Nonnie has been on a kick lately with making rolls. It started with a celebratory dinner for our Ragnar winner that consisted of Thanksgiving Dinner — inclusive of homemade rolls. (May I take a moment and praise my mom for the most delicious turkey dinner I think I have ever had.)
Anyway, every time Nonnie gets out the Bosch to make rolls, the kids come running.
They help pour, measure, but mostly taste the finished dough.
Here’s Nonnie giving them a lesson on yeast needing “warm” water instead of “hot”, because hot will kill the yeast.
Looks like they are taking it all in!
This is where I told them that whoever gave the other a kiss first got to taste the sugar.
Apparently, they were both pretty eager and kissed a nose or chin to get the win.
Luckily for both of them — it was a tie.
The mixing is the final step before the taste testing begins. I personally am not a fan of ANY dough, but the exception to the rule is my Mom’s bread dough. And I am not alone. Micah ALWAYS takes one to three unbaked rolls and downs them before they are even baked. Well, Scout and Navy have discovered their love of bread dough also. They both kept asking for “one more taste” a million times. Glad to know the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Micah was part of “Pants Optional” this year in Ragnar. He trained like a pro, and couldn’t wait for race day. His team had some pretty decent runners on it, and based on the times, they were slated to win. There was one kicker though — Micah said it was a must to wear a Speedo while running — hence the name. (I just thought it was a little funny that a few of his teammates didn’t wear Speedos….maybe Micah just likes the extra wind against his skin!)
It was all very exciting, so the kids and I went down to check things out. We headed to the Angel’s Stadium where Tim and Diane were posted as volunteers. Micah was handing off at this check point, and we would get a quick minute with him before he had to head off with his team to the next stop.
Scout was scanning the path like crazy to see his dad running in. He was going to end the leg with him, and was really excited. He told me the whole way down that he was faster than his dad, and was going to beat him. Obviously — in honor of the team, Scout showed up in his own rendition of Speedos. On the front, it said, “Fast” (Micah’s said “slow” as he was one of the slower guys on the team), and it had the team name on the back.
When Micah finally came in, he was wiped. The heat was almost unbearable, and I wasn’t even running. So in the end, Micah said, “I knew I was done because when I saw Scout, I couldn’t even keep up with him.” Apparently Scout just might be faster than his dad!
We only had a few minutes to catch up with Micah at the stop, but the kids loved seeing him.
—
Nice work Babe.
They finished the race in 21:15, and from what I understand — took the win!
My mom, Micah and I all agree that Navy has done an amazing turn around in the past month. She used to be SO stinky, but she all of a sudden has turned sweet. She walks around telling everyone that she loves them “too much”, and gives out an inordinate amount of kisses daily.
One of the biggest surprises in this turn around was her new found love for her namesake — Skilly. They have always had a love/hate relationship. Now Navy has had this with many people, but she usually softens after a while. But with Skills To Pay My Bills, the softening never occurred — until just two weeks ago.
All of a sudden, Navy woke up asking where “Ka” was. When NayNay got home from school, she wanted to know when Ka would be home. It was nonstop asking for Ka. And then when Ka turned up, they were glued at the hip.
WHAT?
Talk about a complete 180!!!
Just take a look at 3 of their 300 pictures on Photobooth:
And then…I found out Ka’s secret.
Just like her mother, Icka can be bought.
Ka’s dinero…
jumbo milk chocolate chips.
In honor of the cleaners coming to our house, and the sun we have had lately….we made Thursday afternoon a beach day at RoRo’s Beach. Obviously my kids were in heaven. And I’ll admit that even thought I despise the beach, I can certainly do RoRo’s beach without any problems — mostly because Brit knows my love of the cabana!
We stopped by the dollar store and picked up a few water toys to add to their already sweet stash. Scout is obsessed with all things water, and apparently RoRo is too since that was what his birthday gifts consisted of. Scout and RoRo “play fought” all afternoon. But let’s be honest — the “playing” made contact a few too many times on Scout’s behalf. Poor RoRo had a pretty decent welt along his hip that mimicked the exact shape of Scout’s “gun”.
Brit had the fixings for some ice cream cones.
You can’t see it, but the weasel above bit of the bottom of her cone — only to have it drip all over the place.
But it could be worse….just take a look at RoRo’s ice cream/sand cone.
NASTY!
The best part of the day — tub time!
The kids could almost spend as much time in the tub as they do at the beach.
But the mom’s are about done by this point, so we expedite it pretty quickly.
….Bella walk by Scout in the bath and say, “I’m the smartest girl in the whole world.” (Obviously trying to taunt.) To which Scout replied, “No you’re not…I am!” And almost before he could get his words out, she said, “You’re a GIRL!”
Don’t worry Scout.
Bella isn’t known for her maturity.
Scout is awesome. He is a nice big brother, and is a really good son. I’ll admit that every now and again, we run into some snags, but the vast majority of the time, he is my little dreamboat. It seems like I always put a bazillion Icka stories up, but Scout isn’t shy of stories himself, so I thought I would write a few down.
