Bittersweet Symphony

Lots of things have been kind of bittersweet for us lately. Others have been, well, the same old song and dance. It's June again and more of our church family is moving on to start post-school lives throughout the country. While being very excited for them, it's still hard to see them go. Good luck to all our friends who moved on this year.

Another bittersweet ending was Missy Monkey Feet's first year of preschool. Here are some pictures of the end-of-year picnic.

Missy Monkey Feet with the greatest teacher in the world, Miss Michele.

Here he is folks- one of MMF's biggest crushes this year, Canyon and one of her friends, Erin.

MMF with Miss Lois, another teacher from school who didn't retire this year but decided not to show up next year, according to her.
MMF and Abigail. These are a couple of turkeys if ever I saw any.

Here she is with Veronica, and below with another Abagail from her class.

Now this is an interesting picture that comes with a story. She was playing with her Daddy. This is a new dress-up outfit, Barbie Veterinarian. She decided here to just be a "reglar" doctor. I was fixing dinner and listening to her conversation with Daddy. It went like this:

"Sir how are you feeling today? I know you're busy so I left my office and rode the school bus over here to see you." She started her exam by taking his temperature in his ear. "Hmmm, your temperature is 25lbs." Daddy started asking questions at this point about her cedentials. He asked her if she'd attended medical school. "Yes. I go to doctor school every day on the school bus." Daddy-"But you have dog bones on your coat and it says pet doctor."

MMF-"Well, do you have a sick dog I can see?" She didn't even miss a beat.

Here right in the middle of things, a pleasant visit from cousin Em. Here they are playing together. Em decided to stay "nudie" all morning here. They had fun together and we enjoyed spending time with family. Just for you Em, APPLESAUCE!!!!!!!!!!!

Another bittersweet moment. One of our sister missionaries was transferred. This was the night before she left. She came over to visit with us one last time. We'll miss her lots.

This picture is stuck in here because I've always heard that filthy kids reflect a day of pure fun. Let me tell you, this picture does no justice to the layer of dirt on this child's feet and legs. It was the dirtiest I've ever seen her. She had a full day of playing that day and definitely left a ring around the tub that night. She has named her swings, by the way. They are Denture and Blackie. Don't ask. I don't know.

Just how into the princess thing is she? WAY!! Here she is dressed up like Cinderella watching a video that teaches you to dance on this princess mat. I don't know whether to thank Michelle or be mad at her for giving it to her. I had to endure this video 7 times the first day she had it. Right in the middle of working on her dance steps around the 5th. time we'd seen this the dog barked and startled her making her exclaim, "great Caesar's ghost!" I truly don't know where she comes up with this stuff.

The Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round...

Well among all the other stuff we're into, Missy Monkey Feet recently changed schools. She is attending a preschool where she gets to ride the bus to and from school just like a big girl. How does she like it? I think the picture says it all. This is a picture from her first school bus ride. She has her princess backpack on and is boasting her best and biggest smile.

This is thrown in for fun. On the nights she gets her hair washed we do "fluffy head," where we towel dry her hair. She thinks it is one of the silliest games and she gets a kick out of how funny she looks afterward. We usually fake a scream to express how scary her fluffy hair looks to us. She loves it.

Fly, Flutterby

Missy Monkey Feet recently had a field trip to the conservatory with her class to check out the butterflies. They are quite a spectacle. They come from many exotic locations and are cared for at the conservatory until they emerge. Every spring they have an abundance of beautiful butterflies to fill their tropical area. Some are so friendly, as you'll see. Enjoy.

Here is one that MMF thought looked kind of like a holestein cow.

The prettiest girl in the world checking out all the butterflies.
A koi pond featuring Dale Chahuley sculpted spheres. There was food you could buy to feed the fish. I imagine some of them had to be sick after all those kids fed them so much.

Chahuley spheres in the koi pond.
Missy Monkey Feet standing by a huge Chahuley sculpture. The butterflies just flock to this thing. MMF thought it was a beautiful flower.

Here she is holding a very friendly butterfly.

There he is just tasting MMF to make sure she isn't a flower.

