Do you remember?

Hello again my friends!

I am sure that this will not come as a surprise to you. Morley and my few precious moments were just that.....PRECIOUS and FEW!

Do you remember when you were little and how much fun you had playing out in the snow? You could play and play without hardly noticing that - snow is COLD - until suddenly (3 hours later) you realize that you are frozen half to death!

Now multiply this scene by 8 or so little monkeys and it will be easy for you to imagine what happened next.

The cottage door suddenly flew open and in tumbled our very cold monkeys, who proceeded to toss off all of their wet jackets, mittens, hats, snow pants and boots - into one great big sopping wet pile in the corner of the room. But wait - over top of all the whining voices that were busy complaining of their frozen paws and faces - we heard an even louder wail!

Remember that I told you that all the monkeys went out to play but Molly? She wouldn't admit this to you but after about an hour of peace in the cottage, she began to miss the others. So Molly was eagerly waiting for them to come back inside and unfortunately ended up under the great pile of cold wet clothes that the monkeys had carelessly tossed her way.

After we rescued Molly and calmed her down - every one of them enjoyed a steamy mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows while they relived their outdoor adventure.

Morley then suggested they find a quiet way to spend the rest of the day so it wasn't long before Meg had them all sitting around the table cutting out red hearts to hang in all of the cottage windows.

You will surely want to look in again soon at our Cottage At The End Of The Lane. After all....Valentine's Day is just around the corner!

Love to you all - Mabyn

A Few Quiet Moments

A good cold January morning to you all! We are deep in the middle of a long snowy winter out here at the Cottage At The End Of The Lane.

Last night we got 4 more inches of snow and my little monkeys could hardly wait for breakfast to be over. They quickly did their chores and then bundled up and raced outside.

For the next few hours, all of the little monks with the exception of Molly (she especially hates being cold) kept busy building snow monkeys and taking turns on the sled.

Morley and I watched from the cottage window as they frolicked in the snow. It was one of those rare times when all the monkeys played well together, forgetting their petty differences. We all have to take the time to appreciate these moments.

So you will surely excuse Morley and me as we sit back and relax for a bit with a mug of hot chocolate .....just to savor the moment!


I hope to see you soon!

Love- Mabyn

Happy New Year

Good morning dear friends!

I just got our holiday photos developed and knew that you would laugh at this one!

New Year's Day was a cold and icy one which meant our little monkeys were cottage bound all the day long.

Molly and Mildred spent a good bit of the day reading in their rooms. Not only do they love to read, but it is sort of a way to get away from all the commotion that a cottage full of monkeys can bring!

Meg and Marie seemed a little restless and had gotten into a bit of trouble earlier in the day. Meg relentlessly teases the day lights out of Marie because....well....it is so easy! Morley got weary of their fighting and bickering and he told them they better find something quiet to do or else they would be spending the rest of the day in their rooms. May I say that this would be a "life sentence" for Meg so she immediately channeled her energy into a more creative behavior. She talked Murray and a few of the other monkeys into creating a play and they all disappeared into the basement to commence writing a play and practicing the production.

A few hours later, Morley, myself and all the rest of the troop were treated to "Father Time - A New Year's Play".

That is Murray in the top hat and diaper. He is such a good sport. Murray is so easy to get along with. Our Mitchell would rather give up bananas for a week then put on this 'get up'.

Well friends, I must get busy with my chores. I'll be looking for you to soon put your heads in at the Cottage At The End Of the Lane....you wouldn't want to miss a thing!

Love - Mabyn

Missy is caught 'red pawed'!

Dear Friends,

My grandma used to say...'Believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see'...but then again, she would often say....'seeing is believing' and in this case....I will have to agree.

When I left last left you, all the little monkeys at The Cabin at the End of the Lane, were cozily tucked into their beds and were finally sound asleep. Morley and I had enjoyed a few precious minutes of quiet by the fireside and then we turned in shortly thereafter.

What we had failed to notice earlier in the day was what our two little monkeys, Micah and Murray had been up to. You can surely believe that it is not unusual to see 'little monkeys' swinging around while they are playing so unless their is a great commotion or someone has fallen - The Cabin at the End of the Lane is generally like a 'monkey house' because..well....that is what we are!

Little did we know that Micah had made plans for weeks to prove once and for all that Santa did not exist. He had been making this claim to all the other little monkeys, causing tears and anger to say the least, and Morley finally took him aside and told him most emphatically, that he must stop. But Micah somehow managed to get his paws on one of those new fangled cameras that can be mounted anywhere to capture movement. Often times hunters use them in the woods to see if deer might come to a certain spot or nature lovers use them to capture pictures of animals. The cameras are somehow triggered when there is movement in front of their lens.

I had noticed the boys earlier in the day huddled on a beam high in the cabin, but I thought that they were just playing. I did not take notice that they were trying to find the best spot to mount the camera - one in which the fireplace was front and center. Apparently none of the other little monkeys noticed either. After all, we were very busy with Christmas preparations!

