dear murphy

Dear Murphy is moving/has moved!

dearmurphy — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:43:40 +0000

A quick programming note before posting one last “Dear Murphy” post here: We are moving to blogging only on our site at http://www.nickelcitystudios.com . Eventually, we’ll have a blog-only site at nickelcitystudios.com that will display all of our photographic work as we shoot it…to include more personal stuff like the photos of the boy and other side projects aside from just our wedding/portrait business.

So never fear – more ridiculous videos and photos will continue to be posted – WordPress has been good to us, but it’s time to move on. All the current Dear Murphy posts will remain here until the internet breaks or WordPress goes out of business or Murphy sues us for defamation of character and emancipation – you know, whatever…..

Dear Murphy,

You, my tiny offspring, are quickly approaching two years of age. This means more independance and also a lot more belligerence towards us. We’re always looking for new outlets for your energy, because we’ve generally found you’re a lot better baby when you’re exhausted.

Enter Kai, your new little best friend. Kai is about a year older, but you are way into doing everything that he does – which will hopefully soon involve multisyllabic words. A few days ago we hit up the park together with Kai and his mom.

First things first? Tempt death on the slide with diamond-plated steel steps while your father looks through the viewfinder:

Dear Murphy is moving/has moved!

dearmurphy — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:29:01 +0000

A quick programming note before posting one last “Dear Murphy” post here: We are moving to blogging only on our site at http://www.nickelcitystudios.com/blog.html . Eventually, we’ll have a blog-only site at nickelcitystudios.com that will display all of our photographic work as we shoot it…to include more personal stuff like the photos of the boy and other side projects aside from just our wedding/portrait business.

The photos we can post on our other blog are a lot bigger, and will be downright huge once we go through a massive upgrade with our designers this fall…

Dear Murphy,

First things first? Tempt death on the slide with diamond-plated steel steps while your father looks through the viewfinder:

Luckily, if you had slipped Kai would have broken your fall.

You like that haircut? Yeah, me neither. I don’t actually remember asking the lady to give you the short Lloyd Christmas cut, but what’s done is done – we’ll just hope it grows back out soon. Here’s some photos of you swinging with Kai:

And just Kai:

So, the reason we went up to this park is because there is a giant…well, magical mushroom thingy in the middle of a pool that’s about 15 inches deep:

Yeah, pretty cool – you guys definitely got your parallel play on:

I assume that the above was some sort of dancing…oh, and then you guys both figured out that there were bugs in the pool…and so “Operation: Rescue beetles and hand them to a parent” commenced.

A good time was had by all…I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re scowling at in this photo – but it’s cute:

And so to all of our faithful readers (both of you) – adieu from this URL, and we’ll see you soon at the NCS Blog. Adjust your RSS readers accordingly.

Long Beach

dearmurphy — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:02:47 +0000

Hey there, kiddo. We’ve been having a very long month, so when we were tossed an invite to take you to this place:

by one of our favorite families, the Wattses/Roaldis/Haimilas, we jumped on it. This is their hut at Long Beach, up in Ontario. They vacation here every summer, and, oddly enough, it’s about a quarter mile down the road from the cottage your Mom grew up in. We got you to the beach, and your decided to sample the local flavors.

We tried to get you into the water, but the minute your feet touched the cold water you ran back up the beach, turned around and told the lake, “No, no, no, no, no!”

Here’s you randomly giving Kim some skin.

Then Kenny decided this would be a good idea.

I’m not sure what he thought the result would be, but it ended up being this:

Actually, you and Alli kind of have a similar thing going on…

And then your lovely Aunt Alli taught you to throw sand. Thanks, Alli!

Then it was time for an outfit change and some sand castle building!

Which Kim quickly turned into a more Murphy-friendly project.

Then it was time for another outfit change — into your sand thong!

The sun came out, so we dropped you into your supersuit and got some swimming and generally good playing in.

Until a random skydiver fell on the beach.

Then you went kayaking with your daddy.

Then it was time for another outfit change, and some cake. A word you learned, immediately.

And just a nice shot of us, relaxing, before we headed home. You had a ridiculously amazing time. Thanks, again, Wattses for having us!

Rock Star

dearmurphy — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:54:00 +0000

You’re pretty into the Wiggles and music in general right now – so whenever I break out my guitar to play for you…well, you just kind of take over and want to do it all yourself. Since I value my guitars, I had to figure out a way to keep you happy imitating Murray Cook.

Mini-guitar? Check. Extra strap from the last DSLR I bought and some duct tape? Check and check. Kick-ass baby with a guitar? Check.