"Welcome back (kotter) to the same old place that we laughed about"

After a long break from blogging we're back! We got so busy for a while that we couldn't keep up. We've missed all our friends out there and I know our family has missed the photos. Missy Monkey Feet is still up to pure silliness as you can see, so enjoy the pics that have been accumulating in my camera for too long.

Just to catch everyone up, Daddy had a birthday not long ago and has entered a new decade of life. (I can't believe I'm married to someone so old!) He has been working way too much but is doing a fine job relaxing with his extensive collection of hardware, tweaking and customizing to create the "sweetest, most righteous firearm" he has ever owned. I don't know. Don't ask me.

Mama has gone to physical therapy for what seems like forever! It is hopefully ending soon. My knees aren't 100% by any stretch, but I think they're as good as pt is going to make them. I'm back to work and driving Miss Monkey Feet. Speaking of which, check her out.

I'm trying to raise her right. She's got on her hippie peasant blouse, some old navy jeans and of course, flip flops. Just like mama, she loves them- and her doggie.

Mr. Toad. Daddy picked him up out of our driveway after running one night. We kept him until morning to show MMF and when we set him free this is what he did...for most of the day. I thought we were going to have to put down a toad abode. MMF thought he was staying with us because he was tired of his own family and he thought she was really pretty.

MMF and one of her neighbor friends getting some Picasso on.

MMF running from her bubbles.

Yes, I'm completely biased but come on. Have you really ever seen a prettier little face?

First trip to the zoo with Daddy this spring. They commemorated it with an elephant face painting. The baby elephant at our zoo is MMF's age.

Mama's first outdoor walk after surgery with MMF. (It was the first time we weren't snowed in!)

"A Monkey In Winter" part deux....rocks, rocks, ROCKS!!!!

Easter morning in her pretty Easter dress before church.

Coloring easter eggs with Mama and Daddy.

MMF giving Daddy one more birthday hug before bed. You can't tell from this picture but she wore a special outfit she picked out on her own for her Daddy's birthday. It was really cute, complete with cowgirl boots.

"A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes..."

One of Missey Monkey Feet's biggest dreams was realized last week. Daddy and I took her to see the Disney Princesses on Ice! We cannot accurately express what a big deal this is to a little "princess" her age. There were so many Snow Whites, Cinderellas, Jasmines, Ariels and Princess Auroras there, it was difficult to tell one little girl from another. Surprisingly MMF didn't dress up for the affair but her heart was right in it. She did wear a crown that came with a $10.00 bag of cotton candy. That's right folks, ten dollars for a bag of cotton candy! Luckily I took a couple of waters with us and had milk and snacks for MMF, otherwise we probably would have spent our weekly grocery allowance on snacks and drinks there!

It was also snowing on the way there, but MMF insisted that we were going to Disney World for the show. No matter what we said, she never believed anything else. She was such a good girl. Daddy and I were really impressed. She sat on his lap nearly the whole time while I took pictures. We got to our seats around 640 pm, the show started at 7 and let out at 9pm. She went with me to potty at intermission and was otherwise glued to her spot. With eyes as big as softballs she watched all the princesses skate out to tell their stories set to music. I was almost as excited as she was! Daddy reminded me a few times that he was counting the minutes until the end, but he sure was smiling a lot. A couple of times I looked over at MMF to see her waving her little hand at whichever princess was currently skating by as she said "Hi, Princess (so and so)"! When we left she was still so excited that she announced to us that she wanted to stay up with us all night and watch "a little bit of tv". By the time we were nearly home she told us that she wanted to go to sleep now. When we got her tucked into bed she was out when she hit the pillow. What a night. Below are some of the highlights. Remember, "If you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true".

mmf just before the show began

aladdin
briar rose (princess aurora)

princess aurora's fairy godmothers

the little mermaid and sebastian

snow white and the seven dwarfs

seven dwarfs

minnie, mickey, and even goofy showed up!

cinderella and fairy godmother

cinderella's carriage

cinderella and the glass slipper

cinderella dancing with the prince

Happy Valentine's Day from Missy Monkey Feet!

