My girls

This is my Peanut posing for a pictures after her birthday party!





This is my GlamorGirl a year younger than Peanut but giving me the same pose!

Father/Daughter weekend!

Every once in awhile my dad likes to spend some one on one time with his grown kids. I want to do this with my kids one day too. We had been talking about getting together for awhile but birthdays came up for my kids and their day with grandma and grandpa came before my dad/daughter date. Well my cousin, really she is my dad's cousin, got married this weekend. I call her my cousin because she is a year younger than me and we grew up playing together in the summer so she was really more like my cousin then my dad's. Anyway, my dad and I decided that we would make her wedding our time together. We left on Saturday morning for the wedding that was at 2pm. We got to town around noon and had lunch with some family members. Then we went to the wedding. Oh my this was the most interesting wedding ceremony I have ever been to. The priest was talking about 911 and a couple holding hands jumping to their death and then likening my cousin and her husband to the twin towers. It was in horrible taste. The ceremony was redeemed when the couple read their own personal wedding vows to which they both cried, so sweet. After the wedding we had about 3 hours to kill before the reception. My dad had gotten wind of my cousin's sons football game at 3:30 so we decided to head over there and watch the game before going to the reception. It was a beautiful sunny day and more family members where there. My dad's family is big, he is one of 7 kids and there are something like 24 cousins. The reception was beautiful. We ate, danced, laughed and talked...good times. Then comes the funny part well funny now but not then. We went back to the hotel at 10:30pm. I got ready for bed and went to sleep. My dad turned on the tv and watched some sport updates. At about 2:15 I woke to a noise that sounded like a train was coming right through our room. It freaked me out until I realized it was my dad snoring! I walked over and shook him and told him to stop snoring. He replied, "I don't snore." I went and got some tissue and stuffed it in my ears and then held a pillow over my ears to help drowned out the snoring. It didn't help so I shook him 2 more times before I had enough. At 3:30am I grabbed a pillow and blanket and went to my car and slept in there. Finally I was able to fall back to sleep though it was a tight squeeze sleeping in the back seat. I went back inside around 8:30am when I woke up. I'm so glad I choose to go outside and sleep because I would of been so tired the rest of the day today. After we checked out we headed back home. We got back around lunch time so we went to the Mall and ate at Cheesecake Factory, YUMMY. Then we went shopping. I got two new pairs of jeans!!! Now I am home alone and thought I'd update the good ole blog before I go do all the things that need to be done before tomorrow morning like unpacking and making tomorrow's dinner, I am working tomorrow during the day. 

My baby turns 4!!!

This girl is something else. She certainly has kept me on my toes. I love her something fierce but no one can get me as mad as fast as she can. Wow that girl is a lot like me. She is strong willed to the core and I am really hoping that that will help her in life one day. She is my little me, heaven help me! Today was a day that I worked so yesterday we went on a field trip to celebrate her last day as a 3 year old. We went to the zoo. I got two free passes from the library...love that place. Then my wonderful friend who has a membership had a few free tickets for the dolphin show, stingray bay and the motor safari. On a typical visit we would of just walked around and looked at the animals that were free to look at but since I had these tickets for myself the child tickets were cheaper I bought them. I am so glad I did. It was really cool to see the dolphin show, though we did get wet and that is what Peanut tells everyone about that show! I didn't think I was going to get her out of the stingray bay. That girl LOVED petting the stingray. I must admit that was pretty cool. They were an interesting feeling that's for sure. Then we got to take a ride on the tram and see animals and have them explained while resting. It was nice and it made my feet not hurt so much at the end of the day. We left just in time to pick the other kids up from school, score. Today I had Bible study at my friend's house. She has 4 boys. I told her she was going to watch a movie while we did Bible study but I warned her there weren't going to be any princess movies because they didn't have any girls. Her response, "I bet they DO have princess movies. If they have a princess movie you have to give me a kiss. And if they don't have a princess movie I have to give you a kiss." Sounds like a good deal to me!!! She says some of the funniest things, and where did she learn this betting thing?!?! After Bible study we came home and put on warmer clothes it didn't get as warm as predicted and did school work. Then we met Jeff for lunch and she opened her cards and present from us, a Tangled dress up dress. Now she can be Rapunzel :) After lunch we headed over to my nanny job. I let the girls play instead of fighting them to take a nap because we had to pick the kids up from school at 3:35. Then it was off to church for Awana and Children's Choir. I now have 3 kids in the choir. Can't wait for them all to be in it! I know that my little princess felt loved today. She got phone calls, facebook messages and in person Happy Birthdays with hugs. Oh I almost forgot when she woke up this morning and saw her door decorate she says, "I'm the birthday girl. I can't believe I'm the birthday girl." She was just so excited for it to be HER birthday today. I just love her so much.

