I swear Buddy the elf was there too. We usually cut down our Christmas tree every year but due to time constraints we bought ours at a little nursery in Port Jervis. We found our tree, a Blue Spruce that only cost us $25, after Keith and the Tree guy held up almost every tree on the lot for us to look at. We have a silly tradition that started after we watched Vern saves Christmas one year. Vern would sing the song O Christmas tree and he only knew that one line so he sings the whole song with just that one line. When we find the tree that we are going to bring home we stand around it and sing O Christmas Tree like Vern did on the movie. Now you have to remember that our kids are with us and we are singing in public, you would think that they would be embarrassed. but sometimes they are the ones reminding us that we have to sing. This year the tree guy joined in. We decided that we would decorate Sunday after church. That ended up being pretty late on Sunday evening and we had to move every piece of furniture at least 3 times before we found just the right spot. We started to put the lights on the tree and found that we needed more strands of lights so the decorating would have to wait until Monday evening. On Maonday the band played again at another tree lighting in Port Jervis and more free hot chocolate and cookies. They even let me play the Jingle Bells. The top of our tree is a little sparse with lights but we have 1,000 lights on this tree so any more will have to wait until next year. I even made ginger bread cookies for our tree. Danny and Keith were in charge of the tinsel and you can see by the pictures what a great job they did!!! We have another tradition that I don't really care for and pretty much happens by accident and that is our tree falls down after it is fully decorated. This year we were lucky and were able to catch it before it hit the floor so only one smashed ornament this year (This is the reason I made cookie ornaments). Well our tree is all decorated and looks beautiful and the tree lights keep going out because there are too many. Oh well. I tried.

Cards and OM

So I finally listed my other 2 cards on ebay. I am excited to get back into this. It is unbelievable how much money people will spend on cards. Last summer people were spending over $100 on 1 card! Granted the cards were stunning. I am not complaing because I would love for someone to pay a lot of money for my cards. I no that won't happen for awhile plus there are over 1,000 cards listed every day so there is some serious competition. Let me know what you think. Now I have to get ready for Odyssey of the Mind. Keith and I are the High School coaches and we have our first meeting today. I have to figure out what we are going to do. It is going to be easy and hard at the same time. Keith and I are not allowed to help the kids solve the problem in any way. They have to do everything, costumes, set, skit, we can't even give them advice or tell them what we think! So in that senxe it will be easy. The hard part is to guide them without helping them, to help them learn problem solving skills and creative thinking, that is going to be the hard part. Today, we are going to vote on the problem that they want to do and I am going to try and find some puzzles or mind games for them. After that we have Kiley's first chorus concert tonight. For being stuck at home I still am very busy! TTFN ( Tiggers ta ta for now)

stuck at home

Murphy's law says that we're the Murphy's and Keith's truck is broken so I have a lot of time at home. I am finally feeling better and I have time so I made some cards today and I finally listed one on ebay. Well at least I have something to show for my time, a big messy stamping table and glitter all over me and my house! I really enjoy stamping and creating so I don't mind too much being stuck at home, plus I can't spend any money if I am at home. Hope you enjoy my card. I will show you the other ones I made when I post them tomorrow. TTFN

Counting my Blessings!

I am out of the hospital! I hope that I do not have to go back for a very long time. I was in for 6 days having an IVIG treatment. Basically I got new plasma that is supposed to kick my body back into doing the right thing. I think that I will be put on medicine, but I will find that out tonight. So being away from home and around a lot of people less fortunate than me got me thinking (I had a lot of time to think), of how blessed my life really is. I have 2 healthy great kids. I have a son and a daughter. I have a wonderful husband who can fix anything! I live in a cute little home complete with wildlife. I have the best family in the world! There is no stopping the fun when we get together and that goes for both sides. I have wonderful caring friends. I have realitively good health. I live in a free country. Last but certainly not least, I have the gospel in my life. What more could I ask for? I am really glad that I won't be having my vitals taken every couple of hours that was getting really annoying. I am happy to be home. I will kind of miss the hospital bed, they are kind of fun to play with when you get bored.

