www.micahandlindsey.com

…..and I can’t believe it has only been a year!  Ickity Dickity Dock’s big first birthday was today.  I am blown away at how big my girl is.  So in honor of her special day, I tried to do some things that she would have picked herself.

Scout and I woke up and made Icky some blueberry muffins. (No–I don’t beat my kid and give him all of his bruises, or the black eye on his left eye.  His rough and tough cousins are in town.)

She liked the muffins, but loved the candle/fire even more.

Then she took a bath in pink water with the jets running — which made for tons of bubbles.

Afterward –  she stared at her pretty little self in the mirror, and I taught her how to kiss herself.

Soon after, she went down for some beauty rest, while I ordered her jump house for her party this Saturday.

She then got up to one of her favorites — PB & J and Fritos.

The weather wasn’t ideal for anything outside (we were actually in the middle of the biggest storm I have seen in Southern California in years) but we didn’t care.  We thrive on fun, and we decided that we were going “polar swimming”!

I put Icka in her bathing suit, and she was beyond excited to strut around the house in her get up.  It was comical to see her be so excited to wear it.  I don’t know if she remembered what a bathing suit entails, or if she just thought she looked GOOD!  (Maybe the earlier kissing of herself, blew her head up a little too big.)

While we were warming the hot tub, we made a stop off to play with daddy.

When it warmed up to about 70 degrees (a little too early in hindsight), we hopped in and had the best time.  Tristen was freezing, and complained a bit, but Scout, Icka and I were living it up.  We were in the middle of the coldest, hardest and freakiest rain storm, but we weren’t going to let it get in the way of our birthday fun.  Navy was having so much fun, she was literally squealing in utter delight.  Scout was in full force.  He was jumping, dunking and splashing like a mad man.  Tristen eased up a bit, and just started to have a great time…..But when the power went out, and heater on the hot tub stopped….Tristen waved goodbye.  I still played with Icka for a while, but Micah finally retrieved her and took her into a warm bath.  Then Scout and I played hard for another 30 minutes.  We had the best time, and decided that we need to polar swim more often.

(Look at Icka’s pink and freezing nose.)

We finally warmed up and got dressed to go and have a good birthday meal.  We headed out to Cheesecake, and before we left our community, Scout was out like a light.  (Too much polaring!)  He even slept through the entire dinner and dessert.  (Check him out in the back of the picture.)

We ended our stint at the mall with some play time with Ka.  Scout still slept, and Icka had some pretty good one on one with all of us.

Icka — we had a great day together.  I am SO happy to be your mom.  You are the perfect little sister to Scout, and can keep up with him.  You are the perfect little daughter to Daddy.  And you are my perfect little Mama’s girl.  I am so grateful you are happy and healthy.  I love you my little best friend.

XOXO

Scout was so psyched over the rain, because he finally got to break out all of his rain gear.  To make it even better, Micah took him to their special spot (the riverbed where they throw rocks) to see if it was full of water.  So first thing in the morning, Micah got him all dressed, and off they went.  When they came back and I saw the pictures, I realized that I need to get Scout some pants that work in the rain — because if we don’t have any….he obviously goes without.

Scout has always loved his special dates, and Navy is just starting to go on them.  A “special date” is when you get to go all by yourself to a place that is different than the places we usually go.  So after we put Navy baby down to bed last night, I asked Scout if he wanted to go on a special date.  He said he did with Nonnie or B, and finally said he would go with me.  (That was because he was in front of both of them, and didn’t want to make them feel bad! Or I hope it was!)  So we got in the car without a destination in mind.  I asked him where he wanted to go, and he said he wanted to go to “Old McDonalds” (meaning McDonalds).  He was right about one thing — we don’t usually go there, but I was thinking a little differently than he was.  I asked him if he wanted to go somewhere to eat and he said yes.  So after a couple of options, we settled on Outback Steakhouse for the big date.  Scout loves the bread and butter, and the fact that I let him use the knife to cut the bread in half, so he was in heaven.  We chatted about life and about lemons and sugar.  I let him open a sugar pack and eat it with his finger.  We played eye spy and rock scissors paper.  He is a good boy and I love spending one on one time with him.  I had a great time, and knew he did too because as we were leaving he said, “I weally luz this place!”

At 11 months, Navy took over Scout’s little electric quad.  She gets on, waves bye bye to everyone and then goes right to the red button to make it go.  She doesn’t have the steering down, but she can go and completely stay on without any problems.  She gets so happy — especially when Scout saw her on “his thing” and wanted her to move over.  Instead, I told Scout that he could hold onto her and get a ride.  So Navy took him for a little jaunt around town.  They were both loving it!  We have video. but no picture.  Talk about a missed opportunity!

