Jumpin' Around At Monkey Joe's

When we went to St. Louis for the Fresh Beat Band concert, The Hubs and I decided it was going to be in our best interest to let the boys expend some energy before being required to sit in their seats for a yet-to-be-determined amount of time.

So, we stopped at Monkey Joe's for lunch.

I must say, it was a brilliant idea.

Well, minus the lunch part.  

They evidently order their pizza from Papa John's.

And the wait was going to be an hour.

Uh, no thank you. 

I knew we weren't even going to be at that place for a full hour, so that was a no-brainer.

  We opted for the always wholesome and nutritious McDonald's instead.

Anyway, other than the lack of food, Monkey Joe's was great!

The boys had a fantastic time on their inflatables.

Tink actually jumped on some of them this time.

That was a marked improvement over the last time we were 
there and he was having NO part of it...

I think Goose had the best time. 

He jumped like a little mad man in the toddler inflatables.

Here is a kinda of crappy video of him in the bouncer.

He is the one in the Adidas jacket & red socks.

Yes, you really did just see that.

Yes, it was exactly what it looked like.

Goose just tossed a much bigger child out of the bouncer in the very end of that video.

If you don't remember me talking about his battles with aggression, here is a refresher.

Lord, help us.

Bless his little heart.

Other than his one slight assault on another child, he did really well.

He had a great time & loved showing us everything.

He pointed at all of the bouncers and told me all about them.

Granted, I had no idea what he was saying, but he was talking up 

a storm nonetheless. :)

He definitely had a good time hanging out with Dada. 

And this is where Tink got busted trying to sneak drink's of Mama's Diet Coke:

This was the response I got when I told him not to drink it:

He just sat there & pouted while staring at my drink.

I think he thought it may make me change my mind about not 

letting him suck my soda down.

It didn't work.

All in all, we had a blast.  

The boys loved it & we would happily go back again.

Next time, though, I'll try to keep Goose from inflicting harm upon someone else's kid while we are there...

We Have A New Favorite Thing

We have a new favorite thing.

I say "we", but I really mean Goose.

It is this:

I could tell you about how much he loves it, or I could show you.

I think I'll just show you.

(Tink likes it, too, but not nearly as much as Goose)

Check out that guilty face in the background!

It's like, "What? I'm not eating the plate.... Ok, maybe I'm eating the plate."

I got smarter the next time around.

We ditched the clothes before eating.

Nutella, like Oatmeal, guarantees a beeline to the shower as soon as he is finished.

I may or may not ever get the remainder of these sandwiches 

off of my floor, table, chairs, refrigerator, highchair, counter, sink...

Oh well.

As long as it makes him so incredibly happy, that is all that matters, right?

Trayvon Martin: Let His Death Not Be In Vain

For anyone who may not know, Trayvon Martin is the 17-year-old child who was killed by George Zimmerman last month in Sanford, Florida.

The boy was walking home from a convenience store, followed by Zimmerman, the local Neighborhood Watch leader, and ultimately shot dead.  

There is quite a bit of speculation as to whether there was really any sort of threat to Zimmerman, as he has claimed, and if he can truly say he acted in self defense.  

That leads to the question of whether Zimmerman has the right to hide 

behind Florida's Stand Your Ground law.

After reading a multitude of articles and watching numerous news reports detailing both Zimmerman's history of vigilante-like behavior and eye-witness accounts, I think this is one of those horrific situations where it takes the worst-case scenario becoming reality to see the problems with a law in the way it currently stands on the books.

If Trayvon Martin were my child, I would damn well want justice.

I would not find peace with anyone telling me that the actions of my child's murderer were justified simply because my son "looked suspicious."

I would not rest until changes were made to keep such a horrendous thing from happening to another mother's child.

But I would not be able to do it alone.

I would hope that people would stand with me to ask for justice and change.

I would hope that my son's death not be in vain.

I would hope for support like that offered by the 1,000,000 Hoodie March in New York City.

I would hope for over one million signatures on the petition asking for changes in the law which allowed the murderer of my child to walk free.

I would hope to have my nation stand behind me and 

fight against racial profiling, social injustice, and inequality.

Trayvon was "suspicious."  

He was Black.

He was wearing a hoodie.

He was armed with Skittles and an iced tea.

And now he is dead at 17.

Fight for change.

Don't allow such heinous crimes to be committed while 

you turn your head or say, "It isn't my problem."

Why?


Because it is your problem.

Because you could be the mother of Trayvon Martin.

I am.

In fact, I am the mother of two Trayvon Martins.

Sign the petition.

Make your voice heard.

Fight for the safety of all of our children on our streets.

Hope for a better future.

Don't let Trayvon die without his voice having been heard.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

It was a pretty great day with the boys.  

We started by going to the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Murphysboro, the town just over from where we live.  

They really enjoyed it in the beginning.

I was really proud because, when the parade started and they came by with the colors, Tink stood & put his hand on his heart without my telling him to do so.

Definite Proud-Mama moment. :)

However, the parade consisted of a large number of emergency vehicles (police cars, ambulances, fire trucks), all of which seemed to make a point of showing exactly how loud their various horns and sirens could be.  

That was not the way to win Tink & Goose over.

Roughly five minutes into the parade, I was unable to take anymore pictures because I had two crying boys on my lap.  I thought Goose was going to jump right out of his skin.  

And, if the noises weren't enough, Smokey the Bear and Captain Applesauce (the mascot for the town's annual festival) were sure to do it.

Goose was 

NOT.

