This year’s Thanksgiving was great. We went back and forth to both of our parent’s houses, and crammed in two feasts. Uncle Ray and Aunt Val were in town for ours, and my dad made a stop in after getting home from Africa a few hours earlier. (I definitely have a lot of my dad in me!)
The highlight of my day was the Turkey Trot. Not only did I complete the entire 5K without stopping (which has never happened), but Scout tried the children’s race for the first time. He totally had his game face on while he was lined up with the hundreds of other kids. Micah lined up with him while Icka, Skilly, Calin and I were in the crowd to cheer him on. When the race started, it took a few minutes for Scout to show up, but when he did, it was a priceless sight. He was running his very hardest, and was really pumping his arms. He wouldn’t even look up to see us because he was determined. Skilly jumped in the race with him, and tried to help motivate him. Unfortunately about 50 yards past us (250 yards in total), he was pooped. I guess he did a decent job as a 2 1/2 year old in a race for 5 year olds. The best part was how excited he was to tell Jake all about his “running race”. So when he finally got to see Jake later that night, he even showed off his running skills.
Micah broke out his Letterman’s jacket from high school the other day. In the same bag, we found my cheerleader sweater and his UCLA Aloha Bowl football jersey. Scout tried it on, and you could tell Micah was so proud. Pretty cute.
Scout has a new contraption. He runs down the slide, bounces on the ball, and flips over into “puffy” stuff. I might have been worried about his neck, except that I saw it about the 30th time he did it. I figure if something was going to break….it would have already happened. Plus — do ghosts have bones to break?
Who is that girl with all of that gorgeous hair you ask?
Thanks to Bergstrom’s….it’s Navy!
At least she looks feminine.
Until she goes ballistic!
But Mama made it all better.
Everyone at church loved her pigtails until I lifted her headband to show that she was a fraud. How classic is this headband! I love it! The best part is that Micah didn’t have a clue, and just said that he was amazed at how golden her hair was getting! Classic!
But the joke was on me when we stopped by Dr. Thein’s house after church. He peaked in and told me how big she is getting. Little did I know that she had pulled her headband down, and looked like the bearded lady. So when he thought she was getting bigger, he was probably wondering what type of hormone was misfiring!
There is no secret that I love Dr. Thein. Scummy totally does too. So after a lazy morning of taste testing donuts (they approved of Stan’s), we got the bright idea of walking one over to Dr. Theiny’s house. We were going to make a sign for all of the kids to hold up that said, “You delivered all of us!”, but we skipped that part. We made the trek over after noon (mind you, that we are all still in pajamas) with a donut for the world’s greatest doctor. After about 10 doorbell rings and a bunch of kids peaking in the door, we just left the bag on the doorstep for him to find. Too bad we didn’t have a pen to say who had left it.
So today after church, I told Micah to drive by his house to see if he was outside. When he saw me, he said, “Hi Lindsey….I was going to call you. There was a donut on my front doorstep, and I figured it was from you.” Can you say stalker?! I blame Scummy.
(This whole scenario might sound a little sketchy, but he loves me and the Scumball. I mean….who wouldn’t?!!)
President Monson gave a great talk in General Conference last time, and in it he mentioned a class that put “warm fuzzies” in a jar. I went out the next day to get something similar, and Scout has been earning his fuzzies ever since. He assigned colors, so he is yellow, I am white, Micah is blue, Icka is pink, and Nonie is red. Every time he does something nice for someone, or chooses the right, or says please and thank you without prompting, I give him a yellow fuzz.
Today in church, he was WAY better then usual. He whispered instead of using a loud voice. When he found vampire teeth, he played with them quietly instead of scaring everyone. He was doing a sticker book with Micah and didn’t get overly excited or frustrated by anything. He didn’t go up to the organ to play a few notes. You get the picture. So in an effort to keep it going, I turned to him and said, “Scout, you are being SO good. When you get home, you get 2 yellow fuzzies…and if you are reverent during the prayer (his favorite time to be stinky), you will get 3!” He thought for a second, turned to me and said, “And you get 1 white fuzz.” Guess I was being good….just not as good as he.
