Middle Monkee Earns An Award

Last Thursday, January 20th, Mr. Olsen and I (& Little Monkee, by default) were invited to the elementary school for a special event. It seems as if my Monkees CAN behave... when they are at school, at least! :) Middle Monkee earned a Good Citizen award for his 1st grade class. Yea! So proud of him!

We had a special breakfast... donuts, muffins and juice... Yum!
And then we went into the gym to watch the awards ceremony. It was pretty neat. The classes came in to Celebration, over the loud speaker, while everyone clapped. The teachers that were lined up along the side of the gym set up an impromptu "high 5 tunnel". I wish I had gotten a picture of that. It looked fun. Then they read all the names of the Good Citizen winners. And that was that. I loved that the school puts effort into recognizing children for being good. It is nice to have a good citizen in my house! :)
*I wonder if that means he'll keep his room clean?*

Locked Out

Today started out wonderfully well. Mr. Olsen took the boys to school and I got to sleep in! I love it when that happens! Then little one and I spent a nice day designing and creating the Valentine's treats she wants to hand out at school. Then we made lunch together, mac & cheese with hot dogs, her choice. I haven't eaten that in a very long time, it was YUM! Before we knew it, it was time to start the pick-up routine.

I have been picking up a friend's daughter from school because she started student teaching this semester. Her daughter goes to a different school than my boys, it's not a huge deal, I am making my rounds anyway. BUT, I do have to be at her school early, if I am not in the front of the line there is no way I am going to make it across town to get my monkees from their school. Timing is everything.

Anyway, back to my story... Since Cait and I are having a lazy day we actually needed to go and get dressed before we left the house. I thought about changing into some jeans but, quickly dismissed the idea because I was just going to grab the kiddos and be home. Remember that, it comes into play...

The Monkee Mobile was looking a bit, OK, a lot, dirty and needed to have some of its contents emptied before I filled it back up with children. I got busy throwing extra coats, gloves, hats, coloring books, bags, toys, etc, etc into the house and Cait got busy throwing out any trash. When we felt that we had done a good enough job, I grabbed my purse, locked the kitchen door and "slam", as soon as I heard the click, I knew. I knew the moment it happened. I could picture them in my head. My Keys! They are still hanging, innocently, on the lovely, metal, rectangular plaque marked KEYS in the kitchen. You know, the room across from the locked door I just shut.

And so begins the oft futile attempt to see if any door or window could possibly, just possibly, be open. NO.

Next begins the very panicked trail of phone calls. To anyone whose name pops into my mind. The only one answering her phone has to pick up her own children and had no room in her van for an additional 5 people. I have to call my friend at the elementary school she is teaching at and inform her that I am locked out and can not pick up her daughter as planned. She then in turn has to call her husband, who had to take off from work to go get his daughter from school. UGH!

A few more phone calls and I find someone who is able to get my boys from school. Hooray! The stress is starting to lift.

And then quickly returns... because after SEVERAL phone calls, to SEVERAL different numbers, I finally hear from the property management company. Guess what?! They don't have a spare key! Are you kidding me?!

I have now been locked out for a little over an hour. Luckily, the van had been unlocked and Caitlyn and I at least had somewhere to sit out of the cold. I left her in the van to go try a screwdriver on the office window. After a few minutes she follows me to the front of the house. I am not having any luck so I told her to come with me and we will go back to sit in the van. Well, she's locked the van doors!

I have to call a locksmith. I can only imagine what this is going to cost. I have no other choice, I make the call. Only to have my stupid blankety-blank phone beep at me that it has a low battery!! I no longer ask, "What else could possibly happen?" because I have learned the hard way that things could ALWAYS be a lot worse! I gotta say I was close. Have I mentioned that Spencer is headed to Ohio for the week and I am still in my pajamas and I am not wearing a coat?!! No, well there you go.

My boys are brought home and my rescuer offers to stay with us until the locksmith gets here. He told me he was only 3 miles away and would be here in 10 minutes. 30 minutes later he pulls up in his van. Although very tardy he is a sight for sore eyes. Alright, the pros are here, I am going to be back in the house and crawl under a blanket and defrost! I'll bet he'll have that door unlocked in 5 minutes.(hahahaha)

He tries the garage door, I had only locked the bottom lock and apparently it is cheaper to unlock 1 versus 2 locks. It won't unlock. He tries the front door, 2 locks but, seriously, at this point, I don't care what this is going to cost! It also will not open! He tries the garage door again, nothing. (God, do you hate me?) Then he asks if all the doors have the same lock. Um, yes. We only have 1 key for the whole house. So he has to take the entire doorknob off the outer garage door, take it back to his van and completely re-key the lock! I guess this will allow him to make another key to enable him to open the door.

