You know the sound of tires screeching as a car brakes to avoid danger…that is the imaginary sound I get in my head when I think of the sharpest of sharp corners my little Siss turned a few days back. All of a sudden — literally out of the blue, my little girl has started trying to be nice. I thought I was doomed with stubborn central for the rest of my life, but I just kept at it. No matter what, I insisted on “please”, “thank you”, and “sorry”. We have had some major stand offs. We have had tears (on both parts). But over the last couple of days, Sweet Thing has decided to be quite the charmer. (Probably taking notes from Scout.) I am not going to try and dissect this or even try and understand it…I am just going to sit back and enjoy. (I wrote relax, but backspaced on that one since “being good” doesn’t mean the same thing as slowing down.)
Here she is with a mess of Spanish peanuts on Nonnie’s bed (thanks to Bella). And this is when the blanket was still protecting Nonnie’s sheets!
How sweet and pure is this little face. His black eye is totally improving, but not quite fast enough — I was scheduled to get family pics this week. Oh well! He is the best boy. He is ALWAYS happy, always saying, “Sure Mommy” and “Thanks Mom for letting me do this” and other things of the sort. Just yesterday at church, I asked him to be reverent because he is going into primary soon, and he is big enough to sit quietly. (I thought this was a long shot since it has never happened this far.) But to my delight, he was about 90% good. He sat quietly, played quietly, tried to listen and tried to keep his eyes closed for the prayers. So sweet. He even went further to let me know each time Icka wasn’t acting appropriately by whispering a little too loudly, “Icka…that’s NOT how we act!” (That is where the 10% came in — but it was all well-intentioned.) And then when Sacrament Meeting was over, he folded his arms and ran as fast as he could to nursery. He literally is SO sweet. Micah must say it to me at least twice a day.
After we got home from church and after I got Sissy down, I came down to see Scout with a big huge toasted cheese sandwich. I said, “Whoa Scout…where did you get that?” To which he replied, “From my very best friend.” I looked over to catch Nonnie grinning from ear to ear.
So sweet!
Scout loves his black eye.
Probably because the second he started to get it, every single person was telling him how cool he looked.
It started out puffy with just a touch of color. We told him it just looked like he had a little bit of eye shadow on.
Then the next morning, the real deep purple started to set in.
It still looks like eye shadow — but it’s a little heavy-handed at this point.
(I caught my mom on the phone saying, “you should see it….it is the most beautiful black eye I have ever seen in my entire life.” But quite honestly, I think anything about Scout is “beautiful” to my mom.)
When we realized what a beautiful black eye it was, I got his boxer outfit out and matched the outfit to the eye.
Here is an actual boxing session — and although he looked pretty beat up — Scout was the champ!
Later, we headed to Fashion Island.
You should have seen the stares the little boxer got while walking around there!
The best part was that he thought he was so cool!
I caught him with the camera on day three right after he woke up.
He was so excited that his eye was turning yellow.
It is his favorite color you know!
How trashed does he look!
* * * * *
I love this boy — black eye and all.
I especially love that this boy has not complained even once about his ailment.
Talk about a good track record so far.
I love my little girl with a passion.
Every little part of her.
But when she ran down with an angel’s halo on, even I had to raise my eyebrows.
My mom was hysterically laughing.
Tristen wrote a little message on her.
And when I asked Micah what he thought, he said, “I was in the other room and she ran in with the halo on. When I looked at it, I started laughing and said, ‘YEAH RIGHT!’”
* * * * *
Poor girl — can’t catch a break!
H-A-P-P-Y
B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y
dear
old
mama……..
* * *
In honor of her big day, we got the locals around the dinner table and followed it up with the envelope game (seen above) and presents.
Look at Dadio just loving the game!
Here I am with my onion goggles on. People laugh, but my eyes haven’t cried yet with them on! (They may laugh because I didn’t take them off all night.)
Dinner was a taco bar that yours truly put together that included pork tacos, cilantro sauce, chipotle sauce, homemade salsa, more fixins and Martinellis.
I had a berry cobbler on the menu, but before I got home from church, my mom was already in the kitchen whipping up her famous cinnamon rolls. I told her to stop because it was her birthday, but she said, “No…I want to surprise everyone else on my birthday.” That’s just like her — selfless and SUPER COOL!
We had the best time like we always do. I gave her a present that will be hard to beat (for her Christmas present)– I mean, look at that surprised and pleased face. I gave her my wedding album that I finally ordered and received after 5 1/2 years of being married. My bad. Her response, “You mean to tell me that my $3000 didn’t go to waste after all!” No you sweet little thing — it didn’t!
No wonder she was so happy — I looked GOOD!
Look at Ickity Dickity in the background. Apparently she didn’t know how good I looked.
Amidst all of the commotion and fun, there was one slight hiccup.
While all of the cousins were rolling down the stairs in the big red ball, Scout had a tumble out of the hole that sent him face first into the Travertine floor. It was a serious fall that busted up his eye, cut up his mouth and bruised up his forehead. He cried for a bit, but soon after became very mellow and just wanted me to hold him.
