It is astonishing that my baby is four! In honor of his big day, we had quite the festivities. It went a little something like this…
For breakfast he chose Cheerios with as much sugar on them as he wanted. It was literally disgusting.
Then he got to feel all of his presents. But before he opened them, we had a TBall game to get to.
He had two really good hits off the T. And his third at-bat was “coach pitch”, and he line-drived it up to first. I was really impressed, and it was a great birthday treat for him.
Afterward, he ran through the tunnel — quite possibly the best part of the game to him.
Even above snacks!
After the game, he got his first present of the day from Auntie Bree. It was a sucker that had a scorpion in it. You can tell by his reaction he wasn’t too thrilled.
Then we went home to open presents. He got a bunch of dive toys, and ANOTHER big red ball!!! Scout and my mom both almost cried — but for different reasons!
Here is my big four-year-old waiting for Nonnie’s gift.
He was SO stoked! Nice pick Nonnie — even though this is what I said I was going to get him, but then you trumped me and said that I shoudn’t since that is what YOU were going to get him. You little rip off artist…but I’ll admit that my day became a little cheaper that way.
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We then headed to the pool with a few friends (Thacks, Seastrands and Zimms) for a little pool time. It was VERY low key, and exactly what I knew Scout would love.
And LOVED he did — seeing as this is the only picture I got of him the whole day. this little boy has turned into a fish, and didn’t stop for over three straight hours of boiling heat. And when asked the next day about his favorite part of his birthday, he said that “swimming” was the best part.
Glad to hear it my boy.
Remember Auntie Bree’s suckers? Well, Icka dove right in.
She was even nice enough to offer it around to all of the other kids. Grey was the only taker — to Britni’s disgust!
Unfortunately, this was only her first few bites. It went further, and she managed to eat the entire scorpion.
NASTY!
I’ll admit that as a mom I should have stopped it. And quite honestly I was going to. But that little Icka had the whole critter eaten so fast that when I was putting a halt on any more sucker, I just saw her chewing away, while holding the rest — that had not one trace of scorpion in it.
Apparently it didn’t bother the little princess, because she was soon on to bigger and better things like “water-falling” the people in the hot tub.
Icka and Ivy.
How freaking cute are they together.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOUT — you little fish!
One of Icka’s treats in her Eater Basket was a set of fake nails. They were the perfect size, and after Bella put them on, we were rolling. We told her to run and show Nonnie how pretty she looked with her new nails on. About two minutes — literally two — she came back with all but two of the off. Bella, frustrated by the work gone to waste, said, “Sushi…..why did you take your nails off? And where are they?” Then Sushi opened her mouth, and let all of her fake nails fall out and land on Bella’s floor.
Doesn’t she look like she is from New Jersey with glitzed up little sausage fingers and a really bad fake tan.
Knowing that the mice weren’t going to be welcome at our home much longer, Bella re-gifted them to Trey and Chloe for Easter. She told them she had a treat for them, and it wasn’t bunnies — because they were too expensive!
Here they are as they open the mystery gifts.
When they finally got them open, one fell to the ground, and nobody would pick it up until Icka saw Pinky in trouble.
She saved the day, and went right over to pick Pinkie up.
Then took him for a swing.
Then took a swing herself.
Then did a little climbing.
And finished it with a big spill.
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Enjoy your mice guys! And you better take good care because Icka asked the entire way home about where Pinkie was.
Hopefully not Heaven just yet.
After Church, we headed to our third Easter Egg hunt. The first two were at the Hansen’s and Grandma and Grandpa’s. Both of which were a blast. Both of which, I had no camera. Then the next morning, they woke up to find their Easter baskets hidden in the house. Afterward, they put on their Sunday Best and we headed to church. Then we came home for mini naps, and finally headed down to the real party. Inclusive of the Cliffords, Brrockbanks, Denisons and Ures. Megan made awesome pork tenderloin and artichokes. And she also found time to fill almost 300 eggs. After dinner, Micah and I (along with some trusted kids) headed out to hide all of the eggs. And then the hunt began!
Navy — being the youngest — headed out first.
She was pretty excited to see an Elmo egg!
She lucked out in the dog house.
B helped her see some of the goodies she had found.
As soon as she realized that all of her eggs were filled with treats, she stopped looking and started opening.
This baby chick was one of her favorite finds.
Then it was Scout’s turn to head out.
He was a trooper and looked all over the hill.
And then asked for some help to get an egg up in the tree.
Then Scout joined Icka in opening the treasures.
My favorite hidden egg - was in a real bird’s nest, and had a decent amount of $$$ in it.
Cade claimed it, but needed Chloe’s help to retrieve it.
The hunt got intense when everyone realized the $20 egg was still out there.
Luckily it wasn’t the one in Nonnie’s shirt!
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HAPPY EASTER!
My kids lucked out this year. The Easter Bunny stopped by, and as usual, hid their baskets full of goodies. The plan was to find them after 9:00 church, but Scout was WAY too excited, so the festivities began early. Scout was the official looker. Navy followed behind and looeked everywhere he had just looked.
