Babe…..In honor of you turning 34 in a week or so, I am gifting you early. I know this summer has been vacation after vacation. I know I really like to buy Halloween costumes. I know Chick Fil-A has put a dent into my bank account. (I am sure you can name a few other things, but I don’t want to completely out myself.)
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Back to the birthday…..in honor of your big 3-4, I am going to give you a month long gift. From today, September 17th until one month from now, October 17th….I am going to put myself on a budget of only $34.00. (Excluding gas, groceries and legitimate bills.)
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Now I want you to know that I have already told my peeps about this and they know I am serious. My mom isn’t too thrilled with how our conversation went. I said to her, “I am not spending any money this month, so if you want to be with me and your grand kids…..it looks like you will have to pay.” Then she explained to me that paying for Botox is just paying a doctor’s bill. Is she crazy? Does she think this is a joke? Obviously, I’ll wait for the month to end before I make my appointment. Tristen already told me that if we go to the movies, she won’t pay for me, but she is “down” with me sneaking in.
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This means no going out to eat. This means no seeing something that I just have to have. This means life will be about “Costco Runs” instead of “Costco Funs”. The only money that will be spent other than at a gas station or a grocery store will be by the use of gift cards. (I am kind of annoyed that you made me use all of my gift cards last Christmas.) And finally, I am not going to pull Shem’s high school stunt of buying whatever I want from the gas station because it is on my list of being legal — or in his case it was on my dad’s gas station credit card.
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One month my friend…One month of a serious budget.
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XOXO
I love you
Happy Birthday From Me
I guess the only bad news in this is that you won’t be getting any sort of birthday gift (I really wish I could have gotten you some new sunglasses)– but I will cook you up a mean meal — without balloons or candles!
(Just kidding — I have a stash of both. Luckily, because I just had to have them in years past!)
I keep telling Micah that Sissy totally speaks in sentences (which she does). He begs to differ (what does he know). Well this sweet thing came in after breakfast and said, “Mommy, I ate all of my cereal.”
Dear Micah,
She included a noun, and a verb.
Last time I checked — that is a sentence.
Love,
Your grammar-loving wife
(Directly after she said it, and still scraped up from Yosemite.)
Scout was begging to go to the “playground” at the gym while Micah worked out. It didn’t really fit into my plans, but after I could tell how much he wanted to go, I finally said he could. And like usual, as we were driving into the parking lot, I started to have “the talk” with him. I started with, “Scout…when you are in there, I want you to be nice to everyone, and I want you to choose the right…” Scout in a total huff interrupted and said, “MOM….stop saying that!” When I asked what he was talking about, he said, “Stop saying for me to choose the right. I ALWAYS choose the right!”
I guess he has the message — LOUD AND CLEAR.
(But quite honestly, I can think of a few times in the last few days when he didn’t ALWAYS choose the right.)
My CTR boy.
On our way home from Yosemite, we made a pit stop at Auntie Bree’s cross country meet. Icka and the astronaut had a great time, and Bree’s team won for the girls and the guys. not bad — they must have a really good coach!
The kids love Auntie Bree.
The siblings.
On our way out, Sissy insisted on carrying her own chair.
And this is what I got the rest of the drive home. One singing-at-the-top-of-his-lungs dude.
We had another successful stint in Yosemite with the Zimms. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
The most exciting news was that we saw a bear. I promised Scout (bad parenting I know) that we wouldn’t leave Yosemite until we had seen one. So thank goodness Adrienne stopped us mid lunch and said, “you guys…I swear I see a bear.” We looked over and she was dead on. There was one just staring at us from behind our tent cabin. The crazy part was how silent he was when he came up.
We quickly told the kids to get behind the big rock and out of the sight of the bear. After we all just stared for a bit. It was a minute when Micah started making some noise and I chucked a log at him. He quickly ran away, and all was well. It was so cool, and the best was when Micah seriously exclaimed, “Dude — he heard I was making a sandwich and came to check it out.” (Okay — maybe not too seriously!) Nice eyes AZ!
The reoccurring theme this trip was dirt / grime / dust / filth. The ground was so dry, that we couldn’t keep our kids clean for ten minutes past their showers. I literally had to throw my hands up in the air and just not care because if I did, I would have gone insane! And it really is amazing how often our kids trip — specifically Navy.
This little nose picker got into trouble because it was really dry up there this year.
