Mother's Day Post # 2- The Bean

I am blogging in the middle of the night, people.

I clearly need to cut back on the caffeine.

Anyway, on to my second Mother's Day post.

This one is about the one, the only...

 Elizabeth Mae Monroe

Known to friends and associates as

: Elly, Elly bean, The Bean, Lizard, and the redheaded menace. 

Elly is the only one of my sister's kids with any street cred. 

And if Katy is all of our good qualities wrapped into one person,

Elly is all of our  fun eccentricities. 

She's bossy like her mom, confrontational like her aunt Erin, weirdly into martial arts like Uncle David, and obsessed with decorating like me. 

Elly is all Monroe in her competitive spirit.

She has to be first in everything.

 Even if it's a game of who gets their pajamas on first-

Elly will trip you and knock you back down the stairs in order to get her Disney princess nightgown on fastest. 

Elly loves to both send and receive mail, she loves to plot world domination, and more than anything, she loves things that sparkle. 

My favorite Elly memory of all time is all the times I've woken up in Jack and Danielle's living room to see Elly staring down at me.

 And then asking me if we can make scones.

At 4 am. 

I almost think it's good that I don't have any kids because; for me, it doesn't get any better than Elly.

And how much would that mess a kid up to have their mom prefer their cousin?
(although, let me pledge to you now that should I have kids, I plan to mess them up way more than that. This will be one of their many issues)

I love you, Elly!

Love,

 Aunt Lori

Mothers Day Post # 1- The Kat Rat

People, it's less than  a week to Mother's Day.

 Also known as "D-Day" in the Hinsdale house.

As in the most important and terrifying day of all the year. 

Instead of treating you all to another week of posts just about my mom, I have decided to highlight the 5 most important women in my life.

 Anyone who reads this blog even casually should already know who I am talking about

My nieces, my sisters, and my mom.

To be honest, just about all of them hate these tribute blog things.

 They're not much for emotional declarations and such.

 But I want this blog to be; not just a record of my inane ramblings about Glee and Rock band, but also a format for me to leave nothing unsaid.

As a therapist I have really come to understand the power of speaking things out loud.

 And of supportive relationships.

 So few people have someone that loves them just as they are.

 I am blessed to have these women in my life.

That being said..let's begin with the craziest and the newest fabulous woman in my life...

the
infamous

 Katherine Danielle Monroe

Katy is important to me in a lot of ways.

 Not just because of who she is.

 She's fabulous and insane, all at the same time.

 But she's also important to me because, through her, I understand myself and my family in ways I never have before.

Seeing her being the youngest has given me some perspective on my own childhood.

 I've grumbled my whole life about being the youngest, being left out, targeted by my sisters, and accused of being spoiled.

Katy's plight as the youngest Monroe baby has given me a little glimpse into that time of childhood that I don't really remember.

She is frequently left out.

We even have a code for it- EBK- it means "everyone but Katy".

 Used in a sentence it might sound like this

 "I will take the kids to the park- well, EBK, of course".

She is targeted by her siblings, but mainly in response to her own craziness.

They would all pamper her unreservedly if she would just settle down a little.

 She inspires a lot of revenge plots..maybe I've even dreamed of getting even with her a time or two myself.

And, holy Hannah, she is spoiled.

 As in ROTTEN to the core.

It's like she's reliving my childhood.

 Except without the perms, weekly spankings and classic rock.

And I kind of get what my family means about me, seeing her.

The good and the bad. 

But she's not just like me- Katy is; more than any of Danielle's other kids, a perfect hodgepodge of everyone in our family.

She's loves animals, just like my dad and Erin.

She's feisty and a little nuts, just like my mom.

She's kind, just like David.

She's intelligent and determined, just like Danielle.

She's everything that's good about all of us.

Something about Katy reminds me of my childhood- catching fireflies in jars in our backyard, plotting to get pillow cases full of candy on Halloween, and watching the Muppet's under blankets on the living room floor on Saturday nights.

Something about her is as magic as those times were.

My favorite Katy memory of all time is this:

Thanks for being one of the four best things to ever happen to me!!

Love,

Aunt Lori

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!!

 It's time for Random Friday Night Life Updates.

 As usual, in the form of pictures and exciting captions!!

 This is my newest office poster.

 I got it out of the Ulta dumpster with my parents!!
 (I was heckled into getting into the dumpster...heckled by my own parents, people)

 I've been playing a whole heck of a lot of Rockband with my friends.