Dear Peanut,
These last 4 years have changed my life more than you will ever know. I love your sweet little personality. Your smile lights up the room. I am so glad God gave you as my daughter to love and teach. You truly have blessed our whole family. I love you Peanut!
Love, Mommy

Update on Me...

After I wrote that post I had a good cry and then I moved on. I started researching and I think I figured out what is truly wrong. I do believe I do have acid reflux but I think it is low stomach acid that is causing my symptoms not high acid levels. I looked up natural way to "cure" reflux and came across a website that suggests several different ways to help. The most popular being 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar in 8oz of water. So I tried it and oh my word was that the NASTIEST thing I have ever tasted. Yuck. While searching online I found a self test to decide whether or not I had to much or too little acid in my stomach. You have to do it in the morning on an empty stomach. So I did it this morning and don't really feel like the results where the best since I had drank the apple cider vinegar yesterday. I am going to try it again tomorrow and see. Basically what you do is take 8 ounces of water and put 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda in it and stir. Then drink it. Then you time to see how long it takes you to burp. If you burp right away you have a high level if you don't burp within 5 minutes you acid level is too low. The reason you need to figure out if you have to much or too little is because the treatment for each is completely different. I really have a feeling that I have too little. It will be interesting to find out what ends up being the case but I really hope it is my road to full health recovery!!!

Self pity party

I sit here completely and utterly discouraged. For the last week I haven't been feeling the greatest and I have been having some pain in my chest that radiates down to my stomach. I kept thinking I slept funny because it would eventually go away during the day and then return at night time. Well this morning I felt like I was going to vomit. I decided instead of taking Peanut to the zoo like I had planned I would cancel my doctor's appointment tomorrow and go today. I will take her to the zoo tomorrow. I wish I never would of went to the doctor. I feel so defeated right now. Instead of walking out of there with a virus that will run it's course (which is what I was hoping for) he said I have acid reflux disease. WHAT? Just when I get my health back on track with the whole mold and start working out. I get diagnosed with a disease. I just can't win. I think my health is going to be a struggle for me until the day I die and that truly scares me because I hate feeling sick and taking care of 4 kids, a husband and running a household. I'm really not wanting people to feel sorry for me because trust me I already feel sorry enough for myself. But I do need to be covered in prayer because I'm not sure I'm strong enough to change my diet yet again. I'm certainly not willing to take the chance on a new drug or an old one for that matter. The side effects on some of those drugs just aren't worth it. I need prayer coverage. Thanks!

Homeschooling

Not sure if I mentioned that I was homeschooling Peanut this year. I have the curriculum from school and the first few weeks we are going to go over things she learned last year in preschool. I also want to work on things like cutting, which is her FAVORITE thing to do. I save the cutting for the end after we have gone over everything else that needs to be learned for the day. I forgot to make shapes while she was doing her sheets so I did them right before I gave her the paper. While she was waiting she was just opening and closing the scissors and accidentally got some hair in the scissors. It was the funniest thing. Probably the first kid to cut their own hair without willingly trying to cut her hair. She didn't even notice until I pointed it out to her, silly kiddo :)

This is where her hair landed
Her holding the evidence...she was really sad as she is trying to grow her hair out like Rapunzel's!

First day of School

Since the kids insisted on pizza for dinner tonight I got up early and made them a big ole breakfast for their first day. We had fresh squeezed orange juice, scrambled eggs, bacon and bananas. They fly out of bed this morning to get ready. There was SO much excitement in the air for the first day of school. Look at their faces!

