Monkeys and Bananas

Put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling.
Each time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the monkeys are sprayed with ice water, which makes them miserable. Soon enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be sprayed, set upon him and beat him up. Soon, none of the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder.
One of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new monkey is put in the room. Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are doing the obvious. But undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder.
All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat him silly. He has no idea why.
However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder.
A second original monkey is removed and replaced. The newcomer again attempts to climb the ladder, but all the other monkeys hammer the crap out of him.
This includes the previous new monkey, who, grateful that he’s not on the receiving end this time, participates in the beating because all the other monkeys are doing it. However, he has no idea why he’s attacking the new monkey.
One by one, all the original monkeys are replaced. Eight new monkeys are now in the room. None of them have ever been sprayed by ice water. None of them attempt to climb the ladder. All of them will enthusiastically beat up any new monkey who tries, without having any idea why.

This was part of our message from church last night. It really hit home with Aaron and I. I feel like we are just trying to get the dang bananas, and everyone else is telling us it can't be done without any real reason why, just because they have learned it is unconventional or undoable. So from now on - leave us alone and let us get our damn bananas. If we get sprayed, that is fine, we'll pick ourselves back up and appreciate the unexpected shower. When we finally get them and are sitting there eating our bananas while you all look on, we'll share and tell YOU to go for the bananas next time!!!!

First - Christmas Eve and Christmas
We spent Christmas Eve with Aaron's cousin's family. Spent most of the day over there, ate a wonderful dinner of twice baked potatoes and beef tenderloin, and then headed out to church with them. We LOVED the church and plan to start going on a fairly regular basis this year. It is a non-denominational, new age church. Aaron loves it because you feel like you are sitting in a first rate theater, and the pastor was like a professional inspirational speaker. They had a full band, lots singers......and daycare!!! It felt great to be back in church and wanting to be there, and knowing that Aaron was wanting to be there as much as I was. This past year has been one that was guaranteed to strengthen or weaken our faith. I can say for certain for me it has strengthened mine and I think it has brought awareness and intrigue to Aaron. In fact one of his Christmas presents this year was a bible - big print in the new translation so it reads a little more like a normal book. For me it has been more of a even stronger belief of knowing that there is something out there. Now when it comes to down right "religion" I'm not sure either of us knows exactly where we stand, but as far as faith, and belief in God - we do have that. Anyways, I've digressed.....so before dinner and church the kids decorated cookies for Santa together. it is kind of becoming a tradition with the cousins. I absolutely adore Kayla and Ali, and they are great older kids to help out with ours, so it is just so neat to sit and watch the dynamic of them having "older siblings" around. I have a feeling that Mackenzie is going to grow up idolizing Kayla - she is gorgeous, successful at everything she does, athletic, smart, sweet, funny, great head on her shoulders and about 7 years or so older.....perfect person to look up to. So we got home about 8ish or so, set out the cookies and the kids went straight to sleep so Santa could come.
Christmas morning started about 7:00. Turner was the first to wake up and woke me up with "momma, do you think Santa came?" So he comes out to check and runs back in "Oh yes he did, there are LOTs of presents." So we all got up, I put the egg casserole and cinnamon rolls in the oven, and the unwrapping began. Everyone got exactly what they wanted. There for a minute Mackenzie got a little worried that Santa hadn't brought her a DS - but then we saw some present in the fireplace - and sure enough. I guess they must have fallen out of Santa's bag!! he he!! Was good to see her sweat it just a little! lol Mackenzie's favorite gift has been her DS and her new black boots. Turner got a skateboard and more army guys and Transformers. Austin is still oblivious to getting anything because everything that anyone else gets is new for him too. I got an electric blanket that has been wonderful, and a steering wheel cover - which may seem like a little thing, but has made it no longer painful for me every time I drive because of my Raynauds. Also got some jeans and shirts - always love clothes!! Aaron got the bible, clothes, shoes....This year was our best yet, I don't think we got a single thing that was just a waste of money (or elf time) - just got good stuff this year.
Grandpy and Grandma Pat drove out of their way on their way out of town to come see the kiddos and deliver more gifts and we had a nice visit with them before they continued on their way to meet up with Allen in Houston and do some sightseeing.
Other things this week is that I have been going through and cleaning and decluttering our house. Basically looking at everything as "is this worth the room and money on a moving truck to move cross country?" So I have a huge side of the basement quickly getting filled up with stuff I'll either need to donate, give away or sell. Hopefully 2010 has some good surprises and new adventures in store for us. I wonder how long it would be after we moved before anyone even knew we weren't still here...since basically we never actually SEE anyone, it is all email, texting and Facebook that would look the same even if we were sending it from Boston, or Australia.
Monday was our Anniversary - 7 years!!! We had gotten a gift card from Aaron's cousin for Christmas, so we decided to all go as a family and take the kids with us. The kids were on their best behavior. We went to the Cheesecake factory. All three kids sat together on one side of the bench and Aaron and I got to sit next to each other - big stepping stone. Really they all were great and it was awesome to be sitting next to Aaron and looking across the table at what we had created. Such beautiful, adorable kids that kept us laughing the whole night. Then we all split a slice of cheesecake, did a short shopping trip to exchange a pair of jeans for different size, and headed home. By that time we were all starting to feel like the crud was descending upon us, thick necks, coughing, body aches....but it never got super bad for any of us, not enough to slow our vacation down much.
Mackenzie and I have had a little project we've been working on...every day on vacation we are making cookies and taking them to a community helper - so far we've delivered cookies to the fire station, ambulance station, hospital emergency room, police station, trash men, and Grandpy (since he fixes the roads to keep people safe)...still left - the vet, the mailman, nursing home. I'm letting Mackenzie decide where we take them. It has been a great project. We did miss one day when I was feeling pretty sicky, so maybe today will double up. It is nice to have a new awareness of all of these people that are at work all times, doing jobs a lot of people wouldn't want too...that it takes all kinds of people and jobs to make the world go round. It was nice to drop by the fire station on Christmas Day and see people at work, when we get to be home with our families and show them our appreciation and that we are Thankful for their sacrifice to make sure we are safe no matter what day or hour it is.
Last night for New Years was a quiet night in with our neighbors and Mackenzie had a friend over. Mackenzie was the only kid that made it till midnight in our house and got to go out and bang pots and pans with us. It was a great night - Happy New Year!!!
I'm sure there is much more to update on (like that Austin is officially out of the crib), and I need to upload pictures, but they are on my other computer, so that will be later. Right now Turner is making it known that I've taken up my fair share of time on the computer and he would like to play a game now! lol Until next time...whenever that may be.