Throughout the evening his eye was getting darker and darker.
He finally feel asleep about thirty minutes after the ordeal, but because we were afraid he might have a concussion, I had to wake him up about every five minutes. I explained why I would have to do that, and every time I would stir him awake, he was so sweet and would say, “I’m alright mom…I’m okay, I’m okay.” Could you love a boy any more?
After some sleep and then a meal of only soft food (let’s be honest — his staples of tofu and quesadillas are always soft), he was up and ready to party. Apparently there is no stopping this boy. And I really knew that was true when he saw the big red ball the next day, and didn’t think twice before jumping right back in.
* * * * *
Happy Birthday Mom.
I always love when people write things like “I have the best mom” or “my mom is perfect”, because I silently say to myself — you guys are a bunch of idiots, you guys don’t know anything ….come meet Fat Pat if you really want a taste of perfect!
Did your mom surprise everyone on her birthday with cinnamon rolls?
Probably not.
And if she did — they were probably disgusting!
Briznit invited us down to the doublewide for low tide. When it gets really low, there is a big flat area that the kids can play on, and further out there is a sand bar to put the chairs. The kids were loving it, and we are scheduled to be there every low tide from this day forth.
There was a little sand slinging going on.
Sissy was helping Daddy make a sand castle on the boogie board.
Sis was having the best time just frolicking.
But the clouds came in to cover us up, and she got cold — which allowed me to cuddle with her for about ten minutes straight!
As we cuddled, Jason was getting sucked by an alien ship in the background.
(Or he was trying to catch a football.)
Scout was having fun, but he has always been my cautious boy. (I take it as him being brilliant!) He stuck to the shore for the first little bit. But after observing the situation for a while, he headed out to the fun and games.
The end result was popsicles in the bath tub.
Can’t beat that for a day of fun.
(Especially when the boys were glued to football while the girls got to chat, cook and have fun.)
Ickity Dickity Dock has an obsession.
I’m all for my kids being passionate about things, but I can not support this.
Her latest obsession…her latest craze…(to be honest) her latest annoying habit is “MINE”!
In the words of Icka:
“Mine!”
“My Mommy!”
“My DayDay (blanket)!”
“My seat!”
(As she pushes anyone off of her seat — or at least one she wants at the moment)
“My Nonnie/B/Gout!”
“My toy!”
“My bed!”
The coolest thing about this list is that you can just stick “my” and then “______,” and it has probably come out of sweet thing’s mouth.
This was moments after she politely explained that these were:
“MY SUNGLASSES!”
This girl is “that girl”. I went to pick her up today from the bus stop, and look at her get up. Not one detail was overlooked. Not one accessory was too much or too little. She has got the touch. She must have gotten it from Tristen. But then again, Tristen got it from me. (How was that done, you ask? Tristen would rifle through my dirty clothes every day while I was in high school and she was in middle school, and wear my exact outfit the next day. Talk about “hands on” learning.) So in the end, it looks like Skilly got her style from me.
You’re welcome.
No matter where, our little squirt Icka is giving away kisses.
This day — Scout was the lucky one getting those sweet kisses.
These two are doing pretty good in the same room. The routine goes a little something like this:
-Read books or wrestle before bed.
-Say prayers.
-Get them drinks of water.
(Micah silently exits at this point.)
-Tuck them in.
-More drinks of water.
-I sing to them.
-Sissy gets out of her covers.
-I have to recover her by counting the amount of blankets I put on her — a distraction technique that works well.
-Scout asks for a toy.
-I get Nemo and Elmo for Siss to sleep with.
-I turn the noise machine on.
-Make sure the hall light is on.
-Get requests for a million other things, to which I respond, “NO…Good Night…Don’t get out!”
******
I retire to the “family night room” with Micah, and then the calling out begins.
-”Mom….Sissy hurt me” (Scout)
-”Mommmmmmyyyyy” (Icka)
-”Mom, I need an allergy pill” (Scout)
-”Mom, Sissy spilled the water” (Scout)
-”BOOO BOOO” (Siss)
And when I don’t respond after a while………
-”Dad, Dad, Dad” (Scout)
-”DAAADDDDYYYY!” (Siss)
*****
And after all of that craziness….
Scout is out like a light. Sissy is laying quietly — the only time she stays still for this amount of time.
(Notice that Sissy’s bed is stripped because she got into a messy diaper situation during her nap.
*****
Micah and I finally have a moment to relax before we retire/watch a show/head out to the Tackys.
*****
But before we go to bed ourselves, I ALWAYS go in and kiss them goodnight and whisper in their ears little sweet nothings.
Tonight I got an extra special treat….
A diaper-less baby girl with her second diaper mess of the day.
This time….smashed through her bed rail and all over her blankets.
This girl!
She is just too much.
Good thing I happened to whisper, “I love you no matter what” this night.
Because if I hadn’t….
there’s no telling where we would stand!
| DESIGN BY