The County Fair

It's the end of the summer and 4-H clubs all over are having their county fairs. I grew up in 4-H and loved it. There were very few projects that I didn't try at least once. I am very excited to get my kids involved in it someday. For now, though, we have to settle for just visiting the fair every year. This year, Mandy and I packed the kids up into the van and headed to the fairgrounds. It was fun. This year, all three of the wee ones are walking and old enough to enjoy themselves. I tell ya what. It sure is a walk down memory lane. Here are some of the pictures of the day.

The kiddos enjoying a drink in the van.

Abby checkin' out the piggies.

Me and the monkeys strollin' through the barns.

Pettin' the pigs.

They all got a kick out of being in the pens.

Someday My Sleep Will Come...

Sleep. Is it overrated? Do we really need as much of it as we think we do? Or have we become a lazy society where sleep is more of a luxury than we take it for? I'm not entirely sure, but I miss it nonetheless. I notice the tell tale signs of black that have slowly become more obvious underneath my tired eyes. I told my friend earlier today, that I haven't slept through the night since I was pregnant with Alex. Even then, I didn't sleep through the night due to early A.M. bladder calls. Alex is actually not as much of a problem these days. I had my massive sleep battles with him and was hoping that Abby would skip that nasty little blip in the radar. Apparently my hope failed me yet again. Figures. Hope, it seems, can be overrated as well.

These days, Abby is the cause for my nighttime battles. I've mentioned it before, but her latest case of croup caused the worst of it. Now that she feels like she has to be with me 24/7 (literally), I get very little sleep at night. REM sleep isn't even an option anymore. I believe that part of my dilemma is that Alex and Abby have to share a room. I would let her cry...or rather scream...it out, but it wakes Alex up and then he starts screaming as well. So then I have not one, but two kids screaming and wanting to sleep in bed with me. Just FYI, a queen size bed does not fit four people easily. Especially when two of them are prone to rolling and kicking constantly. So I am forced to go rescue miss Abby from her woeful nighttime fits. She also has taken to throwing herself back from a standing position and bonking her head on the rails. Naturally, this only prompts her to an even larger scream fest. I've spent most of my nights going from my bed, to the kids floor, to the couch, to the rocking chair. My back is so thrown out of whack now that I can hardly stand up straight without feeling the aches and pains radiate up and down my body. My friend suggests that I move her to the laundry room, but in fear of her being infested with brown recluses, I simply won't even try that. So I suppose that when they are older, (you know...ten, twelve...twenty-five...*sigh*) I won't have to worry about my sleepless nights. It's getting hard to drag myself out of bed these days, but I manage it even on the hardest nights. Here's hoping that my kiddos finally figure out that sleep is a lovely thing...in their own bed. Until then, I will simply continue to 'hope' that someday, my sleep will come.

My New Bed

I think starting this posting out with a huge groan would be appropriate. so...

***Uuggghhh***

Now that that's out of the way, I shall explain the literary sound effect. I have a new bed. Isn't that exciting? Well, actually, it's not exciting. It's a pain in my neck...and my back...and my legs...you get the point. Back in March, Josh and I decided it was time to get a new mattress for our bed. Our old one was a hand-me-down from a friend when we got married and it was starting to show signs of it's imminent death. Springs were popping out all over it and it felt like we were sleeping on a board. So we headed out to our local mattress mart and picked up a new one. I was so excited to have a new comfy bed to sleep on, as my back was sore nearly every morning I woke up. After the initial polyurethane smell wore off (gag me), it was a better option than what we had previously slept on. Josh, of course, thinks it's super comfortable. I, on the other hand, can't tell a huge difference. My back still hurts when I wake up. But at least I don't have to worry about a spring shooting out in the middle of the night and impaling me. Just as I get used to the new bed, Abby got a nice case of croup. She got a little taste of what it was like to sleep in 'the big bed' and now she always wants to be in there. I was okay with it up until the point that she started waking up every night for two to three hours at a time. She wouldn't go back to sleep. Turns out that she wants to sleep on my chest. What?!? I thought that those days were over when she was 4 months old. Obviously sleeping in the bed with a wiggly one-year-old isn't the best scenario. (she has fallen off the bed once already) So I have been officially sentenced to the couch. We spent money on a nice new mattress and I'm back to sleeping on the couch. Greeaaat. Until she learns that mommy is not her new bed, I will have to suffer with the the ol' couch...my new bed.

