My mom celebrated a big birthday a few weeks ago, so we wanted to celebrate in style! Out of her 12 kids, all but two were represented. Others flew in and drove in for the festivities. All in all, we had about 35 people here…..and she didn’t know anything about it….(until Seth called her and geared a few questions around being in Dana Point this weekend). So…..partly a surprise.
We had the best time. We heated the pool and jacuzzi for anyone who wanted to swim. We played games, and had a tasty meal consisting of burgers, fruit, potato salad made by my mom — (I figured once she was let in on her surprise, she would to contribute her tasty potato salad), fruit, etc. And for dessert, Megan went all out with cupcakes of two varieties and chocolate molten lava cakes.
At the end of the night, she opened gifts and watched my gift. I wanted to do something cool for her, so I spent the previous month getting all 21 of her grandkids on videotape. My dad would always interview us as we grew up, and they are the funnest videos to look back on. So I made a list of about 30 questions, and had each of the grandkids answer. I spliced it all together, and it turned out great. We certainly have some up and coming comedians — and some who don’t even realize they are hilarious.
By the end of the night, we were all wiped! The next morning, we got up and went to church, and came home to more good food and fun. It was a perfect way to celebrate one amazing woman!!!!
I really love these rascally boys….
BUT….when they were in town for my mom’s birthday bash, they gave Scout a whole new arsenal of material. Like saying, “NO….MINE”, throwing everything, and tantruming it up when he doesn’t get it his way. We were in church on Sunday, and he was holding a little dinosaur, and as his mother…I knew it was on it’s way through the air. I pointed my finger and said calmly, “Scout, do not throw your toy” about six times in a row. I had him somewhat contained, until I looked down in my bag to offer him some snacks to get his mind off of throwing his toy, when out of the corner of my eye, a little green dinosaur flew high through the air and landed on little Tanner Samuelian. Everyone thought it was hilarious (I even did), but that little boy was in trouble!
His other favorite thing as of lately is to body slam anyone in sight. Seth’s boys always wrestle with Micah for hours, and when Scout saw the excitement, he joined right in. And it was serious wrestling, as in …Micah was in a full blown sweat. So ever since then, Scout is much more physical with anyone he is around. The list of his naughtiness goes on and on, and he is really serving some serious time in time out. I have brought him back around to the good side somewhat, but come Thanksgiving day…guess who will be here. All of the little rascals that are going to ruin my perfect boy again!
Too tired and sick……will update later!
Why pay for a season pass to Disneyland, when you can go somewhere WAY better for free. Scout had the best time in the fountains at Fashion Island, and we did a picture scavenger hunt with all of the cousins that was a total hit.
My mom is having a big birthday celebration this weekend -to her surprise- and my gift to her is a DVD of all 21 of her grandchildren. Either I, or a parent interviewed all of the kids and asked each one about 30ish questions. I am now putting together the answers one by one, and holy cow….it is taking forever! It is almost done, and so far it looks great, and I think everyone in the family will be stoked to have a copy of their children’s wit / wisdom / advice etc. My mom will love it, and I will be happy when it is over. I got the idea from my dad, because when we were growing up he would always interview us. I always think it is fun to look back and see our personalities and answers from way back when. Anyway….only about 8 hours of work left, along with getting the hamburgers ready, getting everyone here without a hitch, and surprising my mom. Woops…the last one will be hard, since Seth called my mom two days ago to ask if Trilby could get deals at the St. Regis for when they came into town this weekend. For being so smart……brilliant move Seth!