Our favorite past time this year was taking our bikes to the river, and letting the kids swim and throw rocks. I can’t believe how the boys (including dads) could throw and skip rocks all day long.
Here are two little rock collectors.
Icka was dead asleep, but here is a partial family picture. I’ll say it — I won’t be entering this into a photo contest any day soon.
The third day, we got to rock heaven along the river.
This little sass fell within the first ten minutes the Zimms got there and scraped her entire face up. And her face got a little help from Cheetos in this picture.
Here is the mob.
The thinking rock. These two men spent an hour scaling, plotting and jumping off this rock. They are both total nerds as they assess all risks involved, and so classic to watch!
Just getting as dirty as possible.
Scout was so chivalrous as he helped his sis walk back to her mom.
Things took a turn when he wanted her to walk faster than she was able to.
Micah kept saying he needed a comfortable place to sit down. Looks like he found it.
Someone (Jim) came up with the bright idea of crossing the river to find shade. It made me feel for the pioneers. But truth be told — I wanted shade also.
Ezra was mad at Scout for something. Karate Chop / Tackle / Hit — take your pick.
Icka went into the Zimm tent and found a little treasure. I thought it was a bit rude when AZ made me take her brush away. Sissy was only trying to beautify!
This is what my little grime ball looked like by the end of the day.
Atrocious!
King of the mountain — on the kids favorite rock outside our tents.
Our attempt at keeping the kids clean the morning we were leaving. We just fed them.
Micah’s work of art.
Breakfast at the lodge. Bacon, powdered donuts and pancakes with syrup. Heaven on earth!
It’s a no go for me this time around on being pregnant. And just to think I was crossing my fingers for triplets! Oh well — no biggie. I’ll be back in a few months with good news (maybe this time I could get quads!).
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The good news is that Theiny has taken good care of me. I was in for my D + C within days, and am already on my way to feeling great. The only hiccup in the plan was my recovery nurse. Overall, he wasn’t bad, but he did happen to fall asleep on the job a few times.
He is smiling now, but he was snoozing a minute earlier. He just started to smile when he heard my camera click on, because he knew he was caught in the act. (Mind you… this is moments after I was on his case about him not being the nurse of my dreams.)
And then the two stinkers took over my personally made bed on the couch when I got up to use the restroom. (Notice that Micah is sleeping this time around — an obviously rough day for this tuckered out boy.) And although I liked that he was trying to spend time with me on the couch, maybe he forgot that he shouldn’t spread himself out and make himself comfortable as I sat in the fetal position — not by choice, but because I had a lack of space. I guess the space worked out better for Scout than the patient anyway.
All is well — Megan the Saint came to the rescue and got me something I have always wanted — A cookie bouquet!
Of course she did!
I don’t know what it is about costumes that opens my wallet, but I literally can not resist if I find a good one.
Wouldn’t you be?
Seriously — can you dream up anything cuter — the answer is no.
Have you ever seen a cuter astronaut?
This little astronaut is dressed up all day in this beauty from Costco. Costco — you did me proud with this one!
And Icka not only loves being Elmo, she won’t go to bed without him sleeping right next to her.
But she really loves when Scout becomes Elmo. She hugs him non stop.
These minor investments make me happier than anything. I only wish they came this cute in my size.
When I was taking off to Utah, I was sick about leaving my kids. Micah was going to be in Vegas for work, so I asked Megan if she would do the honor. She not only accepted, but she acted like she had won the lottery because she was so excited. Of course she did! And I was not disappointing. While I was in Utah, I got about five pictures every day of what new activity they were all doing. She even pulled Trey and Chloe from school on Friday to hang out with their cousins. Needless to say, I wasn’t worried for a second while I was gone. The only feeling I felt was guilt. How could my kids do more in four days than in an entire month with me. I honestly don’t even know where to start, because not only did she do a million things, but I came home to over 300 pictures documenting the entire time. So here are some of the highlights.
My biggest fear was Megan taking on the whole load, so I put a little incentive out there for the cousins. they were stoked, and Trey and Chloe took the lead and earned $30 each. Not bad for just playing with their cousins!
Within the first minutes of getting there, Megan had Scout and Navy’s true love hot off the stove for them — Bacon. She said they consumed an entire pound while they were there. Look at my little self-appointed vegetarian cheating!
We had a layover in Phoenix, and I got this picture of the kids at donuts. Now can you understand why Megan is the saint of all saints!
Here’s Icka playing with her BFF Chloe.