—
Scout has an amazing bladder. He can go all day without using the facilities, and has no problem throughout the night. He also has a huge habit of waking up in the night and guzzling water. So when he woke up the other morning, he was dancing around like he was trying out for RiverDance. We urged him along to the bathroom before he ate his cereal, and after about 10 seconds we heard…”Aaaaahhhhhh, finally.” My mom and I were rolling.
—
Yesterday was “clean up” day. Scout was assigned to help me with the toy room, where I was not only cleaning up, but I was going through everything, throwing out faulty toys and giving away ones we never use. When he heard the “give away” concept, he immediately went over to the bag. Inside he found a stuffed bear on a keychain and another stuffed bear that was a little bigger — about four inches. When he grabbed them, he gasped and said, “MOM…you can’t give these away. What if we want to play ‘bear family’?” I knew it was going to be a long day after that comment. So I told him that some kids don’t have any toys, and they have to find sticks to play with as guns. I went on a little bit about how lucky he and Icka were, and it would be so nice to be able to make other kids happy. So all of a sudden, Mother Theresa entered his body. My boy was giving away the farm. No matter what, he said, “But mom, another kid would be so happy to get something as special as this.” At one point, he grabbed a flower headband that was in the dress-ups. I told him to put it back in the dress-ups. But he replied, “But mom…..don’t you think a little baby would look at this and think she was so pretty. It would make her SO happy if we could just give it to her.” I agreed, and then snuck it out when he wasn’t looking. Thanks to him, we have an entire black garbage bag filled with stuff to give away!
—
Scout is a fruit fanatic. We all know he is a self-appointed vegetarian (minus bacon), so he fills his stomach with raw veggies, and mostly fruit. When my mom took him to the store last week, he finagled her into buying him cantaloupe, kiwi, pears, grapes, clementines, mangoes and nectarines. I asked my mom if she was crazy to get so much fruit, but she said she would get him anything he wanted, and then told me, “those are the things he wanted.” I guess it could be worse. So I guess, the fact that my three year old is choosing mass amounts of fruit is good. However, there is one side effect that isn’t favorable. My boy might be the gassiest boy I have ever met. (Apparently there is a LOT of fiber in fruit.) Well, I was next to him a few days back, and he did a “gas ball” (he is responsible for the name). I immediately asked him what he says after such a mishap. He just gave me a hot-shot look and started to walk away. I got him and within seconds put him in time out. I wanted to make sure he knew there isn’t leniency on being rude. So he got a little lecture on why saying “excuse me” is important and necessary. After time out, he was in my same room, and all of a sudden I hear, “Excuse me”…three second later…”excuse me”…five seconds later…”excuse me”…another ten seconds…”excuse me”. I just looked at him and laughed. Then he said to me, “Mom, I’ve got a LOT of gas balls.”
Maybe I should retract.
Because ignorance is bliss.
Put a huge enough bow in her hair to take away from the devil ears.
It was a good thing we weren’t going anywhere that day.
Seth and all of his rascals came into town for the week. It was literally the funnest week for my kids and I, but I am still recovering three days later. Brett, the saint always had my kids with hers if my pregnancy sickness was too much — or if they went to the dreaded beach. Here are a few highlights from the week:
Navy started taking a “ba ba” again. Every time she saw Rosie with one, she insisted on her own!
When Micah got home from a Vegas work trip, the kids unloaded on him for over two hours. (Notice him inside the ball!)
About five minutes in, the entire room smelled like sweaty little boys.
Navy got in on the action with Gabe.
Spencer took charge of Scout.
But then they all disappeared and came out in these get ups. It gave Micah a few minutes to recover, and had us dying over how silly they all were.
Navy ran in and got her own outfit, but was having a little trouble with her mask.
Then Brett led seminary every morning. I always do scriptures with my kids, but hers are elaborate. It was very impressive and gave me some great ideas.
Navy started playing with her doll, stroller and playhouse she got for Christmas. Only because Rosie showed an interest, and then Navy had to be possessive!
But the good (and frankly amazing) news is that Navy plays well with Rosie. They played dolls every day, and you can even see here that they loved puzzles together too.
One day the Brockbanks came up and we headed to the park for the whole afternoon….followed by Savannah Chop House for dinner. I seriously don’t know how it is possible, but the Brockbanks made an already really fun week even better. They are the BEST!
Jake was playing ball with Scout. And I think through Megan’s picture, we now know why he sometimes misses. I keep telling him to keep his eyes on the ball. Apparently, I need to work with him a bit more.
This was towards the end of the park day, and just a simply snapped picture caught Icka in the act of picking.
Typical.
Then we had everyone competing in contests. This one entailed climbing a pole, getting to the other side of the swing set along the top bar, and jumping down. Bella was having difficulties with step one, so she rallied the troops. But unfortunately — even they couldn’t help.
All I have to say is that cousins are the best. I am so glad that my kids have so many buddies, play partners and good examples in all of their cousins.
It was a really fun week, and Scout has already asked when they are coming back.
Hopefully soon.
About two times a week, I can’t find either Scout or both of them around the house. But now, I have caught on to them and their ways. They usually have gone into the front yard on the driveway with a blanket, and are just lounging. I’m not sure why they do it, but they always find it particularly funny when I finally do track them down.
| DESIGN BY