I was trying to get a certain photo, but Dash was a little more interested in the phone that Scout held.
So he kissed him.
And kissed him some more.
And then finally demanded.
Here, I am telling Scout to hand it over because he was told not to prior to the kisses. But Dash is too little to know that this was all a photo opp, so guess who had the phone and his way about 3 seconds after this picture?
Seth’s family came into town for Thanksgiving.
My kids are beyond excited!
Already in less than 12 hours, so much has happened.
We torched a black widow out our front door.
We dressed up the cutest baby in the world as the cutest flower in the world.
And then took a walk around the neighborhood.
These kids had it easy. All of the boys (minus the babe) were on scooters, bikes and their own two feet running the neighborhood streets like a little gang of hooligans.
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After a good night of sleep, the kids woke up to french toast and bacon a la Nonnie.
Navy learned a valuable lesson.
She came out saying, “Mom, I tried to wipe my bottom, but the toilet paper was just coming off on my fingers.”
Learn from her mistake….
Wash your hands between syrup and bathroom trip.
Then the morning finished off with the big kids reading to the little ones.
And the house was pretty quiet for over an hour.
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Now as I type, Brett took on the world by taking all 8 kids to the beach.
She’s a saint.
An unequivocal saint.
Clearly he doesn’t understand that milk makes Cheerios float — at least yet..
I guess I set a bad precedence at times.
But when pen touches skin in my case — it isn’t just scribbling.
When I went in to kiss Navy goodnight last night (After Cade’s band tournament and after she had been the sweetest to Scout) I figured she would have been scrubbed clean. I guess Micah thought differently.
Because when I saw her first thing this morning, look at this glowing little monster.
And just to think that she put green under her nose on purpose.
Why?
“Because mom, boogers come out of my nose and they are green!”
If we are getting so literal, I don’t know why she didn’t make the end of her fingertip green also.
Last night Scout was in BIG trouble. He kicked Icka and then threw something at another kid a while later. Micah took care of business and put him to bed for the night after the second incident. It was quite traumatic, especially because he was really planning on a special date with me that night. So after about 30 minutes of sobbing, I headed up to make sure he knew, that his actions landed him in trouble. I was holding my distraught boy while going through it all, and when he asked if I was still going to Cade’s band concert, I told him that I was — and then the tears started all over again.
As soon as Navy heard the second round of sobs, she walked in and very matter of factly, and did the following:
She said, “Move over” and scooched her way onto Scout’s twin bed.
Then she proceeded to lay down and said, “Come over here and lay on me.”
She said it several times, and then I helped Scout kind of sideways lay on both of us.
Then she started to rub his back and said, “Scout, it’s okay. You just made a mistake. You are a really good boy. We all love you. Here…”
Then she took the pretty fresh bubble gum out of her mouth and shoved it towards his face.”
“Here, you can have my bubble gum. It tastes so good. You will love it.”
He didn’t want it, and was still crying and nodding no.
Then she looked at me and had a look of “huh” on her face and shrugged her shoulders.
(Then guess who ended up with the bubble gum on her thumb until later.)
She then rubbed his face and said, “Scout, you are so sweet. Just don’t cry.”
This went on for about 10 minutes.
It might have been the sweetest gesture I have seen come from this little sis towards him.
By the end, there was no comforting him, but she just stayed the whole time and gave him encouraging words and tried to cheer him up.
Honestly, at times, they are like oil and vinegar.
But at the most important times…they are like two peas in a pod.
As soon as these weasels were awake, I dressed them warmly for a really fun special date.
(I was trying to get them to leave the house because Micah was still nursing a sick body.)
After we got their heads warm also, we headed out as “secret agent” to capture their friends RoRo and Grey.
Once we kidnapped their friends, we headed to get donuts and then went to eat them and play at the park.
We had a little free play and a little secret agent training.
But the cutest little agent observed from the baby swing most of the time.
When we came home, Scout had the best idea. Lately, he has been wanting to be a scientist when he grows up — clearly due to “science lab” at school which he loves and comes and tells me everything about. His idea was making a real tornado with two water bottles. Luckily the few extra hours of sleep did a body good, because Micah was up and at ‘em with this project.
Scout was loving every second of instructing the project. And then was so delighted that it was successful.
And Navy just watched in awe at two masters at work.
The cutest baby in the world, just got cuter!
He started sporting the Jewish payos (the long hair next to the ears).
So Nonnie broke out the scissors to give him his very first trim.
He was decent.
Maybe equal to Scout, and way better than Navy at that age.
The minty toothbrush kept him still for seconds at a time.
Just enough time for the freckly-hand, skilled artisan to get her job done properly.
Bravo Nonnie.
Bravo Dash.
Navy has been singing and singing at home to get ready for her Thanksgiving performance at school. I told her that she was WAY too quiet in her Halloween performance, and she needed to step it up. And she didn’t disappoint this time.
Here are all of the little indians following the Pilgrim teacher.
And the class all in their spots — ready for showtime!
My favorite this time, and when Scout did it was when they end one of their songs like this.
Doesn’t she just look like an angel.
This little pilgrim thought so.
In true Navy form, there was a little goofing off.
But it was at a very minimum.
After the darling show, it was time for their feast.
(Navy and I put together the autumn leaf bags above as their Halloween party favors. Halloween because I knew the boys would like googly eyes over horns of plenty. At least they are packaged properly.)
And after it was all said and done — she saw the empty stage, and clearly….it was time for her solo.
This little pilgrim had me over to his school to sing a bunch of Thanksgiving songs, and have a feast. I am pleased to say that he was first in line because, “he is very well behaved and he is the leader” according to Ms. Shih.
Aren’t all pilgrims?
But being first in line puts you in the back corner of the risers — just where your floor-sitting mama can’t really see you.
The Mandarin program has quite the learning curve — in many aspects.
For this performance, Ms. Shih didn’t realize that they would be performing. She thought she was given some songs to teach the kids. So when she found out, they spent a day of learning and practicing them — and then it was showtime!
For the little amount of time they had, these three buddies sang their heart out.
Afterwards, another pilgrim joined in on the feast.
Too bad neither of my kids liked what they had to offer. (What would they have done if they were real pilgrims? Starve.)
the afternoon ended on a sour note when one of our little pilgrims went missing, and couldn’t find her brother in the crowd of pilgrims and indians.
But all was well, here is Scout telling her that we would never leave her.
Just some cousins out to take a ride on the South Coast Reindeers.
We made sure Dash got onto Dasher — in honor.
Scout was riding Rudolph.
And Navy was riding Cupid — the reindeer of love — clearly.
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