Category Archives: Monkey

holidays, Monkey, Otter

Thanksgiving….

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We fried a turkey, cooked and ate with friends, cared for seven pets, and generally had a great time!!

Yes! It was Thanksgiving here in Red Bank. Scott came in from Denver and Shane came in from Boston. One of Lee and Devon’s co-workers, Steven, came along. Morgan and Amy left their dog Dante with us while they went to Denver and Devon brought his dog Fitz, so all told we had six adults, one child, four dogs, and three cats running through our house this holiday. It was insane!

We had Devon frying a turkey in the rain. (Fairly dangerous and wet, but the resultant turkey was quite good.) Shane and I whipped up some falafel stuffed portobello mushrooms, yams, and our traditional cream cheese and garlic mashed potatoes. Mmmmm.

There was pie… er there were pies… four of them. Shane and I started in on the pecan pie, which he had requested the previous week, the evening before thanksgiving, and finished it on the actual day. Unfortunately for my pregnant waistline there is still pie. Anyone want some pie? (Please come take some pie!)

We had a nice time playing board games and Katamari Damacy, which is a very odd japanese video game where you roll up stuff into a giant ball to make stars and planets. Monkey even took her turn on the playstation and enjoyed some Katamari fun.

Shane and Devon enjoyed some philosophical discussions over beer and wine. We all played Dominos, a game called Chickenfoot, and Monkey did very well. She really began to understand the finer points of strategy near the end of the game and pulled off some tricky moves.

It was a very nice holiday, very low key and pleasant. It was especially fun this year as Scott came in on Tuesday and left Saturday so it felt as though the celebration and fun lasted much longer than usual.

Here are some photos:
Monkey playing Katamari Damacy

Lee and Devon and Scott

Monkey with a final snack and kitten cuddles

Monkey, Mommy, and Rue at bedtime

Monkey and Rue get some much needed rest

Lee and Misty in the kitchen

Otter gets bigger and so do I

Misty and Steven play Katamri Damacy

Shane and Devon talk late into the night

All in all it was a wonderful holiday. We missed our traditions and the people we usually see, but we had a nice time in spite of being so far away.

Happy Holidays to all of you back home!

Monkey

Photo fest

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Some random photos I promised to share with people, and haven’t had time to do so:

Mom and Monkey on the beach:

Our pumpkins all aglow:

Lee and I on our honeymoon:

Our family on the way to wedding:

Lee and Monkey

Mommy and Daddy as taken by Monkey

Misty and “the dress”, which travelled for a long time through many different areas

Monkey sleeping on the Airtrain

Getting our marriage license

Cute Monkey Shots:

Now no one can say I don’t post the images of our lives. Though you can still say I don’t post them often.

More soon, take care.

Monkey, parenting

Lessons…

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Amazing childhood patience and lessons learned at the hands of our babies…

So, like many parents I have often complained about the hassles of being a parent. The difficulty of balancing a career with a child, the exhaustion of coming home from work just to clean, cook, and help with homework. The seemingly endless march of parental stuff one has to go through.

However, in the midst of all this kvetching I have often been given the opportunity to realize how well behaved and helpful my child is, and how lucky I am. This past week was an excellent example of just such an opportunity.

I usually drop Monkey off at school and go to work for five hours until it is time to pick her up. Sometimes she hangs out at the office for an hour or two after school while I finish something up. I have felt lucky that she likes the office enough that she will do that.

However, this past week she had half days wednesday through friday. I was worried that I would have to have her at the office too long, that I wouldn’t be able to get her to be well behaved long enough for me to get any extended work done. This was not the case.

This thursday she was at the office with me for seven and a half hours. She did not complain, she was not disruptive. She hung out, colored, played with paper airplanes, did her homework, and watched television while I worked on a deadline. She was an angel. She really, really likes it there.

As we were leaving, I thanked her for coming to the office with me and being so helpful. She responded with “You know how I use to come to law school with you? This is kind of like that. I missed it. I like to come to work with you.”

I gave her a huge hug and told her how very lucky I am to have her for a daughter. I thought it was amazing she could sit through an hour and a half long law class when she was three, I am blown away that she can hang out at my office for a full working day at five.

I will have to do my best to remember this when I am caught up in the daily labor of parenting. If she can be happy to be with me at the office, even though it can’t be as much fun as being home, I should be happier to come home after work and cook, clean, and help with homework. It is a pretty decent trade off for having such an amazing child.