We did not know as we all slept that night, how our little Missy waited and listened for silence to descend upon The Cabin at the End of the Lane. Now you need to understand that Missy is usually very timid and shy - she is the baby monkey of the family - and well....so quiet and unassuming that she almost goes unnoticed. When Missy was finally convinced that she was the only one awake....she apparently snuck out of her bed and into the living room because she was pretty sure that Micah had been wrong about Santa but she needed to know for sure.

Missy almost got away with her little plan.....almost.

As you can quite imagine, morning came much too soon for Morley and me. Soon all the little monkeys were squealing with excitement as they are sat by their piles of presents. Each monkey took his turn opening a present and with all the little monkeys here, it was nearly noon by the time we were done.

I was preparing our traditional brunch of egg cassarole and creamy rice and banana fluff when suddenly I heard the biggest commotion I think that I had ever heard! All the little monkeys were gathered around Missy and Micah and they were laughing their little heads off. Micah had gone up to retrieve his camera and finally lay to rest this notion of 'Santa'. Instead....Santa was confirmed and Missy was 'busted' ...if you will allow me to use the vernacular of our teen monkeys.

I must close this letter for now but again I invite you to come back as soon as you can. You don't want to miss a minute of life here at The Cabin At The End of The Lane!

Love,
Mabyn

Christmas Eve Day

Merry Christmas Eve day my friends! The mood in the cabin was gay and merry and quite full of anticipation. There is just something magic about Christmas Eve day - all day! This is true whether you are a monkey or a person.

Early in the day, I heard Marie, Miffy and Martha disagreeing on what snack to leave for Santa that night. Marie wanted to make ladylocks because they are absolutely her favorite cookies, while Martha felt strongly that orange cookies would be the best choice. However - Miffy matter of factly declared that Santa would be in need of a more healthy snack so after several more minutes of bickering they finally settled on orange cookies and a banana. I must say that Marie really, really does not like being told what to do, but even she realised that there was not enough time to make ladylocks. Maybe she would be more prepared next year and make them ahead of time.

On this day more than any other, the little monkeys seem to get along better than usual. Christmas Eve day brought out the best in them. The cabin was noticeably cheerier and bustling with preparations. Molly, Missy, Mildred, Meg and Meredith were all at the kitchen table cutting snowflakes out of white paper. They wanted to decorate each and every window in the cabin.

There was a friendly contest between them to see who could make the most intricate and beautiful snowflake. For a moment, I was sure that there was going to be trouble when Meg, our artsy child, started to make fun of Missy's snowflakes saying that they were ugly and the pattern looked more like a box than a snowflake, but then as if by magic, Meg seemed to think better of this. (Wouldn't you if Santa was watching to see if you were being naughty or nice?)

Meg grabbed the snowflake, praising it all the way to the basement where she proudly displayed it on a back window (where practically no one would see it!) Hmmmmmm.

As the day wound down - each little monkey got a bath and put on their new Christmas jammies. How sweet they smelled and how their fur glistened as they lined up in front of the fireplace to have their picture taken by their empty stockings. Afterward, they ran off to their beds to see who could stay awake long enough to hear Santa and the reindeer land on our roof.

Morley and I finished up a few dishes and then sat down to enjoy a few precious moments of peace and quiet. I could hear whispering and giggling coming from the bedrooms and after about an hour of this - Morley told them in no uncertain terms, that Santa would not come if they were awake. After that, we heard no more sounds. How nice - they all finally fell asleep - or so we thought.

Come back again soon to see what happened during the night.

My love,
Mabyn

Tis the season

Mercy my dear friends. You will certainly have to forgive me. I had such good intentions of keeping you up to date on the goings on at The Cottage at the End of the Lane - but I must tell you, that the holidays are no less busy for we monkeys than for all of you people out there.

I did take many pictures though and here is the picture that I promised you of our little monkeys decorating our Christmas tree. And what fun they had too!.....well, for the most part anyway.

Meg, Mildred and Miffy talked Micah into helping them with the tree. They spent a good part of an afternoon stringing lights and ornaments until it looked just so. Now you have to understand that Mildred is....how shall I say this?.....well in the words of some of the other monkeys mind you....a control freak! She would place each light on the string exactly 4 inches from the last light placed (she even used a ruler just to be sure!)

As Mildred painstakingly worked her way around the tree, Meg ever so stealthily repositioned the lights in a less than perfect position. Mildred was so intent on what she was doing, that she never noticed until she plugged in the lights and stepped back to admire her work.

Mildred freaked out! She knew without asking which of the little monkeys had done this deed. In the first place, Miffy would NEVER even think of such shenanigans and Micah seemed totally unaware of what the problem even was. But Meg on the other hand was doubled over in laughter in the corner of the room - unable to even pretend that she had nothing to do with the lights. Meg laughed so hard and so long that it wasn't long before she had everyone else laughing, even Mildred. Mildred just hates how Meg can manage to make her laugh even when she is still very very mad, but that is the long and short of it. I'll just bet that each and everyone of you know someone like Meg, don't you?

Mildred then made Meg take the lights off of the tree and she started all over again. By early evening the tree was perfectly decorated and after supper was over, the monkeys disappeared into their bedrooms to finish their Christmas lists for Santa.

Peek in a little later because I have a lot more stories to tell you, but I must hurry off now because there is a big sale at the Mall and with a family as big as ours, I can't afford to miss out!