My Life in The Trees

wonder boy

A super hero to me is a boy (or man) who is kind and respectful to the ladies. And it gives me, as a mom, pleasure to hear the manners come out from all my kids but especially when my boy monkey holds the door open for sisters and even for his mama, and says, “Ladies first.” It is so sweet and my heart fills with happiness.

And it fills my heart with happiness when my little one shows her manners as well, sitting on the toilet at home or in the store restroom and all is quiet while we wait for the action to happen and a toot comes out and she quietly says, “scuse me.”

nice stache

This monkey is alway grateful. Never does she miss the chance to thank me for all that she gets to do in life. Even go outside to play she comes in and says, “Thank you for letting me play outside.” It makes my heart happy for one: that she can go outside to play, and two: that she recognizes it.

wow! we look alike

And nothing gives a mother greater pleasure than to have a teenager be grateful for the clothes that she wanted and received in a shopping trip with mom. Or to be thanked for the many miles we drive her back and forth from activities.

ps this is the picture (above) I realized people really are correct in saying,”you guys could be sisters. You look so much a like”.
However I do say she is much cuter !

my wild one

My monkey #3 may be my wild one but she is the first one to take the little monkey’s and go play house or go color, or play school or church, and to a mom who has five monkey’s and need time to away from little ones to get house clean is a life saver, and much much appreciated!

My kids showing their manners is one of my favorite things and so I will use my manners to say “Thank You” to my kids for it!

Happy 2013. It wasn’t a big gradios party this year. Just low key and family, its what its all about. I always have a breakfast at midnight so we had the doughnuts and the ho hash (a breakfast of potatoes, some sort of pig product, cheese and eggs). Then we went to bed, because i am surprised I made it that late. I am not a night person.

BMT birthday #5

This year is monkey #2 5 year Bone Marrow Birthday. It was a milestone we have been waiting for. At the five year mark the percentages of her cancer coming back drop dramatically, like from 50% to 10%. She has been waiting to celebrate this milestone. We also have been going down to primary children’s for regular check ups, blood counts and evaluations every month for almost 6 years (some a of the check ups were every three months). It has been 8 years since original diagnosis and 5 1/2 since relapse. So we are in constant knowledge of were her counts are, how she is doing, what to expect. We were told the other day when we called forgetting what day our apt was for this month. We were told that they would just see us in August and then yearly after that.
What? Say again?
I don’t know how to feel about this. We have always been in the know of her counts, and having a child that has relapsed makes me all the more nervous.
I feel excited! She doesn’t had to be poked all the time. We can save money and go on a vacation with the money we will save from gas, hospital bills, labs etc.
I keep thinking it has been 5 years, this is a good thing, but in the back of my mind, what if is does come back. So this news is a bit of an emotional happy….nervous….jump for joy…..bite my nails.

are those monkey’s in there?

We have been staying more in doors since it has been so cold. However the inversion is not a problem here and so to be able to watch a movie on the iPad, my monkey’s have to tent themselves from the bright sun.

monkey is 12

Monkey #2 also turned 12! A big young women now! Getting to wear a bit of make-up and do things she has been waiting and waiting to do. Such a fun age.
Lumber Jake warned me about his thoughtful gift monkey #1 put together for her letting me know I might cry. He was right, how sweet is this! Proud mama moment.

introducing…bruiser

We ring the new year in with a new dog. Bruiser is his name, and cute is his game. Man he is so fun to have and pretty smart. He is a yorkie mix and I am told by our vet his daddy might be palmeranian? Who knows, but having two dogs is way easier than having 1. They keep each other company. We keep this one inside, much to my hubby’s chagrin. He has held off for 16 years of not having a dog in the house, so now it is my turn. Very kind this hubby of mine!

hope in 2013 all your wildest do come true…for real!

I welcome myself back to the blogging community. I debated back and forth wether to continue blogging or not and this is the reason there was a lull in my posts. The debate is over and now am back, ready to give you updates in our life in the trees, and it won’t surprise you that I have been painting. Rooms that is.
My living room didn’t feel home to me until I put some serious lush of a color on my walls. Lumer Jake came home to the color and said it feels like our home now. The richness of the color next to the red shelves, and couches I have makes me feel cozy. And with the weather we are having up here in the trees (just last week -21), cozy is needed.
I have to drive about 20 minutes to get to some good paint. I hate watered down paint that you need three coats to make it look right, and that is what is in town. So I have to go to the next town. I tested it out with this richness and approved.

living room

love it with the red

This wall was a bit scary to paint. It is tall, and I am short. But I love a challenge and it is hard to tell me to wait until hubby gets home to help me. Ahhhh, not going to happen. I figure out a way myself. I want to get it done. I get me my ladder and extended it to the longest it will go and still have to reach my short arms on tippy toes to get to the blasted trim. Thankfully no falling off, or tripping down the ladder occurred. Yes I did say a prayer .

the old switcheroo

I am a glutton for punishment, I always tell myself. I add more stress to my day than necessary, so this weekend was no exception. Monkey #4 never sleeps in. My girls get up at 6 in the am to get ready to meet the bus and a few minutes later monkey 4 strolls in. This is much to my dismay. So we decided he needs to go upstairs with monkey #5 to sleep. Hoping to change his sleeping habits. So his room is now monkey #3′s and of coarse I have to paint it! So the grey and orange and brown striped walls are now a girly pink with butterflies as per request of my girly girl. We are still not all moved (the clothes are the worst part). So far so good. This morning he slept in until 7:20! wahooo. Hubby is skeptical it will last. We shall see.
What can I say, I love change.

ps just for you mandy miss ya!

