Sleep over

Monkey Boy is having a friend sleep over. I came into the house after walking Marco, the Psychotically Needy Puppy to hear a conversation coming from the Tiki Lounge about girls. My baby boy and his friend, who are both 10, were talking about which girls from their class they would ask out if they could date!

Note from Monkey Boy

You've may have picked up on the fact that Monkey Boy is a unique and creative child. To give you an example, I present the note. When my friend, Sexy, and her family were here this past weekend, we adult types were up late talking. Around 1:00am, this bear came bopping down the stairs from the 3rd floor loft, where Monkey Boy and his friend were 'sleeping':

I've heard of tying a note to a rock or brick and throwing it. We've all seen movies where they tied a note to a pigeon's leg or to an arrow, but I bet you've never had a note delivered to you via flying bear!

Here's the note:

If you can't read it, it says, "Mom, we can't sleep ... Can we do something?" In case you were wondering, the answer was No!

I'm doing better

Just wanted to let you know that I'm doing better. After curling up in the fetal position for a while yesterday I shook my mood off and got back to cleaning for my company that's coming in tonight. Of course I'm a little behind but I should have it done before they get here. I only have one more room to vacuum and dust. Before I finish that room, I have a Monkey Boy story to share:

I had Monkey Boy helping clean the kitchen this morning when he asked me why we were cleaning. I explained to him that when you have company coming over, you clean the house. He asked why and I asked him if he would like to visit a dirty house.

"I guess not." he said. "But do you think they are going to buy this?"

"Buy what?" I asked.

"Buy that our house is always this clean!"

Wretched child!

The "Date"

Monkey Boy cracks me up. A few days ago I scheduled a play date for him and his friend and her cousin to play putt-putt. We have a course about a block and a half from our house. I told him, "I made a date with Miss Alex to play putt-putt Thursday." Cool, no problem.

Later, when we were walking over to Alex's house to pick up the girls, Monkey Boy asked in a very quiet, concerned voice, "This isn't a real date, is it?"

"No, baby. Mom was just teasing you."

"Good. I'm not ready to date yet."

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this kid?

Monkey Boy's New World

Monkey Boy's world has changed since yesterday's whine fest. Changes to his world include not being allowed to use electrical entertainment interfaces (Game Boy, video game consoles, TV, the computer) before 11:00am and having to have the following chores completed before 11:00am:

• Water palm trees by front doors
• Fill up water fountain
• Water pots by front gate
• Fill dog's drinking bowl
• Make bed (he was supposed to be already doing this but I was slack about enforcing it.)

I'm thinking that I'll be adding to this list before the end of summer. I think he needs an afternoon set of chores, too. (Can you hear my evil mommy laugh?) The outdoor stuff has the side advantage of getting him dressed before noon. This morning went fine. I wonder how long it will be before the whining starts again? By the way, I've decided that whine = more changes to Monkey Boy's world. Let's see how long the behavior reconditioning takes. (More evil mommy laughter.)

Summer Boy

Parenting Moment

Shhhh. Don't tell him that I'm telling you this, but Monkey Boy is cleaning the house. I didn't ask him to do this. This is totally his own idea. Earlier today he got in trouble for not getting off of his computer when I told him to and then lying about it. He has lost his computer for the weekend (I've put it away in my room). He is now trying to do anything he can think of, including cleaning the house, to soften me up and get his computer back. I did not suggest this, but hey, who am I to stop him?!

Photog Friday - Achievement

"Men are born to succeed, not to fail."
-Henry David Thoreau

Today's quote honors Monkey Boy, who was on this year's All A's honor roll and placed 3rd in a writing competition. He is shown here in the middle of two of his friends.

Presenting . . . Monkey Boy

Monkey Boy auditioned for our local production of Peter Pan. Guess what? He got a principle role as John Darling! This was the first time he's ever auditioned for anything and there were 86 people auditioning for the different parts. He's so excited. I'll try to post photos as the play progresses.

Latest Addition to Jardin du PeachPod

I have seriously been busy the past few days. Take today, for example, I walked 2 miles on the beach, came home and painted the porch, showered for the 2nd time, visited a friend recovering from surgery, set up a hammock on the porch I painted earlier and set up a brand, new hammock chair in the garden. This is an awesome hammock chair and I totally recommend it to anyone who likes to spend time in the yard and has big trees. I've been looking for one for a while to replace an old tire swing, but here in the stores they cost between $80 and $120. I have a problem paying that much money for what is basically string (Have I mentioned that I'm cheap?). I got this one from ebay for less than $40 with shipping. I love this thing. Monkey Boy loves this thing. He immediately claimed it as his!

As you can see, it's a great spot for a nap! And this thing is so generously proportion that I can sit with my feet up in the same way that you see Monkey Boy sitting. So far Monkey Boy has pretended that it is a nest, a net and a web.

I have to share a classic privileged, only-child moment with you. Monkey Boy was sitting in the hammock chair while I was grilling hot dogs (yum!) and suddenly popped out of it and ran into the house. He comes out with his laptop, crawls back into the hammock and proceeds to check if he can get a connection to our wireless Internet from the hammock chair! By the way, he can!

Strep is BACK in the House

Monkey Boy has strep again. Satan failed to notice that he was running a fever and had a sore throat during his visitation weekend, so he took Monkey Boy to the mall and swimming. Great. The good news is this bout of strep isn't as bad as the last one. His fever isn't that scary high fever. The bad news is he's out of school during a major standardized test and will have to make-up two days worth of testing in just one day.

On a more upbeat topic, my garden is looking gorgeous. I planted a small herb and tomato garden this year and already have flowers on one of the tomato plants. I added new cushions to the swing in the arbor and the confederate jasmine in just starting to bloom. And the converted grill works great!

Go over to my sis-in-law's blog and tell me what you think of the header. I created it out of a photo I took of her horses.

Monkey Boy is in the House

My Monkey Boy is back home!!! I'm so happy to have him home. I'm looking forward to some serious cuddle time with him!

Monkey Boy living large in Las Vegas (seen here ATVing in the desert)