My Real Life

June 8, 2010

My Songbird

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 11:35 pm
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My precious 6-year old had his end of year concert tonight.

While there were many flaws with the concert itself, my little guy was fantastic.

He sang all the songs, did all the motions, and was just wonderful.

I couldn’t sit with the family…not enough seats, so I stood in the back of the “auditorium” (in quotes because I hesitate to actually call it an auditorium) and watched.

We caught eyes, early on, and from then on, I think he was singing right to me. 

We shared lots of smiles, and I blew him kisses and he smiled bigger.

So proud of that guy.

So proud!

June 6, 2010

Family Picnic

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 9:22 pm
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So, today was Family Picnic day.

Big doin’s in Real Man’s family.

His immediate and extended family descend upon a local park, and basically take the joint over.

It’s a good time, and the monkeys and their cousins love, love, love it.

Our little branch of the family is always the first to get there, along with my father-in-law.

So, the monkeys and I headed out on the local park system, county-wide path.

We always bring lots of food, and we eat it all.

Burgers, dogs, sausage and peppers, Doritoes, Cheetos, Fritos, Double Stuf Oreos.

Delicious.

After all of that food, sometimes, you need a rest.

Baby Monkey and I spent some time just laying in the outfield, looking at the clouds.

Then, the sky started to look like this:

And this…

And this…

I pulled out my iPhone and checked the weather.

Tornado warnings throughout New Jersey.

Really?  Cuz, I don’t live in California because I don’t enjoy earthquakes, and I don’t live in the Gulf because I don’t enjoy hurricanes, and I DON’T live in Kansas because I don’t like tornados.

Tornado warnings in NJ? 

Whatever.

We packed up and were ready to go, but decided to wait a little bit and see what happened.

The skies cleared and we de-packed and started cooking dinner.

Now, I have no pictures to document this, but I spent a good portion of the day holding my almost 6 month old nephew.

Good stuff.

Really good stuff

There is just something about those warm, sweaty little bodies, snuggled up next to you, looking around, checking out the world.

He’s got teeth coming in, and so he was gnawing on his little hand, drooling all over my shoulder.

I loved every second of it.

So, in the end, did we have a good time at the family picnic?

I think Monkey Girl’s feet tell the story.

Those feet played hard and had fun.

June 3, 2010

Thoughtful Thursday

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 5:34 pm
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June 2, 2010

Nature Girl

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 9:09 pm
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Today, Monkey Girl wrassled, yes I said “wrassled,” a bear.

She was so brave.  She walked up to that bear and wrestled him to the ground.

Then, she stuffed him and mounted him.

Then, she made fire out by rubbing two sticks together, outside of the wigwam she had made earlier in the day.

OR…

Perhaps we just went to the Morris County Great Swamp Nature Center with her Girl Scout Troop.

Aside from the fact we were completely exsanguinated by the mosquitoes…

…it was a great time!

June 1, 2010

New Friends

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 5:26 pm
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When I was a Girl Scout, we sang a song called “Make New Friends.”

Make new friends,

But keep the old,

One is silver,

And the other’s gold.

Today, good readers, I have made a new friend.

She is beautiful.

She is strong.

She is, as the song asks her to be, silver.

Or, perhaps stainless steel is a more accurate representation.

I’d like to introduce…

Stella.

Yes, Stella.

Yes.  I name my appliances.

So what?

Anyway, my old crockpot, Helen, died an unnatural death a few weeks ago, as I dropped her on the floor while taking her out of the dishwasher. 

I swept up her broken, shattered body and wept for the years we had together.

Then, I pulled myself together, went out, and bought Stella with a Target gift card I had gotten for Mother’s Day.

Isn’t she beautiful?

Today, Stella is partaking in crockpot initiation.

In my house, if you want to be a member of the appliance family, you gotta go through a beating.

The beating of cooking my meat sauce, replete with meatballs, sausage and more spices than I should probably use.

It can’t be overcooked. 

It can’t be undercooked.

It’s gotta be just right, or you can’t join the club.

So, tonight will tell if Stella makes the cut.

I’ve got a good feeling about it, though.

She’s just too darn pretty to turn down.

May 31, 2010

Scenes from a Picnic

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 12:53 pm
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On Sunday, we all climbed in the car and drove for a few hours to go to Erin’s house.

Erin and her husband have a “sorta-annual” Memorial Day picnic in May.  It also coincides with her birthday, which I’m always thrilled to celebrate!  (Happy birthday, Erin!)

There was good food, new friends to be made, kiddie pools, sprinklers, toys, horses and sun.

It was a GREAT day!

May 30, 2010

76 Trombones

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 12:45 pm
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Yesterday was the Memorial Day parade in our town.

We started out with breakfast at the diner, where the boys were plastered to the window, watching the parade set up.

Then, out to the street to sit with family and enjoy small town America at it’s finest.

May 28, 2010

Mother’s Day Belated

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 7:42 am
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I had the most delicious picnic yesterday.

Monkey in the Middle’s kindergarten class does a belated Mother’s Day celebration where the kids and their moms meet for lunch on the lawn in front of the school and have a picnic.

We packed our own lunches and spent time together and just got to spend a nice hour together in the middle of an otherwise hectic day. It was wonderful!

May 24, 2010

Why I Love Monday Nights

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 8:35 pm
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Monday is hard day for everyone.

You’ve just enjoyed the weekend, and then that alarm goes off, much earlier than you had hoped.

Doesn’t matter if you love your job as much as I do.

Monday’s can be tough.

So, by Monday night, most people are just shot.

In the past, by Monday night, you could stick in a fork in me because I was completely done.

Yet, this Spring, something happened.

Monkey Girl happened to walk through my bedroom while Dancing with the Stars started.

She was transfixed.

I let her stay.

She asked questions, she made comments.

We discussed technique, costumes, why people are celebrities, etc.

It was a blast.

And now…it’s what we do…EVERY MONDAY NIGHT.

I’m devastated that tomorrow night is the finale, because then it’s over for a few months.

Trust me, we connect in lots of ways throughout the day.

But, this was just a new, special thing that we shared.

And I loved it.

And I love her.

And that’s all there is to it.

May 23, 2010

Hawkeye

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 6:19 pm
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Today, we spent some time visiting Open Houses.

It was a lot of driving around.

As we drive through one new construction neighborhood, we passed a pile of dirt.

We passed quickly.

Yet, Hawkeye, AKA Monkey in the Middle, yells, “Hey! A turtle!!!”

We went back and still could barely see it.

Hawkeye showed us where it was, yet again.

I’m telling ya, if we were hunters, this kid would win trophies.

He spots animals in nature, with the naked eye, remarkably well.

He’s pretty handy to have on a hike.

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