Sunday Snapshots!

   Hello Everyone and happy Sunday to all of you. I hope everyone had a wonderful day of rest. We had a special day today and we went for Girly Monkey's Birthday outing. Her birthday is not until Tuesday but since that is a weekday we decided that today was a much better day for it! So here is some snapshots from today's outing to a bird sanctuary! Enjoy. And don't forget to check out tomorrow's Money-Wise Mondays.

Early Morning Soccer

Team Cheer

Funky Monkey feeding birds.

Little Monkey feeding ducks

Girly Monkey with Chickadees

Girly Monkey with Garter Snake

Beautiful Apple tree!

Funky Monkey holding the snake too.

More Birds.

So cute!

Little Monkey wanted in on the action.

My Monkeys.

32 weeks pregnant!

Snow gees flying above.

What a wonderful day with family!

Photography au naturel!

   I often get asked why I don't bother Photoshoping my pictures before I post them. I do love my Photoshop, and I use it sometimes when my pictures just need a little  ... how do you say ... pizzazz, but for the most part I do not retouch my pictures. So why not? I guess the best answer is that I am a bit of old school photographer. I like to manipulate lighting and angles and exposure over snapping a picture and retouching it on the computer. And to add to my "quirkiness", I never, ever retouch human subjects. That seems almost odd given today society's preoccupation with beautifying people seen everywhere from magazine covers and movies to personal snapshots of friends and family on Facebook. Why would I be so "strange" as not to want my subjects be seen as more "beautiful" and "perfect"? I guess my best answer for that is that "beauty" is in the eye of beholder.

I would much rather be teaching art now than making a birth plan!

   I am 32 weeks pregnant today! At my last midwife's visit I was asked about my Birth Plan. Well, since I have been through this routine 3 times before I never thought that I needed it. Since none of my previous births went as I envisioned I would rather just "wing it". With Funky Monkey, I had envisioned a peaceful birth, surrounded by people I love, in a privacy of my own hospital room, with the whole thing lasting no more than few hours from start to finish. Well, was I wrong. The labor lasted over 30 hours, I spent 2.5 hours pushing, ended up with whole bunch of interventions, and there were more people looking at my nether regions than I care to discuss (they must have had about 15 different students coming and going, and all of them wanted to see how everything was with me).

Something yummy from Central African Republic.

   Last week we studied Central African Republic as our country of the week. It's not an easy country to study because of the unrest and civil wars that discontinued almost all the tourism. So it's almost impossible to find any videos on a country that is too dangerous for tourists to go to. I didn't feel discourage, though, and use that as a topic of conversation with Monkeys. We read short introduction to Central African Republic and examined their map and flag. We then talked about the troubles the country has been in. The good news is that I did find 2 YouTube movies that showed Monkeys something about Central African Republic other than war. The first video is about one of the indigenous tribes in Africa, the BaAka pygmies, and their songs.

The second video is done by one of the volunteers for MercyCorps and it's about seed distribution to families living in one of the poorest of countries. Monkeys and I had a conversation about seed keeping and farming and feeding families, and why volunteers are doing such a great job helping.

What you need to know about living with a 3 year old ... and why you need to know it!

Three year olds need to be number 1!

   The last few weeks have been really challenging for me in dealing with Little Monkey. I am not sure if the "back-to-school" routine is getting to him, or if the impending arrival of his baby brother makes him crabby, but he has has more tantrums and behavior issues lately than he has had in months. Don't get me wrong, I love my son with all my heart but sometimes he can drive me "coo-coo". There are numerous times when I really want him to go and join the circus for a little while and come back when he can behave better. OK, maybe I don't really want him to go off on a world adventure, but I do want him to listen to his parents and be polite, and well behaved. And then I remember that he is three , and that is a big thing to ask of a three-year old. But understanding any creature (even the unruly 3 year old) requires a guide, so one can navigate the uncharted territory of living with a three year old. Since I highly doubt that I am the only one in this boat, I have compiled a list of things you need to know about 3 year olds so that you can live in peace and harmony with them (or at least so that you don't send them off to live with the circus as their newest "untamable child" act).

Little Monkey's dance class ... and why I think it's a great idea.

Girly Monkey in sport class

   Little Monkey had his first dance class today. All the classes for the other Monkeys are in full swing now, and Little monkey was the last one to start his. Last year he took a dance class with the great teacher that we really love, and we wanted to continue with the same kind of class for this year. It was a creative dance class with no particular emphasis on any type of dance style. It was a class designed for 2 to 3 year olds, so it was right up our alley. But this year that class filled up quite quickly and we were not able to get in. I put Little Monkey on waiting list, but we never heard of any openings for that class. So I searched a bit and found another class run by the same, wonderful teacher that has taught all my kids before. The only differences in the classes was that it was a Ballet class for 3 to 5 year olds and it was at a community center situated a bit further from our house. Since there was only one spot left in that class I signed him up right away.
   So today was the first day of his new Ballet class. Last year we had Girly Monkey helping him in class (he was more willing to do things in class if he saw his older sister doing them too), but this year I wanted him to try to do it on his own. Since we already took classes with that teacher, there were a lot of things that were repeater from last year. He knew many routines that she had in this class and he didn't feel lost. Plus, now that he is 3, I expect more things from this Little Monkey.

Money-Wise Mondays - Cleaning the house

Homemade cleaners are gentle on
our kids and the environment

   Keeping the house clean with three monkeys is a job for more than one tired, pregnant mom. It's also a job that nobody in our house wants to do, except for me. I really like to have things tidy and organized and I thrive in an environment that is well put together. If you ever have seen TV show Friends you would easily associate me with Monica Geller. In my days before kids I would spend one day a week, after work, cleaning our apartment top to bottom. Before we got married, Daddy and I lived in a 700 square foot apartment, and we were rarely home. That did not stop me from scrubbing everything every week. We didn't even eat at home that often as I worked shift work and we went out often. But you could never even find a speck of dust or dirt in our apartment, thanks to my 4 hour cleaning regime!
   Fast forward 10 years and my house sometimes looks like a bomb hit it. There is definitely nothing better to curing someone of obsessive cleaning than having kids. Not to say that having kids is an excuse not to do any housework, but in reality, cleaning a house where kids live is equivalent to washing your car before you take it 4x4ing in the mud.