It's funny how...

When you've had your husband home from work for going on six weeks, you realize how incredibly badly you need normalcy. As the days crawl by at a pace that even snails scoff at, sometimes all you need is...well...a little change. Today, Josh started his fourth year of school for HVAC training to become a journeyman. For the past month he's been trapped in this house with us daily. I believe that the four of us shackled together for 'forced family time' has taken a bit of a toll on us all. Today has been one of the fastest days I've experienced in quite awhile. I can't believe that it's nap time already! Where did my morning go? You know what though? I'm okay with that. It felt like 'old times' again waking up to an empty space where Josh's car should be. I was afraid that I'd be pounding my head on the wall with the constant, mind-numbing chorus of 'where's daddy?' echoing through the house. But each kid asked me a grand total of once. After I told them that he'd gone to school, they were dandy-fine with that explanation and have been merrily playing out the day ever since. Okay, so it's not like I don't enjoy having Josh around. I wouldn't be married to him if that was case. Unfortunately, we can get a bit bored with the monotony and that puts a strain on our time together. It's like living college dorm life all over again. (Mandy, you know what I mean.) If our time together was paid vacation from a full time job, I'm sure that we'd be handling things much differently. As it is, having the word 'unemployed' bouncing haphazardly around our skulls consistently as the days ebb by makes it harder to enjoy. The kiddos love having Josh around, but it's nothing compared to the excitement they get when he's been gone all day and hear the words 'daddy's home' come out of my mouth. It gives them daily consistency (that goes for me as well) and something fun to look forward to at night. Honestly, I think I heard Josh skipping out of the house with bells on while whistling a merry tune at 6:00 this morning. Can't blame him. I feel the same way at the prospect of leaving the house for an allotted period of time. The question is, when is it my turn to skip and whistle?

Happy Birthday...

Why is it that the end of the year produces more birthdays in my family than any other time of the year? That being the question of the day, it appears I have a couple of birthdays to acknowledge. I've been lapsing a bit on my birthday greetings. I'm fairly certain that I missed a couple of birthdays in the past couple of months when it comes to blog wishing, but as to who they were and if I actually missed them, I am clueless. If I missed your big day then many belated happy birthdays to you.

On to the two birthdays of the weekend.

Today is my wonderful husband's birthday. He's old. Really really old. I'm talking as old as they come. When it comes to cradle robbing, he was totally guilty of such when it comes to my young self. Okay...not really. He's actually 35 years young today. So far, no gray hair and he still has full use of all his limbs and major body organs. :-) I'm of course only trying to get a rise out of him (providing he by chance checks my ol' blog out today like I asked him to). We are celebrating with one of his favorite dinners: Tuna casserole. Really, it's just him and me eating that, seeing as how it is impossible to make without milk (sorry kiddos). But they don't really seem to like new foods so they will be more than thrilled to have plain noodles and various other edibles. Then we're having a pudding cake (Josh's choice) followed by a movie after the kiddos bedtime. We rented 'Where the Wild Things Are.' I hear it's a bit too creepy/scary/dark for kids. He's been wanting to watch that for some time so we'll see how it is. He'll then be spending an entire night WOWing (World of Warcraft, for those less savvy) with a big bag of peanut M&M's and a mug of Mt. Dew. Whatever floats his boat, I say. So Happy Birthday Josh! I love you and hope it's a great day!

Tomorrow is Josh's mom's birthday. All I can say is that it must have been one heck of a birthday for her 35 years ago. I know that I sure wish my birthday could be spent in a hospital after hours of painful labor and being desperately tired. (Sarcasm, folks.) But I'm sure it was a great birthday present to have a new baby in her arms. We all hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow Cindy! Happy Birthday!

Dough Day

Is it me, or are the days dragging by? Some days, I feel as though time is flying by and I'm barely able to breathe. But other days, I swear that there are twice as many hours in a day to kill. Of course, in hind sight, time is speeding by so fast that it barely seems logical. I mean, seriously, I have an almost four year old?? What is up with that? However, this week is one of those weeks filled with extra long days and nothing to do to make the time bearable. So what to do, what to do? Well, when in doubt...cook! Yup. Nothing makes the time go by like sugar and that leads me to a big batch of cookies. I got each kiddo a bowl of flour, a big blob of sugary dough, an lots of fun things to cut shapes with. They had a blast and it was evident on their faces...and their hands....their shirts....the floor...you get the point. By the end of the hour that unnaturally sped by, Alex and Abby looked as though they were dipped, head first, in a vat of white dust. Did I bother to take a picture of the destruction zone? Nah. But you'll have to take my word for it that it was quite the sight to see. They also frosted their baked cookies. And when I say 'frosted the cookies', I actually mean that they ate two big bowls of frosting and sprinkles. They were so full of frosting that they didn't even get to eat a cookie. They had fun though, and that's all that matters. I'm thinking I'm going to have one day a week where we make something fun in the kitchen. It also forces me to mop my floor so it's a win win situation for all.

