www.micahandlindsey.com

Scout is obsessed with balls. He has about 15 words in his vocabulary, but none of them are spoken as often as “ball”.  Literally…..every single thing that has any sort of circular shape is pointed at and called “ball” about six times in a row.  I love it when he is talking to me and about sticks his finger in my eye to point out my eye is a ball. Bbut my favorite is how he has to kick them whenever anyone is walking with him. We just put a ball in front of him as we hold his hands, and he kicks it up and down the halls. He is destined to be a soccer player — just like his dad! But hopefully he won’t have the knee injury that comes with the soccer playing — just like his dad.

As always….when I have perfect ingredients + the Brockbank kids around…..Fear Factor is played. With fresh fish out of the ocean, we were obviously going to make the tastiest fish tacos for Memorial Day. While I was filleting the fish, Seth and I came up with the latest and greatest Fear Factor challenge…..Fish eyeballs!

It usually comes down to Trey and Cade….and like clockwork, Trey took the bait. -no pun intended- It took him about ten minutes to stomach the idea, but after some prodding and taunting, he finally sealed the deal! He is our current champ, and Cade is bummed. But Cade is in luck…..Trey couldn’t stomach the fish tongue, so he can always redeem himself with that.

A few months ago, I got the itch to do something fun. My grandpa used to always take my older sisters deep sea fishing, and he was too old by the time I got a chance, so I booked us a trip! Micah, Seth, Gabe and I were headed out of San Diego for 2 1/2 days of Mexican water’s deep sea fishing.

The first thing that happened when we got on the boat was give up $10 for the “biggest fish” jackpot. The days that followed were totally fun and very exciting….filled with fishing, great food, cribbage and other games, and in Seth’s case - many trips to convenient places to throw up. (Poor guy felt better by day two, but day one was brutal!)

Gabe caught the first fish, and by the end of the trip, he caught the most fish - thanks to the Captain who took him under his wing. Yellowtail was the coveted fish on this trip. In total, five were caught, one by Micah…..and two by me. Sorry babe, I have it in the blood. I also caught two sharks, but we cut the line on both because they are too aggressive on the deck.

On the last night, we had the weigh off for the jackpot fish, and I am proud to say that I am now $130 richer! All of the guys on the boat (I was the only female) were disgusted it was the girl who won. I tried to make them feel better by telling them it was just “beginner’s luck”. But what I should have told them was to choke up on the reel, use Sardines instead of the Anchovies, and let the fish take the bait for a swim. Suckers!

We have been staying at the Denison’s house while our house is being painted. While we have been here, Scout has learned two great things! First of all, he has learned how to go down the stairs properly. His M. O. up until now has been to crawl to the top, turn around, and barely sit on the edge with his arms reached forward. I am amazed he hasn’t taken a huge spill yet. But now that he knows how to do it correctly, hopefully that will never be the case.

His second feat…. he has taken about four steps on his own! I have been putting this off like crazy, because unlike other moms, I am not counting down the days until Scout can walk. I am all for the crawling - even if it is a crazy gimp crawl! I figure, even thought he is a really fast crawler, it is still slower than walking. But….looks like the inevitable is becoming a reality!

Update***I would officially call Scout a “walker” starting at 14 months.  Micah thought he was a slow learner….I am pretty convinced he could have walked all along, but just wanted to be waited on hand and foot.  If i could get away with crawling…I would!

I have always wanted to start a veggie and herb garden, so I finally took the plunge this year. All I have to say is that nothing is more fun than eating a strawberry you grew yourself! Skylar is my apprentice on the project, and together we are growing tomatoes, squash, corn, bell peppers, jalepenos, watermelon, strawberries, and about 6 different herbs! They are taking off, and it is SO fun to see the progress every day! So far, everything has gone well — except the time Skylar almost got fired when she was too scared to get the hose to water because she saw a bug. I told her that if she wanted to be anything like me….she would have to bypass the bug. She rolled her eyes and said she didn’t want to be like me, she just wants some fresh veggies this summer.

This weekend consisted of back to back celebrations for Scout’s first birthday. Saturday afternoon we spent the day with Micah’s family. We BBQ’d, opened gifts and had cupcakes. Scout was timid at first to open presents, but got into it after a while. He was pretty into his cupcake, and took handfulls of frosting at a time –thank goodness for last month’s trial run. The highlight of Saturday was his gift from Grandpa…..a longboard skateboard that Tim made himself. He even personalized it with a note on the bottom –”Happy first birthday Scout. Love, Grandpa”.

Sunday was spent with my family, and we did another BBQ, presents and brownies. The brockbanks were up, and Scout was in Heaven being with his cousins. They took him on long walks on his new bike from Grandma and Grandpa, and played hide and seek with him forever. He is battling an ear ache, and didn’t make one peep that showed he was uncomfortable the entire time they were here. Tristen’s frined Tessa knitted him a really cute beanie, and he got great stuff from his cousins and aunts…and especially Nonnie. He was a little more into the Brownie cupcake this time, but I always envisioned my kids to get into the cake face first…..so I gave him a little help. My sisters were disgusted when I “shoved” the cake in his face. It was a light tap! We ended it with some whipped cream on his head. He loved every second of it!

Happy birthday big boy! Daddy and I adore you!