Wherefore art thou, Spring?

More snow has slammed Philly. Yet another early release from school, and canceled the next day. We played Wii and had a blast. Brad is back from CA, without a tan. LOL! We missed him bunches and love having him home!

Long weekend

Well, it has been busy! Yesterday, we got Brad packed, dropped Brad's still dying car off at the mechanic, got Roo to a birthday party, took Brad to the airport, found out that Jamo invited a friend over, had his friend come over, parallel parked the minivan, picked up Roo and stayed sane. Ah yeah.

Today was getting the kids ready and getting to church EARLY. Okay, it was only 10 minutes early, but I was impressed. LOL! I also made beef stew from scratch and some rolls. And Sugar decided to crack an egg into my flour container. Phew. I still have to clean the house and get ready for a playgroup and showing tomorrow. It could be a long night....

Yes, they picked out their own clothes. Even the socks.

Can I just go back to bed?

Oy. What a day. And it is only 9:24.

After a week of no school and lax sleeping schedules, getting the kids up this morning was a challenge. Then Jamo's school didn't have volunteers to help with Game Club, so I offered to go, with my 2 other kids of course. We got everyone ready an hour earlier and I packed some DVDs and the DVD player for Sugar. Thankfully, Brad got the snow off the windshield, but it was a mess outside. Of all the days to NOT have a snow delay! Sheesh! It took me 3 tries to get all the way up the hill on our street. I finally got to the school, and there is no parking. Anywhere. Like most Philly establishments, there is no parking lot, so you park on the street. Only the streets are lined with huge piles of snow. You end up parking practically in the middle of the street. I drove around awhile, but finding nothing but snow and more snow, I just decided to become a true Philadelphian and park halfway into the street.

I finally got the 3 kids into the library, and the guy in charge looked none to pleased I had extra kids. Can't say I blame him. Sugar, in her sleep deprived state, was especially whiney and clingy. I managed to bring the wrong cord for the DVD player, so that wasn't an option. Instead she whined and complained that she couldn't play Mastermind like the other kids. Finally, the guy in charge said, "You can go ahead and go, there aren't very many kids." Hint hint. But Roo was in the middle of a game with Jamo, so I decided to distract Sugar with Othello. The poor guy saw us playing and said, "I don't know if that is a good idea." I told him I was playing it with her, not leaving her alone. To his credit, he kind of shuddered and then walked away. Smart man.

We left to go home because I watch a 2 yr old and 6 mo old on Tuesdays. But I couldn't get back up the driveway. There are huge ruts you can't really shovel that get icy. It took me 4 tries, but I got up the driveway enough to park. I couldn't park in the street because the snow piles in the street are so big, if you were to park on the side of them, you'd block the entire street, not just half of it.

We have one of those lovely dishwashers on wheels. You have to hook it up to your sink, and plug it in to get it to work. Yeah, it's a party. Brad, being Mr. Amazing, started the dishwasher this morning. But, being the tired resident he is, he didn't turn on the water. LOL!

So, I will be spending the day with 4 kids and thinking my child bearing days are over. Can I just go back to bed?

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

My kiddos got Zsu Zsu pets from their Grandma Jessie and they are in love. Seriously, I have gerbils going every place we go! Sugar loves her's a bit too much and we've had to cut it out of her hair twice. She just can't stop snuggling it. That's okay though. It just goes with the haircut she is already sporting from finding daddy's haircutting scissors.

The kids haven't had school since last Tues. Yes, I'm still mostly sane. Why? Brad had this past week off of work. Yay for vacations!!!! It has been amazing having him home! The kids had a 2 hr delay on Monday, school on Tuesday, then it got canceled on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday and today were already scheduled to be off. It is snowing right now. Please let the kids go back to school!!!!!

Slide show of, yes, more snow over on Cookie!

sNOw way!

Apparently we brought MI snow with us when we moved here. Sheesh. Maybe we should have brought a snow blower!

I have pictures of the snow over on Cookie. Oh, and it is a good thing I put up pictures of Sugar's hair because she decided to cut it this morning. Argh. I was really hoping to avoid that little life experience. So, go to Cookie to see Sugar looking guilty. LOL!

Hair today, gone tomorrow

It was a year ago this month that my mom was diagnosed with lymphoma. Because I'm so grateful for her recovery, I decided to cut my hair and donate it.

Also, Cookie has funny pictures of SugarPea.

My old plant

Well, my cousin Jenn is the winner. I've had this Monstera plant since college, specifically Aug of 1998 when my Aunt VaLynn moved and gave it to me. So, I've moved this plant from UT to CO, to NM, to OK, to MI and now to Philly. He didn't make the trip to France though. Brad's dad watched him. :o)

The website is done! YAHOO!

I'm so excited to announce that my website is all done! I finally accepted that it wasn't going to happen if I was making it, so I turned it over to my friend Jared at NetProCity. I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out!

To celebrate, I'm giving away some Signing with a Smile products. 2 people will get to pick a gift from the Promotion album on Facebook. All you have to do is go and check out my amazing new website and then come back and leave a comment on the promotion post on Signing with a Smile's Facebook page giving me some feedback (good or bad) about it. I'll randomly draw 2 winners on February 1st. Good luck, and thank you so much for supporting me in this journey!

Friendly reminder

Just a reminder to please not leave surgical body markers around 3 yr olds. Thank you.

Let's play a game!

How long have I had this plant?

The only hints I will give you are to not let its looks deceive you. It has been clipped and shared many times over. It has died and been brought back to life.

What is the prize? Well, how about a Signing with a Smile calendar magnet? It's better than nothing, right? :o)

*UPDATE* Yes, the holes are naturally occurring in the plant and not the product of a my children playing with them. LOL!