Haloween

Kiley and Danny wanted to go trick or treating this year. I didn't let them go last year because I thought they were too old for this, I guess you are never to old to dress up and beg for candy. Well being the bad mom that I am I felt guilty for depriving them of this pleasure. So I told them that if I didn't have to spend any money on their costumes they could go. Kiley wore her 50's costume that I made her a couple of years ago and Danny borrowed Kiley's pirate costume. I still wasn't sure if they were going to go because they were still making arrangements to go with their friends. Well I think my kids are pretty cute but I have to admit they don't look quite as cute in their costumes as their little cousins do. I think they had a good time. Kiley even had to sing for some of her candy because the family made all of the teenagers earn their candy which I think is a good idea. I only saw one hooker costume this year, thank you very much! I wonder if she had to sing for her candy. I wish parents would care more for their children and not let them dress like that. Oh well not much I can do I guess. I hope that everyone had a happy halloween! Next year I am going to distract my kids by letting them have a halloween party at our house. I will try and have them build a haunted house in our back yard. Well we will see if I remember this by next year!

Snow day

Kiley doing homework by candlelight.

Keith fixing the power!!! Yeah for Keith!!!(he just saved us a ton of money!)

Playing Nertz by candlelight.

We got snow on October 28th. It started as a beautiful day. I love a snow day because life has to slow down. Well life really slowed down for us. About 4pm the power went out. Not a problem we have a gas stove and dinner was already started so that was good. I love candles so I lit all of my candles and we found the flashlights. We also have a woodstove and a fire was already burning so we were set. We played nertz by candlelight and the kids sang silly songs. A friend of ours lent us his generator so we got the power started again. Unfortunatley that is when things started to go wrong, or so we thought. The water would not pump out of the washing machine or the dishwasher so we thought we had 2 broken appliances. The next evening when we knew the power would be back on Keith went to turn ours on and the switch was broken. So Keith needed to put a new electric box in. Thank heavens that he knows how to do that. Things were getting a little tense around here for a while but Keith came to the rescue and used his fix-it skills and we now are all powered up!!!!




I now understand why the early settlers went to bed early and got up early, because there is just not too much to do when you do not have electricity! I have learned that I need more candles, matches and a few more lanterns. I also need to have extra batteries stored next to the flashlights. Oh, when we finally did get the power on we found out that the dishwasher and the washing machine worked. There must be a safety on them so that there is not a power surge or so that we do not use them if there is not enough power. Kiley and Danny are so happy that the dishwasher works because otherwise they are y dishwashers! I am so happy that the washing machine works because when you get used to having one in your own home it is hard to go with out! I am extremely grateful for modern technology and will try not to take it for granted. I am sure that I will be reminded every time the power goes out. Now we just have to save up for a generator!

Keith's Salsa Recipe

Maranda has requested Keith's salsa recipe. It is really easy. I am not giving measurments because you just do it till it tastes good.

Diced tomatoes
Chopped onion
Chopped fresh cilantro
Chopped garlic
Salt to taste
Lime Juice to taste
Seeded and chopped jalepeno pepper (optional)

Keith does not add the jalepeno but I like to add it. We add a good amount of garlic because we like it. I also advise to add the salt and lime juice a little at a time and taste it each time till it is to your liking. I hope you enjoy this we do.

Our Family Favorite Sugar Cookie Recipe

My sister Jess called and asked me for this recipe and I keep forgetting to give it to her. My mother - in - law gave me this recipe and it has been our favorite ever since. The cookies stay soft, they taste good and they are easy to roll out. I decided to put it on the blog because then I won't loose it. Enjoy!
Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsp vanilla

Cream those ingredients together and then add your dry ingredients

2 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
5 cups of flour (add extra flour if you need it to make workable)

Mix your dough together. Roll out and cut into your favorite shapes.
Bake at 400 for 6 - 8 minutes adjust the time as needed.

I also use butter and pure vanilla because that really adds to the taste.

