Wednesday… mid-week… the perfect day to start off the morning some good grins, thanks to my silly monkeys. Laughterall, that’s the point of my LaughterThoughts!

Blessing #5 has discovered a new and exciting way to make some really funny noises… He was at it full steam after breakfast. We couldn’t stop laughing, so I captured a little video of him. Click on the arrow twice to get a good giggle… just make sure your volume is on because the humor is really in the sound!

B#2 has been unable to find the mate to her tennies for at least a week. She’s been wearing Blessing #1’s old shoes, but they’re too big for her. She had them on this morning, but I told her to change since Wednesday is gym day for her. After all, we wouldn’t want her falling out of her shoes during P.E.! Well we did a grand search for the other half to the pair. We were unsuccessful in locating it, but we did locate another mateless sneaker. I tell you, it worked out brilliantly! One was a left and one was a right. Contrary to the reaction I would’ve gotten from B#1, B#2 had absolutely no problem wearing two different shoes to school when I told her to just wear what we’d found. Take close note of her feet in the picture!

I came into the kitchen to find B#3 eating his cereal in a whole new way… Turns out, he let me know, he wanted cereal soup for breakfast. That explained why all of the miniwheats were out of the bowl and spread over a soggy napkin. He contentedly slurped up all the milk with his spoon… and then ate the cereal.

Rescue Heroes are a blast, but who would’ve know that Brandon Irons’ backpack lasso would make such a good “hear heart” for B#4… she now has her own miniature stethoscope.

And Brandon’s snake, Kobra, inspired B#3 to do his own slithering this morning. Note his snake tail… and #5’s seatbelt strap cover that I have been looking for… that's it right there, that sun stuck on his bum!

Well, on a completely different note… do you remember how, in The Call of the Wild, the dog Buck was deeply loyal to his master Thornton, but he had this growing attraction to the wild and felt as if he was being called away from civilization and into the wilderness? He had befriended the wolves but at the end of the day, he always returned to Thornton...

Gypsy, our rescued stray kitty, has really taken to life at our house. After living on (and under) the front porch for over a month, she finally made the transitional move to coming inside some. She really seems to love the good life of a warm, cozy house and consistent meals. While she still wants to roam the neighborhood here and there, she always comes back to us. We were pretty sure Gypsy was pregnant when she first arrived… Not long after she first came, she started to get a little fuller around the belly. But, alas, I now think she just has a happy belly because she is being fed and is getting some nourishment. She may not have been pregnant when she came, but I have a sneaking suspicion that she may be very, very soon. It seems that our little Gypsy may be in heat, as there are several other cats that have spent the last couple days in our front yard. They are always in near proximity… and as soon as they see Gypsy, they are out following her. Last night they were really aggressive. We were trying to get her inside, and she was trying to get away from them… we could hear the catfights in the neighbors’ yards. As much as she wanted away from them and wanted in the house, I think her instincts were calling her back out to them. She was skittish and hesitant to come inside, so by the end of the night when we were headed to bed, the call of Gypsy’s wild won out, and she headed down the bike path to the shelter belt with a gang of feral tomcats all around her. This morning when I woke up she wasn’t inside, so I went on the porch with her food to call her in. She slowly came out from under the porch. She would eye the food, and then turn her head back and look behind her. She did this several times and then finally out from under the porch came the big cat that has definitely been the most aggressive.

Oh Gypsy, Gypsy… tsk, tsk!

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From the backseat of the car, Blessing #3 persistently kept trying to tell me something. "Huh?" I turned down the heater. "Huh?" Turned off the radio. "Huh?" Shushed the other kids. "Huh?" Finally, "Okay, talk nice and loud because Moma's hearing isn't so great this morning."

B#3: Moma, I don't think I'm going to be able to wear this ever again.

Monkey Moma: Why is that?

B#3: Because I'm too little for it.

MM: But you're growing bigger and bigger every day. Did you know that? Some day you'll be a big boy like Daddy. Boys grow up into men.

