Life According to Jamin and Jesse

Well, it's that time again.....our little man is one year older. It's hard to believe that Jesse turned 9 this year. We had a few friends over to the house, and did a very low-key birthday party.

We decided grilled hamburgers and chicken would be good, so guess who got to do that? Thanks Dad for all the hard work!

It was hard for Jesse to get the silly grin off his face throughout the whole party;)

Tradition in the Murphy house has been to make homemade birthday cakes instead of store bought ones. This year, we decided to do homemade cupcakes instead.

Our friends are trying out the new foosball table the boys got for Christmas.

Jamin and Trevor at the party.....Trevor is about to move, and he will really be missed by Jamin and Jesse!

Jamin and Jesse with two of their closest friends.....Trevor and Peter.

In January, we had several guests come through Cebu. The boys became new friends with R.J. and D.J., while their family visited us. Below pictured with the boys is R.J.

One of the afternoons, after eating out, we stopped at Jollibee's for icecream. They have a dessert that is just like a Dairy Queen Blizzard, or a McFlurry....called "Swirly Bitz". I thought it was cute that I caught Jamin pouting (he was playing around) behind in the background while I was messing with the camera.

Of course, there is never a Kodak moment where Jesse doesn't show his silly side. That is what we love about him!!! Maybe he can make us some money someday from all his silliness :)

R.J., D.J., Jamin and Jesse at Jollibee's

Jamin trying to imitate an advertisement at the mall.

Mr. Joe Cool (in black and white)

Mr. Joe Cool (in color)

Ellie slimming up since having been booted outside!

The next weekend, after R.J., D.J. and their family left, our good friend, Bro. Udonishi came to visit us in Cebu again. Towards the end of the trip, he wanted to see the sights, so we took him to "The Tops". This is the highest place in our city, and you can see all of Cebu, Mactan and neighboring islands from here. The boys enjoyed running around on the beehive-looking sidewalks.

Udonishi and the boys

Jamin and Jesse looking out over Cebu City

While Bro. Udonishi was here, Bro. Jerry Kidd from our Missions Office was in Cebu visiting us as well. It was a short trip, but we enjoyed his stay. Below is a pic of the boys with him.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!
Love and miss you all...

The Murphy's

Here is a little "ditty" for our family and friends back in the states:

Here is another video actually taken a few days before Christmas at one of our shopping malls. We had a great time visiting with friends and seeing the fireworks. Filipinos love to pop fireworks, especially on Christmas Eve nite, around midnite, just when it turns Christmas day. It's not as big as New Year's Eve fireworks, but festive nonetheless.

The pictures below have been taken over the last week or so.........

Jamin waiting for the neighborhood Christmas party to begin

He was also picked to play a game, of which he really didn't like...

Jamin and Jesse with their friend Peter at the party

We finally get to meet Angel, our helper's new baby (she is 2 months old).

Jane and Angel

Christmas Eve, we stayed up alittle late, and did some family bonding time. We pulled out this 500 piece puzzle and finished it in an hour. Doesn't Jamin look like he had fun? :) Actually he chose to go upstairs and talk to his grandparents online during all this great family fun!!

Christmas morning

Jamin and Jesse are not in a 'cheap gift' stage....everything is electronics (playstation 2 games, computer games and Nintendo DS games)....so that is the bulk of their Christmas....besides a foosball table and a new skateboard.

Jesse gets a Tamaguchi (not sure of spelling)....it's a virtual pet toy.

Murphy Christmas morning tradition: birthday cake for Jesus. Well, actually we changed it up this year....we did cupcakes instead. And we also forgot to buy candles, but we sang a song anyways. Cupcakes for breakfast...yum, yum! Mom really knows how to make a nutricious breakfast! Just a note: Mom would have made a good ol' East Texas breakfast, but we were going to a fancy hotel for lunch buffet. We sacrificed! haha!

The morning was spent playing their new games. Jesse is playing his new Pokemon Ranger game on his Nintendo DS.

We wanted to take pics of the huge spread of food at the hotel, but we would have looked like hillbillies (or tourists). Just trust us...it was good. Below is a sleigh and Christmas tree that was in the lobby of the Marco Polo hotel in Cebu.

Forgot to mention: we went to eat lunch with our good friends, John and Myrna Moshis.

After lunch, the boys (all three) came back for some foosball challenge!

Several days before Christmas, we went to visit a good friend, Mila Mante, at her house in Bohol. It's a beautiful house set up on a hill, overlooking the ocean. One of her walkways to the house is an 80+ step path that the boys ran up and down on all day. It was great exercise!!!

We had a great time visiting with Mila. She pulled out a game that we had never heard before called "Ticket to Ride". We had a blast playing this game....too bad you can only buy it in the states.