A Good Day

I go through periods of time when I post on Facebook once or twice a day, then go days with nothing 'Facebook worthy' to write about (whatever that means). I often find that I want to share things that are just too long for a status update, so I am attempting to blog more and just link to FB. That leads me to how my day started out. . .

Chris left for work really early this morning, and when I got up, I realized that we had nothing for breakfast. Like, nada. Well to be completely honest, we did have two bananas and a little milk, but I did not think that would fly as 'breakfast'. So I decided to be the 'cool, spontaneous' mom and take the girls out somewhere before dropping Marley off at school. It went something like this -  "Hey girls!! We are going to a restaurant for breakfast!" Lots of squealing and jumping up and down ensued, followed by me shouting, "We have ten minutes to get our teeth brushed, our clothes on and Marley's lunch packed, or we will be late for school!" Twelve minutes and about seventeen requests for Chandler to put her shoes on later, we were in the car on the way to the nearest breakfast joint - Ihop.  As we were walking in, I noticed that I had left my phone at home - no big deal, right? Well not exactly.

We ordered our food, colored on the menus for about 30 seconds, played one and a half games of Tic-Tac-toe (turns out, it is a rule that the kid goes first or the game is void), and bam - the food arrived. Our waiter, Raymond, was very attentive and brought the check shortly after we started eating.  That is when I realized that my phone was attached to my wallet. And. I. Had. No. Money.

Ok, I did not panic. Yet. Our bill was about $21, and I discovered that I was carrying exactly $13 in cash but only had my Macy's card in my purse since my credit card, debit card and drivers license were all in my phone-trapper-keeper-thingy that always seemed really slick until right about then. I said (out loud), "Uh oh, I left my money with my phone." Which completely freaked out Marley. At about that time, Raymond came by to offer me more coffee and Marley blurted out, "My mommy doesn't have any money!!" Nice. I politely explained my situation and swore that I would come back in twenty minutes and pay the remaining 8 dollars and some change. Raymond was very nice - said he understood and had been there before, but went to check with his manager. While he was gone, the lady sitting behind me said, "Excuse me, honey, I don't mean to be all up in your business, but I guess I am cause I heard you don't have enough money and I am happy to pay the difference for you." It was an interesting feeling that her kind offer gave me. I was very grateful and thanked her profusely, but promised that I would come back with the money.

Raymond returned a few minutes later and told me he chose not to speak to the manager, that he trusted me and would be there until one o'clock. I promised him again that I would be back in about 20 minutes, thanked the lady beside me again, grabbed the girls and bolted for the door - I did consider leaving the kids there as collateral, but thought better of it (just kidding!).

When I came back, Raymond thanked me several times, shared a story about his mom and a failed trip to Taco Bell, offered me another cup of coffee and then asked if he could ask me for a favor. He explained that the waitstaff are penalized if they cannot get customers to complete at least 5 surveys a week and asked if I would complete one for him. Of course!! I also tipped him ten dollars and gave thanks to God that today I was put into a situation that allowed me to witness compassion and grace. It also afforded me an opportunity to talk with the girls about the importance of helping one another when we are in need. It was a good day.

Rose-olph the Reindeer

Here's a little chuckle for you. . . Now that Marley is in kindergarten, most days we walk home from school. Well, on Monday she wore a headband decorated with reindeer antlers and on the way home she said, "Guess who I am?"
My super original guess was, "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer?"
She said, "No, Mama. I am Rose-olph, the girl reindeer." So me, the dense mom that I am, thought she was talking about the girl reindeer who has a crush on Rudolph in the movie, so I say, "Um, I don't remember her name, is it Claire?"
And then she says, "Maaammmaaa - I am Rose-olph, like Rudolph, but my nose is PINK not red, cause I'm a girl - so it's ROSE OFF!!" I am also pretty sure there was an unspoken, "Duh." at the end of that exclamation.

And then she said the funniest thing of all. "So, is Rudolph rude?" We were crossing a four lane street at this very moment, so I said, "No, hold my hand, Rudolph is not rude, why?"
And she says, "Cause his name is RUDE-off!"

Now that, people, is some funny stuff right there!

Wait, what year is it?