B#3: Really?! Wow! ...And I'll have big hairnoses, too?

MM: Hairnoses? Oh... does Daddy have big nose hairs?

B#3: No, Daddy doesn't... (and then in great admiration and awe) but some daddies do! Sometimes their hairnoses are pokey. Sometimes they're squiggley. They have hairnoses because they have hair in their noses. All different colors of hair!

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I thought this was a great drool drip shot... especially since it's a picture of the drool drip and not me feeling the drool drip on my face or in my mouth! And if it fancies you, go ahead and click to enlarge the picture and see it in even closer and better detail... it being my precious little monkey, of course!

(But the close-up of the drool drip is pretty impressive, too.)

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Baby Blues is one comic strip that pretty much always makes me laugh… and one that oftentimes seems to have been written by someone observing my life in this monkey zoo! I have torn several strips out of the paper at different times, thinking how relevant they were to things happening for this Monkey Moma. After reading a recent post by Alli at Adventures in Imperfection, I was reminded of these and decided I’d better get them posted before I forgot about them. Hope you get a laugh out of them, too!

(click to enlarge!)

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Five Little Monkeys growing up so fast...

Today, Blessing #5 turned one!

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Pinky stumbled on a blog challenge that she's going to do. So I, too, have created a second (well, actually third!) blog so I can also take part... visit my GigglePix site to check it out!

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Apparently for no other reason to than drive us completely batty, the smoke detector in our bedroom upstairs has decided to make itself heard.

I checked. There is no smoke. Didn't see any. Didn't smell any.

But there is a loud, piercing, contant siren. And I definitely hear that. The alarm has been echoing through the house for several hours. And it will continue to until either Monkey Daddy gets home from work or the batteries in the stinkin' thing go dead. I lugged the big ladder from the garage, into the house, up the staircase, down the hallway, and into our room. I set it up in the middle of the bedroom floor. I climbed the wobbly thing and s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d my arm up as high as I could. Unfortunately, we have a vaulted ceiling in our room, and the detector just happens to be way up at the top. So, after all that effort, the best thing I got was just having my ears within several feet of the shrilling thing. My fingertips could just barely graze the surface of it, but there was absolutely no way I'd be able to twist off the cover. Trying to disguise the noise, or maybe more of just trying to distract us all from it, I put on a video and turned up the volume a little louder than usual.

It's not working.

Except for Blessing #5, that is. He has slept through the entire thing. Upstairs, no less.

We weren't surprised by the cold temperatures, but we were surprised by the snow. Figuring it wouldn't last, I took a picture of the backyard a little after lunchtime. It didn't stop snowing, so after we had picked up the girls from school and met Monkey Daddy at work, we came home and dug out the snowsuits and then headed to the local middle school to go sledding on its great hills. It was a lot of fun! But Blessing #5 tuckered out, so we came back home for some hot chocolate and a whole bunch of spaghetti. (In fact, we only quit eating because we ran out of pasta. The little monkeys gobbled it up... all that hill climbing worked up some hearty appetites!)

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Barbies, clothing (sock dresses and all) and accessories included, are machine washable… at least when your 12+ year-old cat is seemingly, but only on occasion and only if it’s cold outside, nighttime incontinent and relieves himself in the Barbie storage box that was left opened in the middle of the living room floor. Barbies will also go through the dryer on the air fluff cycle quite nicely.

When a baby finds a Post-It note on the kitchen floor, he will stick it in his mouth and keep it in there until he either swallows it or it disintegrates into nothingness. You will only know he has eaten your written reminder when you discover his “Tang” mouth… specifically when you notice the bright fluorescent-orange tongue glowing inside of it.

A spraying water bottle, initially purchased to ease home haircuts, is a great disciplinary tool. For example, if your kids are having trouble settling down and staying in their beds, or even in their rooms for that matter, just give the trigger a pull, send out a mist, and you will not find those monkeys in the hallway again. (Remember, proper aim is important. This method is not fully effective unless the spray goes toward the face.) The bottle also serves a triple purpose, as it works wonderfully in aiding the removal of a chubby finger stuck inside a hole on a metal bracket. Mom can quickly grab the water along with a bottle of hand soap and alternately spray and squirt, while gently wiggling the swelling finger out of its little prison.