Here’s Scout on what he claims as “his swing”. Unfortunately, Trey was a little annoyed with Scout’s claim.
But most of the time he was a good sport and was Scout’s BFF. Trey got him going high on the swing with this push.
Megan said the majority of the time was spent with all of the cousins on the tramp. Scout was totally into wrestling, and Icka was just a good sport at everything.
Chloe had her own personal doll. She spent countless hours styling Icka’s hair. Here is Chloe’s go at ponytails. Not bad!
this is where I really started feeling the guilt come on. megan did arts and crafts with the kids every day. I avoid them at all cost! I can’t stand the clean up — especially Play Dough, and I have a problem with wanting everything to turn out really cute, so I have been accused of “not letting anyone else do anything”. (Mostly from Skylar during our pumpkin carving contests.)
Megan’s only concern was how the kids would sleep. (Understandably after she witnessed the wrestling move I had to put on Icka in France.) But I told her that my kids were actually really good sleepers. And they really did end up to be almost perfect sleepers at her house. Especially Icka — Yay!
Scout insisted on sleeping on Chloe’s floor. How cute is Trey’s little gift to Scout while he slept.
Or I guess it is from the “stuffed animal man”. How cute!
Of course the total highlight was swimming for the kids. Megan’s community has a foot and a half pool that Scout fell in love with. He taught himself how to swim in it, and is utterly obsessed.
Here is Scout in one of his many Target purchases. Megan let them go in and browse and put anything in the cart they wanted. Talk about setting a precedent.
Scout couldn’t believe that Megan had an underwater camera. He tells me like I am a bad mom for not having one!
But in the end — Megan was not so excited about the whole swimming thing. Mostly because Scout drank so much water which turned into diarrhea in the pool and it had to be completely cleared out of over 100 people. The worst part is that amongst the 100 were many of her and the kids friends. Too bad the underwater camera didn’t catch that one!
When Megan yanked the kids out of school, they headed to the Wild Animal Park. Scout is now a season pass holder — she is out of control!
Neither of my kids is a huge animal lover, but Icka is Way ahead of Scout. Megan said Scout was a disaster with the lorakeets.
Here is a moment of “sibling rivalry”… I guess after Scout had stayed over for more than a few hours, Trey and Scout were like brothers. No more cousin pleasantries.
We are a water family — so Megan even hit it big with the little things like juice boxes.
Here are the kids playing a little “chubby bunny” and laughing hysterically. This is actually a video, and everybody was cracking up because when Icka’s mouth was so full that things were falling out, she would grab her cup and take a drink.
The brothers were in love again at Jake’s x-country meet.
Jake is running Varsity this year and has improved his time a ton! Scout loves watching him run, and every time we drive through our gate, he insists on getting out and running the rest of the way home. I yell at him like I do to Jake in his meets, and Scout thinks he is so cool!
Going to church — looking GOOD! What a handsome bunch.
I brought a present for each of the kids to earn if they were good. Scout earned his “knight in shining armor” costume, and Icka got her flower umbrella. Nice work kids. But if you have to know — Megan would have given them to you if even you were rotten.
And FINALLY — A MOMENT OF SILENCE — PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR THIS WOMAN. SHE IS THE LADY OF THE HOUR…..MRS. MEGAN BROCKBANK!
My only complaint –
The first morning he woke up at home he came in and said, “Hey mom — how about we go to Denny’s for breakfast, and then we go swimming, and then we go to Chuck E. Cheeses, and then we can do something else really fun.”
Well—we did swim.
Brit and Sug had a group of us girls up for a Swiss Days Visit. And what a blast we had! The hits of the party were these four:
We spent quite some time on the beauties above. As you can tell….
The other hit of the party was Ure Mama….
And here “Queenie” is in her WitchyPoo’s get up for the parade we were the finale in.
She’s in the middle, and her two lovelies are on either side.
I don’t know how I ended up so hideous — but I definitely took the cake.
Some cuter and more glamorous witches.
Ashly looking good!
And the woman who made it all possible.
Sug — (and Brit) The award for the Hostess with the Mostest — goes to you.
If you have had problems with your one year old biting their nails down to nothing — I have the solution:
Best $5.00 I have spent in a long time. Now I am going to try it on Scout who has picked up the nerdy habit of putting his entire fist in his mouth when he is nervous or uncomfortable. And I give it my seal of approval, because when I accidentally put some on my fingernail and tasted it — it was NASTY! No wonder it works so quickly.
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