While Micah is away, I love to have Icka sleep with me.  We have done it a couple of times, and I think we both love it.  I put her down first in her crib, and after she falls asleep, and I am ready to retire, I get her out and bring her down to my bed.  She cuddles right up, and wakes me up in the morning by covering my face in kisses.

When Micah left yesterday afternoon, I told Icka about our secret slumber party that night.  So I put her down, got some stuff done, talked to my mom for a bit, and then went to get her at about 11pm.  Meanwhile, I set up the bed with pillows on her side in case of rolling to the edge, and a separate warm blanket because she moves a decent amount out of the reach of the covers.  (She also needs extra warmth because I inherited the love of ice box temperatures while I sleep from my mom.)

When I got her, she totally smiled like she knew of our plan.  I took her down, nuzzled in next to her and turned out the lights.   She leaned over and kissed me about six times.  Talk about LOVE!

After the initial kisses, she kind of sat up a bit….moved around….started to try and climb the safety pillows, etc.  I kept pulling her back, and she would just keep kissing me.  After quite a while of this, she must have tasted something she liked, because she then started to kiss me with a completely open mouth and started slobbering all over my face.  I was laying as still as can be, so I didn’t rile her up.  After the slobber phase, she decided to kiss/slobber/bite me.  She wasn’t trying to be mean, but by the time she had my nose in her teeth and bit down hard, I had to lay down the law.

I started telling her “No no” and “it’s time for bed” and “close your eyes….time for night night”.  When I finally covered my face with the blanket, she settled down a bit.  Even to the point of falling asleep!!!  Hallelujah!  Too bad for me that my arm was under her and was getting the totally annoying tingly feeling right before your arm falls asleep.  So as stealthily as possible, I tried to get me arm out from under her.  With just a centimeter to go, the party animal was stirred, and she was ready to play all over again.  Unfortunately for her, I wasn’t.  I got her and carried her right up to her crib.  When I passed the clock on my way up, I could not believe that these antics had gone on until 3:15am.

This is a picture from Chuck E. Cheeses, and hopefully it gets my point across.  My girl is crazy!  She is not a bad baby, in fact, she is pretty happy.  She is just a crazy….never stop for a second….not afraid of anything baby.  She can squirm out of any sort of safety belt — the highchair, the top part of her car seat, her stroller, Chuck E. Cheeses rides.  She climbs everything, and follows her brother anywhere. She can swipe anything out of Scout’s hands before he even knows what is happening.  She won’t keep a bow in her hair for anything.  I have told her “no no” thousands of times, and even smacked her hand to tell her not to pull it (blame Trilby — it was her tip).  (I attempted the bow thing again the other day at Ralphs, but after I counted 25 times of her ripping out her bow, I gave up.)

Just yesterday, I was bathing the two kids, and as I was getting Scout’s diaper on in the hall….guess what little sumo wrestler look alike comes walking out of the bathroom door.   Navy baby climbed out of the bath all by herself.  Don’t ask me how she did it without getting hurt, because I don’t know.  All I know is that when I used to leave Scout with anyone, I never worried a bit.  But when I leave Navy, I am so worried of anyone taking their eyes off her for a moment, what will happen.  She was already returned to us after she got outside of a store when Micah was watching her.  And I do NOT exaggerate when I say that he probably knew where she was 3 seconds before.  Our quick and agile and crazy little thing better turn out to be the best female NFL kicker, so this was all totally worth it.  But who am I kidding…. when she sleeps with me and wakes me up by giving me dozens of kisses….it is all worth it.

I talked my mom into getting everyone the BEST Christmas present.  She got everyone 100 Chuck E. Cheeses tokens for us all to spend the day after Christmas.  We are usually all going in different directions, so in an effort to make things a bit more organized (and give everyone their DREAM gift), she bit the bullet.  I’ll have to admit that I thought I would be the most excited….then the kids….then Micah — Boy was I wrong.  Bryan Brockbank might have been #1 on the list.

So we all met at the big C around 2 pm.  My mom set up a competition, and said that whomever had the most tickets by the end of the night would be awarded $25….and the games began!

The competition was in full force, and there were many front runners along the way.  I would like to point out two:

The kids had a blast too.  Can you imagine being two years old, and getting to pop a token in any machine you want….and even if you want to pop seven tokens in the same machine — you can do that too!

