Dash has a case of the “Monkey Sees, Monkey Does”.
An example:
Just moments after I had him bathed and dressed, guess who saw their siblings in the bath?
That stinking monkey!
Getting Clean
Big Obnoxious Brother
Scout had one of his prouder moments today. He, Navy and Shem’s kids were all out in the pool. While in their fourth hour of swimming, Navy (the bug catcher) found a little caterpillar, and she and the others were all playing with it. In the meantime, Scout heard some oohs and aahs, and went over to see what the fuss was about. When he saw it, he asked if he could hold it. They let him, and as soon as he got it on his finger, he popped it into his mouth and ate it.
HUH?!
He did it for total effect. He thought he was the funniest guy on Earth, and I’ll ashamedly admit, I totally laughed when I heard it.
But I don’t get it…..isn’t this the guy who wouldn’t touch chicken with a ten foot pole?
But a live caterpillar is okay?
He walked around proudly all day long. And when I told Micah the story, Scout chimed in with, “And you know the best tasting part? ….. The blood!”
My take on it — I am always trying to get this boy to take in more protein.
But I did give him a little talking to about eating other people’s pets.
San Diego Fair with the Brockbanks!
I heard Megan was taking her kids to the San Diego Fair, so of course, I joined them. We didn’t stay for too long — only a few hours, but we still caught a lot of fun things.
First up was the pig races.
Trey represented our winning section and got some Oreos and a pig snout for his prize.
Dashy didn’t love wearing the snout so much!
Then it was off to play a few of their $1 games.
Which I was hoping everyone bombed because there is nothing worse than having your kids cry over me throwing away their ugly stuffed animals they won at the fair!
Then it was off to a few rides, some corn and some fresh lemonade.
Short, sweet and to the point.
My kind of afternoon at the fair.
Costume Love
I can clean out my toy room a billion times, and happily get rid of most things. But there is one drawer that gets fuller and fuller each time I clean, that I refuse to clear out. And why would I? My costume collection is one of the things that makes me happiest in life. And I am not the only one — my kids love them as much as I do.
I mean, who wouldn’t love this little flower walking around brightening up your day?
Or this furry little Elmo (who has lasted beautifully through three kids now) who likes to run and wave his hands and make us all crack up!
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The only problem?
What happens when they grow out of them?
They force their way back in them.
Gross but Impressive!
After I get the kids in the bath, I put their clothes in the laundry basket, and then come back with clean clothes.
ONe morning, as I came back, I heard Navy grossing out, and I went in to see this:
Dash had a huge poop on the side of the bath.
I kind of cracked up, and was really pleased that it wasn’t in the bath!
But I wasn’t sure how it got out.
Navy told me a story about how Dash pooped up on the side, but I just cleaned everything up and re-bathed them.
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Fast forward five days.
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Again I heard Navy grossing out.
So I ran in, and found this:
Dash was literally up on the side of the bath, squatting and pooping.
I got the camera just in time, and immediately after he was finished, he hopped back in the bath.
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Gross…yes.
But impressive…YES!
The kid saved me on two diapers.
The kid saved me on a bath filled with poop, which every mother knows is the worst.
But most impressively, the kid didn’t want to be in a poopy tub, so he figured out his own solution.
Bravo!
Exhausted Cousins
Day after day of non-stop play made for some very tired kids (and adults).
This particular night has about everyone down for the count.
It was kind of like a zombie land at our house.
But come 11:00, I riled everyone back up for that night’s grunion run.
Here were the die hards.
And some of the others mixed in.
Unfortunately, we had some really loud neighbors, and the grunion never came, so we packed up.
But un an attempt to make some sort of memory, I offered $1 to anyone who wanted to run through the sprinklers on our way out.
Grant and Scout…thanks for the memories.
Cashing In
By the fifth day of cousins, our house was a mess! Especially the pantry that was restuffed every time someone “cleaned”. So as the girls were leaving to shop, my mom offered $10 for whomever wanted to clean the pantry really good. She directed this at Gabe or possibly Spanky, but it was 7-year-old Covey who stepped up. My mom tried to rescind gracefully, but Brett and I encouraged Covey to have his hand at it. And when 6-year-old Scout agreed to help, I matched her offer to him. So we were off, and my mom kept trying to take them off the project, and Brett and I just laughed.
We were gone for several hours, and check out the scene upon our return:
Every possible item of food was out of the pantry and everywhere in the kitchen.
But it was impressive because he had Clorox wiped every shelf in there.
When I asked where Scout was, he told me that Scout decided to not do the job about 10 minutes in.
Likely story.
When I finally came across Scout, I told him he was crazy to not make that kind of money.
He replied with, “I AM making that kind of money. I found a bunch of candy from when Bella gave it to me, and put price tags on them and have been selling them to my sister and cousins.”
He already had $2 from Navy, and was in negotiations with Grant for another $1.
I will admit that he went the path of least resistance.
But I am not sure if that is a good thing or bad thing.
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And as for the pantry….
Only an hour after the picture was taken, that pantry was put back together in a very mish-mashed way, but was way ahead of where it started.
In fact, when Nonnie saw the end result, she was so proud and impressed with Covey, she said that any kid willing to spend their entire day cleaning, definitely deserved $20.
And she handed him a crisp $20 and went to bed a little less stressed than the night before.
Cousins Galore
When Seth’s family was in town, most of the days involved playing in the cul-de-sac, swimming, and hitting the beach.
My kids would take these days over Disneyland any day of the year.
A lot of the days started off with a Nonnie breakfast.
She did it to save on the mess, and amazingly it works.
And best of all, all of the kids think it is a special treat.
Then it was outside where a chalk track entertained the guys with remote control cars for a long time.
Those without them grabbed a bike, scooter or wagon and went to town.
Christian entertained the three littlest for a good chunk of time in the wagon.
Until a really fast round had Dash a little fearful for his life.
But the kid who should have been fearful was Grant — climbing under cars to get a lost ball.
But it wasn’t until Dash climbed on the skateboard and 90 miles an hour, that I started fearing for someone’s life.
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This went on for a few hours, and then it was off to more adventures.
Miss Americas
When Tristen found out Miss America was on the television, she grabbed Rose and Navy…..made some sashes, and they had a party watching it.
They were practicing their walks, their waves, and even some of their talents.
And as we watched, the real Miss California and Miss Utah made it through to the top ten, which made it even better.
But unfortunately for both of those little ones, Miss Connecticut (the girl Tristen chose because of her mission roots in Ct.) won the whole thing!
Sorry Miss Ca. and Miss Ut. …..better luck next year!
Her Alfalfa
Navy came into my bed early this morning and asked, “Mom, would it be okay if Gabe and I went out and Penny Boarded together?” I said I thought it would be fine but that she would have to put her shoes on first. Then she kind of giggled and said, “No mom, I’m just going to go out there and watch. And if he falls, I am going to be there to fix him.”
That little sassafras has the sweetest side on a child I’ve ever seen.
Not to mention that she has been obsessed with Gabe ever since she realized that he resembled Alfalfa from the Little Rascals.
And when “Alfalfa” did fall from his penny board yesterday, guess what sweet little girl held his hand all the way in to get him a cupcake bandage for his scraped knee?
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