Wow were does the time go these days. So, since last post....Pop came in to town last weekend. Him and the kids made a ton of cookies - great memories, not so great for mommy's wasteline, but worth every minute/bite of it! Sunday night I cooked us all a good dinner. You know how I LOVE to cook for people, especially these guys, not a speck goes unlicked. We didn't get to see Pop as much as we would have liked, but I don't know if any amount of time would have been enough this visit. Austin was sitting on the table last night with my phone, and he is just jabbering away with a "Hey Pop, (jibber jabber), Pop, (.....), hey Pop...." It was so cute. Hurry back Pop, we already miss you:(
Monday night I drove down to see my mom graduate from her nursing program. Way to go mom! She got the award for valedictorian of her class...guess it runs in the family! Got to see my grandparents again. It is hard realizing more than ever that our visits are limited. My grandma asked me when we were there on Thanksgiving what I would want out of her house. Usually, I'd be able to handle that ok, but I just can't even go there now. Too much loss lately, I really don't know how I would handle that. Aaron and I left and I completely broke down. I'm just not ready to reopen that wound yet.
This week was another long week at work. I think that I should be haring about myjob in January. Aaron and I are SUPER anxious to move, so I just want to be given some hope that that is going to play out. I don't know why, it just "feels" like it is going to work out. But no matter what happens, we will make it work out for us.
Last night we went over to friends. It is always time. They are just as easy as us, plans are on the fly, we have it down - host does dinner, guest brings dessert. Always something easy, no pressure. Kids play good, guys play good, wives vent good....good for the soul!
Today we had a great day. We went to see Santa - NO line, great Santa, great pick. Then we headed down to see a Christmas train display. Then headed to the outdoor snow rink and Daddy took Mackenzie out for her first time ice-skating. She LOVED it. By that time we were all freezing, so headed to a restaurant to eat. Then got a movie on our way home and had family movie time, then dinner. Mackenzie and Aaron headed out to do Christmas shopping, but they just got home and apparently it wasn't a very productive trip. This Christmas is really creeping up on me, guess tomorrow we'll give it another shot!

