Meet B-Diddy

Ryan and Shelly have a new addition to their family, little B-Diddy, also known as Baron Davis Murphy. Baron Davis is a basketball player for the Warriors, which happens to be mine and Ryan's favorite team. Baron's nick name is b-diddy. So, this is where they he got his name.
They have a cat, Mr. Darcy, they felt he needed a buddy, so instead of getting another cat, they decided to get B-Diddy instead. B-Diddy is a mixture of Chihauhua and Dachsund, known as a Chiwennie.
They took a trip to the pet store just to look around, guess he was just to adorable to leave there.
You can go to Shelly's blog and see a video of little Diddy in action. He is going to keep them on their toes for a while.
We have been animal free for nine months, and I don't miss the dog hair but I do miss the unconditional love they bring into your life.

Keirans Birthday Party

Keiran turned 5 yrs. old on Sunday, January 20th. He had such a great time. All of his friends from church came. They played some fun games too. He had a pinata there, which was full of goodies.

This was from Grandma and Grandpa Murphy.

This is his favorite present, a Razor Scooter from his mom and dad.




Uncle Corey and Keiran just kicking back at the birthday party. The kids had tied balloons around their ankles with a string and tried to pop each others. Keiran had his stepped on first, so he sat with Corey and watched the kids play. After the games, we had homemade carrot cake. It was delicious.

Happy First Birthday!!!!

Our little peanut turned one year old yesterday. We will be going to their house this weekend for her party. When you ask her how old she is, she can put up one finger now. Isn't she advanced! She and her parents have been sick so she isn't going to have her birthday party until this weekend. But, her mommy and daddy made her special waffles for her birthday. They look yummy too.


Uncle Corey flew up here for Lawren and Keiran's birthday. I had to take him back last night for his flight. He had to go home. Now that is the saddest thing.

San Francisco Zoo Trip.

Crossing the Bay Bridge looking out at San Fransisco.

This was the weekend we were all to go to Keiran's 5th. birthday party. Lawren, Kathleen and Jeff were coming to our house so we could all go to the party. Unfortunealy, they all got the flu and had to stay home. Uncle Corey flew up here for the party too. Well, when the Slack family wasn't able to come, we decided to take a trip the SF Zoo. The weather was great, about low to mid 60's. We didn't need our jackets.
The first stop was to see the zebra and giraffes. They walk around with such grace.

Then we headed off to see the tiger. The Siberian Tiger was put down last week due to a terrible attack with some teens. I am sure you have heard about it on the news.I can't remember what type of tiger this is, but he looks well fed and relaxed.

Here is the grayback Gorilla. He sat on the rock for quite sometime. As soon as we took this picture, he got up and ran across the yard and hit the window where visitors were watching. Not sure what got into him.

One of the zoo docents was carrying an eagle over to the penguin area. We were able to take a pic of him walking over there.
After several hours at the zoo we were a little confused as to which way to go. Tom and Corey are trying to figure out our location with the map they gave us when we entered the zoo. I am not sure if I would ever buy a TomTom, they seem to get us lost occasionally. You might want to look into a different kind of GPS system.

I took this picture especially for Dore' and Ann. They love the flamingo's.

After a full day of seeing all these amazing animals, Corey wanted to see the neighborhood where I was born. This is a pic of 47th. Street. It is only about a block or two from the Ocean and the Zoo. I am not sure of the address, I just know that I lived somewhere on this street. Can you imagine how valuable the house is today as opposed to 55 years ago?

Happy Birthday Ryan.

Today Ryan turns 26. I can't believe that my children are catching up with me. It seems like just the other day I was taking them to school, or going to watch their basketball game. How time really does fly. But I am thankful that each one of my kids are who they are. They are not only a blessing to me but to others. I am so proud of each one. I am proud of Ryan for the young man he has become. He really makes a mother proud. We love you so much Ryan!!!!!

Before I was a Mom I never learned the words to a lullaby.

I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom - I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Drooled on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple little grin.
I never sat up for hours watching a baby sleep.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom - I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

I had never known the warmth, The joy, The love, The heartache, The wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.

And remember that behind every successful mother... Is a basket of dirty laundry"""""""

Another New Blogger

Shelly, my gorgeous daughter-in-law, has her own blog page now. We will be able to see what is going on in their lives now. She and Ryan were married in Oct. of last year. They live in Texas, but will be moving back to Cali. in June. I am so excited she made this blog. See,it's not for just old people, young people can do it too. Love you Shelly!