The Anniversary You Shouldn't Celebrate

Well. It's official. We've celebrated our one year anniversary of the day that Josh's job situation went spiraling madly downhill on a way one course for the bottom. Did we really celebrate such an occasion, you ask? No. Sheesh. What kind of people do you think we are? It did hit us the other day that it was one year ago when he got the first dreaded pink slip. Sometimes, we look back on that day and wonder what really happened. Was it honestly a 'lack of work' situation or was there something else underlying that his ex-boss wasn't willing to talk about? Naturally, we'll never know. But that fateful day was the start of a really rough year. At times it felt like we were barely clinging on to the edge of a slippery bridge and hoping not to fall into the crocodile infested waters. Other times, it felt like things weren't all that bad. Of course, there were also the times where we just threw our hands up in the air and said, "Eh. Whatever." Looking back on that day, I remember having a core meltdown. I thought it was literally the end of life as we knew it. The second lay off was a bit easier on my emotional state. By the time we got the most recent (fourth, I believe) pink slip, I realized that I have a complete lack of emotional reaction. I call it emotional Novocaine. Either I've learned to cope with the continuous unknown path of our life, or I've become numb to the 'bad news'. Either way, we're managing one day at a time. I don't blog about this very often. Seriously, who wants to read about someone's woes every single day? I know I sure don't. But this is the one major thing going on in our lives. As this blog is meant as a sort of record of our family and the ups and downs life has for us, I might as well keep it real once in a while. Ya can't have marshmallow fluff and butterfly days 365 days out of the year. But, as is said often, God won't give you more than you can handle. We're just running with that phrase for the time being. As of now though, Josh has reached his one month of unemployment mark and we're hopeful that a job is around the corner. Again. We're considering our options with kissin' the ol' Union good bye right now, but that could be a painful split. So here's hopin' we won't be 'celebrating' our second year anniversary one year from now.

Last day in Branson

Only slightly delayed, I am now posting the remainder of my Branson blog. I was so incredibly blogged out with my new design that I sorta put it on a temporary hold. With us having a bit of a rainy/cloudy day, I suppose I've found time to actually write. Anyhow, where was I? Oh yes...the last day of Branson.

Well, we ended up leaving our family fun time behind us fairly early the last day. We had a plan for the day and it didn't involve staying idle. Heather decided to try making pancakes over an open fire with her cast iron skillet. Turns out that two-feet high flames and a pool of vegetable oil floating in a pan just don't mix. Who knew? After the first pancake burst into a stunning array of flames, we realized that it just wasn't meant to be. So, after a failed breakfast attempt by the breakfast queen (Don't sweat it Heather. Even professionals can't get it right every time ;-), we went with cold cereal and anything miscellaneous that we could scrounge up. And by miscellaneous, I pretty much mean a big bag of marshmallows over the campfire. The kiddos really enjoyed that. Who wouldn't enjoy marshmallows for breakfast?

Heather and the Great Pancake of Doom.

I toasted the mallows for the wee ones that were unable to handle the heat.

Finally, we herded up the kiddos (some more reluctantly than others) and got some great photos of them together. Have you ever tried to get seven kids to smile at the same time for a camera? Turns out...not possible. But they are still cute nonetheless. From here, it was time to part ways with half of our crew. We headed back to Ben and Heather's house for the night because the boys had an Eagles vs. Chiefs football game to go to that evening. It was Josh's first football game and all the men had fun going. But before we went to the game we stopped off at a rather famous restaurant called Lambert's Cafe. Ever heard of it? No? Well, it's one of the top ten places to eat in the ol' U.S.A. Why? Large portions of fried food and rolls being chucked at you from across the room. It wasn't too bad, but not really someplace I'd go again by choice. I'm not exactly a fan of large plates of meat and half of their menu ended with the words 'large portion of hog jowl.' Don't get me wrong. I'm sure hog jowl is a perfectly acceptable piece of the pig to eat...if you're starving to death on a deserted island and you've completely exhausted your endless supply of coconuts, bananas and seaweed. Otherwise...you can't put it on my list of 'Things I plan to never eat'.