I was recently tagged on a friend's blog by the valentine bug which means that I'm supposed to answer a set of questions and post them on my blog. I'm not really into that here, but it did make me think of something else I could do that would be fun. MMF's Daddy and I have been married 10 years this year so I came up with a list of 10 things I love about him. Once I did that I thought I might as well add 10 things I love about MMF, so here they are:

Daddy:

1. I love his voice. Always have.
2. I love how he loves me. I know that's cheesy but it's the truth.
3. I love how he looks at me and I just know he's about to say or do something completely off the wall.
4. I love his enthusiasm for trying new things.
5. I love how you can track his whereabouts by the stack of books and journals that follow him.
6. I love his offbeat humor.
7. I love his slightly paranoid nature.
8. I love that he wants to have babies with me.
9. I love that he worries about being a good enough dad and husband.
10. I love how he loves to take spontaneous road trips with me and has just intigrated MMF into them.

MMF:

1. I love her little hands, everything about them. I'm always kissing them.
2. I love that she can't say curly cue, pronouncing it "curly coo".
3. I love that she calls me "mama" most of the time.
4. I love that she loves to play dress-up in princess clothes.
5. I love that she likes my music and has her own favorites as well.
6. I love how she puts her head against my chest when she needs me.
7. I love the way she smells.
8. I love how insightful and intuitive she is.
9. I love how compassionate she is toward others.
10. I love how she is instinctively southern for some reason.

Since we started a family holidays have all new meaning. We usually never know what to expect from one day to the next, let alone one holiday to the next. I like Valentine's Day because it is situated in the worst part of winter, when everyone is just sick to death of ice, snow, cold, wind, and the colors brown and gray.

This year we put up a few decorations the first of February and got some crafts done early as well, (although we still haven't got around to mailing out everyone's gifts.) I had bilateral knee surgery on the 6th. and have been at home recuperating. Since I'm still not walking all that well we decided not to try to go anywhere for Valentine's Day. It was Daddy's first day back in the office since surgery, so MMF and I stayed home and tried to focus on cleaning the house. Since we weren't going anywhere we invited our missionaries from church to have dinner with us. MMF insisted on dressing up fancy for the holiday so she wore a red and white velvet and satin dress with tights. She was very helpful around the house and even did her music therapy without any complaints. We made Daddy a special valentine and she helped me bake some banana bread. I managed to crockpot some frozen meatballs with bottled marinara sauce and cook some spaghetti. MMF helped me wrap my knees with ice during breaks and was great about picking up things for me that I couldn't reach and bringing me the phone when it rang. Being in pain made me pretty grumpy with her but I apologized many times, thanked and kissed her many times and we managed to get through the day.

The missionaries beat Daddy home from work and the fun began. Within minutes, Daddy came in with flowers for all of us! I got mixed pink and yellow roses, the missionaries each got a single rose and MMF got her own special pink rose from Daddy because she is his special sweetheart. She was THRILLED!

After a pretty good dinner and dessert, MMF and the missionaries decorated heart-shaped sugar cookies together. All in all, a pretty nice evening for everyone.

MMF decorated 2 special cookies for Go-Go and Papaw that we ended up having to deliver on sunday after church. In exchange MMF got a pair of Barbie ballerina slippers! She is modeling them below. We hope you all had a happy Valentine's Day.

MMF's Barbie ballerina slippers

MMF with her valentine rose
Just for you Mamaw. Here she is in her Christmas dress, which she LOVES, and her special cookies she decorated for Go-Go and Papaw.

MMF and Go-Go practicing writing

Papaw, MMF and Go-Go

Into the tabernacle

I recently had the opportunity to do something very important in my faith. I got to go through the temple, and it was wonderful. I am so blessed to have such a great support system. Since I don't have any family that could escort me into the temple one of my dearest church sisters flew here from out of state to go with me. I am so grateful to her. I had friends from two other states that wanted to come, but couldn't. I love you guys just for wanting to come. The picture here was taken afterward, in front of the temple. As you can see, I was surrounded by my sisters. I love you all! Thank you for sharing that special day with me.