It is christmas in the air.
I love christmas. The funky collection of christmas songs on my iPod, the twinkling lights, the thoughts of giving and the wonderful present of all Christ, our Savior. One of our traditions is we have one gift under the tree in an envelope for christ. Every christmas eve we open it, read what we promised Christ the year before of something we would do better in the up coming year, write a new gift, seal it and keep for next year. It is fun to read and see how we did.

This year I had to purchase new stockings. We were short one, since when I purchased the last ones we were only planning to have 4 monkey’s. I could sleep, rub my face on them, cuddle up in a ball and shove myself in them they are so cozy. Who needs a mantle when they fit awesomely hung with our red barn door as back drop.

oh christmas tree

Monkey #4 really wanted to put the star on the tree this year. And so he got his wish. While setting up the nativity we tell the story of Jesus, then when it is time to talk about the star in the sky telling the wise men of His birth, we place the star on top. Daddy and son, cute boys I have!

I noticed when my last monkey was born that her eyes didn’t quite focus all the time. I asked my wonderful ped. about it and said not to worry, she passed the test when she was born. However it didn’t really get better. I would be changing her diaper and her eyes would go opposite directions and take a minute to resume their position. Monkey #2 had a lazy eye and had surgery and glasses when she was 3 1/2 so I thought I would keep my eye on it (no pun intended).

She got older and both her eyes seemed to wander. I got many comments about it and I new I needed to get her into see an eye doctor. But here was the problem. Monkey 2 and 5 look a lot similar, both have had eczema, both have problems with their eye sight, Monkey #2 was diagnosed with cancer 6 months after she had her eye surgery and got glasses. It sounds silly to say out loud that I was nervous, but if you have never gotten that kind of news, you just don’t understand. I didn’t want it to follow a pattern. But I finally did it, and was glad that it didn’t follow the same pattern as monkey #2 in that monkey #5 has not had to have surgery. I caught her eye sight a lot younger and hopefully with wearing the glasses longer it might correct it. Although in the back of my mind a little worry is still there, she looks so stinking cute in her glasses that is eases the worry just a bit.

maybe….

First day wearing her glasses made her a little nervous. Just getting use to being able to see I guess threw her off for a minute but by the next day she was asking to put her glasses on.

happy to see

happy to see

In our church, her nursery leader made the comment to us that ever since she has worn her glasses she is a different little girl. Before she would sit in the corner, not playing with toys and not saying word. Now that she has her glasses she plays and talks with the other kiddos which is great and a little bit sad to me to think she just couldn’t see. I always joked about #2 and how she would always run into walls and then come to find out, she needed glasses. Now monkey #5 can see and it has opened up a whole new world for her.

She sure looks stinking cute in her yellow frames.

ps we found a website to order glasses Zeni.com. It was a lot cheaper there than the other place we have gotten glasses in the past before (standard optical), and they came pretty quick, and just the same good quality!

Our life in the trees has been filled with lots of fun these past few weeks so blogging has been put on the back burner. Because of this I have decided to combined a few holidays into one big blog.
I love this time of year! Happy to see the leaves change color, and I didn’t shed a tear when the first snow hit. I was actually excited about it because the outside of our house is done.
It was a record warm up here in the trees so even thought we don’t get any trick or treaters we dressed up and went out to some houses. Yes, we did have trunk or treating at the church, but that is just not a favorite thing for me. I still want to walk in the cold temps going house to house and enjoy some hot cocoa when we get home.
My monkey’s love to dress up for halloween and I don’t mind it either .

chloe – patra

dark princess the elselator

spider man, spider man…

cutest bunny… since kiddos 1,2 and 3

rocker

What is funny about this costume is the only thing I had to buy for it was the killer eye lashes!

Thanksgiving was delightful. You will always find oh so good food at mama carols and teamed up with good company and a good game to watch on TV, lovely.
The day after thanksgiving we always go out in search of the perfect tree and then we always get it home and say, “hmmmm it looked fuller in the mountains!” But that is what we like about it, all the many unique trees we have had through out the years. Some more unique than others. When getting our tree, it is always just me and lumber jake since our monkey’s are off playing with cousins eating snow, being pulled behind some sort of off road vehicle, or dancing trying to catch snow flakes with their tongues (when it is snowing, that is).

lumber jake in action

I adore christmas. I love to decorate for it, love the funky christmas playlist I have accumulated over the years playing in the back ground. The eggnog we drink while we adorn the sparse branches of our freshly cut tree. We get together and tell the story of Christ in the manger while we put together the wooden manger and figures we display for this time of year. And put the star on top of the tree of the sign of His birth. Traditions are one of my favorite things.

I love christmas

fury stocking we hung with care…on our barn door!

Our mantle would burn our stocking so we thought of the next best place to put them, our red barn door! I love everything about this. We had to get new stockings cause monkey #5 came and she didn’t have one so can you believe this nice fluffy stockings were only 20.00 at Restoration Hardware.com! Love them! Lumber Jake’s and mine are on the way since I loved them so much!

I always try to get done with my shopping early so I can enjoy and not stress, so I am proud to say I am done with shopping and now can just sit back and relax while I enjoy the season.

Happy Holiday’s, ya’ll!