Jess, I am sorry it took me so long to get you this recipe!

Keith & Kiley

Ok, so last night I was upstairs reading a book and minding my own bee's wax when I overheard a conversation between Kiley and Keith that made me chuckle.

Let me begin with some background info. Kiley is now 16 and is technically old enough to date according to church standards. I did inform Kiley right before she turned 16 that even though she is old enough to date she still has to ask us if she can, and of course give us all of the details.

I guess Kiley is Im ing with a friend when I hear< "Hey dad ____ (name with held) just asked if I could go on a date with him this Friday is that ok?" Then I hear from Keith " no, we have something going on this weekend." Kiley then asks " What do we have going on?" Keith in a rather loud voice " I don't remember, we just have something going on!" Kiley, "You don't have to yell dad, I'm right here."

I was laughing so hard! I think that Kiley figured out that she can pretty much get what she wants when she asks Keith, but I guess not when it comes to dating. It will be interesting to see what we have coming up this weekend.

Sorry Kiley for laughing about this but you will understand when you are a parent.

birthday party

I missed a couple of pictures. I couldn't resist the one of Ashley Ey getting hit with a marshmallow by her little brother.

Kiley's Sweet 16 Birthday Party

Everyone was sitting down along the front of the house to watch the fireworks. We heard a lot of oohs and ahhs. Keith even had mortars, I think those are the ones that go up in the sky. Dave and Caulin taught a new version of the line dance they already knew to the song I like to Party.

Yummy Birthday Cake!!!!

This is our Senior Couple, they had a lot of fun with the marshmallows! Malinda didn't have time for the shooter she just threw them at people!

Everyone made their own shooters.

The kids found a whole bunch of sticks for roasting marshmallows, the sticks are not in the picture.

Sarah decorating the cake.

fixing the cd player, I don't know how they could see what they were doing with so many extra hands. We even put President Snarr to work hanging Christmas lights so that people could see were they were going because it gets so dark here. The other picture is Jade, Shannon, Kiley, Brianna, and Rebecca.

I finally have some time to put stuff up about Kiley's party. Let me start by saying this was suppossed to be a party with just a few of her friends coming over and hanging out maybe have a barbaque. Well as we started to make the list of friends I started adding people that have not been up to the house yet or that we haven't visited with in awhile and we really enjoy their company. I think that we ended up sending out 36 invites. Now I had to count everyone that was coming so that we could plan for enough food. Keith of course thought that fireworks were needed, so we had those, and we made some great cd's of dance musicand pulled Lance and Jessica's old stereo out, Alan and Gina gave us the idea to make marsmallow shooters so our party was complete. We had 61 people at our little house! I was worried we would not have enough room but there was plenty. We had a beautiful day it was just a tiny bit chilly so the bonfire was wonderful to sit around. Ok so most of you who are reading this know what a double cake pan is, well I have a round one(it is a pan that can hold 2 cake mixes). Kiley wanted a red velvet cake so I made it from scratch from a recipie that dad gave me. I made 3 layers of that cake in the double cake pan. The cake was huge. People are still talking about how big the cake was. The day starts out ok I don't have a ton of cleaning to do just a little but we have food to get ready. Danny was at a scout overnight, I thought he had a ride home but it turns out that I needed to go and get him from Middletown which put me way off schedule. I guess I will have to not procrastinate if there is a next time. So people start showing up a little early or even on time. At first I panic but then they askto help so it was a wonderful thing to have all of that extra help! The only big glitch in the party was when the kids were carrying out the steroe the cd player fell and broke. Kiley was devastated because line dancing was going to be a big part of the party. Well Danny and a couple of the girls were trying to fix the cd player, they had the whole thing opened up, a few adults were trying to but Sister Hearn came and saved the day. The tragedy was thwarted and we had line dancing. The hit of the party had to be the marshmallow shooters. If you are wondering what they are it is a gun made out of pvc pipe that you put a marsmallow in and blow it out. It was amazing, our senior couple from the branch was there and he was a Bishop before his mission, well he was introduced to marshmallow shooters at girls camp and boy did he know how to use that thing! One of the girls would put a few mini marshmallows in her mouth and shoot out one after another. Sounds gross but the laughter was great. Even my dad got in on the fun. I don't want to blame the bad pictures on my camera because I am sure some of it has to do with me but, I am not good at taking pictures in bad lighting, plus I was busy so I did not get a lot of pictures. I am hoping that my friend will email the ones they took. I did get a couple of videos, my favorite is when I had 47 people stuffed in my kitchen singing happy birthday to Kiley because she had a great big smile on her face and that is what a birthday party is all about! I think that everyone had a great time. I do have to say thank you to my friend Sarah who saw how frustrated I was getting with decorating the cake and she took over and made it beautiful! She even put a flute and a violin on it!