They totally stood backwards on this picture but we were running late so I just snapped it!
My 5th grader
My 4th grader
My 1st grader
My student...
They had a wonderful first day of school. Two came home with no homework and my oldest only had one subject she got done in 20 minutes!!! Ah the routine that school brings ;)

Anticipation

It is the night before school starts and these kids are bouncing off the walls. All summer we have had a pretty good time with very minimal complaining about being bored, until today. They had orientation last night where they got to drop off their school supplies, meet their teachers and see who was in their class this year. Which lends to today with them being BORED. They want to start school NOW. I knew today was going to be hard for them so I tried to have things to do. So we went to our chiropractor appointment and then took the kids to get their pictures taken, yeah not so exciting but still something to do right?! I will talk more about the pictures in a second. When we got home I decided that we should do something that the kids have been wanting to do for months. They wanted to go to the park that Jeff and I played tennis at a few years ago. We drive by it all the time but never stop. After lunch we hopped on our bikes and we took a bike ride to that park. It is about a 20 minute bike ride. I let them play for about an hour or so and then we headed home. Peanut needed to get a nap she is still napping. The kids are outside playing now too.

For the past few years I have been taking the kids to JC Penney's for school pictures because they are so much more affordable then the actual school pictures that go in the yearbooks. I got 13 sheets for 3.99 each. Well Peanut was hilarious today when getting her picture taken. She kept striking a pose. She would put her hand on her hip and just make the most spunky sassy pose ever. It was too funny. And of course, the photographer was trying to pose her, to which she said, "I'm going to do it like this." We were laughing so hard at her. That's my girl ;)

My Mom

This weekend we went to my mom's wedding. All four of my kids and myself were apart of the bridal party so that was a lot of fun. I do wish I would of bought the curlers instead of using a curling iron the day of the wedding. I think it would of been a lot less stressful for me. But I will remember that for the future. However, having the curling irons at the wedding was so helpful because my mom's hair had gone flat from the curls she had at the hair salon. The wedding went pretty smoothly just a few little volume/sound issues. I loved seeing all my brothers. I really wish I could see them more, they are so fun to hang out with. But I have to say that my little nephew Jeremiah was one of the bright spots in my day. As I was standing in line greeting everyone he gave me the biggest best hug EVER! Then at the dance reception he was busting a move. The best line of the night goes to him as well. He was dancing then he would point to my grandma (his great grandma) and say "dance" then he pointed to me and said "dance" he pointed to Jamie my brother Kory's fiance and said "dance" then the best line of the night was when he then pointed to Monkey and said "dance dude" It was great! I also got to meet my newest nephew too! Another highlight was dancing with my little Peanut to the song Brown Eyed Girl. I always tell her that is her song because she is the only brown eyed girl in our family. As we were dancing she walked up to the guy singing the song and tells him "this is my song! I've got brown eyes." I love that girl. She was so cute all day. During pictures she was not having a good time but as soon as the photographer would put the camera up and start to count she would snap on a sweet smile. It made everyone watching the pictures crack up. The kids did so great and behaved so well and it was a LONG day for them with really not a whole lot for them to do. The day started at 8am and ended for them at 10pm. Peanut did get a 30 minute nap in the van on the way to the dance reception which I think helped extremely. The next few days are going to go by so fast...tomorrow is the boat with grandma and grandpa M., Tuesday is dentist appointments and orientation at night, Wed is chiropractor appointment and school pictures at JC Penney's and then school starts Thursday. Oh my I'm not so sure I'm ready for this...

Promised

At the beginning of last week I had promised the kids that before summer was over I would take them to the children's museum. Well our sticky situation put a hold on that plan last week. I was bummed, they were bummed but there was nothing else we could of done. Well I am feeling VERY confident that those little critters are GONE so we went today. It happens to be perfect timing since we have been doing a media fast for the kids this week before school starts. It gave them something to do for 3 hours and I didn't have to hear "what can I do?" "why can't we watch tv?" or "I'm so bored since you won't let us do anything" and so on. Now we are sitting at home waiting for dad to get home so we can head out for the weekend. And guess what? They are actually playing a game together and have finally figured out what to do without any screen time. Isn't it amazing. I can hear the angels singing "Hallelujah" because they aren't fighting or being bored. I am one happy mama. I am so glad that I was able to keep that promise. Especially because this morning I wasn't feeling very good but as the day as gone on I feel much better. I just want to try my best to always keep promises I make but I do sometimes fail but I get back up and we move on.