Congratulations to Ryan

Yesterday Ryan received good news that he has been accepted into the physical therapy program in Loma Linda. He will be moving back to California in June. I can't tell you how happy, as a mother, this makes me. I miss Ryan and Shelly so much. While they were living with us, last year, I became attached to Shelly, and of course, I am already attached to my youngest son, known as my baby boy. So, I just praise God for all He has done and is still doing in each of my children's lives.
It will take three years for him to finish. Then, Shelly can be a stay at home wife and they can start their family, which means, I will have even more grandchildren. Ain't life wonderful!

Off I Go.

I wake up every morning thankful for another day. But dread the fact that I have to go to work. I get up, get dressed go to work, turn my computer on and then I see these two little faces. They make life worth it all.

Another Blogger

We have another blogger. This is getting better and better. My friend, Helen Ida, friends since second grade, is now an official blogger. And, she figured it out all by herself. See how smart us senior citizens are getting. There will be no stopping us now.

Martha Stewart in the Kitchen!

Unlike popular opinion, I do cook. I made us some delicious apple pancakes. While I was visiting Bob and Cecelia last month, in New York, they made us some. I think there is a particular name for them, a German name, anyway, the are yummy. We had a busy day ahead of us, so what better way to start the day, with food!

I don't know if this is how they are suppose to look but they taste great!
See, Tom is not starving.

We gutted our master bathroom about a year ago, maybe even two years ago. Regardless, we are finally starting to work on it. I think we are tired of using one bathroom and one shower when all of the kids are home. Or maybe it is because Tom is tired of me ragging on him. The hardest part was picking tile out. I chose Travertine. I think it will look great when we finish. If not, oh well. Time will tell. It is amazing how long it takes to do a row of tile. We managed to get two rows done today. They are 18X18" and heavy.

We still have a lot of work ahead of us.

Happy Birthday Kathleen!!!

Today is Kathleen's birthday. She is, well, you will have to ask her if you should see her. We wanted to go visit her this weekend and celebrate with them, but the weather is not permitting us to travel. There is a lot of flooding and road blocks. But we have been thinking of her all day. They are a gorgeous looking family, don't you agree?


Can you believe how strong the wind is blowing. It is up to 35mph. It blew my rocking chair over. We Californians are not use to this kind of weather. We only know about sunshine and fog.


The wind is blowing so hard it knocked off all of the fruit on some trees.


Guess we will just stay home and stay dry. I have a pot of chili beans cooking. Tom made his usual weekend chocolate cake.I still need to frost it. We will pretend that this cake is for Kathleen's birthday. Guess I won't be losing any weight this weekend.

Hard At Work.

Well, I told you I had to go back to work. Here I am busy with Melissa's little girls. Yasmin and Natalia, they are out of school until next week. They get to come to work with their mommy for now. I call them shredder, they do the shredding for us.
It is cold and wet outside. We don't feel like working today, but then do I ever???

Another year 2008

I can't believe that we are entering the year 2008. This past year was filled with plenty of blessings for us. We have a new granddaughter, who will be a year old this month. We also have been blessed with a beautiful daughter-in-law. What more could we want? ( I can think of a ton of things
but won't go there.)
We took Ryan and Shelly to the airport yesterday.I was so sad to see them go. Ryan was not looking forward to it either. Not that he didn't want to go home, he hates flying. He has watched to many Air Emergency programs.
We spent our New Years Eve at home, we were in bed by 8:30. Guess we are getting old.
I spent most of my day cleaning up, getting rid of the Christmas tree etc., and I bought a new laptop, so now I can go all over my house and blog. Tom started tiling our shower stall in our bathroom. (We have been working on that for over a year.) I can't wait to get the remodeling done. It is a mess back there.
Well, it is back to work tomorrow.

We went to eat at our favorite Chinese restraurant in St. Helena. Ryan and Shelly thought the napkins looked like the Pope's hat.

My new laptop and printer, copier, scanner. As soon as I figure out how to connect them, there will be no stopping me with blogging.

There was still a present under our tree when Tom took the decorations and lights off. I wonder who it is for? I think I know, it's for a little sweet pea, her name is Lawren. The tree was just as fresh as when we bought it a week ago. It had hardly dropped any needles. We bought it Dec. 23rd. I think I will do that from now on, wait until the last minute, that way the tree will stay fresh.