So here are the pics of the pack of cousins.

All in all, it was a great week and we're glad we got to spend some time together with everyone. I know that the kids had a blast. Alex especially was sad to go home. He already misses his cousins and can't wait to see them again. Thanks to my inlaws for making our trip possible and lots of fun!

New Design!

Don't freak out! You're at the right blog. It's still me, your friendly neighborhood mama monkey. I've been, well...a bit bored with my blog lately. It's gotten a tad monotonous if I do say so myself. So...with a husband off on unemployment and me being bored as they come these days, I figured I'd give redesigning my blog a go. Mandy recently redesigned hers and every time I visit it, it is so fun and new that I just had to give it a shot on mine in the hopes of re-sparking my desire to blog. So for now, I'm giving this design a try. On the right side, there's a poll. If you visit my blog and wouldn't mind givin' me your opinion, I'd be every so appreciative. I'm not completely sold on the ol' blog change up, but I think it's growing on me. I went with The Lemonade Stand because lately it feels like life just keeps throwin' us extra lemons simply to keep us on our toes. And ya know what? We're okay with that. So let me know what ya think. Oh...and no worries if you've bookmarked my little blog. I'm not changing the web address. That takes a little too much work for even the most bored person.

And P.S. I have a few more Branson pics to share in the next couple of days sometime so stay tuned!

And P.P.S. Yeah...I know I have a typo in my new banner. I got it covered...just can't do anything until the hubby lets me use the other computer. ;-)

Update: Typos corrected!

Branson: Part 2

After the fun-filled water sports day, we ended up doing a few random things the next day. When asked what I would like to do on this family vacation, I searched high and low for a good place to go horse-back riding. I found a place that was really close to where we were staying and it was decided that only the girls age six and over could go. That pretty much meant that the boys got to stay home with all the kids except Lauren. She's quite the little rider and I was proud to see her on her own big horse on the trail. Of course, the rule was no cameras so I didn't get to take pictures of this fun event. The trail was beautiful but extraordinarily rocky. Due to the slower late season business, it was just us girls with no other riders. I, being the natural bad example that I am, chose to ride without a helmet quoting to my almost seven-year old niece, 'Do as I say, not as I do.' But no worries folks. I came through unscathed.

The night before this of course was an amazing moment to witness for all who were still awake. Ben, the master fisherman himself, fought a fish down at the docks for fifteen minutes. I was planning on going down to the docks to join him for a little fishing only to be one minute too late for the excitement. He comes truckin' up the hill carrying this...

That my friends is a buffalo carp (if I'm not mistaken). And judging by the constant stream of sweat dripping from Ben's nose and the busted up thumb he got, I'd say that would count as most awesome catch of the year. I was lucky enough to catch one of these bad boys way back in my Manhattan days on a fishing trip with Ben. Needless to say, I was giddy at the thought of catching another one. But drat the luck, all I caught was a three-inch bluegill perch. In other words...the bait to Ben's fish. Oh...and I almost caught a copperhead snake. It literally leaped out of the water for my jig. Nearly scared the pee out of me.

We also checked out some outlet malls that day. I'm not a fan of shopping, but I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I got some quality sister time when everyone went home leaving JanDell, Heather, and me to a little extra kid-free time. I did catch this adorable picture of Grandpa (Paul) and his two grandsons holding hands. Too cute.

The evening before we left, some of us (most definitely not me) went dock jumping/swimming. All the kids went except mine. We almost got Alex to go in, but too many people were encouraging him and it scared him back into his chair. I got some shots of all those involved in leaping crazily off of the dock into the murky depths. My bro-inlaw, Stephen, was quite animated in his jump skills. It was pretty entertaining to watch to say the least. What is the reason yours truly was not involved in the fun-fun dock diving, you ask? Um, yeah...scroll back up. Do you see the picture of Ben's fish above? I am so not going in the water with things of that magnitude swimming around. That was a big fish...but there's always a bigger fish. :-) So for now, I shall leave you with the dock-diving photos.

Stephen in mid-jump.

Caleb in mid-jump.

My kiddos safely sitting in their chairs...high and dry.

Fearless Kate.

Wild and crazy Linsey.

The fish in water, Lauren.

Heather and her girls.

Alex almost gettin' in the water. Part of me was relieved he sat it out. When he decided not to go, Abby shrugged her shoulders and said, "I'll do it."