My impossible to get a smiling picture of son.

My grungy little girl who always looks dirty even though I immaculately bath her and dress her every single morning.

The real fun came when B and Micah started up a game of Galaga (AKA dorkaga) and played for well over an hour.  We kept looking their way and cracking up over how into it they were.  They were going nuts, and played WAY longer than everyone else who retired to pizza.  After Micah took the final win (the final score was Bryan-1 and Micah-2) On the way home, I actually listened to him tell me, “babe…..I went places NO MAN has ever gone before.  I have never been in the zone like that.” Congrats goes out to you my dear.

(Don’t be fooled by the carefree looks in the pictures, they were going ballistic until the cameras came out!)

The good news is that everyone had fun.  It was a great present, and an even better day with the family.

In the end, I had to bow out of the competition gracefully, since I went and bought 200 more tokens all for myself. (I guess the rules stated that the tickets had to be ONLY from the original 100 tokens.  Although I would like to humbly say that I obviously took the win, and instead of buying anything, I just banked them.  Yes…that’s right!  You can have a personal bank account at the big C.  (Thanks to Jim Zim for letting me in on the secret — go flat wear!)

I had to start a new paragraph to emphasize what my bank account holds.  Now, I know it is rude to flaunt your money, but does the same rule apply to Chucky Cheese tickets?  Well if it does…..I am breaking the rules and bragging.  MY CURRENT ACCOUNT HAS APPROXIMATELY 8000 tickets!  Can you just imagine the loot I can get with that?!  Everyone wanted me to spend it, but I told them that in these hard economic times, I find peace in knowing that I have money somewhere.

But against my own rules, I did withdraw a small chunk.  It was completely worth getting myself a harmonica to show Tristen that she isn’t the only playing fool in the family.  She wasn’t too thrilled.

We had the best Christmas.  We spent the majority of the morning at our house, and then headed over to the Denison’s house in the late afternoon.  The presents were great, but in reality, everyone’s favorite part is the passel of kids and family around.  Scout loved his presents, but loved his cousins WAY more.  I love that he has so many fun cousins since I didn’t really grow up with a ton myself.  The morning started out the same way it always does.  We had a huge breakfast (with pastries) before any sort of Santa stuff.  (Actually by this time,  the kids have gotten their stockings.  My poor sister Megan is always asked at the last minute, what extra stuff she has from her kid’s stockings so that I can come up with Scout’s load.) After we clean up breakfast, my mom introduces each child with his or her family.  She usually tells any sort of embarrassing thing that transpired over the year.  If things are too embarrassing, she just says our ages and what we got the night before.  Here is our family getting the official introduction (as Navy does her “oh no” face):

Afterward, we sat around and opened slowly because according to my mom, “I spent months getting Christmas together, I want to see EVERYTHING that is opened.”  And since I have helped her the last few years….I agree.

It seems that typically, we each get a “big” present.  Scout got an electric quad that was everyone’s favorite.  After he rode it forever, and shared it with his cousins, he started handing out rides to people.  He loved it, and thank goodness he still does.

I got Micah UFC tickets to go with my brother and Brother in Law at the beginning of February.  But I will have to admit that some of his gifts were more novelty than serious.  (Micah has always said that I can never pass up a good novelty.)  The reason he got a good chunk of these novelties was because about a month ago, he told me that his Christmas shopping was completely done.  When I asked him in the world he got me, he said, “most of them are joke gifts.”  Well, I thought it would be fitting to return the favor.  I especially liked these cups that give you a custom nose when you drink from them.

Icky got clothes, toys, a tiny fire engine, a darling baby gold bracelet like the one I wore when I was a baby, but was mostly in heaven with all of the commotion.

I did get a few “joke” gofts in the form of cheese and salami, but I was also the lucky recipient of not only an amazing watch (nice trickery babe), but two sweet little motorcycles.  One is technically for Tristen, but we are calling it mine because I am much more willing to let anyone and everyone ride them.  (Lo Siento Sissy!)  My Mom got me a great gift too.  It is a trio of eternity bands — one diamond, one sapphire and one pink sapphire representing Micah and I, Scout and Navy.

My favorite gift of the day was the fort making set I put together for Scout.  I got tons of brightly colored fabric, and a package of clothespins, and sent him on his way.  the first fort came that night on Nonnie’s bed, and it was a good one.  If I was a little kid, I think this would have been my dream present.

And last of all….speaking of novelty presents….how about these cool masks.  Don’t ask why I had to have them.  I just did!