My sister Ashley was in town, so I finally opted to take Scout to Disneyland. It was going to be his first trip, so my mom made the trek to see Scout in all of his glory. Because we make an annual trip with the whole fam, and will be back in the spring, I decided that financially it would be smart to get a season pass. I was very hesitant to do so since we usually go in to Club 33 and have a delicious lunch while getting in to both parks free, but I figured that the nasty park food will have to do for this year. Moving on…….We headed down, and I had high hopes. We got there around 11:00am. It was very empty, and the weather was perfect. Scout seemed to have had a fine time, but I was dying by the time we were pushing 3:00. By then, I was READY to scram. I didn’t want to ruin everyone else’s fun, so I stayed quiet, but I started getting the glances from my mom, and knew we were in sync. I just have to think that it is because Scout isn’t old enouogh to ride the fun rides, or because there were only a handful of us compared to the usual 25+?!?
The part I don’t get……who in their right mind would want to spend more than one day a year there? I can only imagine the $$$ Disney is making off of season passes that only get used once. A few years back, Brett got season passes for all of their boys, and by the end of the day, returned them for a refund….and I totally get it! Anyway, Scout really enjoyed being with his cousins, could have done without the nasty food we ate there, and was probably a wash on the whole “Happiest Place On Earth.” And the fact that my sister who was in town went three days in a row……what is she…..CRAZY?!
The up side to the day was we spotted Scout’s name on the Nemo submarine. We also realized that my mom has a secret admirer on the Jungle Cruise.
On Saturday evening, I attended a baptism of Scout’s Fairy Godmother….McCall Bledsoe. (Story to follow later) I haven’t seen my favorite Bledsoe family in quite a while, so at the last minute I invited them over to dinner the next night. Along with Tristen, Trilby and the girls, Ashley’s family who is in town, my Mom and the whole Bledsoe clan, there were over 20 people. So after church on Sunday, I started cooking. I had the salad, salad dressing, vegetable and rice about ready. But then I was on to the long task of cleaning the chicken — and about two hours later was finished. (I will not allow one piece of fat or vein or anything else nasty a raw chicken can supply on any meat I ever cook. It takes more time, but when I eat my food, I can relax about “geegees” - gross chicken stuff!)
In the meantime, Micah - knowing that the Bledsoe’s hadn’t seen the new house decorated, and that I already was doing a whole lot of stuff - went around to tidy up. He spent two hours cleaning rooms, taking down Halloween decorations from the porch, emptying trashes, straightening towels, replaced a lightbulb, helped set the table – refusing to use paper plates when someone suggested it, and anything else you can think of to make a house perfect. He then did everything Scout needed at the time. And finally to top everything off……he came in and asked me if he could help clean chicken with me.
It turned out to be a really fun night with everyone around. But just the fact that Micah took care of so much of the load made it even better. Schmickster….keep up the good work! (Literally!)
Halloween ‘08 was a success. In an effort to allow myself the easiest costume ever…..I conjured up the idea to be the 3 Mummies. Micah was a super sport in letting me dress him up in ripped up sheets. I wanted to do his whole body, but he only went for the top and legs…..good thing as his costume was dragging by the end of the night, and may have exposed too much skin. Scout was dressed last, and was pretty ccoperative because it was “just like Dada”. In the end, he kept his head wrap on all night long, which I found really surprising and impressive.
This is the first house in Scout’s entire life he trick-or-treated at. The lady was darling, and Scout made his way in the house and thought he was there for a party. When he realized he got to get candy and move on, he was in his element. We then went and trick-or-treated at my mom’s house, and Scout already had the whole candy thing down! Micah was fun to trick-or-treat with also. He made scary “mummy noises” the entire time. Skylar finally had to tell him it was getting annoying! He stuck with us for most of the night, but when he and Marc hooked up over at the Hemeon’s house, we were ditched because they needed to go and scare people around the neighborhood. Two hours later, I packed Skilly and Scout up to look for them, and when we found them, we were informed that plans for a “late boy’s night” scary movie were already in tact! I wished him well, and they were off to “scare more kids”.
Here he is hating Tristen as a ghost, and trying his hardest to get away from her!
Here is the whole gang…including Skilly the M.A.C. makeup artist who was a brilliant sidekick to the littlest mummy.
My favorite picture of the night…..including some serious baby powder all over the camera’s lens.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
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