Scout’s First Kindergarten field trip.
I was a helper/photographer.
Nut mostly, I was an overly eager mom to see her boy on his first school bus outing.
Her is from the class to the bus.
Look at that handsome dude in orange!
Without prompt, look at my boy helping someone on the bus.
Perfect — I tell you!
The orange sweatshirt came off, and we were down to a mint green muscle man.
During some down time, he was the ringleader in finding the ant family that lived on the tree.
Just like his mom — coming up with little activities while there’s a moment.
But the real fun came when the class got to plant seeds, pet a cow and look at all of the veggies and fruit in the gardens.
Very cool!
But I did think it was funny when Scout told me, “Mom, I have planted a million seeds. Some of my friends have never planted even one!”
Like I said — always coming up with activities when there’s a moment.
This boy (who picked quite the outfit to lounge in after church) had one heck of a productive few hours.
Coming off a full week with Seth’s kids, an entire Saturday afternoon of swimming hard, then seeing Santa and closing down the mall after, and new cousins (Ash’s family) that came in while we were still at the mall — we were all exhausted.
But this just so happened to be the week that Scout had to give a talk in primary. So before Santa pictures, I sat down to write the following:
“My oldest cousin Jake just left on his mission to the Phillipines. I know he is going to be a great missionary because before he left, he was prepared. When I am big, I want to be a great missionary too, just like Jake. So I am preparing for it RIGHT NOW! One of the things I am doing is reading, understanding and even MEMORIZING scriptures. That way if someone has a question, I can answer it straight from the scriptures. For example:
(I pipe in as someone who has questions for Scout)
‘Elder Denison….Elder Denison, I keep hearing about something called faith. What is that?’
(Back to Scout)
‘Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things, therefore if ye have faith, ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.’
(Me)
‘Okay, so if I want to ask if the church is true, what should I do?’
(Scout)
‘If any of ye lack wisdom, let him ask of God. Who giveth to all men liberally, and abraideth not, it shall be given Him.’
(Me)
‘So if I have faith, and then I ask Heavenly Father, how will He be able to tell me the answer?’
(Scout)
‘And by the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things.’
(Then I thank “Elder Denison” and head away as he continues.)
I know that being prepared is how you become a great missionary….whether you are 19 years old in the Phillipines, or only 5 years old in California. I say these things….
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Decently long for a 5 year old. But someone’s mom had “faith” that my boy could do it. And by “do it” I mean have the whole things memorized. I got a few disapproving looks from fellow family members, but I just ignored it all. Instead, I grabbed Scout and had him go over it with me five times before going to the mall. then the next morning we went over it five times and then another few times in the car on the way to church. Micah was a bit nervous, but still broke out the hidden camera phone to capture the sweetest, cutest and perfectly memorized talk I have ever heard!
I knew he was up for the challenge.
Not bad for about 15 hours
And he definitely did his Mama proud!!
Until he adorned his atrocious outfit with a sword and scary mask.
Honestly, I have really outdone myself this time.
With Santa hats and red PJ’s that still fit, these might be the cutest Santa pictures of my kids yet.
So in honor — here is a major picture overload….
After pictures, I had to pick and order, and Navy had to be the boss.
She is definitely the CEO of her own world.
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Then we walked the mall for a few minutes, and ended up closing the whole mall down. We were literally the only ones in the mall except a few store employees.
So off to the playground we went.
Talk about a kids dream — being in the mall without anybody else!
Talk about unruly.
Brett and I weren’t near the running kids, but we turned a corner to witness this.
Seriously — Kids Gone Wild!
Especially this kid who had half of his body in the fountain to get a penny.
I was laughing so hard at Squiggy, that I might have wet my pants a bit.
I mean….just look at how sopping wet Grant got!
The pictures went well, and I can’t say how VERY HAPPY I was that we took the pictures well before we closed down the mall.
Micah headed out with me for a few minutes before taking the kids home to babysit them all day sounded better. I played that right — we started at Kohls (or as Micah called it “Hell”). So he was husband of the year, and played with the kids to their little heart’s content.
The sidewalk chalk obstacle course was a serious hit.
The “acid spill”, “shark attack”, and “freaky net” were some of the favorite attractions.
Look at this gang of hooligans.
It seemed like the kids were having the time of their lives.
And our scores were pretty good.
Especially for this boy who got me to open a bunch of his stuff early!
But a teeny, tiny, itsy, bitsy flag was raised in my mind when Dash grabbed a banana and literally stuffed it in his face, as if he had never eaten before.
I know I fed him that morning, but the in between time…. your guess is as good as mine.
As long as your guess is “he was probably in the malnourished category”.
6:00 am entailed K-Mart for their early doors on Grey Thursday.
Didn’t even know there was a K-Mart around.
But once I learned the secret, I was loving their BOGO on board games — my kid’s latest obsession!
Our turkey, pilgrim and flower.
These two little artists spent all morning coloring their Thanksgiving aprons for the day.
After donuts from B got everyone downstairs, there were a ton of helpers — namely Covey, Grant and Scout.
- Then there was the Turkey Trot, a lot of cooking and baking, some hanging out, and finally we were headed into our marathon of eating.
Our first stop was Auntie Gail’s house.
Alexa was all gussied up for some cousin time!
Which included Dash’s favorite….sticking his pointer finger into other people’s mouths.
I think he loves his fingers so much, he wants others to experience the utter joy it brings him.
Here are the Greats with their grands and great grands.
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Then we were off to our house where there were tons of people.
We had a second full dinner, and finished it up with pies and games with Peter’s kids.
It was a blast….and then Brett and I were off to Grey Thursday shopping for another marathon.
But this time, there was no food involved.
We headed to Knott’s with Seth’s family and the Brockbanks.
Fun rides, Fun people and Fun day.
It was a great kick off to a fun-filled week of cousins.
Here is the whole gang (minus Tristen) at the end of the night.
Granty and Scout took Micah on a balloon ride.
(Scout has always been a bit timid of rides, but was totally brave and daring this go around.)
These were the Camp Snoopy goers.
Here are just a handful of the bigger and the braver.
Look at that red head.
The bravest of them all.
But not the cutest of them all.
That title goes to the one and only, best-natured sleeping baby in the world.
When he woke, it was time to take a ride on the merry-go-round.
And the cougar fan and pink lady in the back took that same ride.
Eight hours later, this little viking and his viking chauffeur were all smiles — like usual.
And so were these two twinners.
Honestly — nothing in life is more fun to me than spending an entire day with my family.
Except maybe — spending an entire day with my family while my kids spend an entire day with their cousins, and we are all in heaven.
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.
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