Kindness in the small things...

It's been a pretty crazy last few days and I've been pretty out of it and really tired... I haven't been to the grocery store all week and there is nothing left in the house. The kids have been eating whatever fast food place Nate stops by on the way home. This morning I had no coffee, no coke, no tea..nothing but water..I knew if I was going to make it through today I needed to start pumping in the caffeine immediately...

On the way back from taking the kids to school this morning I dug through my purse and drove up to the coffee shop. I ordered a large black coffee( I was going to take it home and put it over ice and creamer) to go. When I got up to the window she handed me my coffee and said," the man in the car before you left extra money and said he wanted to pay for the next person's drink and he hopes they have a good day." I sat there staring at her smiling at me with my coffee in her hand. I didn't take it right away because I was in total shock at what she just said...I told her, " I want to give my money to the next person for their drink and wish them a good day too." She laughed and said,"OK!" and I handed her my $2.oo in change and drove out of the parking lot. I started crying immediately. This small gesture had made an impact on me and even though it may have seemed small to the man who left the money, it was a big deposit into me today. I started thanking God for this man's kindness and asking God to bless him over and over... He made a big impact in a small thing and it was a great way to start today.... I hope I am able to remember what this Man did and to start leaving my money for the next person and praying that they have a good day as well....

Busted up

Nate and I were woke up yesterday morning by Cole and CJ standing in our doorway. It was 7:30 on a Sunday morning(which means um no cause we sleep in) and there was one child with a messed up face and the other child with a wooden stick...looked like something interesting happened. CJ with a stick..can't be good. No one was screaming or yelling so it was a really strange event considering there was a messed up face and a stick. Come to find out, Cole was holding a pillow in front of his face and CJ was trying to hit his face with a stick. She evidently was successful and the game then ended. Kids are weird, or just my DNA. I remember doing lame things like this too. And so the tradition continues.

On the way to school this morning it was just Cole, Kendall and I. CJ stayed home sick. Kendall has been getting in trouble for talking..talking too much, too loud, too all the time crazy. Cole was trying to tell me something and to Kendall is doesn't matter who is talking she just starts talking and at very high levels. I hold up my hand to the backseat as if to say... shh it missy... Then I hear her talking again.. I look in the mirror with crazy eyes and I see her hands up... I'm ask, "what are you doing?" She says," I'm not talking, my hands are!" and I see that she had drawn faces on all her fingers before school. Little smiley faces on each finger. She then says," if I can't talk then my hands will" AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then I hear Cole say very dryly..."well Queen Elizabeth shall speak for me" I am thinking what?? Where did that come from? Then I look at him looking at me with a goofy face holding up a coin with Queen Elizabeth's face on it..? I don't even know what country that was from, Canada? I laughed so hard!! Weird Weird Weird children!!!!!

Family Night

Now that it's cold and no sports weekdays and weekends will be so chill again. Five nights a week of practices and homework and 4 games on Saturday have taken their toll on my chillness and now it's time to get it back. We are a family that likes to snuggle, read,watch movies, eat popcorn, drink hot chocolate, eat candy and have brownies where we ALL fight to lick the bowl. Winter chillin is going to be a good time.

Last night I bought 10(then added two more) boxes/bags of candy for us. My kids like candy but no where near as much as Nate and I like it. They're all..cool..eat a little, then whatever. Nate and I are like..candy..EAT, EAT, EAT and EAT and then we still might order pizza. Rented and watched a few movies under down blankets and it was a good time! Cole asked if last night could be his stay up all night-night. It is one of his life's goals to accomplish before he gets old...so we agreed and told him he better not wake us up though! He prepared with buying some cokes at the grocery store last night and getting movies ready to go. I wasn't sure if it was going to happen..This child can be found on weekday nights staying up until 11 or 3:00 reading his novels..So, I knew it could be done. I retreated to my bedroom at 10:00 to read and Nate stayed with Cole until 11ish... Cole was fighting and fighting.. but when I woke up at 2:45 to the sound of my cell phone beeping that the battery was almost dead, I walked out and the TV was on and Cole was sitting straight up on the couch completely sacked out!! Poor guy...this morning he is talking about coffee and other plans to make sure he can do this next weekend. His eyes look a little beat down. Hope there is a nap in the plans today for all of us.. Because chillin out needs to make a serious comeback!

