There really aren’t too many “adventures” to add. Just a couple of really funny ones, at least I think!!
On Halloween day, I was making some homemade mac and cheese for the homeless shelter lunch. The corrdinator brings the ingredients and receipe over and we just make it and deliver it. This reciepe was a bit involved and was turning into a disaster with 5 kids also wanting my attention. I finally decided to put them to work. I had Jaime stirring stuff in the kitchen and Alix reading to the little ones. I put Afton in the high chair with food. Ok, control. The next thing I know Jaime is making gagging sounds. ‘whats wrong?’ I ask. ‘You are putting tomatoes on that mac and cheese’ she says. ‘Yes I am’. Jaime ends with ‘I sure do feel sorry for those homeless people, having to eat mac and cheese with tomatoes on top!!’. I just couldn’t stop laughing!!
*warning…..long story, but worth it, I think*
On Thursday, November 1, we went to Jaime’s dance class. As soon as it was over we crossed the parking lot to get into the car. Just then a truck pulls into the parking lot followed by a police officer. Of course the truck pulls in one parking stall after me and the cop pulls up behind my car, making a T. Right behind my car, if he wasn’t careful he may have hit my car. **Tangent** There are two kinds of people in this world that scare me to death. Not sure why, but absolutely scare me. Police officers, and black women (perhaps from my Sacramento days). Whatever the reason, I’m scared. **Back to story** The police man and I make eye contact. Ok, he knows I’m there, he sees me with my kids and he sees we are getting in the van. This must be a routine traffic stop, they will be gone in a few minutes. I’ll just let him do his job, I’ll get my kids in the car and all will be fine. So, I rearrange some car seats (we’ve been wanting to do this), took Milo and Niah to the bathroom, put everyone in their car seats and even gave them all snacks. Cop still hasn’t moved, but he’s writting a ticket, this is a good sign. I get in my seat and call Scott. Tell him what’s going on and let him know I might be slightly late to pick him up. He asked ‘why don’t you go and ask him to move?’. The real reason??? I’m petrified that he might arrest me. What I try to convince myself of….I don’t want to obstruct justice. So I sit there a few minutes longer and decide to just go ask him to move. I look out the window and see the officer getting the guy out of his truck. Then I look in my rear view mirror and notice another officer has shown up. Then they start searching the guy and he starts to undress. Ok, this is getting out of hand. Lucky for us there were some cheerleaders practicing and so I instructed my children to watch the cheerleaders, not the cops. I call Scott back, inform him that if I were to ask them to move now, two officers and a half naked guy would have to move. It was too late for me, I was in for the long haul. I devised a plan with the kids that if we went out the one door and headed straight for the cheerleaders, they could play on the grass instead of sit in the car. At this point we were 30 minutes into this ordeal. We made it safely to the grass and the kids started playing like nothing was wrong. I on the other hand kept trying to get the courage up to go ask if they could all move so I could leave. Now they had the passenger guy out of the car and was searching him too, no clothes came off though. A couple of times I started to walk over to the “scene”, would make eye contact with one of the officers and turn around and walk away. I finally thougt of calling my friend who is a police officer and ask them if they would arrest me for asking them to move. As I quickly related the situation she said ‘go tell them to move’. I again explained what that would ential. Again she said ‘go tell them to move! you have children with you and a husband that needs to be picked up, go tell them to move’. With the confidence of a police friend I rounded the corner one last time to ask them to move and saw the two guys get back in their truck and drive away. Whao, all that and they just ended up driving away. I called to the kids and they all ran over to the van. As I started to load the kids I caught one of the officers attention and asked how much longer they would be. They kindly smiled and said they were sorry and they moved right away. Boy, I wish I did not have a fear of police officers. I could have left 45 minutes earlier and would not have made Scott wait in the dark at the shuttle stop. My poor kids didn’t see a very good example either. I’ll do better next time…….
Anyway, also this night I had a “girls night out”. A cute sister in the ward is from Peru. She doesn’t have any family here and is pregnant with number one. Her husband is pretty clueless too, so Jen and I told her that we would take her out and help her register for some essentials and then later this month we are going to have a baby shower for her. Anyway, I was late picking her up too, but in the end we had a great time. It was fun to impart knowledge upon an unknowing soul, but it also helped me to remember how much time you have when it’s your first and all those “nessesary” items you have become less “necessary” the more kids you have. Anyway, we shopped and scanned for over two hours and we were all beat by the time we were done. I’m sure she appreciated it. It was hard to tell because of the lanugage barrier, but we had a good time anyway.
Friday we had an early appointment in Pleasanton and then an Enrichment activity right after and then some friends came over for lunch. So by 1 in the afternoon we were all beat! We just relaxed and played for the rest of the day. It was nice. After Scott got home and we put all the kiddos to bed, he and Jaime went on a daddy daughter date. That was fun for them. I stayed home and watched a movie.
Saturday was spent doing chores. We had quite a few to do since the week had been busy and we had neglected our daily chores. But we got done in enough time for Scott to go to the park with the kids. We had the sister missionaries over for dinner and that was fun too. Then Scott and Milo went to Joey’s house to watch some boxing and eat some good food. Scott didn’t get home till 11. I thought he was crazy! But then he ended up staying up later because he got interested in a book. Crazy man!
Sunday has been nice. Since we got the extra hour, the kids woke up happier and we didn’t have the “rush” out the door like we usually do. We even got there in enough time to set up the chairs in Scott’s classroom. Chruch services went well. Jaime had her final roadshow practice. I stayed with her and Scott took the little ones home. I ended up filling in for someone who could not be there. It was kinda fun. The skit seems to be good and will get lots of laughs, I’m sure. Jaime knows her part very well and will do a great job. We walked home together and we both enjoyed that very much. We had quiet time and then we went on a family walk since the weather is so nice here. We had dinner and then played family games till bed time. There are two kids left who need to go to bed and then I think Scott and I will retire. With such a late night last night, we need to recharge!
We love you all and hope things are well for you.
Comments are closed.