It has been the tradition of the sock monkeys to always hold a celebration in honor of the departing sock monkeys. So it was, that this morning, all the monkeys headed for their favorite tree to party! They did indulge me in this one group photo, before resuming their frolicking. The lucky monkeys who found forever families today were Eunice and Blossom. Blossom had only arrived at the orphanage in the wee hours of the morning this morning, so we hardly got a chance to know her before she was waving fare-well! But, we know her cousin, Lily, so well that we almost felt like we knew Blossom, too, before she even arrived! Eunice said she hopes her cousin, Lambchop (recently moved to Nome, Alaska) will check the blog and see that she has a home, now, too!
The other monkeys gave Blossom a butterfly necklace as a farewell gift. For Eunice, they chose a sheepy vest (since Eunice had admired pictures of Lambchop wearing her sheepy poncho before she departed for Nome)! Blossom and Eunice were very pleased with their going away presents!
(Oh, and in case you are wondering why GROVER did not get included as a guest of honor since he was adopted yesterday...it is because, much to the angst of the orphanage DIRECTOR, Miss Darcy decided to adopt Grover for her own. WHICH MEANS...Grover will CONTINUE LIVING HERE AT THE ORPHANAGE FOREVER along with the much sweeter Zeke, Kevin, and Lily. This is a very difficult situation. Grover continues to be a bad influence on the other monkeys and Darcy does not seem to give him the CONSTANT supervision that a monkey of his caliber NEEDS! We are STILL cleaning up trash out of our front lawn from last Tuesday morning...it seems that SOMEONE thought it would be HILARIOUS to sneak out and cut the bottoms out of each of the trash bags after Grant placed them at the curb....so, of course, when the trashman went to sling the bag into the back of the truck, trash flew EVERYWHERE. At least we have our dog back home safely now (after SOMEONE opened the back gate last week, lured her out, dared her to run riotously through the neighborhood AND THEN CALLED THE DOG POUND TO REPORT HER!!!!) I (Darcy's mother and director of the orphanage) suspect that Darcy just adopted Grover so he would always be here to vex me so that I would be so busy with him that I wouldn't have the time (or energy) to reign her in!!! (Personal theory!) The other monkeys are talking about getting Grover a florescent green vest....but, maybe that isn't so much a "congratulations on being adopted" gift as it is a way of making him a little more VISIBLE so he isn't able to slip around quite so sneakily! (Again, that is just my own personal theory!)
~Monica
Well, this past weekend, Darcy, her grandmother, and her mother went to Branson to the "Women of Joy" conference. Darcy's mom was amused to see that although Darcy had FORGOTTEN to pack the netbook (that she is inseparable from almost every waking moment...living on facebook), there was Grover peeking his self-satisfied ornery little face out of her overnight bag. (I'm still not sure if Darcy actually PACKED him, or if he just sneaked into her bag after she left for school Friday morning!) At any rate, against my better judgment, Grover came with us to Branson. 
Poor, dear Kevin was a bit dubious about the whole idea of WEARING CLOTHES. He said it just seemed un-monkey-like to him...but, we finally convinced him to give it a go. He was just starting to get somewhat comfortable in his new outfit when his person, Rayna, arrived home from school. Rayna dashed over and grabbed Lily up, oohhing and ahhing over her new outfit (much to Lily's pleasure!) and then turned to me and asked, "Where's my other monkey?" I told her, right there where Lily was sitting. Rayna went back over to the bench where Zeke, Grover, and Kevin remained and then came back to me empty handed and queried once more, "Where's my other monkey?" I asked, "Do you mean Kevin?" She replied, "Yes. Where is he?" She had looked right at him and not recognized him! She thought a new monkey had arrived at the orphanage and meanwhile her beloved Kevin had gone missing! Well, that certainly did not help Kevin warm any further to his new clothes!!!
These are the current residents of the Monkey Orphanage who are awaiting adoption! (Someone has put in an application for Eunice. She is the only one spoken for out of this group! All the rest are still looking for families of their own!)
Okay, Grover hasn't even been at the Monkey Orphanage even a full day yet, and ALREADY he is getting other monkeys into MAJOR TROUBLE. Grover arrived yesterday and was told all the house rules. Buddy (not even introduced on this blog yet!) arrived today and before he had been told the house rules, Grover slipped him into the backyard (a DEFINITE no no) and we found the two of them happily playing in one of the trees back there. They ARE allowed to play in any of the trees in the FRONT yard, but there is a problem with the back yard.... It is the home of one very large German shepherd who usually views monkeys as small, delightful snacks. So, we nearly had a heart attack today when we glanced out the patio door and to our horror saw Grover and Buddy goofing around back there in the tree!
