That one time my kids endeared themselves to a Home Depot employee

Munchkins on Mother's Day

Lots of times I find myself telling the silly or ridiculous stories about my children, usually for comic relief or to share in the "we're all crazy!!!" craziness.  We all love those stories and they are fun to tell.  Likewise, I also find it helpful to share the good stories, the ones that redeem your faith in humanity (or, just your children) from time to time too.  We need to share the good, lest we forget.

So here's another one for ya.

Last Friday night after we ate at Moe's (welcome to Moooooe's!) we ran over to Home Depot to get my Mother's Day gift.  Awh, isn't that sweet? What mom doesn't shop at Home Depot for Mother's Day? Well actually, we were going to get a spice rack for our pantry, and seriously, I wanted that for Mother's Day. Like, for real.  I really need my spices organized.  In a rack.

It kind of looked like this, except in a cart, at Home Depot...
and so, not really like this at all.

Also, Home Depot for men is like Target for women.  You can just keep walking around and around, and finding more stuff that you think would make your home awesome. Well, we found the spice rack we wanted, and were walking around looking at random things, when the kids, who were securely seated in one of those race-car carts, started getting a little fussy.  So I decided to see if they could distract themselves by seeing if they could give each other a hug (brilliant mom moment, right?).  They both have their affectionate moments, and they seemed to be aligned that night so they began hugging each other, a lot.  I'm not going to lie, it was adorable.  You'd think I'd have the perfect picture of them doing it too because I'm always snapping pics of them, but I was afraid if I moved in front of them to snap a picture, they'd stop doing it, or they'd want to hold my phone, and the moment would be over. So I just stood behind them pushing the cart, mentally savoring this moment of mutual adoration and love they were having for each other.

The moment was kind of like a mashup of this and the last picture.
(also don't try this stroller maneuver at home)

We were approaching the checkout, and the employee behing the register was just completely *endeared*.  He was lovin' it!! As they kept on hugging, releasing, and then hugging again, he was exclaiming, "Oh my goodness! I just love this! These kids are so cute! They are making my day!  This is the cutest thing ever.  Oh my goodness!" and putting his hands on his head like,  WOAH.

Greg and I both knew this was not completely normal behavior for our kids, but we did not try to excuse it like, "Oh, sometimes they fight!" or, "You should've seen them earlier.  Just horrible!" We just laughed and smiled along with the guy and I might've said something like, "I just asked if they could give each other a hug and this is what they started doing..." and then as we were wheeling the still-hugging kids out of the store, Mia shouts, "BIBLLLLLE!" (bible)  She does that because she knows it's one of the words Gabe can say, so if she's trying to coax Gabe into talking, she'll say, "bible!" or "Da-da!" to see if he'll respond.  That "bible" shout was like the cherry on top for this Home Depot employee.  I think he might have gone to Nirvana after that; our kids just lifted his soul so much.

And so that was how my squirrelly, rambunctious and crazy-fast growing kids made the night of an employee at Home Depot.

Endearing Moments

No relation to the story - just a fun picture of the gal

The other night, Mia warmed a few hearts during a small-group bible study...

Sunday nights at our church, we're meeting in classrooms to discuss a set of bible readings we've done Monday-Friday of the previous week. One of the stories we read the other week was about the Golden Calf in Exodus. Last week, Greg explained the story to Mia in his own words, and on the way to church Sunday night, he reviewed it with her.  An elder is leading our small group's discussion, and Greg told Mia that he might ask the little kids some questions, and that it would be okay if she answered. He also told her that he would probably speak up in class.  So anyway, that's a little intro....

When we had moved onto the Golden Calf story and the elder was segueing into that, Greg leaned down to the floor (where Mia was sitting), and whispered, "This is the story we talked about!" and as soon as Joe finished saying, "Who can tell me what happened when Moses went up on the mountain?" and was kind of looking at the kids--but not directly at Mia--Mia immediately piped up and started telling the story, in her own words, not even raising her hand, and looking directly at Joe.

It sounded a little like this:

"Moses went up on the mountain to talk to God, and the people stayed at 'the down of the mountain' and, and, and, and, um...and the people took their necklaces and their earrings off and they made a baby cow out of their jewelry."   

(It definitely took her a lot longer to say all that than it did for me to type it...it felt like it lasted 3 minutes in real life but she was probably talking for maybe a minute.)

Joe said, 

"That pretty much sums it up. It sounds like you've been studying that this week."

It was really cute and she spoke very confidently and clearly; I think everyone could understand her, and meanwhile Greg and I were trying to not cry because it was a very proud moment. I saw two people across from me whose eyes were watering, and I had to take Gabe out a minute or so later and people were looking at me like, "Awwwwwwh" and becoming kinda weepy.  I was actually hiding a little bit behind Gabe while she was talking because while I wasn't embarrassed, I could feel myself getting red from all the attention I know she was bringing our way.  It was a good thing and it was really cute. I think the clincher in her story was "baby cow." That probably sent everyone over the edge. 

And then, Gabe.

Silly boy eating frozen blueberries before dinner

how to sign "milk"

This story actually took place the night before.  Greg & I went out on a date (woohoo!) and our babysitter, "Miss K," was to put both of our kids down for bed.  I explained to her how we put Gabe down, especially if I'm not there to feed him right at bedtime, and that swaddling helps him feel comfy and cozy.  When we got home, both kids were asleep and all was well.  Miss K told me later though, that when she was rocking Gabe to sleep, he got his arms out of the swaddle and was banging his hands at her chest. She thought he was just moving around until she realized he was holding his hands in her face signing MILK (looks like you're milking a cow).  She thought it was so precious he was doing that to her, and meanwhile I was in shock that he actually knew to do that, and I also though it was just a tad hilarious.  Hey, LADY, where's MY MILK???  Especially since he was hitting her in the chest. Oh, Gabe. Those moves won't work when you're older!!