Herro? Any body there?

Uhhh, yeah. so my idea of posting more often kinda isn't working, is it?

 This was from Monkey's 7th birthday.  He wanted to go bowling.  

It was really fun and Mel kicked everybody's butts.

but it's only been like two weeks or so, right? that's not THAT bad, is it? ok ok ok. i'll try and do better next time. =)

This was Pinky on her birthday. 

so school's been going well. daddy and i are trying to be calm, cool, and collected with the kids. sometimes it works. today, not so much. so i'll pray a whole heck of a lot, and tomorrow will be better.

 Because he's 7 and Mel had a camera.

monkey started guitar lessons.  i found a music store in town with a cool guy that owns it.  he gives the lessons himself.  i had a good feeling about the lessons.  i was happy with my decision.  until lesson day came.  the guy has not made it to a single lesson on time.  some he hasn't even shown up for at all.  i'm really annoyed.  then today, he sticks the guitar into a bag and says that he thinks that monkey needs it and that it's for sale.  i say "for what, a bagillion dollars"  and he says "no, $15" and so i say "ok, well, i'll ask my hubby about it" and he says "well, take it and we'll figure it out later" (it was pouring down rain and the guitar was about to get drenched) so does that mean "here, i'm being nice and have a guitar case" or does that mean "you can pay me for it next week"?  i have no idea.  and i hate when people beat around the bush like that.  makes me angry.  so now not only am i annoyed that he's always late or doesn't show up, but now i'm annoyed about the case, too.  just freaking great.

This is our family pic from our Anniversary celebration for Pinky.

 

we ordered some trees and plants for the yard. we had a dead oak cut out of the back. (yes, i said "had it cut" as in we PAID someone else to do something. i know, it's a hard-to-believe truth, but believe it. i whimpered as i handed the man the check. because i know that my do-it-all husband could have climbed into the 300-foot-tall-dead-oak-tree with his trusty chainsaw d-ringed to his belt loop and cut it down, but we decided that it was probably safer and way way easier just to pay someone else to do it.)

 Me and the Monkster on his 7th birthday.  (Yes, this is from November.  Don't harrass me.)

daddy instead took the chain saw to the terribly hideous half-dead pine that used to be by the mailbox. then like the sneaky man he is, after dark and the kids were snuggled in their beds, he took the tree across the road and tossed it into the lake, thinking that it would sink and make a nice little hiding place for fishies that we could later go and catch. well... it didn't. it floated. away. daddy waded out into the lake trying to get the dang thing to sink. it still floated away. he came inside. we waited for the neighborhood police to send out an email that someone had lost their pine tree in the lake. thankfully, that email never came. we planted some of the new trees, and are prepping to get the rest of the bushes planted on saturday. we will now have apples, peaches, pears, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, and a new willow in our yard. i also found another vine that i MUST have... the chocolate vine. supposedly it smells like chocolate and has edible fruit on it that tastes like pudding. seriously-- what could be more perfect for me?? they should rename it the MA vine! geesh!

ok, let me get some pics on here for your eye's enjoyment and i'm heading to bed!

 Just as a comparison... this is the Fat Kid last November.  Before The FLU hit our home like a tornado and left us all gangly and dehydrated.  Poor Kid lost 3 lbs. 

 And this, three months later, is the same not-so-Fat Kid in the same pj's, because he's just now, this last week, gotten back to his pre-flu weight.  Poor little Fat Kid.