I think I will try to slide in at least 12 blogs between now and Christmas - just ignore the fact that they have all been squeezed in 2 months. ;)

It is hard to believe that we are halfway through October of 2012. Didn't I just have a baby? Oh yeah - Chandler turned 18 months on Thursday and our little Marley Moo will be five in four weeks. (let's not mention that I turned 35 in August - augh!)

Speaking of my age though - my thirties thus far have treated me very well. I think it is true what "they" say about your 30s being better than your 20s. I feel more settled. And happier. And appreciative. Life is good . . . even if I forget what year it is!

It's the last day of November, so . . .

. . .why do I already feel so far behind?? Well, let's see . . .
For starters, 9 out of 10 neighbors on our street decorated their houses on Thanksgiving weekend. We did not. (I mean come on, it was like 75 degrees. That just didn't feel like decorating weather!)

Secondly, I had all intentions of being the online ordering queen and taking advantage of "Cyber Monday". Yeah, I ordered 4 Christmas presents and then got overwhelmed and gave up.

And thirdly, we do not have our tree yet. Traditionally, we spend Thanksgiving weekend up in the mountains at my mom's house, and go the Saturday after Thanksgiving to a big mountainside tree farm to cut down a tree and bring it back home. But since my mom and Paul moved to Raleigh in September, we had Thanksgiving at our house, and I have not been jumping up and down to buy a tree that we didn't get to cut down. (I know, spoiled.)

BUT - on the positive side . . . We did watch Christmas Vacation on Thanksgiving. LOVE that movie!! And I have hauled most of my decorations down from the attic even if they are not officially "up" yet. We have also been visited by our "Elf on the Shelf"(Marley named him Elfie - and he's a sneaky little guy!) So tomorrow I'm going to jump into this Christmas season with both feet!! Merry Christmas, everyone!!!




Design: hurtigbredbaand.dk

A New Family Tradition

Ok - first of all, I know I am giving in to all of the EARLY holiday decorations and gifts in the stores, but it really has made me want to start shopping (and thinking about our Christmas card) about a month ahead of schedule. You win, consumerism!!!

The fun thing that I have taken from all of these IN YOUR FACE holiday products is the desire to start a new family tradition. Enter matching Christmas pajamas. Yes. I realize that to some of my "cool" friends and family, this may sound a little dorky (well, maybe a LOT dorky to a few of you - and you know who you are), but I will just throw this in the bag with Christmas Vacation (I love you Clark Griswold) and cream cheese & pepper jelly on Ritz crackers (just EAT it people).

So, if you plan to spend Christmas morning with the Windley's, you are going to be wearing a new set of Christmas pajamas. Preferably flannel. Now, I wonder how Santa will deliver the aforementioned pajamas? I'm thinking he delivers them along with the Elf on the Shelf that is going to appear sometime around Thanksgiving . . .

And just to get everyone else in the holiday mood a bit early, here are a few fun photos from last year.

 

Yes, that big red belly contains a baby!

 

 

 

 

Bailey Claus

 

Chris "engineering" Marley's Christmas gingerbread train.

Fall Farm Day

We headed out to Ganyard Farms this morning for the third year in a row to have a little fun on the farm. It was the most glorious day and we had an awesome time!

We all scream for ice cream

I am so freaking excited right now! Why? Because I have been struggling with how to celebrate Marley's upcoming 4th birthday (November 13th!), and I am finally getting over my "planner's block". The ideas are rolling in!

The only direction Marley had given me so far was "I want my friends to come to my house and play dress up". So, the "dress up party" invitations are currently in design at The Green Kangaroo and I've moved on to dessert ideas. :)

One of Marley's classmates had a birthday today and brought cupcakes to preschool. (The evidence on her face led me to the conclusion that they were of the chocolate variety.) She mentioned that she wanted cupcakes at her birthday party too; specifically "chocolate ones with chocolate syrup on top like an ice cream". Well, lo and behold - I found a recipe for cupcakes in an ice cream cone! Sweet!

I'm going to use these for inspiration:

But in Marley's world, neither cupcakes nor ice cream are complete without a rainbow of sprinkles, so I will definitely be adding those!!