The Amazing World of... Monkeys on the loose

     school is out, has been for just about a month, may 17th in fact.  the following monday the monkeys, pups and myself started our adventure.  we didn't get on the road until 9 that morning, so we knew it would be a long day.  and it was.  monkey #2 got her car sick-ness out of the way fairly quickly, so at least we didn't have to anticipate it for too long!  and because I-90 is not a close friend of mine, we avoided it and took off south through iowa, then illinois and finally indiana.  unfortunately, iowa city was in the way of a quick reroute around the detour... the entrance to I-80 east was closed, you know.  80 is an old and wonderful friend.  but most importantly, indiana and family beckoned and we were on a mission.  we were met at the bus doors by auntie a and uncle p and lots of hugs.  mom and dad were close behind with more hugs.  and it was late and no one was sleepy.  no one.  i think we went to bed around 1.  this is the best way to start summer break... go to someone else's house and stay up all night!  :)  let the good times roll!!

uncle paul, or pauly, is a super hero, by the way.   the monkeys adore him.  he takes them canoeing, and lets them play fun games on his computer.  games that mama and daddy don't have.  and he gives them gianormous pushes on the new 'tractor' tire swing, that he hung in the tree.  he always has time for their antics.  and he doesn't even mind weaving through lily pads to get just the right flower.

farms and barns are thrilling places.  my cousin's farm has loads of horses and ponies.  mom's and dad's barn is full of dark corners and kittens.  and outside the barn you find other furry critters. these you scoop up out of their holes (with whatever is handy), and then pass them around for observation and petting.  they are equally amazed at us, i'm sure.   groundhogs, woodchucks, whatever you want to call them, are in fact, rather cute when they're this small.  this afternoon, the little ones we saw (that live in the hole this fellow came from) are now about twice this size and very speedy.  pretty sure he wouldn't be caught so easily anymore.

bareback is the most fun!!  and even more fun after, in the wash.  monkey # 3 had several tumbles from two different ponies; she would still be on one now if we didn't have to leave my cousin's place.  all little girls, boys and monkeys need a pony to teach them some of life's lessons:  when you fall, get up again and wipe away the dirt and dust.  plus also, things look better from higher up.  

there are few things cuter than a pile of fur balls tucked away in tall weeds or behind old feed troughs and gates.  naturally, they aren't to be left alone either.  monkeys 1 and 4 and i snuck out to the barn to see what we could find.  dad knew there were some fur babies somewhere and we found six!  two mamas, each with 3 beautiful babies.  we managed to catch and hold four of them.  they sure are sweet.

when you take monkeys canoeing, one or more of them will get knee deep in the river and find what lies beneath.  crawdads, or crayfish.   not so cuddly, but just as fun to grab out of the water and not let go of when they try to reach around with their claw and get your fingers!  who says we have to grow up?  i think i just want to be a monkey!

See how we've grown

Yes, it's been awhile. Like three and a half years! Luckily, this page was still here and after some trial and lots of errors, I am ready to hit the post button. It might be earth shattering so hold on!

Mikaela Anne. My baby! She got into a hilarious arguement with Madi the other day... about who was born first and why... From what I heard, she was ready for me to 'squeeze' her 'out' but Madi got in the way! Nobody bothered to tell me that at the time. I only know we were suprised to have 'the big one' last, so maybe there is something to her story. Kiki fits the youngest role perfectly. She's a know-it-all-always-right-bossy-busybody! :) Argue till she's blue in the face and all her blood vessels are visible. She's Sparkle Eyes, just ask her auntie. She's up and she's down. She's giggles and belly laughs. She can read, which blows me away. She's independent. I think I walked her to her classroom the first week. These days, she's out of the van and straight to her room with hardly a backwards glance. Sometime she eats breakfast at school even though everyone else ate at home. Only Kiki makes her rules and she changes them constantly. I think we're ready to take on the world, cause I'm sure that's right after being a big kindergartener. Right? :)