Scout’s spacial reasoning might need a bit of help, because the spice drawer certainly couldn’t fit his basket.
Here is the only shot of a full basket. Scout had just found his in the kitchen cupboard, and was thrilled to see new toothpaste! Apparently the Easter Bunny went pretty practical this year!
The funniest part of the morning was when I saw Navy walking around and taking bites of this pink candy. Knowing what was in the baskets, I couldn’t imagine what she was eating. So in my mind, I kept thinking that she must have discovered a year-old Peep. (Mind you, the baskets have a four inch in diameter space to fill, so I don’t know how an old Peep would have snuck in.) Anyway, I just kept seeing her chomp away, and as I walked by her basket, I noticed an opened pink egg. And then I realized that all morning she had been eating “Silly Putz” (AKA Silly Putty). When I figured it out, I started cracking up, and asked her if it was any good. She just stuck her tongue out and let a massive chunk drop into my hand. Apparently not.
Here is Navy’s dismantled basket. Notice all of the candy (although there wasn’t much) is long gone. Also notice the pink egg that led me to Icka’s pink candy mystery.
Her favorite treat of all - her own personal Chapstick.
Don’t mind the candy infused drool.
Here is the weasel looking in Scout’s basket for the rest of his candy.
The Easter Bunny did good!
Nonnie came through this year on new Easter clothes. I had to be to church early, and was so excited to see the two cutest kids in the world walk in donning their Easter Best.
Now if their behavior could match their clothes in church, I would possibly keel over and die!
Remember the money that Chloe sent in the mail? Well, after Scout put one of his dollars in his mission fund, they both went down to the dollar stare with Bella to spend their $2. (Please note for a second time that Bella was in charge of them at this time.) After an decently anti climactic Dollar Store run, she saw a Petco, and decided to take the kids in to see what exciting things they could find.
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Now a little history. Scout has been asking for a pet lately. Everyone emphatically says no, but with Trilby’s encouragement (I could kill her) and the pets down at the Brockbanks, Scout is really wanting one. So I don’t know if this factored in to Bella’s decision or not, but after they walked out of Petco with a box of two goodies, Scout exclaimed, “MY VERY FIRST PET!”
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Too bad, that “Eggo” and “Pinkie” were feeder mice that don’t have a prayer of actually staying with us.
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But so far so good.
They are outside in a cooler, and Scout and Navy love them. They try to feed them, Navy tries to catch them, they talk to them, etc. Ironically, it is pretty cute.
“Pinkie” is the much nicer mouse.
Navy is very good with her.
“Eggo” is not nearly as nice, but Scout is braver than I have ever seen him. He let Eggo crawl all over him, and wasn’t even scared. And that is a first!
Here is Icka man handling both at once. This was not posed. She, herself grabbed both by the tails and was holding them up.
We got the poor mice back in their house, and told her they needed “naps”.
That is one of the first times that she was excited to go off to her own nap.
Like animal, like owner.
Today I am going to tell her that the mice ALWAYS “choose the right”!
Scout and Navy both got letters in the mail from Chloe today! They were both SO excited to open them, and when they did — boy were they surprised!
Chloe was rewarding them for their good works.
And as an extra special surprise, she included $3 for Scout and $2 for Navy.
They couldn’t believe that choosing the right was so worth it!
(Little does Chloe know that lately, the Tweedles shouldn’t be getting ANY money. Instead, I should be the one getting paid!)
Scout is at about 80% on the swimming scale. Navy is at about 1%. So in an effort to make life a little less stressful around the pool, and especially when we head out to Hawaii this summer, the kids are in swim lessons. The sweetest and most awesome friend of ours is up to the challenge….and with one of my kids — what a challenge it is!
Icka was watching Scout during his lesson. She kept turning around to me and saying, “Mom, when is it my turn?” She was totally anxious to hop in and swim like Scout.
Thie is So nostalgic for me. I loved getting out of the pool when I was little and lay on the warm sidewalk. Scout was SO good at his lesson. And every time he was told that he was doing a good job, he agreed and said, “Yeah.”
Then it was this girl’s turn. She cried from the first second to the last.
But I love how the teacher is from the old school and doesn’t coddle. Even through her tears, she helped little Navy’s head under the water and got her holding her breath.
I’m crossing my fingers that in a few weeks, we will have two swimmers.
I better cross them tightly!
For family night, we had the Seastrands over for dinner and dying eggs. I made about 15 hard boiled eggs, and after a Maui Wowi salad, we dyed.
We teamed everyone up.
Skilly/Sissy
Briznit/Grey
Bella/RoRo
Daddy/Scout
And I was the monitor of it all/picture taker.
Navy was very methodical. It was cracking me up how dainty and soft she was treating her special eggs.
Scout was whipping through them, and went way past his allotted amount. But Grey was a good sport about it.
When these two worked together, they were great. Scout was instructing, and Navy was like a little sponge who listened and agreed to everything he said.
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