I really can’t believe how much I love my two kid’s ages right now. If I could freeze frame a time frame, this might be the one I would pick. Scout is constantly talking, and is so excited about everything. I love how he knows his nursery rhymes by heart (probably about 12 fully memorized). I love how he sings along to the music I play in the car. His favorite lately is Yankee Doodle. He is catching balls. He is constantly wanting pillow fights. He helps me with everything. He is starting to really comprehend holidays and the excitement involved. He loves his little friends. He tries his best to be a good boy. He is my total buddy, and I would pick hanging out with him over about anything.
Navy is at such a fun age too. She is constantly smiling and making this other cute face where she sticks her chin out and has an under bite. She is terrific sleeper. She gets excited to play with toys. She is an almost too-good eater. She adores Scout. She is very self contained as long as I am in the room. She is totally tough and isn’t highly emotional — not yet anyway.
They are both so great and fun right now. But of everything I love about them the most, I think my favorite is how much they love their mother. Scout has turned into my sidekick, and thinks I am so funny. And Navy just always wants to be with me. Motherhood has some serious perks!
Micah has been talking about Stan’s Donuts for at least a year. This is usually how it goes….”I can’t believe I lived in L.A. all of those years, and NEVER went to Stan’s. I mean, they are ranked the BEST DONUTS IN THE U.S. And if they are the best in the U.S., then that clearly means they are the best in the world!”
Micah has even gone as far as telling my mom, who faithfully gets pastries for Christmas morning, that she definitely needs to replace those “nasty” things with Stan’s. (Mind you that he had never tasted them.) He even put on his Christmas list, “One of each from Stan’s”. Oh Brother!
So in an attempt to not hear about the fresh ingredients that Stan uses for the next five weeks, I nipped it in the bud. Skills spent the night, and at 5:18 this morning, I woke my donut partner in crime up, along with Scout, and we headed to Westwood.
I got “one of each” of the good ones for Micah, and two dozen of the #1 donut (the peanut butter and chocolate pocket) for my Sunday school class tomorrow. Skilly, Scout and I had a great time, and Micah was so thrilled! He got right up and started chowing!
Looks like he ate the equivalent of 6ish donuts. World’s best — if so, the world has pretty average donuts, although their apple fritter was pretty phenomenal, and their buttermilk donut holes were great. The good news is that I think he had his fill and my mom can reorder the nasty pastries she usually does.
P.S.
Not everyone in my family thinks they are nasty.
P.P.S.
Tradition trumps taste anyway!
P.P.P.S.
Hey Sunday schoolers — BYOM! (Bring Your Own Milk!)
This is a perfect moment for our boy. His scooter in the house, and his new boots that keep his feet toasty.
Whenever Scout is playing, and Navy heads over his way, we call her the “monster”. If he is building, she is tearing. If he is organizing, she is messing. Well, the monster has officially had her first mishap.
I remember when Scout had his first mishap, and I was so proud that my little boy was turning a little stinky. (But stinky in a funny way.) He came down after getting into Nonnie’s lotion, and had it all over him. I snapped picture after picture to document the exciting moment, and then we cleaned it up and had a nice day. The amazing thing is that Scout has NEVER had another mishap.
I was seriously spoiled by my nice boy. But reality has hit with the monster. She won’t EVER sit in her high chair. Even when I am feeding her, she stands up to eat. She is always on the move, and has already climbed things that Scout is just now mastering. Apparently….she is “walking” in her dad’s footsteps. Well, the other morning, we finally had our first — of what I am sure will be many — mishaps. Too bad that it came at the cost of my mom’s antique and expensive vase. Ickity Dickity Dock thought she would climb to the top, but toppled over just shy of her goal. The crash was deafening — especially when I was in the next room and knew exactly what had happened. I felt pretty bad, like I was a careless mother. But when Icka apologized, Nonnie just hugged her and said it was, “no big deal”.
The silver lining — Scout finally found his flying saucer.
But was it really “no big deal” when I found my husband and mother out on the front porch a few hours later, just staring off into the sky. They were having a moment before Micah took off to work. Wonder why I wasn’t invited….because I am careless?
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