Blondie blondie blondie. Did you know that when you put goggles on a kid and drop her in water, she magically starts swimming? :) Ok, maybe that's not been proven completely, but this little monkey has made it true for her. Why? Beats me, but she's tiny enough to use a hot tub as a pool and once the goggles were on all her concerns swam away and she flitted across from one end to the other. She's the only monkey I can still cuddle with, and hold without losing feeling in my lap! And she always wants me to carry her to bed where I tuck her in and she hugs me super tight, kisses my cheek and blows another kiss at me as I'm leaving the bedroom. She is also the only one who insists that I walk her to her classroom each morning. But first, we have to leave her coat, boats, snowpants (to ward off the tundra weather), and backpack. Her folder, glasses case, lunch box and bus tag go to her classroom. There Madi gives Ms Waterson (who is from Goshen, IN!!!) her bus tag, puts her folder in the folder box, sets her lunch box on the ground with the case for her glasses slid in the handle and (my most favorite part) hugs me and kisses my cheek!! Seriously, little love bug!! She loves her teacher, and I'm pretty sure Mrs. Jorgenson loves her too.


Hugging a tree was on the check list at Mt. Rushmore's Junior Ranger gig.

Oh little miss JennaMae, or as Aunt 'Nita calls her; Whistle Queen. She's a very different little squirt then she was a few years ago. Half grown and still silly, but somehow more grumpy and less sparkly. She still has her moments. Must have something to do with being a serious and incredibly smart first grader! She's taught herself how to whistle, ride her bike and write her name (and mine) in cursive. Jboy had something to do with that. If he can, she can too and better! Ah yes, her personality is still very rampant. :) She is a whiz in math, reading, spelling... she amazes me daily. She has no enemies even though not everyone is nice to her. Her preschool teacher described her as 'the sweetheart' and that still suits her quite well. In just under two weeks she will be 7! Nope, I'm not ready for this. Hang on Mama!!

Silly grins and big girl teeth.

Jboy's snake... the one that took the 8 hour trip with us.

Remember the little guy? He just turned 9 a week ago. It really is kind of sad! I miss him wanting me for every little thing. He does still like sitting right next to me on the couch. :) These days, he doesn't want to do his homework. None of it. He wants to eat ice cream every evening. Sounds like his uncle Paul! And he loves Star Wars! And dragons! Maybe George Lucas could write a new story where the Jedi inhabit a land with dragons! He also likes nature. And he doesn't want a furry pet; he wants a parrot, snake, turtle or lizard and the cute little frogs. Thankfully he's not into spiders! The snake was caught at his bff's house last April and survived the trip back to Minnesota. Mama's just a push over. I even carried it into the gas station when we stopped for potty breaks. But alas, MinnesNota was just too cold for the poor critter and he is no more. Maybe we'll have better luck next summer!

JennaMae wants a BIG BUTT!

Last week was just fun! Ken and Miss (who shall henceforth be known as Aunt Lissa) and boys were here and we all went to Elizabeth 2. It was beautiful; the sun was warm, but if you were in the shade it was chilly. Well, about Friday, sometime after lunch I think, Lissa and I were chatting in their camper while the monkeys and their cousins played. I looked down at Lissa's shoes and noticed that they were very similar to JennaMae's shoes. You have to understand that having shoes like Aunt Lissa's are a HUGE deal here! Aunt Lissa always looks beautiful and has the COOLEST shoes!
You also have to understand that Miss JM gets very animated when expressing her feelings. I mean her eyes sparkle, her face lights up, and everything else is meaningless and unimportant. She was so impressed to have shoes like Aunt Lissa's that she went into big details telling Lissa all about it herself! "Aunt Alissa! I have the same shoes that YOU have! When I grow big like you, I can wear your shoes and you can wear MY shoes! And I will be big and have a big butt!"
JennaMae got the biggest eyes, and Lissa and I got the biggest chuckles! Yes, she has high hopes and great expections! And has every chance in the world of getting that BIG BUTT!