 Our favorite song is "Word Up".

Don't act like you don't know it!!

It's my BFF Jennie's boyfriend's birthday this weekend.

 In lieu of a gift or money or even homemade cupcakes I made him some coupons.

I think he's probably going to cry a little when he gets this gift!

 During play therapy today my clients drew this picture of all of our names:) So cute!!

 The aforementioned BFF Jennie.

I will have to do a whole post on her- everything from her car's awesome cup holders to her weird cat voice.

Jennie had to get chocolate wine for her boyfriend's party (who knew there was such a thing) so I; feeling totally rebellious, accompanied her into the liquor store.

 Good heavens- it was like another planet in there. 

And I swear I could hear my father's voice.

 It kept making me jump. 

And lastly, your daily Sugar.

 She is sleeping on my legs right now.

I love the Sugar Cookie!!

1 week until Erin gets here!! YAY!!!

Lori Ann

She talks to angels

To my dear niece

Katherine Danielle

 on the first day of your (likely to be) 4th tempestuous year of life.

I have been your aunt for 4 years now.

Well, 4 years and about 8 1/2 hours.

And when I am old and gray, it shall be your childhood that I remember most.

 I was lucky enough to be there for most of it. 

I remember everything.

 From the day your mom hid you as a newborn on top of the armor so that you could sleep peacefully in a house full of wild little ones.

 All the way through today, when you wouldn't go to the park with me because you wanted to spend time with your "mum-ba".

And every adventurous day in between.

If Jack is the passion, James the humor, Elly the magic

 then you are the love, Katy.

You love your family so much.

 You remember everyone.

You take care of everyone. 

You are beautiful inside and out. 

You are the precious moments girl, the animal lover, the mama's little helper, and the beautiful blue eyed baby we never knew we needed so much.

You are our only Spring baby and while it may (ok, it definitely does) sound cheesy,

I've always felt that Spring was the perfect season for you to be born.

You are the bearer of warmth and sunshine in our family.

And yes, while we might fight about everything from Porto pots to cookie baking, there hasn't been a day that has gone by in the last 4 years and now almost 9 hours that I haven't thanked God for you.

For our Katherine Danielle Monroe. 

I love you so much and I look forward to another year of bubble baths, experimental baking, screaming for no apparent reason, secret club sleepovers, rapid outfit changing, silly dancing, and pure Katy craziness.

Love always.

Aunt Lori

No Comment

I haven't commented on any one's blog lately. 

I feel bad about that because there are a million things I usually want to say. 

But; fellow bloggers, know this..

I am obsessively reading your blog, even if I don't comment!

Tomorrow I am going to update you on my new BFF Jennie and how she is a bad influence on me. 

She convinced me to call out of work at midnight, forced me to let her dye my hair, painted my nails a shade she called "hooker red", made me listen to an entire Weezer album, and got me addicted to playing Rock Band.

She routinely criticizes both my baking and my Spanish accent. 

It's kind of a friendship made in heaven. 

Anyway,

I will leave you with; instead of your daily Sugar, a picture of Sugar's latest work.

.\ She was mad because I wouldn't give her any pizza. 

Lori Ann

Word Up

Ok, so..

I have come up with a plan to live in my car from August to December.

To both save a ton of  money and confront my fear of homelessness.

 (I am pushing all of my clients to confront their fears this week)

I think its a brilliant plan.

My mom keeps saying "No, absolutely not".

I think she is jealous that she didn't think of it first.

I am writing about weird stuff because I am so tired lately.

I think I have seasonal affective disorder.

I loathe summer and as it gets closer I feel more and more exhausted.

And then, on that first real day of fall, when the leaves are starting to fall and the wind is chilly, it's like I wake up and am SO happy and energized.

Anyway, if these are my only problems then I am a lucky girl indeed.

Word up.

Lori Ann

Your daily Sugar

Tick Tick Boom

Random Sunday Night Updates

 Look what I got done at Staples for only 9.99.

 It's one of my favorite pics of the kids.
 (it's just missing the Kat)

 I slept over my friend Jennie's house again last night.

 We made scones.

 They were strange.

Then we played rock band until 3 am.

We kept playing that song "word up" and now I can't get it out of my head. 

Sugar was lazy today and didn't clean the apartment.

 Maybe she'll get her act together and we can get it done in the morning. 

Word Up

Lori Ann