monster in the garden!

 

She really likes to grow things.

 The most important thing is dressing for the job.

 She tells everyone she grew all this, really her Pop did and not her but she does not mind taking the credit for the hard work. I'll admit she does have a green thumb and has grown her own sunflowers.

 Admiring the fruits of all her hard work.

 

It can be tough being 6 and working this hard all day long in the sticky southern heat.

island time?? yes, please!

WE WENT ON VACATION!!! And I didn't want to come back home!
I LOVE Gulf Shores!! can you say AHHHMAAAZZING!?!?!?
OMG!!
SAND!!! I can smell the beach now!

We played in the sand and collected shells and just generally had a grand old time.
I wish i could say I had tons of pictures of my family to show off but sadly my family HATES to have their pictures taken.

On the way down. We left the house at around 5am so they were still a little on the sleepy side.


This mommy is thankful for iphones and kindles and amazing apps that keep children of all ages busy and quiet.

This is what most of her ride down looked like.

teenagers don't do mornings.

 We went to Fort Morgan.

The monster had more fun than anyone...well besides me.

The monster loves the civil war so this tickled her fancy to no end.


She loved all the cannons and dark & creepy spaces.

There were TONS of stairs.

We also went to the zoo.

This is my favorite zoo ever!

you can feed so many of the animals.

I always find something neat in the gift shop when we go. This trip the monster got  a sand filled giraffe which was super awesome since she collects giraffes.





My monster likes to feed things,
which is ironic since she doesn't actually like to eat food herself.

This guy was cute. He even seemed to like the monster right back.

we didn't stick around one animal very long since there were so many for her to look at.

We even managed to find the time to feed ourselves while were visiting. I had a lovely salad at this not so amazing little hole in the wall. We found a favorite place to eat but i am not telling because then it wouldn't be our secret place anymore and we would never be able to get a table there again if everyone knew how awesome it was. We only found two places that were less than spectacular in the whole week we spent vegging at the beach.


                                                 I WANNA GO BACK NOW!!!

smoke signals

life is always changing. things start & stop. sometimes you need to take a step back & just breathe. today was one of those days at my house.
my neighbor's house caught on fire today. they lost everything they own. the fire was apparently started by the heating system. the smoke was not that noticeable at first but has left a lasting impression on all that were here today.
the kids were devastated by the fact their stuff is now gone. the little boy is mortified that they no longer have a television & keeps asking when they will get a new one. the little girl is just lost by the fact they have nothing & no bed to sleep in of their own.
i have never had to experience anything like this so i do not know how they are feeling or what thoughts are going though their minds tonight. i do know how it feels to lose a person & thankfully no loved ones were in the house at the time of the fire.
i spent much of the afternoon talking to people trying to get clothes & diapers for the family. i posted on my facebook asking friends & family for anything they could spare. i was a little shocked by the amount or well lack of comments in response to my post about the days events. people i expected to comment that are always volunteering & helping those in need were nowhere to be found & in their place were people i rarely speak to or never thought would respond. i amazed daily by the people that surround me. people i call friends & people i do not associate with alike are always surprising me.
now let me clear some things up. i am not exactly what you would call friends with my neighbor but i am doing everything i would do if the same thing had happened to my best friend or a family member. i can only hope that the same generosity and kindness would be shown to me if it had been my house smoldering tonight.
the lack of generosity & love for one another in this world astounds me. love thy neighbor as thy self? i may not exactly love my neighbor but in their time of need i can most definetly overlook that fact & treat them with all the compassion i would expect if it were me or my family. now don't get the wrong message from all of this i am not asking you to pat me on the back for being a do gooder or anything like that, i just wish we could all treat each other with the respect & compassion we want to be shown ourselves.

things happen for a reason. i believe this happened because we all needed to remember what it is in life that is truly important. things do not matter they can always be replaced. the people that enrich our lives & give or lives meaning can never be repalced. it is the things that can not be held, the things that can not be burned that, the things that can not be changed the elements that make life truly worth while.

oh hello there!

ok so yeah i totally just noticed i have not posted in ages! yeah. things have happened that i have not blogged! OH NOOOOO!!!!

so here is a quick look at that went on(in no particular order) while i was so busy i couldn't take time to blog.

more major holidays. christmas. halloween. thanksgiving. nothing super awesome went on at our house around any of those holidays.

we have been to the doctor several times in the last few months. the monster seems to have an issue with UTIs so e have been on antibiotics & things like that. aparently it has been hurting when she pees to the pont of screaming. we are going to a urologist & have tests scheduled to see what exactly it is that is going on with her.

at christmas the mosnter racked up as uaual. nothing new there. she got toys & clothes & all things JUSTIN BIEBER. she is obsessed with the biebs.  she now has posters of justin all over her room. & yes they are on a 1st name basis now he is just justin. she is in LOVE with him like i was in love with NKOTB. my kid is a belieber.

halloween lead us to the search of a new costume. this year she was a pirate. she was a cute slightly girly pirate. she had boots a hat & even a pint size sword.

oh & we also got a dog. his name is boss. he is an american bulldog. boss is the laziest dog on the planet but also one of the cutest!

 we love our puppy. he is such a silly boy.