Blah Blah Blah

Wow, I am pretty tired of people today....today I want to move out of this country and take my family and live in a jungle. Well maybe more like a tree house in Swiss Family Robinson. I definitely want a tree house with a few levels though so the kids could live a few branches down. Although it's not them making me tired today, it's the voice and the spirit of arrogance. I think we need some humbling... all of us...we need to be taken down a few notches.

What an awesome weekend..

I had the best trip back to CA. I can't believe I was able to see so many people that I love and miss. Friday was the absolute best surprise ever...My flight to ONT wasn't going to happen. I got to the airport, Nate dropped me off and then I find out delayed, delayed until never...There happened to be a flight to Denver that night and I called Marie and she was down to get me and she got a hotel room for us by the airport and we stayed up ALL NIGHT and talked and laughed and ate and it was seriously the best ever!

Before Denver..back at the KC airport I found myself a nice cozy seat, popped my headphones in and looked down. The literal second I took them out of my ear I could hear someone talking to me. There as a man two seats away and he was already talking..I don't know if he was talking when I had them in or as soon as he saw my hand taking them out but it was going. He talked and talked and talked. We lined up for our flight to Denver and it was EMPTY. I'm saying there were about 20 people on a 200 person flight. That empty. Well I get on first and go to the back and sit by the window. There was no one around me.. NO ONE...Until I hear someone say, "do you mind?" and I look up and it's mister mister from the airport. What in the heck can you say? I tell him, sure. I figured he would be sitting at the end of the row. Like any normal human stranger... umm... no.. He sat DIRECTLY next to me..right next to me.. Hmmm... It was strange but then again not. He talked and talked and talked..I then realized if he had sat at the end of the row he might have feared my ears not able to hear him talking and I might have dozed off not giving full attention to his every word... OH MAN!!!!!!! LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!! The beacon of over share light from complete strangers continues to reign supreme in my life...

Marie took me to the airport the next morning and found out that my flight to ONT was CANCELLED! I kept saying..cancelled? You mean..delayed? No, no.. they meant cancelled. So then another re-route needed. Flew into OC instead and pops picked me up and took me to Jen's house in Redlands. We right away head out to Thai food which was seriously so great! Go back to her house and chill, chill, chill... laugh and I drink up all her Diet cream sodas. We head to the beach that night for my bro's surprise party Meg set up. It was fun.. Mark seemed to have a great time and the food was..mmm..mmmm..

Sunday morning Jen and I went to Oasis to see some old homies! Walking up the steps to the church always brings me way back.. having spent 20 years of my life there, multiple times a week.. it was a familiar feeling..like going back home. It was fun catching up and seeing people. After we crashed Amber's bday party at her parents and I got to hang out with Rachel! It was awesome to see these ladies and I miss them very much.

Headed to the Baustista's pad and got to visit the best parents in the world! Jen's parents are so much fun and I miss them! Seeing their Mii's and chatting were good times..too short though.

Went to Jan's house after for Mark's surprise fam party... so good to see everyone and see what people have been up too. We had a good night and ate lots and enjoyed good company.

Went home to Mark and Meg's with Amaya and I had the best car ride with my baby niece. Amaya is so wonderful and I miss her so much. She is so full of personality and life and is such a sweet girl. I went into Amaya's room when we got there and played toys with her and then we snuggled each other in her bed while watching Barbie Nutcracker. I didn't want to move..I just wanted to keep her in my arms and give her endless kisses.. I was trying to soak up the moment being that they are sadly so infrequent.. : (

Headed out Monday, to the airport with Dad, Mark and Uncle Dave. My stop was in Phoenix and they were headed to Phoenix for a game. It was so cool to be on the same flight and we had a good time. Uncle Dave makes me laugh and I was sad they weren't all coming to KC with me!

This was a great trip...always, always the best seeing my friends and family. I feel sad today thinking about missing out on Amaya.. hoping that going back to CA I will get to share in her life more....