BTW - yes I have great pictures of all of this, but not on this computer, so I'll try to get them up on Monday.

Sooooooo PROUD!

I'm gonna brag here, it is my right as a mother!

I received a letter a few weeks ago that Mackenzie was being accepting into the Horizon's program (gifted program) at her school. I was pretty much expecting it, so I saved the paperwork for her records, but didn't think too much of it. Well, I just received a call from the gifted teacher asking if I was OK with her being in the class with 1st graders because she is the ONLY KINDERGARTNER who qualified!!!! I am sooooo proud of her. When asked if there was anything specific I'd like her to know, I told her that being as Mackenzie is SOOOO much my child (it scares me), that one thing I would like to improve from my own faults is being able to do things and have fun at things that she isn't the best in or can't do perfectly. She said that that is a classic issue with gifted children and they work on that particular thing extensively. I'm just so darn proud of her I could scream. Little girl doesn't even know that she could get anything out of me tonight that she wanted!

And keeping on the subject of my little girl, I've been meaning to post about our "date" last weekend. Sunday afternoon Mackenzie and I got all dressed up, did our hair, put on our make-up, and headed to the Fox Theater for The Nutcracker. I had been given tickets from work, so we had the box seats. We were going to go out to eat, but due to money and time, we just grabbed something fast food on the way. But Mackenzie said that in real dates people eat where they are going, so I promised her dessert during the show. We arrived in perfect timing and got shown to our seats. She looked around in awe, sat with her little legs crossed, and said “Oh mommy, this is so fancy.” We read the program about the show, and then it started. About an hour in she looked at me and said she was ready for her dessert. We ordered the “Volcano” – basically a chocolate Sundae on a brownie. When it came out….oh I would have loved to capture the look on her face. I swear the thing was as big as her head! TONS of whipped cream. She looked at me and told me I better eat some to help her! You know it is big when they WANT you to help them and aren’t swatting your hands away. I think for the next 10 minutes I just sat there and watched her eat it, it was priceless. I think it is a night she will remember forever. I know I will.

In other news, we got our lights and tree up last weekend. Love love love having the Christmas stuff up and this time of year. Harold is in town this weekend so tomorrow he is coming over to start the tradition of baking Christmas cookies with the kids. We can’t wait to see him again! Everything is pointing to this being another wonderful weekend!

Moving Question

I've recieved some questions, so figured I should explain myself some more....
So the deal with us moving.......we are keeping our fingers crossed for a relocation offer from the company. I don't think PBAL as a unit is going to stay around. My suspicions are that the lab will be under PGRD and that the site QA in St. Louis will be the only QA needed. I'm done with the lab QA stuff. I want to get more involved with clinical trials or just at least with something bigger than this. So I think PBAL will be gone after the middle of next year. That is when Aaron and I will both be done with our Masters degrees. We just want to do something new. Go on an adventure. We can always come back if we don't like it, but right now is the time in our lives we can just pick up and go, experience someplace new, live life. We kind of feel like we've "done" Missouri, and there isn't a lot more exploring here. The relocation package here is perfect, so it wouldn't set us behind. We are hoping to get up to the north east: Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts - around there. Yes we've already gotten all the "It costs so much, you will never be able to afford your house there, blah blah blah." Our plan would be to go out and get like even just a two bedroom studio apartment or something - the smallest we can do with for at least a year, and just explore every weekend. There is something so appealing about that we could really go down to the bare basics of what we needed as a family and just make it happen. We'd all still be happy without a basement full of toys, heck, the kids don't even need beds, they mostly sneak in with us or sleep in their "Special bed" of a blanket and pillow at the end of our bed!!! We don't need a big kitchen, or big living room...none of that, we just need each other. "Home" is wherever we are for the kids, so as long as we are happy and flow with the punches, they will feed off of that.
Sooooo, that is our plan. Keep your fingers crossed that I can find a job internally to get us there.