In the meantime "rescuer" has to get back to her own children and her own life. I watch her leave and had to really restrain myself not to cry and run after her!(pathetic, I know)

Finally, Locksmith Man's plan works and we are back into our nice, warm, stupid house!

Total elapsed "lockout" time: 2 hours 47 minutes

ETA: In my very negative, poor attitude yesterday, I was wrong not to say that I did have some very wonderful women helping me locate the people who could help me. And they even called periodically to make sure that I was OK. So even when I am having a spastic crisis, I am still surrounded by people who care!

Sledding Sensations!

My days and months are all blurring together, like the snowflakes that we have been seeing lately. Last week the Little Monkeys had snow days, 3 of them to be exact. To be perfectly honest with you I thought I might snap. We had already been out of school since the 17th of December. I was running out of things to do and we were all feeling a little couped up! I have a hard time "playing" with my kids sometimes. Sure we do things together but I get bored so quickly, that for me, it's easier to watch them play. I am not sure I am describing it right but that's the best I can do for now.

I was inspired by a friend's picture on Facebook. There she sat on a sled, with her youngest on her lap. They were all bundled up and smiling! I felt guilty! My kids had asked ALL day on Monday to go out and play in the 5+ inches of snow. All I could think about was the hassle of getting everyone ready and then, oh and then, the bitter cold! It seemed like too much work. So we stayed inside. That is until I saw this picture. I was determined that on Tuesday we would go sledding and play in the snow. Tuesday morning I took Mr. Olsen to work and promptly scoured all of Murfreesboro looking for a sled! No Luck. All of the better, more prepared, more fun moms and dads had them. One last ditch effort yielded 2 mixing pans from Home Depot. Were they sleds? No. But by darn I was taking my children out today! And they worked just fine, thank you very much.

We met up with some friends and stayed for only about an hour. It was a fabulous hour. Caitlyn looked pretty nervous at first, then she rocked that hill! For the entire time! I have never met a more natural snow bunny! She was able to twist her body to control her "sled" and she was in love! And I was in love watching her.


My boys loved racing each other down the hill and then crashing into each other- or anyone else-foolish enough to be in their way! Down and Up, Down and Up... They were unstoppable. Until their little fingers were frozen and we had used all the gloves we brought with us.



We had a very good time together. I even went down with Cait, it was a disaster! Poor girl ended up acting as a cushion for MY fall. It only took the one trip and she learned that she was better on her own or with someone more her size! And no, there will be no pictures of that.

I learned a valuable lesson, one I hope will stick with me, for awhile at least. It is ALWAYS worth the hassle to make memories with the best blessings I have ever been given! I am so blessed to be a mom!

Newest Family Addition!

Here is our family snowman, his name is George!

I Lost It!!

Well, you probably thought this post was going to be about me losing my mind, but no, not this time. My baby is growing up so fast! She lost her first tooth yesterday. She just keeps changing, it is so bitter-sweet.

December 2010 Recap #2

That 1st recap was getting kinda long so, I thought I would break it up a bit. Here's your follow-up...

December 26th was Sunday and we only had Sacrament meeting. It was in the morning and the rest of the day seemed REALLY LO-o-ONG!

December 27th Spencer and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. He has already bought me tickets to see U2 in July. I am excited for that concert! We took the kids to see "Tangled". Cute, cute movie!

December 28th is Spencer's Birthday! The kids and I surprised him with a guitar case for his new Gibson Dot. Now affectionately known as "Dottie". A funny story for you... On Friday the 17th the kids and I went into Johnny's Guitar to buy the case. Spencer has been calling everywhere to find a used one but all he could find were new cases. It just wasn't in the budget to buy one. On Saturday the 18, we got a sitter and went to do our Christmas shopping. Out of the blue Spencer decides he wants to go into the guitar store... Johnny's Guitar... to see if they have any old cases. I played it off really well and just crossed my fingers that the sales people wouldn't rat me out! The owner thought he recognized me and totally played along. The sales lady actually said "We had a case just yesterday but a lady came in and bought it for her husband." I held my breathe the whole time we were in there. Around 11 I went and helped a family move and Spencer and the kids ended up coming to help out as well.

December 29th Spencer has a co-worker with some land and a hankerin' fer guns. He had invited a few people to come out and share his obsession. I knew it was planned but didn't realize that it would end up as a day long man-date for Spencer. After shooting he headed over for a sushi lunch and then hit the theater to see True Grit. I actually am glad he had a good day out playing. He works very hard and doesn't always get to hang out with friends.