I alsohave to say thank you to Cece Prange and Linda Snarr because they made 80 hamburgers for us! We had plenty of food. In fact we had enough that we brought in all the left overs and had a branch potluck after church the next day.We hadplenty because lot of people brought a dish to share which I am really grateful for! We did leave the lettuce at home, actually we threw it outone of the kids found a frog and it hopped right into the lettuce!

Here is a video of the marshmallow fun! The above video Danny took of the cd player being fixed. I think he was just as excited as Kiley that it was fixed mostly because he helped to fix it. I don't think that it took 2 hours to fix but maybe I am wrong.

Okay here is the Birthday song please don't listen too carefully to my out of tune singing right by the camera. I think that you all have an idea of what the party was like. We had so much fun, except for Monday when I scrubbed all of the floors in my house because there was marshmallow all over. At least we don't have any carpeting so nothing was ruined. We even found a marshmallow stuck to the pole in the basement a few days later. We wish that all of our family could have been there to celebrate with us. I guess we are just going to have a lot more get togethers because this was so much fun visiting with everyone. I apologize for not making this look prettier but if I did then it would be another month before this was posted.

Saturday

Saturday was a busy day for our family. Keith had a job, and the kids had a full schedule. We started the morning with a band concert. Then we raced home (within the speed limit) and Kiley changed so she could go to her friends sweet 16 party, then I went home for a few hours and tried to stay awake and then went and picked Kiley up and took her over to the church so she could go to super saturday. I lucked out and Keith was able to pick her up so I didn't have to drive anymore. Except the drive home from the concert each way was at least a 35 minute drive or more. Sometimes driving makes me really sleepy. Danny had a great day playing on the computer and the wii. I put a video of one of the songs that they played at the concert, it is called Sing, Sing Sing. This song always makes me want to dance. I apologize ahead of time for the shakey camera, I have to press pretty hard on the shutter button to record and if I even lift my finger a little the video stops. Maybe someday we can get a real video camera, but for now this works. Enjoy!

labor day

We spent Labor day over at my mom and dad's house. They had tickets through Newburgh ward for a Renegades game. We were able to eat dinner and watch the game. During the game a guy came around and asked if anyone wanted to throw tennis balls into a hula hoop. Danny wanted to so grandpa gave him the money to buy the balls. The Renegades played the Staten Island Yankees. The Yankees were winning by a lot, 6-1. The Renegades scored 2 more runs in the 9th inning when I took a bathroom break, someone said they should of had me leave sooner. Anyway my family are not big baseball fans and we were thinking of going home early but, I wanted to see the fireworks and I didn't want to waste dad's $5. The fireworks were much better than we expected. They told all the people with Tennis balls to go to either dug out, They showed them were the hula hoops were and then told them to throw the balls. Whoever had a ball in a hoop would get a prize. Sounds easy, right? Well there were balls bouncing all over the place, and then they called out all of the names and Danny had gotten 2 in. So he wona $25 gift card to the Renegades shop were he picked out a nice long sleeve t-shirt. Thanks dad, I guess it wasn't a waste of money this time. All in all we had a good day, because we went swimming earlier and spent itme with our family!

labor day