Here is the puppet mistress and her gang of huligans! What could be more fun than dressing something a million times and making it dance?
Yup, they can run the mouse and get online and mess up Daddy's computer without even batting an eyelash!
The J-Boy also has high expections; he wants to go to God's house and be turned into a dinosaur! And he's no procrastinator either! He wanted to go today! THAT, was a fun conversation!
These eyes don't show the half of it! You gotta see them in action! If only I'd had the video camera on at the time! I'm telling ya, she's got magic in them eyes! Little Miss Magic!

All the girl-monkeys sat on the step eating their poptarts so that when lunch was finally ready, they wouldn't be hungry AT ALL! Ah well, it was good for a few pictures anyway!

I'mah soooah hoppy!

I'm helping JM in the bathroom when in comes Miki, aka: Kiki, Kiks, and even Kikers (with an E sound), and she has a very red, pained-looking face. I ask her if she is going potty, and her response is, "dyup" (yes, with the 'd' in there). I ask if she wants to go on the little potty, and she again says, "dyup'. So I help her out of her pants and diaper and, 'Yay!' first victory is there is nothing in the diaper yet, so we sit her on the little potty and she starts huffing and puffing and pretty soon we have a second victory! Yay! So I had another little bottom to wipe in the squatting position today! And for anyone whose never wiped a bottom, that is definintly a reason toah beah hoppy! And trust me on this one, it's MUCH MUCH better than having them take off the dirty (yes, with presents) diaper by themselves, IN THE CRIB!!!! Oh, and then tossing the whole mess over the side to the floor! You might find pieces by accident when you next go digging under the said crib the next day, ya know!

Kiki at Granny's house, playing along the driveway. And some suprise pix (I'm the suprised one) at home!


It seems that some days are just that way! I'm refering to Madi's face, of course! And where else would one put that pic?

From Superstar, (notice the cool shoes- pink too)
to little Pink Princess! JM loves hats, and with pink in the ribbons on it...well, this one is totally 'princessy'!

What happens when you don't want your mum to take your picture, and she makes you giggle and gets a few anyway?
THIS HAPPENS! No one gets what they want, and everyone gets the giggles! What a pair of goofs!

Duane's recipe for relaxing; it will lull you right to sleep! The J-boy's sharks are now happy as larks in their new home, with some new pals!

my smallest babies

For those of you who are interested, these are the tiny-est babies to have to care for! I had a fun suprise Tues morning when I came down to the basement. Our female molly had released some babies! I have no idea how many she had, but when I discovered them, there were only three. I imagine someone had a nice treat that morning! The mollies will sometimes eat their young, but there are 2 balas (sharks) in their tank too, so...

They are baby mollies; their momma is a black
molly named Boomerang, and daddy is a mostly black dalmation molly named King George. No name yet for the babies; any ideas? The babies are dark, with one of them darker, perhaps black. Makes me wonder if the other two will be dalmation colored! They're way too little to tell at this point! They are in a nursery/trap that is attached to the side of the other mollies' tank.
Here you can see how tiny they are; the pink stuff is fish food, that flake is about the size of half my littlest fingernail! Anyhow, we are having tons of fun with our many fish and soon this tank full will have a brand new home! We finally bought a big tank with the works; including the stand! I think we'll have to eventually get another big tank for the cichlids, they won't stay small forever!

If there are any hobbyists out there reading this, I would love to hear from you!

Well, time to get off this thing! Have a good day!

Whoosh!

Know this fellow? Yes, Miss JennaMae was to busy to be bothered with a picture!