Mall madness

Today I had the funniest experience. I picked Kendall up from school and we went to the Mall and had some lunch together, visited a few shops and then she wanted to play in the play area. They have a spot in the middle of the mall with all this play stuff, it's very cool. So, I looked around and found 3 benches where absolutely no other person was sitting...There were lots of parents but I made sure to find myself a spot where there was no one else. I usually try to do this...at events, on the airplane.. and it never, ever works out. I am convinced I have some sort of feeler/sensor on me that alerts people to come near and to talk to me. And not just talk.. tell me every event that has ever existed or happened to them thus far, it's IINSANE! It happens so much that I should just sit in the middle of the crowds and then people would just think I was weird and ignore me probably. So today I sit on my bench...about 5 minutes later an Indian man probably in his 60's takes a seat at the bench next to me. I can feel him looking at me so I look back. He says hello and I say hello back. Well...I can't remember what happened after that but he was moving as close as he could get on his bench to me and telling me his ENTIRE life story and about all his wives, his pre-arranged marriages, his schools, his jobs, the kind of suits he wears.. oh yes.. He one time touched my arm while laughing and then quickly apologized and I told him next time I would slap him in the face.. He looked at me in shock and laughed so hard and then wanted to talk more and more. I didn't even notice a younger guy sitting next to me on the bench to my left...But when the older man asked me where in CA I was from I said Riverside area.. then all I heard was.. NO WAY!!!! RIVERSIDE, CA??? ME TOO!!! He was(i came to know later) 32, married with kids and moved to KC 3 years ago like us. Well he ended up telingl me that he made $20.00 an hour and his wife made $20.00 and hour too and it goes a long way here... and so on and so on.. it was a full on competition of talking at this point.. One would talk and I would turn to look at them, then the other would start and I'd turn to try to hear them. One would get up to help his child and the other would tell me that the other guy was trying to bother me and get in our conversation.. They both were trying to "save" me from the other one. Thinking that I would much rather sit and listen to their life stories...I was completely being USED!! haha They weren't at all creepy guys trying to hit on me! They genuinely just wanted to talk and I apparently had the big sign...TELL ME EVERY THING.. I MEAN EVERYTHING, on my forehead. I wanted to laugh so hard and I wished someone else could see this circus act that was happening. This went on for over an hour.. before I excused myself to leave. I thought the older man was going to buy me a car or give me money for giving him my time! He was trying to give me money for Kendall to play longer..haha... It was funny. I don't know why I ever try to hide out....I apparently am not the hiding out type...the over sharers are like a moth to a flame with me. And today I have to say, it was entertaining and pretty sweet...

My kids and the election!

My children...I have had so many laughs this past month as we've been winding down to Election Day! Nate and I are pretty neutral when it comes to politics.. I think we'd be sold on Independent if they really ever had money or a chance.. Or someone to run! So we don't talk politics with the kids virtually ever. Well our kids school took the opportunity to teach them and give them so much information and I thought it was great. Strange(being that I don't remember getting that much info but I don't remember much of last week either) but great. My kids have been talking and thinking about it for a few months. Their conversations with one another and their friends have been hilarious! I can't get enough of it... Having debates with friends...making signs...watching the news all on their own doing. We were at a pizza party last night and they had a TV on and my son paced back and forth nervous at every electoral vote added. My kids were sold on McCain/Palin. No Abortion was their button and they were solid in their stance. A few days ago.. I picked Kendall up from Kindergarten and this is the conversation:
Me: Hi baby how was your day?
Kendall: Grant wants to vote for Mabama!
Me: Noooo wayyy!!! What did you say to that?
Kendall: I told him that I was voting for McCain!
Me: And what did he say?
Kendall: He said Mabama would lower our taxes and I said.. uh uh.. McCain will lower our taxes!

I was of course dying and in complete shock that two 5/6 yr olds were having this conversation. Just about the best thing ever!! I will support my kids in their republicaness if that's what they choose. I'm just proud to see the beginnings of their independence...they didn't look to us to tell them what to think.. they were so proactive about finding out information...it made me excited to see who these little people will be!

Jammies and personal style

Last night after she had a shower I told Kendall to go and get her pajamas on....This is what came back upstairs....