Ew!

I have a few stories to share. :o)

Andy Reid, the Eagles head coach, attends church with us here in Philly. Roo is quite star-struck by him. Roo saw him a couple of weeks ago and asked if he could talk to him. I said, "Sure!" Well, Roo goes over, stands in front of him, and all of a sudden can't talk. This kid has been "talking" one way or another since birth. He is one of the most verbose kids I've met. But, put him in front of Andy Reid, and all of a sudden, he can't form a sentence. It was so amusing! Well, Roo saw him again at church today and again asked if he could talk to him. Again, Andy shook his hand and Roo just kinda stood there with his mouth gaping open. And now Roo insists that he won't wash his hand again (or his hair since Andy ruffled his hair). So funny!

Andy's wife, Tammy, is a lady who thinks girls should look like girls and have bows and stuff in their hair. Which is great, but since her birth, I've never been able to keep a bow in Sugar's hair. At first because she had no hair, and later because she just didn't want one. Well, we had an activity at their house, and Tammy taught us how to make bows. I made 2. And to my utter shock, Sugar loves them and actually asks to wear them! I need to take a picture of them in her hair.

And here is my Jamo story. Brad is on call this weekend and has been gone all day. He got home and I gave him a kiss, it was a long one, but a tame one. :o) And Jamo, at 8, started to go, "EWWWW!" So, is 8 when it gets gross to see your parents kiss? LOL!

Blue-eyed beauty

I found out today what a pair of beautiful blue eyes can do. I took my paperwork to the Parks and Rec department today so we could get cards to attend the pool this summer. There is a long list of things you can bring to prove residency, none of which I had. I had a lease with Brad's name, but I was in MI so my name wasn't on it. I had report cards with the boys' names. And a birth certificate worked for Sugar. So, I brought in my marriage license, thinking surely they would see that with Brad's name on the lease and my name on the marriage license (AND THE CHECK!!!) that it would suffice. Nope. I had to have something with my name and the Philly address. Grrr. Finally, I got him to agree to let me fax in a electric bill with my name on it. I wanted to whine about how ridiculous that was, or ask for a supervisor, but instead, I bit my tongue, which has been used far too much to argue lately (not with anyone in particular, I've just felt feisty lately). While I was waiting for him to fill out the cards, Sugar started charming the socks off the guy's co-worker with her signing and general adorableness. Before you know it, he's got some dog puppets and toys and has Sugar cooing. And don't you know, I leave with cards for everyone, including me. Thanks, my little Sugar Bean!

Dinner guests

Today, we had some friends over for dinner. And in true Mons fashion, is was not without some excitement.

Brad is amazing and went shopping last night. Olive Garden's Chicken Gnocchi Veronese was on the menu and ingredients were needed. I had to laugh this afternoon as I was getting out the bell pepper and zucchini and instead found a cucumber. That's okay though. We just added green bell pepper and put cucumber in the salad. :o)

Jamo and Roo don't always get along great, but they do NOT frequently have fist fights. Of course, today with company over would be the day that they do. Sigh.

Then, as is typical in this house, the toilet flooded when the boys used a too much TP to flush a bug. In their eagerness to get it down, they kept flushing it even as the water rose. Thankfully we were no longer seated at the table as the water from the toilet rained down into the dining room.

Are we great hosts or what? Wait, don't answer that.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

This was our green dinner. Green spaghetti, green alfredo, green chicken, asparagus, salad, bread with green butter, and limonade. And green cream puffs for dessert. Such a fun tradition! This was our first year trying green spaghetti and chicken. :o)

Cookie has Jamo's baptism and 8 yr slideshows, plus St Patrick's pictures and some of our company.

Lots going on!

Wow. The last few days have been quite a whirlwind.

First off, Travis and Resa got an adorable new baby. He is such a doll! I'll put the pictures up on Cookie if you want to see them.

Second, we've had some kind of bug going around here. Sugar was sick on Tues. Jamo got sick on Thursday, and this morning Roo, my mom, and Brad's dad were all puking. Not a good time to only have 1 bathroom when there are 8 people in the house!

Third, I got named to the Signing Time Academy Dream Team! Check out my Signing with a Smile if you want more info.

And most important, Jamo was baptized this morning. We are so proud of him! He is a remarkable boy and we are blessed to be his parents. My friend Sonja took pictures that I will be putting on Cookie soon.

Jamo's birthday

We just did a little celebration for Jamo's birthday. Brad always works late on Mondays, so we just did presents, cake and ice cream. Probably the big party will be later on when we celebrate his baptism next week.

I have made a new tradition for birthday cakes. The kids get to do their own. I don't like decorating and they do. Plus, I don't have to feel bad if they don't turn out nice. Win win! So, here is Jamo's cake this year:



He loved decorating his own cake! I loved not feeling the pressure!

The slide of his birthday and his super handsome 8 yr pictures are over on Cookie. There is a sneak peek on Danica's amazing site.

8 is great!

I can't believe my little baby boy is 8 today! Wow! That sure went fast, didn't it!

I had his birthday pictures taken at Danica's and I can't wait to see how they turned out!!!

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!!!