Phlog V:2.0

Back in June, I did a blog called "A Phlog (photo blog)". I figure that once in a while I should post a new Phlog up so I can catch up on my photo posting. So here is a compilation of some new photos of the monkeys and such for your viewing pleasure...

"Is Daddy home yet?"

Mmmmm....IBC Rootbeer. I serve my kids only the finest!

When the kids get bored...

Alex's play-doh time!

Abby's play-doh time too!

What are they thinkin' do ya think?

Abby wasn't as thrilled as Alex to be in the tree, but it's a cute photo op.

AND...a too cute video of monkeys bein' monkeys.

Old Faithful

Back around the time when Abby was just a wee little thing is when Alex decided to fall in love with one lone movie. George of the Jungle. He watched that movie more times than I can remember and it was the only one that he ever wanted to see. I was fine with that. I mean, all kids have obsessions with one thing or another throughout their lives. So why fight it, right? Since then, he grew to enjoy many movies. Cartoons were never high on his list, but he has become attached to a few Pixar movies (The Incredibles and Toy Story to be exact). He doesn't have nap time and so gets to pick his 'quiet-time' movie for the day. Quiet-time is good for him. He sits on the couch and gets to rest for a good one to two hours during the day. I used to give him George of the Jungle as an option for the longest time and one day he just decided that he didn't want to watch it anymore. For a brief time, he enjoyed George of the Jungle 2...yes...they made a second one. It doesn't have Brendan Fraser in it but it is very funny and entertaining. Anyhow, after a good month of watching that one, he quit George and his crazy antics cold turkey. Last week he came up to me and asked me, "Mommy, can I watch George of the Jungle for quiet time today?" (awww...full sentences...my boy's growin' up!) I was happy to oblige and he has been watching his old faithful movie for going on two weeks now. It is cute to see how he has changed since his original obsession with it. He laughs at different scenes now and can understand much more of the movie. He pretends he is a monkey and makes jungle calls like George/Tarzan all the time. I think that he will probably give up on ol' George again in the next week or two, but it's cute to see him enjoy an old favorite again. Ahhh...memories.

Potter Report

For starters, let me grace you with my official report of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was great! They followed the book really close in this one. There were only a few added scenes that they changed up a bit and the end was different in it's own way. I love, love, LOVE the way they portrayed Snape in this one. But I'm a Snape fan to the end. He's one of my favorite characters. But it also helps when he is played by an amazing actor. (Alan Rickman is so fantastic) You go to this movie and the first two hours were just awesome! Best Potter flick by far. Then the end comes and it kind of...well...was anti-climatic. Don't worry. I won't disclose anything major for all of you that have yet to read the books or see the movies. Though, if you haven't read them or seen the movies yet and are over the age of ten, then chances are that you never will. I am a firm believer in not ruining movies/books for people. But it was well worth the visit to the movie theater. It was filled with really wonderful character development and quite a few funny scenes. The kids have really grown into their characters. I'm pumped to see the next movie. It was great to get out again and spend some quality time with Josh. In fact, the kids had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa that Alex has been asking to go back again. Woo-hoo!! I'll be taking much advantage of this phase. I am desperately needing another viewing of Transformers 2 in the next two weeks. And by the way, I still stand by my movie advice for everyone. Seriously, if you are going to only see one movie in the theater this year then see Transformers 2. You can see Harry Potter on your own TV and not lose the effect, but you can NOT see Transformers for the first time on a TV. You just won't understand the grand super-wonderfulness of it all. (Was that too geeky again? Oh well.)

Next, we had an incredibly productive weekend for a change. Usually, our weekends just float by with nothing to report of interest. Though I don't suppose much of it is really that interesting, it is still more so than my normal weekends.