monsters in hula skirts

birthdays are always fun & around our house they seem to last a few days instead of just one. the monster's birthday was on thursday. the sister-in-law & i took her to old mexico for lunch.

they tried to put the sombrero on her & sing to her & she FREAKED out! she climed up me & got cool whip & cholocate all over me (they rub the spoon in your face for the pic). she screamed & cried. i don't think they even got to finish singing to her because of how she reacted.
the monster's birthday party was not until saturday. the party had a luau theme. she picked the theme on her own. i bought nearly all of the decorations & supplies from the dollar tree & my mom made the cake.

the inside of the cake was layers of rainbow colors.(not sure why i have no picture of the inside of the cake)

we had cookies, chips, ice cream and popsicles.

the kids played ring toss, blew bubbles, jumped on the trampoline and played in the monster's play house.

i almost didn't have candles to put on the cake. they were lost in the junk drawer in the kitchen.

the monster had to have some help blowing out the very last candle.  thanks to some eager volunteers all her wishes will come true.

the kids ended up playing in the water hose with the bucket that had bubbles in it. not sure how that happened but at least they were clean.

we gave them margaritas  in spite of their ages. ok so not really. they drank kool aid from the fancy glasses and felt like grown ups for the day.

    even the dog got in on the fun! she just wouldn't wear the sunglasses they wanted to put on her. 

and in the end my little monster was officially 4 years old. she had a great time with all of our family & friends. i could not have asked for a better party for her. now i have  to figure out how to top it for next year :)

the after party

after the party the girls decided they needed to keep rockin & had a tea party in the monster's room.

land of the lost easter eggs (better late than never)

growing up we had huge family get togethers for all the holidays. mostly because my mom has a zillion brothers & sisters & they all had two or more kids of their own. we had egg hunts(of which i always took the prize) & big dinners with loads of food.

easter morning i gathered the eggs from my fridge & got everything ready to color eggs. real eggs for her first time coloring easter eggs...it was going to be a magical morning.  i boiled the eggs, a full dozen, just for the monster to color. after they cooled i grabbed the cheesy lil box that contained my egg coloring kit. i opened the box & it was EMPTY! i had paid a whole dollar  for this box containing six tiny tabs of color an there was nothing but air inside...easter morning & i am left holding an empty box. on top of this disaster i was out of food coloring so we could not go that route to dye her eggs.
frantically i called my mom to cry to her about my empty box & what a disaster this day was turning out to be(the hubby had also had to work that day).  several minutes after our conversation the hubby pulls in the yard &  my phone rings...it is my mom...she is coming & bringing dye so the monster can hunt eggs!  the day is coming together after all!!
mom gets here we open the new box & pop the tabs into some cups & drop in some eggs. the eggs are turning colors & the monster is excited. i am however a bit dismayed. the eggs are barely colored at all they are beyond paste, barely visible. the hubby's granny stops by to say hello in the middle of all the chaos. she says she has some food color we can use to dye the eggs.
finally we have some visible color on the eggs &  we also have a very happy monster! my little sis & i go out & hide the eggs. the monster is unleashed to hunt down the hidden eggs. there is no prize egg or golden egg since it is just her hunting eggs...she wins no matter what.
the monster hunts them all & captures all but one egg. it takes us all almost thirty minutes to find the very last egg. it turned out the lil sis had forgotten where she hid it. we recovered the missing member of our egg clan & let the monster have at them. i think she enjoyed eating them more than hunting them.
 next year i  will make sure i have the stuff to dye the eggs a day or two before hand :)

monsters make messes!

when i was a kid i was always getting in trouble for my room being a mess. my room was never just a little messy if it was a mess it was a MESS. my room looked like you needed to call FEMA.

BUT...i always knew where everything was. not sure how i knew where it all was but that's the story i told my mom.

now that the monster is almost four she has learned the fine art of making excuses for not cleaning her room. so far her favorite excuse for not getting things done is "i am tired." or the occasional "i don't feel good.". she is getting more & more fond of using these excuses to TRY to get out of cleaning her room. the other day i tried to get her to clean her disaster area, oh wait i mean her room, & she looks at me & says "i don't feel like it." REALLY?!??!?! you gotta be kidding me!! DON'T FEEL LIKE IT?!?! YOU ARE 3&1/2 NOT 13!!! GIMME A BREAK!!

not only is her room a mess she has started bringing toy & junk into MY LIVINGROOM. yeah, the living room. we have a rule, NO TOYS IN THE LIVING ROOM, but it seems she may have forgotten this lil gem. she has her room & the classroom for her things. the living room is supposed to be off limits to the nonliving.

in addition to her messes she is now also the queen of dirty laundry(actual laundry). she has more dirty clothes laying around than a laundromat. i am not even sure when she wears all of these clothes i find hiding under toys & between mattresses.i have even found socks in the trash can! i guess she thinks clothes just magically appear out of thin air & there is some laundry fairy that flits around washing & folding her clothes(I WISH!!). my lil monster keeps me so busy with her laundry i barely have time to do anything else. i spend most of the day picking up loose socks,  folding tiny tee shirts, little jeans & don't get me started on the towels she messes just to dry her itty bitty munchkin hands with. 

maybe someday she will learn to do her own laundry & clean her own room but until i will gladly accept the responsibility as it is the duty of a mommy :)