Super Bummed

Tonight has been planned for over a month for Jeff and I to go out on a date. Well with the current state of our house being head lice, though I must say we are doing pretty well kicking it's butt. I had to cancel the sitter and stay home with the girlies. It totally stunk to watch my two boys leave the house with their dad when I should of been the one going. It wouldn't have been a big deal if our dates weren't so spread out. We go on one maybe once ever 2 or 3 months. I so want to change this but I just don't know how. Babysitting is expensive for 4 kids. We do have a few free babysitters but only a few of them are actually willing to watch our kids the others we have to beg and beg and that only works about 50% of the time. It is hard. Period. Anyway I had updated my status on facebook about watching the boys leave on my date with their dad. One of the comments mentioned trade sitting, which we have done once with another family who has 4 kids. Let's just say that watching 8 kids is completely INSANE. Most of our friends have 2 or 3 or 5 kids not many have 4 like us. I will definitely have to work something out with some friends to get this to happen more often with out breaking the bank for a date night = paying a sitter and then whatever we spend on the date. Ok my pity party is over ;)

Ugh

So not the way I wanted to end summer...with head lice. I am beyond upset and overwhelmed with all the stuff that needs to be done to get these little critters out of our house. All the treatments and checking for the nits (eggs) and washing all the bedding and towels after every use it just completely stinks. We found out yesterday that we had lice in our house. I spent 3 1/2 hours doing GlamorGirls hair. About 40 minutes doing Peanut's hair thank heavens hers is so fine. Both girls had it. GG's was worse then Peanut's. Then Jeff shaved both boys heads and he said he for sure found one in Monkey's head but wasn't sure about Red. Then we did a treatment in my hair and we found one louse and some nits. This is so not fun. I wish I could just shave my head and if I wasn't in a wedding in about 12 days I totally would shave my head. I have vacuumed my house top to bottom today and will need to do that every day for about 2 weeks or so. I have started doing Power 90 which is the work out right before P90X nothing like a little head lice to stop your workout mojo dead in it's track. So frustrating. Just sitting here I'm thinking of people I need to tell who might have been infected with them as well since I have no idea when we exactly got them :( Like I said so NOT how I wanted to end summer...

Our Summer in a Nutshell

The Pool. That is pretty much were we have lived this summer with an occasional park throw in here or there! A family from church got a pool pass too so when we have been at the pool they have usually been there too. They had 4 kids all summer until last Monday when she had her 5th baby. Which means the last time we went to the pool it was just my kids. It was good and bad. Good because they played with each other but bad because they got bored quicker. My friend said she was hoping to take all 5 kids to the pool this coming week!!! Also wanted to add that we have gone swimming so much Peanut's swimsuit got a whole in the butt and we had to go get her a new one...it was slim pickins and she ended up with a bikini. I finally remembered to take the camera with me the day we were alone so I got some really cool shots of them kids on the diving boards and in the water!!! I hope to get some pictures with the kids and there friends this coming week. Without further ado my favorite PICTURES! I took WAY more than this ;)

Peanut's favorite thing to do...

mid jump
into the water and then swimming to big sis
Monkey off the high dive...he's flying
GlamorGirl doing a handstand
Red's trick off the high dive
Her showing me how she goes underwater...
her under the water
These two are ones who got out of the pool before it was time to go...


What about you what have you been doing this summer?
I hope it has been as fun as ours :)

3 weeks

I am giving myself three weeks to get in shape. I talked to my hubs about how I was feeling out of shape and yucky. He told me to start working out. I told him I needed some sort of motivation and then proceeded to tell him to start calling me fat/chubby. Not a good idea. It did not motivate me AT. ALL. After the 5th time he called me that it started to hurt my feeling, so he stopped. I know I'm such a girl. I asked him to call me that to help motivate me and then when he does what I ask I don't like it. Something in me snapped today and I decided that I am going to do this working out thing and getting into shape. I think it had to do with the fact that I was thinking about how I'm homeschooling Peanut and I need to have some form of gym for her. Well if she needs to be active and move um yeah so do I. Anyway, we even took a picture tonight before we started working out to document what we looked like before. I really hope that after the first 90 days I can see a difference in that picture! I really hope that after the first week I will feel better and have more energy like I did last time I was serious about working out...right before we left for the Bahama cruise. The only funny thing is that summer is almost over and I'm getting into swim suit shape now. Whatevs! I'm also thinking that once school starts once a week walking the track at school and letting Peanut play at the park where I can see her. Or she can walk with me. I'm just really excited to see what the next 3 weeks bring. I can't believe that is all the summer break we have left. In three weeks a lot of things will be changing. I'm so thankful to God for change!