We spent the rest of the weekend doing some things to improve the old house. We hope to sell it in the next year or two and move on up to another house with at least three bedrooms. How much longer can I house a boy and girl in the same room? I don't know when it becomes socially unacceptable. I have been attempting to get the siding on one side of the house replaced where it molded and rotted through. Turns out we have termites too. Greeeaaat. Guess I'll be buying termite killer in the next week as well. Yuck. Stupid worthless bugs...grumble grumble. I'll also be spending my weekends painting the house and deck. I decided to change our accent color from maroon to hunter green. I got a good chunk of the deck painted and did some landscaping too (thanks for the wood chips Sean and Mandy!). Free landscape material is AWESOME! I got limestone rocks from my Mom who has loads of them from years ago when they dug the lagoon and free wood chips from my friends who own a super wood chipper. Can't go wrong with free, right?

So anyways, the siding is done and the painting has commenced. It's starting to come together. I am hoping that it will help us with the selling of the house in the end. I look forward to having a bigger place one day. The kids had a blast helping outside. Alex helped me spread the wood chips and Abby helped by eating some. Naturally. I hope to post some pictures tomorrow. I would have done weekly winners but I don't think I pulled my camera out but once the entire week. Bad photo mama!

It's Potter Time!

This Saturday, I will finally be able to view the long awaited and highly anticipated Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Woo-hoo! Not only will I be enjoying the wonderfulness that is Harry Potter, but I will be getting my daily recommended dose of Mama-me-time. Ahhh...getting out of the house is so wonderful. But now that I have come to enjoy my out-of-the-house-away-from-the-kids-time, I think that I would not appreciate it as much if I were to do this too often. Nevertheless, it is fun to get out and spend some quality time with the hubby. I think it will be healthier for us in the end.

So Harry Potter time has come (finally...sheesh). The money-hungry movie studios decided to push the movie back so that they could enjoy the monetary benefits of a summer blockbuster. Annoying...yes. I mean, come on! The movie has been done since last year! Oh well...it'll be fun to watch even if it is almost a year later than anticipated. I'll be sure to let you all know how wonderful the movie is come Saturday. The next movie I am wanting to head to the theater to watch won't be coming until November. (see Mama Monkey's Movie Countdown on the sidebar
---->) But to fill the long time between this weekend and that faraway date, I will be going to see Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen once more. If truth be told, I'm actually more excited to see that a second time than I am to see Harry Potter. Why? I don't know. Cuz I'm a total geek, I guess. Unfortunately, Josh will be dragged with me. He isn't thrilled, but he'll deal. :-) Anyhoodle...In case I don't blog before Saturday, I hope everyone has a magical weekend. I know I will!

Weekly Winners

Okay...So I'm a bit late on the weekly winners this week, but I don't have a mass load of time to blog today seeing as how Abby took an early nap, sooo....here ya'll go!

Penny...our one-eyed kitty.

Isn't my corn huge!? It's like 8 feet tall now...amazing.

You just wonder what he is thinking, don't you?

Wild Wild West birthday party at Wesley's house.

Alex in the garden...a popular hangout in the backyard.

Diaper boxes: Better than real toys any day of the week.

Birthday cake...mmmm...Abby's favorite.

Happy Birthday Blog

This weekend comes with multiple birthdays so I shall send a big Happy Birthday shout out to all those who are celebrating the day of their birth. I hope you all have wonderful birthdays. First up,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT RITA!!

Today is my Aunt Rita's birthday. Thanks to facebook, I actually get to keep better track of birthdays then I used to. It's kind of nice. So Happy Birthday Aunt Rita! I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful aunt in my life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMIE & LINDA!!

Next up, tomorrow are my twin niece and nephew's birthday. Eight year's old! Wow...how time flies. Happy birthday to you two! We hope it's an awesome birthday for you and that you have a super-duper blast doing whatever you are doing to celebrate the big day! Alex say's Happy Birthday too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WESLEY!!