*UPDATE UPDATE* I promise I'm not making this up! This plant is actually called a Monstera! HOW COOL IS THAT?!!? Check out this link to learn more!

Video to share

My family is so grateful for the outpouring of love and support we received after Tylerr's car accident in November. It was ruled an accident that couldn't be avoided and he will not be charged. Here is a video about the good that came out of the tragedy.

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/health/nm-boy's-death-saves-three-lives

Pictures a plenty

Hopefully, I will get to the stories behind all of the pictures, but until then there are 5 or 6 slide shows over on Cookie. The first slide has my handsome little Jamo with his new glasses.

Dinner's ready!

I was saving this post for the next time I burn dinner, but in the off chance that this will (hopefully) be a long time in the future, I wanted to share my gift from my fabulous SIL, Brooke.



She picks out awesome gifts. She really does. I wish I had her gift-sense. Plus, it shows that she reads my blog! LOL! Thanks, Brookie!!!

Weird kids

I have a billion things to post. I'm in such a slacker-blog mode. Sigh. But it isn't going to happen tonight because I have the final episodes of Monk in my hot little hands.

However, because the grandparents wanted pictures of my kids so badly they were willing to give us cameras, I can't deny them this gem from dinner tonight.

Yes, my kids are weird enough that they will eat heads of lettuce. I KNOW this comes from their Grumpus. Seriously. If you know my dad, you know this is true. Love you, daddy!

Snow? In Philly?

I wish people would stop telling me that it doesn't snow much when I move to a new place. I moved to MI and they told me that it snows a few time, but nothing to worry about. And the 2 winters I was there, it snowed. A lot. Everyone said it was a fluke. Uh huh.

Then I move to Philly. And people told me that it doesn't snow much. And now I'm snowed into my house and Brad's flight from OK is cancelled. Doesn't snow much. Uh huh.

At least I was able to throw the kids out there today to burn some energy. I'm so grateful to have a working camera. This was our old one when Brad was trying to fix it.The slide of the kids in the snow is on Cookie if you want to check it out.

And in other fun news, our landlord is trying to sell this house, so we've had quite a few people coming to look at it. Ugh. I hope it sells quickly because this is kind of a pain.

10 glorious years!

I was in a bit of a rush this morning (see story below), but when I finally got on my laptop, this is what I found. Awwww. I sure love him! Today we are celebrating 10 years! I am blessed to still be so crazy in love with him.

Story

I woke up this morning and looked at my alarm clock. It said 10:53. What in the world! I ran downstairs to find Jamo casually finishing his spelling.

"What are you doing?!" I asked. He looked at me quizically while I ran into the kitchen and saw the time on the oven was 8:53. Huh? I ran back upstairs and my clock still said 10:53. This is weird because it is one of those atomic clocks that gets a signal of the time via satellite or something. It is supposed to never be wrong, even if the power goes out or it is Day Lights Savings. Weird. I'm going to have to look into that.

Adopt a grandparent

It is hard to be so far away from our families. Thankfully, we have had lots of visits, though we could always use more! (hint hint!)

Sugar has always been an outgoing little girl, but she really gravitates towards older people. I didn't think she would freak out with Santa, and I was right, and I was grateful she didn't call him grandpa either. She adopted a man from our church as her grandpa. We've given him rides to church, and Sugar has decided to make herself comfy sitting with "grandpa" during the services. He is such a good sport about it. Good thing, because keeping her away from him causes lots of screaming. We are grateful to have stand-ins while we are here, but we are also really looking foward to living closer to family!

Horrible

So, I was making Desiree's delicious white chili last night. Brad wasn't home so I turned it off to wait for him. He called to say he was coming home so I turned it back on. And then I got distracted cleaning. And burnt the chili. I need a sign that says, "Dinner will be ready when you hear the smoke alarm go off."

Brad still wasn't home and the natives were restless, so we started dinner. When Brad came home, he asked how it was.

Roo said, "Daddy it is h-o-r-l-b-e." aka horrible. LOL!

Then later when we told him he had to finish dinner to get dessert, he said, "But I need my health!"

He cracks me up.

And if you want to see some ADORABLE pictures from Sugar's 3rd birthday session with Danica, go check out the links on Cookie!

DC

What a crazy busy month November was! And we wouldn't have it any other way! It was wonderful!

My birthday was great because we had a live-in babysitter, aka a med student living with us for the month. We actually knew him back in OK, so it was fun to have a friend in town. Todd watched the kids so Brad and I could go out to Thai. I love Thai.

Brad's mom Jessie came to Philly with her hubby Lee. It was so wonderful to see them again since we hadn't had a chance to get back since we started residency back in 2007. We got to see sites in Philly we hadn't even seen yet! And then we went to DC for a day. We spent most of our time there in Arlington National Cemetery, which was such an amazing experience. Truly humbling. We also got to see the National Monument for Fallen Law Enforcement Officers. Jessie's grandpa has his name engraved there. And we got to ride around on a big ol' tour bus, which was great since we didn't have to worry about getting lost!

Well, there is a ton more to update on, but I wanted to get started somewhere. I just got way too behind. There are a ton of pictures over on Cookie from our time with Jessie and Lee and our trip to DC.

Black Friday Sale

Today only! Shop in my store! www.signingtimeacademy.com/melisamons

Friday, November 27 - 50% off orders over $25

* All single DVDs, CDs, Books and Flash Cards are 50% off on orders over $25
* No Coupon Necessary
* Excludes ALL GIFT SETS AND COLLECTIONS
* Not Valid with any other offer
* Good one day only
* Not available to wholesale and distributors