Friday!

Tonight is/was our last night alone so I took the kids to an outside movie at a local church, they have done this every year since we've lived here. The movie they played was Dreamer so because it was a horse movie they had pony rides before the movie started. I could only stand the smell of the ponies for one ride but the kids didn't seem upset! Of course, GG was too old and too cool to ride on a pony. In years past I have never brought money with to these movies. This year I decided that I would bring some. I ended up spending $2. For the great time we had it was money well spent! Peanut was cracking me up tonight. She had run to the garbage to throw some trash away and on her way back she says, "Oh no my pants are falling down." As she hanks them up. Then on the way home Peanut said, "I didn't want a real pony ride I wanted a fake pony ride." That just cracked me up! She is too funny. We sat behind an interesting lady. She felt the need to turn around and glare at any kid who made a noise, which happened to be the family just to our left. At one point Red had dropped the ball he was playing with and it rolled up by them. She turned around glared at him and then looked at me and asked if he was my son. I said, "Yes, why?" She said nothing, he wasn't being loud so I'm not sure what her problem with him was. This lady obviously thought that an outside movie was going to be as quiet as a movie theater, um okay, not going to happen.

So this week was super long but we kept pretty busy that it ended up going by somewhat fast-like. Sunday was spent with my dad, Monday was VBS, nannying, and a friend over, Tuesday was VBS, swimming and National Night Out, Wed was the funeral and then swimming at night, Thursday VBS, swimming and concert in the park! I've already wrote what we did today. I also want to state for the record that at least 3 times Red has said to me..."your the best mom ever" during this week. Thinking that means we had a pretty good week :)

My Girls...

10 year olds are very frustrating to me lately, especially when it comes to food. A few days this week we have gone to the pool after VBS in which I packed a picnic lunch for the kids. The first day I packed GG a salami and pepperoni sandwich. She got mad and said she hated that kind of sandwich. I told her I was sorry but I thought that is what I saw her make herself for lunch the day before. She proceeded to tell me she had a salami with mustard sandwich and she likes those better. Well after that horrid episode of hatred towards the sandwich I made her I decided to ask what she wanted for lunch. Knowing that we were going to the pool and I was going to be packing another picnic lunch. Guess what? She never answered my question. The other two kids told me what they wanted but her NOTHING. Not. A. Single. Word. We get to the school and off they go inside. I do my school supply shopping while I only have one child in tow and completely forget about my earlier question until I get home and start making those blasted lunches. UGH...she never answered my question. I think to myself well the other day when she hated the sandwich I made she said she liked the salami and mustard sandwich so that is what I made her. Fast forward to opening up the picnic lunch. She says, "What kind of sandwich did you make me." I reply with, "Well since you never answered me when I asked you what you wanted I made you the salami and mustard sandwich because you said you liked it." Here comes the tears and the whining about how she hates salami and muster sandwiches and she wanted a salami and pepperoni sandwich like I made her the other day. WHAT? Didn't she spend that whole time complaining about eating said sandwich. I just don't understand 10 year olds. When we are home we never have a problem because she makes her own food it is just when I pack picnics.

Onto my baby girl Peanut. This girl has just taken off in the pool this week. We have gone swimming 4 times since Friday which is pretty normal in a weeks time. She has started to really go under the water and hold her breath for pretty long periods of time. Today she was even jumping off the side of the pool into the water, would go under and swim to me. I was really impressed with how well she was doing! A few times when I picked her up and was taking her back to the side she would say let go. So I did and she swam the rest of the way. She is also learning how to back float this week. She does good until she starts to get freaked out, then she starts sinking. I just think she is too funny when she holds her breath goes under water and kicks her legs underneath her and moves her arms all crazy. I was teaching her today to kick behind her. I had her hold on to the side of the pool and kick her feet to splash the water and she was doing it. Then she was holding on kicking and then stuck her head in the water. I think next year she is really going to take off! I might get her some swim lessons this school year as part of her gym class! Other than that her swim suit got a big rip in the bottom today so after her nap we are headed out to find her a new one!