Thanksgiving weekend

Happy Thanksgiving. Yummy, one of my favorite holidays, but I didn’t get near enough food, so hope everyone will do the same stuff for Christmas, or I’m just going to have to make my own Thanksgiving at the house and eat it all myself! Last Tuesday I had a mild (ok, almost severe) panic attack when I realized that I had never gotten Denise’s stuffing recipe from her. Now to a lot of people, this might sound so ridiculous, but I know that for Aaron, it just isn’t Thanksgiving without that stuffing. So I completely panicked, then talked myself down and found what seemed like a similar recipe. I’ve never made it before, the one year they weren’t going to be here to fix it, Aaron had called his mom for the recipe and made it himself. So I kind of remembered what he had written down a few years back. Wednesday when I got off work, I went straight to the store, got all the stuff, and went home with a purpose. This was going to make or break Thanksgiving, ok, maybe not make it – but it would have broken it. I am Thankful to report that it turned out and passed Aaron’s inspection with only a minor change “The celery are usually bigger bites”. So, the recipe lives on.

Aaron’s Thanksgiving Stuffing
2 packages of sausage
Half of a yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
3-4 stalks of celery, diced (about 1 cup)
2 boxes of chicken StoveTop
1 box of Cornbread Stovetop
2-3 small cans of chicken broth
½ stick butter (optional)
Salt and pepper

Brown sausage, drain, add onion and celery and cook. When onion and celery are done, remove from heat. Stir in all boxes of stuffing. Put in greased oblong cake dish, pour chicken broth over, melt butter, drizzle over. Salt and pepper a little. Cook at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Aaron swears it is good. I HATE stuffing, so don’t go near the stuff. But him and the kids eat plenty of it – they all LOVE it.

So know that we had stuffing out of the way, noodles were the next thing on the list. See for me, its just a good meal without noodles. That is what makes or breaks the meal for me. My Nannan used to slave away for hours, but I’ve found a store brand that works for me. I had graciously (selfishly) agreed to bring the noodles to my uncles for lunch on Thanksgiving. They turned out good, even Nannan thought they were homemade and loved them!! At my uncles, all of us kids were there (minus my two step-sisters and their family) and Christopher was at his mom’s. But it was cool to have us all there. Might be a while before it happens again with Allen out of state, Cameron going into the military, and us hopefully moving out of state.
That night we went to my dad’s house. We got to see my “Uncle” Timmy. Love ya Uncle Timmy! Hopefully we will see you all soon down at your place!
The next day we left the kids there and came back home. Friday night had Kevin’s b-day party, got a stomach spasm, Saturday day worked on research paper, went to eat, went Christmas shopping, more on paper, went to neighbors for game night, another stomach spasm, and Sunday went to Rams game. We had great seats, too bad there wasn’t much to watch. At least I enjoyed the company!

Nanna and her Grandbabies.


4 Generations with Nannan and Granddad

Mom and her kiddos

5 rows from the field on the 50 yard line!!

Lots and Lots of pictures

Turner's Birthday weekend started on Thursday when Aaron got offered 2 tickets to the Blues Hockey game. I had to take Mackenzie to her first Daisy (Brownies) meeting, so I couldn't go, so we decided it would be a blast for the birthday boy. They even put his name up on the big screen.

Being his goofy little self

Pretty sure he was shooting somebody with his "Spidey web" here. Aaron said he didn't take off the hat all night and was shooting everyone on the Metrolink

Daddy and Turner in their seats.

Yippee...think he had fun??!!

Friday night we took Mason with us and went to Jump4Fun. When we got home he got to open 1 present. This game is ALL I hear about now and he even slept with it the other day.

And we had cupcakes - can you tell!! lol

Saturday night, Mackenzie had 2 friend's over for a sleepover.

Pillow Fight!

The three Musketeers! These girls are becoming inseparable.

Mackenzie, Bell, Abby

Sunday morning, the 4 year old Turner posing for the camera
Another pose for the camera!

The party gang, Turner's cake was a homemade Transformers cake. Not the best, but it tasted awesome!

Birthday boy in the birthday chair that the girls so helpfully decorated.

Arrrrrrrr! In his pirate dress-up (that mommy got for super clearance after Halloween!)