Milk - It Does a Body Good

Unless it expired two full months ago.

We met my family for dinner in Tuscaloosa and after a long drive, and an even longer wait for a table = more than two hours from the time we left our house, we were more than ready to sit down and get something to drink and eat.

This is not how I expected our dining experience to begin.

We calmly pointed out this little need to know detail to the server.

When he returned from the kitchen and told us that all the milk had the same expiration date, he offered to get Monkus just a cup of milk - I politely declined.

Their health rating was well within the acceptable limits - which leads me to wonder exactly how nobody else seemed to notice two month old expired milk.

Rainy Day Fun

Monkus literally played for hours

 and

 has been hounding me virtually every day since to, "Paint please.".

I did good.

Saved for a Rainy Day

I always try to keep a hidden surprise for the rare rainy days when we are stuck inside.

On this day, the rain was intermittent, but heavy enough to make an outing just about impossible.

Addie was content to play with Julien and a friend and managed to keep from getting injured during the madness.

However, when the boys headed out the door to play,

Addie's little heart was broken.

I decided there was no better time to pull out my bag of tricks.

Monkus didn't ask the occasion and hesitated just mere seconds before finding the best way to rip into the paper.

What followed was hours of fun and entertainment!

To the Untrained Eye

They look so real.

Hence the necessity for me to remind the teenage boys who walked out of my house with these, the need to be uber responsible and aware of the day and age we live in.

Although the boys and their friends know these are BB guns; neighbors, other children and their incredibly observant parents may not be so aware of the relatively innocent nature of the guns.

Bottom line - I could so see my address showing up in the police blotter due to a "complaint of a minor possessing a handgun" - and wow would my teenager be in a world of trouble if that ever happened!

Roar!

While at the Zoo this past Saturday, I had Addie practice her big and most frightening dinosaur roar!

It took a bit of coaching, but she finally turned her little roar into a great big ROAR!

(If you can't see the video, that means a firewall has it blocked)

Pat on the Back

My husband is truly worthy of a pat on the back today.

I sent him into a department store today to pick up my most favorite eye shadow in the whole entire world.

When he came back to the car, he handed me the bag with two containers all snuggled inside.

He proceeded to tell me that my most favorite eye shadow - in the whole entire world - was being discontinued!

UGH!  

I think it is a game of torture that certain brand name companies love to play with us poor unsuspecting consumers!

After discontinueing my favorite lipstick years ago, I was forced to switch to another brand name.

Now, they are forcing me to switch brands in search of a new eye shadow and my years and years of loyalty to this company - is gone.

Boo on them.  

Anyway, when the sales girl told my husband that my favorite eye shadow - in the whole entire world - was being discontinued, he immediately bought me two.

Figuring that would at least buy me some time to find a new love.

Yay for my husband for caring enough about his own well-being me to go ahead and buy two shadows instead of the one he was sent into the store to buy.

That is one of the many reasons why I love him.  

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I know that I am right there with the rest of you - and the word "busy" does not even begin to describe it.

It is crazy how my sanity list of things to do can go through peaks and valleys and right now, I feel like I can see Mount Rushmore from where I am sitting.

It is all a good kind of busy.

Outside of my work day keeping me busy (thank the heavens above), my children have me going non-stop.

Spring training for football starts tomorrow, and along with spring training comes Spring everything.

Registration for Summer and Fall everything, keeping my children and their social lives thriving, keeping up with day to day life and finally, count down to vacation.  YAY!

I am not sure if I have mentioned lately that I am about to have an official high schooler on my hands.

The thought alone is absolutely exhausting!

Miss Addie Pattati is doing well. 

We have recently seen a spike in her vocabulary, but even more than that, her awareness and memory.

She is definitely making more connections - or either she is able to vocalize her memories more often.

For example, a couple months ago, my sister met us to go shopping.

When we pulled up at the store, Chris got Addie's blue stroller out of the car (she has three) and then my sister buckled her into the stroller.

Addie was a sweet girl and a great helper while we shopped.

Just recently, we pulled up in front of the same store and Addie immediately asked, "Nonna? Stroller?".

The immediate association just absolutely floored us - we loved it!

Also, while we were at the Zoo yesterday - along with 15,000 other Birminghamians - Addie took me back in time to January 2011 when she yelled at a poor couple for trying to touch a stuffed beaver.

Only this time, Addie yelled at a lady who was touching the tail of a dinosaur in the gift shop.

The funny thing about it though was...

the lady did stop touching the dinosaurs after being reprimanded by a six year old.

I love my sweet girl...always doing her best to keep the rest of society in place.

Rella

My Little Monkey got a Rella dress in her Easter Basket.