Hello all! We have had a very busy spring. I took the monkeys on a three week 'roadtrip'. We left Kearney (warm and sunny) for Indiana on March 20; stopping for breakfast, lunch (both hour long stops), then to some wonderful friends in Iowa for a long run (literally! the monkeys chased each other around and around the house). Also got to see Jeffers the Butler there! That was sooooo nice! I haven't gotten to see Jeff since before JennaMae was born! Thank you so very much Brenda! The kiddos had fun playing and 'helping' feed the bottle calves and lambs at Doug and Brenda's farm. And I had a great chance to visit and relax!

I noticed at every stop that it was a little (ok, sometimes alot) cooler than the last stop! We eventually got to Duane's brother and family for the night. I say that because I missd my exit and ended up going the very scenic route! Two hours of it! Glen and Becky had freezing rain and by the time we got to my parents, we were into snow!

I am reminded now why I don't do this very often! I have several fighting, hitting, screaming little monkeys (they can get really loud), and this thing (the blogger thing) is really annoying! As you have seen at THE TOP OF THIS PAGE, we had a birthday party for all the kiddos. The birthdays are all from Dec to April so we just had one huge bash. The kids had fun and thanks to Aunt Miss, they each had their own party hat, or beak! My mom made an adorable little snowman cake and six cupcakes- one for each birthday kid!

This was just the first 2 days worth of 'stuff'! Ah.... WHOOSH!!!

JennaMae and the Big Fat Toilet

Hello all! I have discovered one of the true wonders of the world! The amazing Big Fat Toilet! Or perhaps I should say that JennaMae opened my eyes to it! She has been using the Big Fat Toilet lately (all the time instead of every now and then), and one day she decided that she could do it all herself! Now when I say this, I mean that she decided NOT to tell me when she went to use the Big Fat Toilet! So she is merrily doing her business and wiping and flushing (which is the first and only warning often). Well that all sounds groovey and fine, except that then I have to chase her down and see to it that her hands get washed properly, and take her Bob the Builder seat (Justin's actually, but he doesn't need or use it) off the Big Fat Toilet etc... Really, its an everyday thing now, and I'm quite accustomed to it; its actually more like an every half hour thing, but you get the idea. Okay, I know what you're thinking, I should have said JennaMae discovered one of the true wonders of the world. Well, she certainly has, but my discovery is a bit different than hers. On one of those occasions, after the Big Fat Toilet was heard flushing, JennaMae informed me in her proudest way that she had used all the rest of the toilet paper and that I would have to put a new role on. Well, that worried me because I had just put a new one on the day before! So up to the bathroom I charged and flung open the lid (the little monkey had taken the little seat off herself already- so efficient was she, no wonder she was so proud!), and 'Gasp! Oh My Word! This Thing Will Never Flush!!!' Sure enough, she had unroled the entire role of toilet paper and apparently used all of it and put it ALL into the Big Fat Toilet! Have you ever seen how full that makes a toilet? Oh, and JennaMae refers to it as the Big Fat Toilet. To her any thing that is 'bigger' than another of the same thing is a 'Big Fat' whatever. I just new I would have to reach into the stool and pull out most of the TP, and started to- yes I know that's gross- but I was panicked and thought I had no other alternative! I wasn't about to call a plumber over toilet paper either! Well, to be sure, I TRIED to flush the mess down; mind you, there was ONLY TP in the Big Fat Toilet, and water; but I held the handle down when I flushed and it didn't budge. So I thought I'd try just one more time, then start digging. Well by golly! The second time I didn't hold the handle down, and with a mighty roar and 'whosh' it ALL went down! Now that's some Big Fat Toilet! It is really a wonder! I think if/when we move, it will go with us! It's seriously part of the family now, and you can't leave your family members behind! The Big Fat Toilet is very loud and I don't like flushing it when anyone is sleeping, it might just wake them up. And it's one of those older ones that didn't have the low flow thing to save water... Anyway, it is the only kind to have around when you're teaching little monkeys how to go potty! And little Miki has taken to sitting on it a time or two, so... perhaps we'll get several monkeys trained on the Big Fat Toilet this year!