And on Sunday, my friends little boy, Wesley, is turning two! Holy cow! Two years went too fast. It just makes me think that it means I only have three months until Alex is three. We are so excited to go to the big Wild Wild West birthday party tomorrow. Alex is pumped to wear his cowboy boots. We hope you have an awesome Wild Wild West birthday Wesley!

Josh is going to get home from another week of working out of town so I'm sure blogging won't be happening this weekend. So happy birthday to all and I hope you all have a really great weekend.

It's Always Better on a Beater

You remember being a kid, right? Mom is in the kitchen whipping up something tasty with her trusty old mixer. The sound of the beaters draw you into the kitchen. Perhaps you stand by the counter, eagerly awaiting the taste of cake batter. Suddenly Mom hands you the sticky, dripping beater to lick clean. Yes...I believe we all have those memories. I think it might be engraved in a child's brain that if it is on a beater, then it will inevitably taste better. Actually, you can come very close to comparing it to Pavlov's Dog theory. I can actually spot the drool escaping their mouths when I fire up the ol' mixer. Mashed potatoes were a winner for the longest time with Alex and Abby, but in the last few months, it's all I can do to get them to even look at the plate without turning their noses up in disgust. I make some dang good potatoes, too! So bring on the picky eaters! I decided to give them the beaters and they gobble up the potatoes like it's some special treat concocted specially for them. I thought Abby might not be interested in the joy-joy goodness of beaters, but I was mistaken. She was just as happy to nom-nom-nom the beater clean. They even ask for more and I just dip the beaters back into the bowl until they have had their fill. In fact, they enjoy eating from them so much, that I might just try whipping up a few other side dishes. What do you think about whipped green beans and broccoli? Too much? Ah well...at least I can gaurantee they'll eat potatoes.

Fourth of July

Last week, we had the pleasure of visiting Josh's family in Oklahoma. We had fun spending some quality time with them. Josh got to hang out with his brother for the weekend and he had a great time. It's nice for them to get to see each other because they are so close. Honestly, I think they miss each other more than they let on. We used to live about five minutes from each other about 3 years ago. Now there is a whopping four hour gap between our happy little families and the boys barely get to see each other. It can be a hard thing for us to take Alex just about anywhere these days. He seems to have some kind of breathing issue whenever we travel due to allergies and asthma. I hope that the mountain of medication he is on will change that over time. We shall see.

So on to the week of the Fourth of July. Early in the week, we went to our local firework tent and bought some snappers. You know the things...you toss them on the ground and get a nice little *pop!* They are perfect for kids because they pose very little threat to them. No burnt finger or loss of eyebrow risk involved. Alex loves them. He enjoys throwing them and stomping on them.
Naturally, Abby didn't want to be left out of the festivities. She was just as keen on throwing them as her big brother was. Of course, they rarely had enough oomph behind them to explode, but she ran over to them and tried to stomp on them too. She laughed every time one would snap. It was adorable.

That brings us to the weekend. We set off for Oklahoma. Alex was beyond thrilled to see his cousins, Lauren, Linsey, and Kate. Lauren is the oldest. As most parents will tell you, there is something engraved in every young child that makes them gravitate to the oldest children in the room. Something about them is awe inspiring. Alex and Lauren became quite good little buddies during the weekend. They played together constantly and were always holding hands. Alex is still talking about her today. Lauren was just wonderful with him too. She got him to play 'grocery store' and 'house' and all sorts of little imaginary games. I think Alex will miss her dearly now. He talks about her as much as he talks about his other cousins, Jamie and Linda, who are also quite a bit older than him.

My father-in-law smoked a mass load of meat over the weekend. That's great for the adults, but to kids, there is nothing more evil than random chunks of meat. So they ended up dining on ever-faithful cereal most of the time. Cereal is the food that most parents can gaurantee their child will eat at least once a day if given the opportunity.


All the kids ended up enjoying each others company. There were the off moments when two of them would become temporary mortal enemies, but after five minutes of cool-down time, they would become bosom buddies once again. Alex even got to go with Lauren and Linsey to watch Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in the theater. Josh and Ben took them. He had a lot of fun for his first movie on the big screen. I'm glad that he got to enjoy that experience. It gives me hope for future movie outings.