So we had that going on this morning – we were “fruit salading” and “hot potatoing” and generally getting down when you pulled this:

Behind the neck playing, Hendrix-style? Oh hell yes that’s a check. Maybe I should have made that guitar left-handed….

Bubbles

dearmurphy — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:46:50 +0000

Hi there – let’s play “spot the photographer father in the bubbles.”

We did some playing outside this morning with the bubble machine. I set it off on top of the trashcan and this huge cascade of bubbles cracked you up for a good ten minutes straight.

I wish I had a chance to record you yelling “Bubbles!!!” at top volume.

Not everyone in our household is so keen on soap bubbles. This is one of your doggies – G-love:

She hates bubbles like you hate running out of juice.

That’s all I’ve got for the day, except for a pretty big milestone we’ve been working on: pedaling. Today you pedaled for the first time, which is pretty cool since my back is starting to hurt from pushing you.

Memorial Day

dearmurphy — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:32:41 +0000

We had a pretty nice Memorial day this year. It was at least a little sunny so we could go outside and grill, which was a nice break from the ridiculous cold weather we’ve been having.

While we were waiting for the grill to heat up, Sean and I broke out the hackey sack…you gave it a go, but we’re going to need to work on your coordination a little more before you can really join the circle.

And then I took a photo of you with your umbrella…just because.

…and that’s what you look like “touched up” in photoshop….nice eyeballs!

That pic is the perfect, “uh oh,” face you wear fairly often these days. The bonus is Sean sharing your moment. Why are you in my truck? It’s actually your favorite place other than the car…but only in the driver’s seat so you can shove quarters into the CD player and leave the lights on so mommy and daddy have to get a jump.

As it was memorial day, we ate Sahlen’s hot dogs….they’re the best hot dogs in the world, with apologies to the Esskay franks of my youth.

As always, don’t forget to check out Mommy and Daddy’s wedding and family photography work over at Nickel City Studios.

It puts the lotion on its skin…

dearmurphy — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:39:20 +0000

Pool Party

dearmurphy — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:43:45 +0000

Most of the water ended up outside of the pool.

Nineteen months has been good to us. You’re incredibly mobile and some of the stuff you do is amazing to me. I guess when you see your son go from needing to have everything in life taken care of for him to blowing bubbles on his own…

…it’s a pretty amazing thing for a parent.

Bye for now…

Alli’s Wedding

dearmurphy — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:04:35 +0000

So, we headed out Friday morning to Portsmouth, NH, for mommy’s best friend (and my birthday buddy)’s wedding. On the way there, we switch planes in NYC, and Larry David was on our flight. He was really kind and allowed Mommy and Daddy to take his picture with me (although he seemed nervous when he saw their camera).

Then Mommy and Daddy got their garment bag and realized some idiot put a bottle of Kahlua under the plane, directly on top of the garment bag. They were really unhappy that an entire bottle of booze was on their suits, but no time to complain — we had to get to the rehearsal! I slept through the rehearsal, but no one seemed to mind — I didn’t last too long at the rehearsal dinner either.

The next morning, I headed to Alli’s suite to get ready. I just wanted to play, but Mommy and Daddy were so busy, the bride, clearly having nothing better to do, entertained me.

Then it was time to start getting ready, but I’m at that stage where nothing is the new black.

Finally they got my kilt, sporan and shoes on, and it was time for some dancing!

And a little Matron-of-Honor choking.

I headed down to the ballroom with Alli.

And I got my thistle!

Then, I hauled butt down the aisle.

After the ceremony (which I sat and stickered through — I rock!), some scary Scottish guy kept harrassing me to see what was under my kilt. It seemed in the vein of asking if I wanted candy, and Mommy and Daddy say only bad strangers will offer me candy, so I got the hell out of there.

I found someone a bit more my liking, and we got our groove on.

Then, Mommy pulled out the good-baby-at-a-wedding pack, and I rocked out.

Finally the day ended, but I was so happy to be there. Congrats, Alli and Kenny. You guys had a beautiful wedding, and I was honored to be a part of it!

Crazy-Eye Killa

dearmurphy — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:50:05 +0000

Fans of the show “Curb Your Enthusiasm” will understand – funniest sitcom episode in the history of the world. Flying from JFK to Logan, we met Larry David, the creator and star of the aforementioned show, as well as Seinfeld.

“Who’s at the door?”

“It’s Killa!!”

So there you go – it’s your first famous person.

Murphy fans, please don’t forget to visit our photography business blog: Buffalo Wedding Photography And if you have a blog or other website – link to us with the above text so we can get our rank up! Thanks, and we’ll have some “Murph in a kilt” shots soon