When taking five little kids to the dentist office, Mom will think ahead to plan on ways to make the visit pleasant and fairly uneventful while the older two are in their appointments.

Grand Idea #1: The Snack Distraction
Mom plans on taking the kids’ new water bottles with the little snack cubbies on the bottoms. Then Mom remembers the “Please No Food or Drink” sign on the front doors of the building. Unfortunately, Mom has already shared her Grand Idea with the kids.

Grand Idea #2: Monkey Management
Mom knows that naps are essential for the sanity of everyone. Nevertheless, seemingly insufficient car naps, especially those taken on the way to the dentist, result in rather crabby children when those children are awakened from their sweet slumber in order to make the cold trek across the parking lot and into the otherwise quiet dental offices. Unfortunately, Mom has only two hips and she has three needy children.

Grand Idea #3: Travel Lightly
Limiting the amount of luggage makes for an easier trip into and out of the reception room. Leaving the car with only her five children and a purse (and, of course, the camera), Mom will already be inside before she remembers that when leaving a diaper bag in the car, Murphy’s Law will certainly come into effect. Unfortunately, she will be certain of this when she looks over to her baby and sees his grimace while simultaneously hearing the telltale “I’m pooping” grunt. (But fortunately for this blog, Mom snapped a picture of the boy mid-grunt.)

Mom knows that children can come up with the most profound thoughts. I’ll leave you with this breakfast conversation…

After Blessing #2 told me my food in the oven smelled “divine” (certainly only because it was not her breakfast), she then asked me what divine meant. So after I talked about divine, we then talked about heavenly. And from there we talked about heaven and things we will see in heaven. We talked about the peaceful, beautiful, happy place full of love and praise and worship and joy. We talked about seeing pearly gates and streets of gold. I didn’t get any farther because it was at this point that B#1 decided to join into the conversation. At first I thought she was just spewing out some 6 year-old sass...

B#1: You probably wouldn’t ever even see those things in heaven, though.
Monkey Moma: And why not?
B#1: Because when you’re in heaven, you maybe won’t see them...
I know I’m gonna wanna spend all my time looking at Jesus.

Wow.

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When duty calls

Blessing #4 has, by far, shown herself to be quite stubborn... especially when it comes to things such as potty training. She is quite aware of what is going on, but she is also quite resistant to change. She loves wearing panties. Over her diaper. She'll sit on the potty. But usually only reluctantly and only after my persistent insistence. Even so, she'll almost always produce some results while she's sitting there. And when she's not sitting there? Well, she knows what her body is telling her, and she goes off to take care of it in private. She just doesn't go to the bathroom. She likes to go hide when she needs to, you know, do her doody duty. I'll find her in a closet or in a corner or quietly hunkered down behind the couch. I suppose she could just be playing a game of hide-&-seek. Well, it's plausible that I might think that, but I'm usually overwhelmed by a strong poof of stinkiness. And that usually gives it away.

This is definitely not a game of hide-&-seek...

not in its traditional form anyways.

This afternoon, after I smelled, sought, and found, I begin to change this feisty 2-year-old's diaper. I keep telling her this is the last box of diapers. "We won't be buying anymore." I continue to reinforce the fact that big girls-- like her sisters and her moma-- don't wear diapers. And the fact that when you do things in the potty instead of in a diaper, you don't have those icy cold wipes rubbed on your goosebumpy bottom. And big girls who wear panties get to do big girl things like go to big-kid Sunday school and to Cubbies...

She is consistent with her response: a guilty grin and a slow shake of the head.

Today there was more to the sheepish smile and head shake. She explained everything, and now I understand.

"Me no go poopies, Moma. My diaper go poopies."

Those stinkin' diapers. Why do they have to be doin' that?

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