Abby wasn't smitten with anyone in particular (except Mommy of course), but she did enjoy tagging along whenever she could. She tried her best to keep up and got a kick out watching them play.

So other than the weather, the weekend was great. It decided to rain for a good chunk of the time we were there. The kids all passed out early on the Fourth and it left us with no other option but to miss the local firework display. I will say that I missed that. Maybe it makes me a big redneck, but I love a good fireworks display. We always had fireworks to shoot off when I was a kid. Nothin' better than spending your hard earned money on a bunch of cheap fireworks and then blowing it all up. It is a bit like flushing your money down the toilet, but hey...that's how I grew up. We always had fun though. I think Alex would have loved watching them this year. There's always next year though. I hope you all had a great Fourth of July too!

Weekly Winners

Okay, so my friend Mandy does something now called Weekly Winners. She said I should try to do this and I agree. It's a good way to put pictures up of the week. You basically put up your best pictures of the week every Sunday. I'm not always that great about posting updated pictures so I'll do my best to do this every Sunday. Hope you all enjoy!

Logan gettin' up close and personal.

Bonding time with Logan.

Abby enjoying her outdoor time.

Alex pickin' our first edible strawberry that the birds didn't get.

Firework snappers! Alex was jumping on them.

Alex checking out a monarch butterfly we found freshly hatched.

Alex and new buddy, cousin Lauren.

It's Video Time!

It's been awhile since I posted a video on here. I know that there are certain people in the family that do so enjoy a good video of my little monkeys. So here is a good one that demonstrates Abby's abilities thus far. (physical abilities anyhow) She truly is taking after Alex in so many ways. It's amazing to see. She is even adding new words to her repertoire almost daily just by listening to Alex. Alex will ask her to say something and she gladly does her best to repeat it. Then they both enjoy a nice round of self-congratulatory applause and giggle about it. It's pretty darn cute, to say the least.



On another note, we will be heading out of to see Josh's family for the Fourth of July weekend. Josh is super excited to spend some time with his brother and Alex is pretty excited to see Uncle Ben too. He's begun doing the "Uncle-Ben Dance" again to prepare for seeing him. So have a great weekend all! God Bless America!

Buzz Off

Mosquitoes...ugh. They are literally waiting at the door to dive bomb us on our way outside to play. I would almost swear that all the mosquitoes in the state use our backyard as a headquarters. For some reason, though, Josh is immune to them. He must have some random freakish super power that repels biting bugs. He can sit outside for an hour and get no bites at all. Whereas the kiddos and me end up looking like we got a nasty case of chicken pox. Yes, I do spray the kids down with bug spray. However, I don't feel really safe spraying chemicals on their sensitive little faces. So by the end of the evening, Abby and Alex have at least 5 or 6 new bites to add to the ever growing itchy bump list. Poor kids. They wake up every night at least 3 times crying and scratching their bites.

Well, my mom...working in a lawn and garden center...got some free samples of this thing called Bug Band. Ever heard of it? Well, if you haven't then you really must seek it out. It's a nifty little bracelet/band that you wear on your wrist/ankle/belt and it is supposed to keep away the many insects that like to bug us all (pun intended). I was skeptical, but gave it a go for good measure. I was shocked to see what happened. Those nasty little biters were hovering over the kids all night, but never once landed on their skin. It was like there was a magical force shield around them and the bugs couldn't get past it. Very weird. My favorite part of this little bracelet is that it is supposed to work for 120 hours an comes with a little case to store it in when you aren't using it. It is made from the oil of geraniums. I guess back in the day, people used to plant geraniums in flower boxes outside their windows because they are notorious for keeping bugs at bay. Huh...who knew? Turns out that they were right. So if you are lookin' for a pretty snazzy way to keep the biting at it's minimum, I'd recommend these things. (I was not paid to promote this folks...just trying to get the word out to stop the summer itch.) I can't guarantee that these things work for the 120 hours they claim, but neither Alex or Abby had a single bite on them last night. And guess what? They both slept through the night itch-free.

Check 'em out...seriously...you might be surprised too! Bugband.net