I am very fortunate to have a co-worker who has a heart of gold and who was willing to hem the dress for Monkus.
She had it hemmed for me on very short notice so that it would be ready for Easter.

Easter morning, Monkus looked at the dress and loved it when she tried it on.

Since that moment, the little fungus has refused to touch the dress until tonight when Julien finally got her to try it on again.

Silly Little Monkey - I am sure she will love the dress once she realizes that it is intended for playtime!

"A" is Not for Owl

One of the great benefits of having my sweet girl is that I have yet to encounter the clothing battle.

We are still at the point where Monkus doesn't fuss over the outfit she wears each day

and trust me

I am so thankful for each battle that I don't have to encounter.

I absolutely adore how she knows our morning routine, how she knows to go and sit in her chair as soon as we come downstairs.

She knows that putting on her shoes is the very last thing we do before we walk out the door - and only once (so far) has she had to remind us that we were walking her out the door without her shoes.

These few minutes buy her the chance to watch the rest of us gather things like crazy  

and every once in a while, she finds the humor in the midst of chaos.

I rarely - if ever - miss the opportunity to remind Addie how beautiful she is.

My praise always prompts her to do a self-check and on the mornings when I can actually find matching bows, she thinks she is extra sweet and cute.

My mission is accomplished when I see the smile on her face; there is no better way to start the day.

Progressive Primate

Addie was sitting on our bed  yesterday when Chris walked into the room.

She looked at him and asked, "How are you doing?".

After Chris and I both recovered from the absolute shock of hearing a complete question come out of Addie's mouth, Chris managed to answer the question.

It is unbelievable how our Little Monkey continues to amaze us.

A Feline, a Dinosaur and a Primate

walk into a bar

Easter 2013

Easter morning started out great and Julien and Monkus loved their goodies.

We hosted Easter at our house, so the day was extremely busy from the minute we got out of bed.

Rudy, tired from all the excitement, shoved Chris out of the way in order to make a spot for nap time.

As soon as he crawled in next to Chris, he was fast asleep.

Rotten, rotten, rotten.

This has to be one of my favorite pictures of the day - the kids were acting so silly!

(photo stolen from my sisters Facebook page courtesy of my sister)

Not this sister, but the other one was the photo donor.

Addie was so excited to see her GaGa arrive, which meant we could finally get the afternoon started.

Yes.

Our yard is in horrible need of some TLC - you can direct any snarky comments to my husband who has been focused on all kinds of other priorities over the last few months.

I am more focused on the Little Monkey and the beautiful sight of her on the hunt for the eggs.

Addie needed lots of assistance and I think most of it was just due to all the activity.

I had no need to worry - each and every family member helped Addie along the way.

No matter how many years pass, I always think about the progress we have made,
and know,
that the continued progress is due to your prayers and support.
I cannot thank you enough.

Easter 2009

Easter Prep

There are those of us who strive towards progress and there are those of us who love to hinder progress. 

...just for the record, I am both, totally dependent upon the situation... 

 J-Rod loves nothing more than to hinder progress when he knows it is going to get the Little Monkey all riled up!

This year, we actually got around to the business of dying eggs.

Monkus didn't have a clue what we were doing, but it didn't take her long to figure it out!

Julien was all about helping Chunk with her eggs and creating his own works of art.

Monkus took her job very seriously, 

while Julien tried his best to create the most disgusting looking eggs - ever.

After we finished making the kitchen smell absolutely horrible, we cleaned up all the mess, which in turn made for one stomach turning visual event!

Privacy?

There is no such thing as privacy in our house.

...and alone time?

We don't even begin to know the meaning of the word.

Helpy Helperton

I assigned Monkus the duty of helping me stuff 72 eggs for the hunt.  

This year, Addie was virtually a pro at opening the eggs, but still struggled with getting them closed back.

Addie was able to open the eggs, I would hand her the item to put inside and then once she closed the egg, I would snap it shut for her.

As we moved through the process, I quickly discovered that some of the candy wasn't quite making it into the eggs, but rather into Addie's mouth.

I just couldn't help myself and had to watch as her little fingers managed to unwrap the chocolate.

It took a lot of work on Addie's part and after watching her twice, I had to put an end to Miss Helpy Helperton stuffing the eggs with candy and we had to move on to the other prizes.

Who ever thinks about the work that goes into unwrapping a piece of candy?

I mean really, it is so simple for the vast majority of people.

For Monkus, it has taken years of therapy to get to this point.

We adore her everyday accomplishments and just in case you haven't noticed...Monkus makes us awfully proud!

Concentrating on the business of stuffing eggs - with a mouthful of chocolate.

Even the dinosaurs were cheering Monkus on.