Almost

We are almost half way through this week and will get to be reunited with two of our family members. Come on Saturday get here please!!! In other news I am so sick of going outside and seeing raccoon poop all over my backyard. They have been pooping in the window well but now they are just going all over the place. There is a family of raccoon that live in a vacant house that is owned by a bank on the next street over. They come to my yard because we have the cherry tree and veggie garden. At first I didn't think they were eating any of my veggies I knew they had eaten cherries but yesterday when I went out to water right next to some poop was a half eaten tomato. So annoyed. I looked up animal control and told them my problem they told me to call my local police department which as a police officers wife I knew was not the right thing to do. But I called anyway, yup they can't do anything to help me. They told me to find out who owns the house and bring a civil suit against them, really? Not helpful. I got the name and number of my Alderman from my nice neighbor and gave him a ring. To my surprise he answered the phone and I got to tell him what was going on. He knew about this house and has dealt with issues with this house before. Mainly yard overgrowth. I really don't care how the yard looks I don't want raccoons in my yard at 5pm at night when my kids want to be outside playing because the harsh sunlight has gone down. It isn't safe for them to be in their own back yard. I am just so frustrated at this situation and the last thing I want is for one of the kids to get attacked or step in the poop and bring it in the house. Why do these things always seem to happen when Jeff is gone? UGH

Camp

Jeff and Monkey are gone this week at camp, they left Friday and camp started on Saturday. Monkey was very excited about this year there are a bunch of kids from church going and his uncle (my brother) who is 11 months older than him will be there too! I talked to Jeff on Saturday morning and he said that Monkey had a rough night...really hoping that was the only bad night he has. When I talked to him he said he had a hard time sleeping because he missed me. Poor guy. Jeff also said that the camp had a hard time placing kids in cabins because all the kids had requested to be with Monkey!!! There are 5 boys from church not including Monkey and his uncle all wanted him with them. He is just such a timid kid in big groups, he has always been better one on one. I really hope he can over come that this week and just have a great time! The only bad part of everyone requesting him is they couldn't fit all the kids in one cabin so they split them. But no one is in a cabin by themselves so that is good. Please just pray for him this week that this time builds him up and he doesn't get discouraged.

Unsure

I'm really unsure how to handle my oldest son. He is my quiet guy not much of a talker but I can tell things are bothering him. He lashes out in little ways like if I ask him to sweep the floor which is one of his chores he does such a bad job that he has to do it two or three times before it is acceptable. He is so disgruntled about doing said chore. I just don't know how to get through to him. Today he didn't want to go swimming but everyone else did so he just sat on the side staring with a mad look on his face. When I tried to talk to him he just told me to go away or would start crying. I just really fear if he keeps it all inside at the ripe old age of 9 what is it going to be like when he is 13 - 18 when the things he is going to deal with are extremely difficult and he will need me and his dad. I just want to cry and make him talk but instead all I found I can do is pray. Pray that I can take him to God's word and show him how much he is loved no matter what the world says. Pray he will open up with me and talk about what is going on. Pray that I can help him work through it when that time comes. Pray that I can be the best parent for him. I'm just so scared sometimes that I am going to mess my kids up. I just want them to be healthy and happy and know how much I love and care about them but I fail so I pick myself back up and try again. If you could just pray for me and this whole situation with Monkey that would be great. I pray that this upcoming week will be so great for him to be at camp away from life and be able to learn and grow in his faith. This is really vague but I think we have some really serious stuff going on with him.

9 years ago...

today I was miserably pregnant with Monkey. I just can't get over how super fast these years are flying by me. This is his last year in the single digits and then I will have half my kids in the double digits. I have to say that these last 9 years have changed me for the better. I love all the joy and love that Monkey brings to our family. Yes, he is a kid and he has a sin nature just like everyone in this world but he is a really great person to know. He is a super sweet guy. There is just something special about the bond a mother and son have it is completely different than mothers and daughters, not better just different. Want to clarify that for when my kids read this later on in life. Most of the time I can just give Monkey a look and he knows exactly what I am going to say. Parenting him is so fun yet can also be challenging. He is not my talker like the other kids yet when it is just he and I alone...it is like the flood gates of his lips have opened up, I so cherish those one on one times with him and I really need to make more of them happen. As of 12:05am on the 22nd I will have a 9 year old. Happy Birthday my sweet sweet Monkey!