A. 

FAN.

Like I said, I have no pictures of that because they were both clinging to 

me like baby lemurs.

You'll just have to take my word for it.

This will give you the general idea, though:

In fact, that is really close to what we looked like.  

Two scared babies, eyes round as saucers, and a Mama giving death looks to the folks driving the loud vehicles.

I think I thought my icy glares may keep them from honking their dang horns again.

It didn't work.

After the parade, we headed to 17'th Street Bar & Grill for lunch.

I used to manage the restaurant & I know they always have some really great corned beef and cabbage on St. Patty's Day.  I was super excited to get over there for some today.
I love me some corned beef and cabbage.

Thankfully, we made it through lunch without any major meltdowns.  

Crayons help.
So do crackers.
I'm not above bribery of all sorts.  
Thankfully, the crayons & crackers were enough. I didn't have to try and pull anything else out of my bag of mommy tricks.


After lunch, we headed home for naps.
After naps, we decided to head over to watch The Hubs play soccer.
I told Tink to get himself dressed.


This is what I got:

Uh, Aunt Jemima? 

Hulk Hogan?

Antoine Dodson?

Rosie the Riveter?

Tupac?

I don't know what happened.

I definitely don't know what the Spongebob bandana was all about.

And those were not the shorts he'd had on prior to nap.

I switched his shorts & let him keep the bandana.

I kept taking pictures, though, because I loved that they were telling one another 

to smile & say, "CHEESE!"

They would squeeze each other's cheeks to make the smiles bigger.

Goose was having an especially good time during this photo shoot. :)

We called my sister, AJ, and after she arrived at our house, we headed off to soccer.
But, we didn't last very long.  
Goose kept trying to run out onto the field.  
And, it was really muddy.
Every time he stepped into a puddle, he would say, "Wa-wa" and then 
get upset because he was wet.


It was not working out very well.


So, we opted to head over to the new Fro-Yo place in town, Chill, instead of 
staying to watch The Hubs play.


The boys love Chill.
I mean, this was the third time we've been there this week.
Goose just devours the frozen yogurt.
Tink has never been one for sweets, so he doesn't get quite as excited about it.
He does get excited about the gummy bears they have on the toppings bar, however.
They never get candy, so those gummy bears are a serious treat.
I only got a couple of pictures at Chill today, so I included some from earlier this week.

They even have chalkboard walls.
Huge hit with Tink!

Yep, still rockin' the bandana. :)

We made it home afterwards, they beat each other up played while The Hubs made an amazing dinner, ate until their bellies were full, and are now both snoring heavily.

I think they were suffering from fun-overload.

I'd say that is a pretty good problem to have.

I think Mama may be suffering from the same thing.  

No green beer for this girl.

I'm going to hit the sack & enjoy the sound of the rain instead.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, friends.

Oh, Oh, Oh... It's Magic!

I have to tell you about an issue I've been having.

If you've been to my home, you may have noticed.

If you did, tell me you did not.  I'd rather not know how many of you have left thinking,
 "Nuh-uh! Did you see that ick?!"

Any of you with small children (or who have a spouse who is a messy eater) may have experienced this.

Brace yourselves.

What in the heck is that?!

I thought maybe they were milk drips.  

But they were ALL OVER MY CHAIRS.

Not just the bottoms.  This was on the backs of the chairs, too.

I have spent more time & energy trying to clean that nonsense off than I can even begin to tell you.

Today, however, I decided I was going to finally get rid of it.

I prepared myself for the challenge by putting on an extra coat of deodorant.

And I set to work.

THIRTY FIVE MINUTES LATER.....

It was still there.

Son of a biscuit!

I was so mad.

I was mad at the crusty crap for not coming off...

at the actual chairs for holding on to their ick for dear life...

at the cleaners I'd tried for not defeating the grossness...

at myself for being so irritated...

at the boys for making the mess in the first place...

at my husband, just because...

at the Rat Pack for not being aggressive enough...

Seriously, I got pissed off at Frank, Dean, and Sammy.

I usually play Rat Pack or Big Band kind of stuff when I'm cleaning or cooking or doing whatever around the house.

I've got lots of cds, but it is easier to just turn the TV to the Sirus Rat Pack station.

But, that wasn't working for me today.  

I needed something tougher.

So, I checked The Hubs cds and put this one on.

 

Ok, so maybe that wasn't the right choice. 

It took me about 45 seconds to realize I didn't want something that tough.

So, I went with Plan C.

Much better.

I wasn't sure I had any elbow grease left to try and tackle the ick.

My arms and hands were burning.

So, I took a short break.

I decided that all of that hard work must've given me Schwarzenegger-like arms.

So, I went to check them out.

Well, I guess my arms are still more Oprah-like than Arnold-like, but they sure feel strong....

I went and got myself some sustenance in the form of McDonald's iced tea.

And I was ready to take the stuff back on.

This time, however, I had a brilliant idea.

Mr. Clean!

He has these lovely little magic eraser things.

Why didn't I think of that before?!

Ten minutes later, this was my result:

Can I get a Hallelujah?!

I could try to explain how happy I am to see my

 chairs sans spots, but I can't accurately describe it. 

Instead, I will just say, in the words of 
the always-classy Pauly D, "Yeah, buddy!"

Feel free to check out my chairs next time you come to visit. 

I'll do my best to keep them looking less leopard-like.


Or, if you notice spots, I can always just hand you the Magic Eraser so you can experience the "magic" yourself.  


Trust me, I will be happy to share the magic love...