www.micahandlindsey.com

Self Portrait

Every time I download pictures now, I get about 6 that Scout took. They are usually of Sissy’s legs or a random table in the house, but this time, I loved to see his new method — self portraits.

Pretty crafty my boy!

Free At Last …. Free At Last

This is the very last night of my month long gift to Micah.

Remember — only $34 spent in honor of his 34th year

A couple of thoughts:

1. Not spending over $34 for an entire month was slightly anticlimactic after his birthday which was on about day four.

2. The jokes about “how many I.O.U.’s have you written” started getting old really fast.

3. I was on day six — had spent $1.99 total — felt really good. Then I went to Pretend City on free passes, and the $3 it was going to be to get Scout in. Unfortunately, I got bad info (figures mom), and ended up spending $11 for kids 12 months and over. So $22 later, I was beyond annoyed. I was being SO good, and this little blindside took me by surprise. (I would have just passed the whole thing up, but we were meeting a friend for his birthday.) No biggie — I would just have to readjust.

4. It is pretty easy not to spend money.

5. It wasn’t so easy when the Bloomingdales friends and family event was going on — or when the Kate Spade sale hit my Email.

6. I have about four things I am excited to buy tomorrow morning — but I can’t think of what one of them is, so maybe I’ll pass.

7. My mom and Tristen pinched hit a couple of times while I was in a tight spot. And I thank you now.

8. Micah took me on some dates that seemed extra special since these weren’t things I was able to just do on my own.

9. Coming up with activities for my kids used a little more creativity. Such as going to the pumpkin patch and only going on the 25 cent rides, and returning with no pumpkin. Or taking a 50 cent roll of pennies to the Spectrum and letting my kids go to every fountain to toss in a few. (Which they loved by the way.)

10. I love gift cards. I didn’t use many, but I love them as much as having money in the bank. And just knowing that I could use them at any time was totally exciting to me.

11. I REALLY want to have a friend working at Pottery Barn right now, so I can use the discount. Anyone?

*****

Happy Birthday.

You were pretty unappreciative at first, but after the few talks I had with you — you improved.

It was a bit tough when I had to turn down fun activities — especially when they included my kids.

“Frugal” is in my blood (have you met Pat?), but my “noveltyitis” is all me.

Eat your heart out — because you did not have a single charge on your credit card (from me) this entire 30 days. (Unless the groceries I bought last evening have already been charged.)

Kind of fun having a clean and clear bill!

*****

Would I do it again?

YES — but only when my husband is turning 10,000.

Until then……

CHEERS!

Scout Just Lookin’ Out

Scout, Icka and I were on a “special date” (one with just me and the kids — nobody else) and we hit up the Big Orange Balloon, the park, Irvine Spectrum to throw rolls of pennies in the fountains, and finally the pumpkin patch. We had the best time. But the cutest part was when we were in route to the pumpkin patch. Icka was ebing pretty stinky in her car seat, so as a method of deterring her…I went down my list. I played “Annie” her favorite music. I sang to her. I played a game with her. Nothing was really working, so I finally went to the method that always works — I rolled down her window. (I would have gone there first, but it was raining.) So as I rolled it down, Scout said to me, “Mom, don’t roll it down all the way because her bows might fly out the window. And her bows make her SO pretty.” I thought that was the sweetest and cutest thing. Then he followed it up with, “and don’t roll down my window because it my mess up my handsome hair”.

Nap Time

While my perfect little superhero snoozes away….

(This happens about half the time now days — the other days, he uses his imagination. Mostly on how he can skimp on his hour of quiet time.)

….this sweet little thing cried her way out of a nap, and is up and eating.

But not the apple skin — which you can see she spits out upon arrival in her mouth.

Funny thing is that she didn’t do that yesterday.

Schizophrenia may be in our future.

Playdate With A Narcissist & Her Child

The “child” alongside my children.

The narcissist who got a hold of my camera.

The Zimm Kids

We got to have a couple of Zimms at our house for an afternoon of festivities. I went out on a limb and did arts and craft time with them…….and it turned out to be a hit.

But I publicly claim that I am not the arts and crafts kind of gal. I am the kind of gal who can pick the cutest “art” or “craft” from the store and purchase it. And quite honestly….it is almost ALWAYS less expensive that way anyway!

The IPad

*OR*

The Bain of My Current Existence.

See Scout “in charge” because he is “bigger”.

See Icka not happy and about ready to yank it — which is usually successful.

I don’t have a picture of the tears.

Scout likes to move from app to app.

Icka likes to color.

We sometimes settle on a book they can listen to.

But then — who gets to turn the pages?

Here the kids realize I am documenting them, and Icka turns on her charm and calls out “cheese”!

Scout took that opportunity to change to another app.

***

(Disclaimer — Icka had faded pen all over her due to Skilly taking a bald point pen and turning her into an ape the night before. I’ll hand it to Skills — she really taught Navy how to thump her chest with the best of ‘em.)

Our Secret Sign

I remember that my sister Megan used to have a secret sign to tell her kids she loved them. She crossed her fingers, and they would do it back. Scout, Navy and I have made up our own secret sign (especially secret if you don’t know sign language). We put up the “I Love You” sign, and if we are close enough, we press our fingers together and make a kissing noise. If we are too far away, we hold the sign up in the air, and then put the sign to our lips and kiss it.

So you can imagine how happy it makes me, when this is the first thing I see in the morning.

Pawn Stars

The Brockbank kids (and my mom and Micah) LOVE “Pawn Stars” the show. I have watched it a few times, and I’ll admit that there certainly is some entertainment! So as we drove home from St. George, we had to stop to see if Chunley, Hoss or some other guy was there. When we got there, we were rolling because there was literally a line around the block. We started to wait, and I am glad to say that because my sweet little darlings were there, they escorted us to the front of the line so the little ones wouldn’t have to wait. Very nice.

Bry is shopping for a wedding ring, and was so bummed when there wasn’t one to fit him. He was so stoked to tell people where he got it — and so were his kids!

*****

On the way out, we hadn’t seen any of the big wigs. We were anxious to get on the road again, so we had to leave, but Trey was so mad that specifically “Chumley” wasn’t out in the store. So it got to the point where Trey was about to make a scene, Megan was trying to get out before the drama and everyone else was acting like they didn’t know either of them. Jake and Cade were mortified by this time. When the 350 pound bodyguard saw what was happening, he asked what the matter was. Megan tried to diffuse the situation — but before she could, Trey told him that he wanted to see the stars. The bodyguard immediately told Trey to come with him, and Trey went to the back — interrupted a meeting they were in, and got everyone’s autograph.

Moral of the story–

Tantrum it up whenever you want your way — and sometimes your guardian angel will come in the form of a 350 pound bodyguard.

Playing At The Park

The day after Jake’s race was a Sunday — and Conference. So in an attempt to have a family day while on vacation, we hung out at some random St. George park. We were all lounging when I started challenging my nieces and nephews to getting up the play structure at different points without using their hands. Some of them got pretty good pretty fast, so the tasks became more difficult and the big boys got in on the action. About two hours later we left out of starvation, but ended up having the best time with each other.

Sissy is a little dare devil. She always want to go higher and higher.

Scout is a little more cautious — I think he is a little more aware of the effects of things that might go wrong.

Here is Micah trying to get up an obstacle that gave everyone problems. He swears that he could do this one pretty easily if he were more flexible. Poor guy!

Trey proved to be a superstar. We were joking when we challenged him to get across the monkey bars without hands. Amazingly enough he did it! It was very impressive and a little worrisome at the time.