December 30th dawned bright and early with a phone call that Spencer was needed, if at all possible, to relive a leader at Winter Scout Camp. His wife was pretty sick and needed him home. I do not usually like my plans being interrupted, and I had plans for a family trip to the Chattanooga Aquarium. For some reason I didn't care this time and before I could give it too much thought told Spencer he should go. I think it was because I didn't feel starved of time together, if that makes any sense?(Thanks Meghan for letting me drag you at there for no reason!)Ben stayed the night with a friend so that just left me, Matt and Cait. We had a slumber party in the living room and watched "Nightmare Before Christmas", I thought it an odd choice for them, but they wanted to see it so I let them.

December 31st Spencer came home from camp and I headed to the doctor's office. I have been pushing myself all week and finally just couldn't do it anymore. I have bronchitis and pneumonia. Who knew?! The plans for New Year's Eve were out and we just stayed home and watch "Ramona and Beezus" (Also a super cute movie, and rated G!) with our 2 youngest monkees. (Ben is still MIA at his friend, Connor's) We let them stay up for a countdown into 2011 and sent them off to bed.

Well there you have it. Now we are 2 days into 2011 and I am very excited to see what is in store for us. I know that the Lord has blessed us and looks after us. I know he will continue to do so. I also know that it is through trials that we grow and I just hope the Lord doesn't stretch me too hard! (Hey that would make a great bumper sticker!)

December 2010 Recap #1

I just couldn't let the new year get to far ahead of me without posting a bit about Christmas and New Year's Day. I still haven't made any resolutions but, I do want to set a few goals for myself this year. I just haven't figured them all out yet.

Wednesday the 16th I went into Matt's class to help make gingerbread houses. That was fun and the kids were very amusing and excited, they all wanted to tell me stories. I love that age! The next day was Thursday and Ben's class was having a breakfast and story reading. The kids had all written fairy tales and where going to read them to their parents. Ben really wanted me to make homemade cinnamon rolls so I did. They turned out yummy and were a huge hit! The bad side was that Caitlyn also has school on Thursdays and try as I might I can not split myself into multiples to be everywhere for everyone. I missed Ben's reading but did get to hang out with him for an hour and have breakfast. I didn't even attempt to be at Caitlyn's celebration, that was my one last day to shop without my monkee helpers! The kids started their vacation technically on the 18th. It was only a few hours so I had to be ready for them!

The really nice part of the last week has been that Spencer's office was/is closed. It has been wonderful to spend so much time together as a family. On the 24th I woke up super early and felt kinda crappy and anxious all at once. I tried until 3:30 to go back to sleep but it was futile. I decided to get some things done. I had made a second batch of cinnamon rolls, dipped our holiday cookies, finished the laundry and wrapped the presents all before 7am! It was crazy, literally I felt like a crazed lady! Christmas Eve we laid down the "No one peeks, or wakes us up before 5am" law. Well that lasted until 4am when some 10 year old mis-read his watch and had the whole house up! Spencer could have died he had only been asleep for a few hours, even I hadn't gone to bed until midnight. I tried in my sleep-stupor to remember that Christmas morning feeling as a kid. I couldn't deny them! I get so excited to see them excited! I pulled Spencer out of bed. We have a glass paned door that separates the hallway and bedrooms from the front room, I wrapped it so no one could peek. When Spencer and I were ready to go out and see what Santa had brought, all 3 monkees where sitting along the hall wall waiting as patiently as they could for their under-rested parents. I really wish I had taken a picture. Alas, my camera was missing until 2 days after Christmas!

I really wanted to forgo presents this year and take a trip instead. I readily admit to having a really faulty memory. I do not remember what Santa brought me at all growing up. I am sure my mom can help me fill in the blanks. I feel like my kids have enough. Spencer on the other hand can remember EVERY SINGLE PRESENT from EVERY SINGLE YEAR! I am amazed at his talent! He wanted the kids to have things to open and he won out. So in order to help my growing children remember what they received I am going to make a reminder for myself. These are the Santa gifts. They got plenty others.

Ben - LEGO Star Wars AT-AT walker, Nerf light sabers for the WII
Matt - LEGO Star Wars Arc-170, and LEGO Ben 10 aliens (Humongasaur and Swampfire)
Caitlyn - Art Easel, art supplies, and a 18 inch doll yet to be named.

We had our traditional Christmas dinner of Chinese food. It is something we started when we moved to Tennessee and no longer had any nearby family to make it for us! :)

Oh, I almost forgot! We had a white Christmas!! It looked so pretty outside, it was perfect!

One of the most used gifts so far has been Rock Band for our WII. We have had a few guests over to come rock out with us!