The funny thing about me and Christmas is that as the day draws to a close, I start getting sad that it will be 365 more days until the next Christmas.  I have never grown out of it, and hope I never will!

I would like to dub Christmas Eve as “the most wonderful time of the year”.  Christmas is the best, but with our traditions and time spent together, I think Christmas Eve is my very favorite.  (Plus, it is the anniversary of when I got engaged, or the “tale of Christmas greed” as my husband likes to call it.)  Moving on…..

This year’s Christmas Eve was nothing short of perfect.  I was in charge of the Christmas message, and I had different grand kids help me take each character from the nativity scene and explain them and their significance.  (I guess the noise of 14 nieces and nephews didn’t make it “perfect”, but it was pretty close.)  Afterward, the cousins did cousin presents.  Cade had Scout, and with Megan being Cade’s mother, they didn’t disappoint.  They basically took everything from Scout’s Christmas list, and bundled it up as one huge gift.

Scary Witch Mask ….. check.

Croutons ….. check.

A santa that went “green poop” (Scout’s favorite saying with his cousins) ….. check.

And his number 1 item ….. pills and medicine just like Nonnie ….. check.

Is it scary that he was this excited?  Hopefully because he just saw a load of candy, and not because he is a future addict.  And because me sister does not like to do ANYTHING half way, she gave him a huge bottle of “refills”.  On the front, she wrote the entire prescription that was absolutely darling.

After Scout got his present, he gave Cade his present.  (This year they got each other.)  With me involved, I don’t go all out the way Megan does, but if my name is attached, I do like to get something the kid will love.  So Cade — our little red head — has been wanting to get a shirt that reflects that he is proud to be a ginger. (An obnoxious term that kids are using to be mean to red heads.  The good news is, my nephews love their red hair, and want to proudly show it.)  So when I didn’t find anything great on the internet, I found a website and made a few for him. And even a matching mini one for Scout.

I am proud to report that Cade is going to wear his shirt the first day back at school.

Afterward, we all opened our pajamas.  Scout loved his, and Icka’s were a bit too small.  No worries, I had already made her a “1st Christmas” outfit, after my sisters were complaining that she didn’t look Christmasy.   Too bad that her Christmas outfit was too small too. (Or maybe her thighs are too big?)

As tradition goes, everyone opens P.J.s.  But ever since my husband came on the scene, he has kindly explained to my mom that “no guy wants P.J.s”.  So we have tried to change it up these past few years.  One year we did work out shorts.  Another year, we did funny P.J’s.  This year, Megan, my mom and I all made custom T shirts for all of the guys.  They were the total hit of the night.  Each was cracking a joke about them, and they were really funny.  Nathan’s was about fantasy football.  B’s was about UFC. Seth’s was about diversifying your assets.  Micah’s was about P90X.  Brook’s was about gap insurance.  And Ryan;s was about using the dictionary.  They were classic, and I bet we started a new tradition.

After we get all of the kids P.J.’d up, we send them to bed to have our adult gift exchange.  This year I had Megan, and got her a Cricut Expression machine.  Don’t ask me how she doesn’t already have one of these???  But since she is going to be in charge of every party I ever have, I figured it was really just an investment.  She was so excited and told me she has wanted on for a while.  Perfect!

Too bad I hadn’t given it to her three months ago, because when I got my present, I realized that she could have definitely used it.  She gave me the best gift I have ever gotten.  She made me about 25 homemade family night kits.  They consisted of the lesson, the game, the craft, the activity, the EVERYTHING!  Not only did it completely FILL one and a half portable filing cabinets, but she gave me about 6 games that correspond with lessons, and an entire other filer that had everything I might need to use for object lessons, crafts, or games.  She is OUT OF CONTROL.  Mind you, she cut everything by hand, everything is laminated, and everything is completely organized perfectly.  She has lessons on everything from gratitude to prayer to being an example to the sabbath day to being happy.   I was beside myself when I got it,  I have already gone through it tons of times to just see the work she put into it.  According to Bryan, she laminated for about seven hours.  Talk about one lucky recipient!  And to top it all off, she said she has about six more packets she is working on for me, but just couldn’t get them done in time.  Sweet!

We ended the night with the boys heading out to Harbor House, and the girls organizing the presents and each opened one gift.  I say that the “girls” organized, but I take credit for this masterpiece.  I am kind of a Nazi when it comes to the display.  I like to have it look perfect.  Not bad….huh?!

When Nonnie went into her bed, she found these kids all nuzzled in her bad.  Too bad there was no room for her.