A moving force

I had a lot to say all day, but didn't write it down.

A story that I had meant to tell, but forgot. (Foreshadowing) We have some next-door neighbors that are an old-retired couple. They are originally from a state that talks slower than we yuppers. One of the first things Scott did when we moved in was cut some branches that were hanging in our driveway from the neighbors tree. This tree is planted a foot from the lot line. He did go and talk to them about it. The guy made a comment like, "you have something against trees?" and we weren't sure how to take that. So each year Scott trims the tree parts that hang in our yard. And these branches are literally hanging in our faces and our cars hit them when we drive in the driveway.

This couple watches their grand kids every so often. These kids are ages 8 to 13. These kids have done the ding dong ditch to us. These kids aren't watched when they are outside.

Last year we put up a white vinyl fence in our backyard to keep the kids in. It also helps to keep everyone else out. It has one gate and we keep it locked for two reasons. 1) So the babies can't get out. 2) Deter nighttime visitors from entering our garage from the back.

These grand kids of the neighbors seem to always get a ball over in our yard when they are over. The neighbor is nice enough to come over and ask if they can go in the back yard to get the ball. I do appreciate that. But it seems like the kids keep hitting the balls over the fence when they are playing baseball. The ball they use is a smaller light ball that is normally used by toddlers for play. You know, those 97 cent balls from Walmart?
So last week, I had put the babies down and they were not falling asleep. And ding-dong, the neighbor rings the doorbell. Don't people universally know that at 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon not to ring the doorbell of a homeowner who has young children. Really? So they go get the ball. Five minutes later I see someone running in our backyard getting it again. More time elapses and I see a head and an upper torso of a kid leaning on our back fence. Not sure if they are trying to climb it or see over. Another kid runs and gets the ball.
Scott walks in the room a few minutes later and as I'm about to tell him this story, it happens again. Head and torso leaning on the top of our fence and a kid in the yard. Well, of course I flip out and tell Scott to go talk to them or I will (and it won't be nice).

Scott goes and talks to the kids. He told them to hit the other way, not towards our fence. And the ball keeps going underneath the fence the kids say. The ball isn't a normal softball or hardball, its those inflatable kind. There is NO WAY that it is going underneath our fence and traveling 30 feet into our yard. Light balls like that don't have that momentum. Well, unless someone is sitting right on the other side of the fence and batting it through. Hooligans.

Did this ever happen to you? Have you ever had a sore or pimple in your ear? It hurts like a, a, I can't say the word I really want to say. Actually its a three part word. I have one right behind that thing that sticks out in your ear canal. So of course it hurts if I lie on that side.

I took Katie, Sam, Jacob, Matthew, Brooke and John to Sam's Club today. Katie pushed Matthew in a cart and I had the other two monkeys. We were quite the interesting spectacle. As we were approaching the main aisle, I had to stop because another woman was in the main aisle and she had 7 or 8 kids with her. She called her group a "moving force." Which means, don't get in my way or we'll trample you.

So later as we were eating she went by with her litter and asked if the kids were all mine. I said four of the six were. And since she asked me, I asked her if they were all hers and she said yes. The thing I noticed after I asked was that she had a child of another race with her and I'm guessing that this woman adopted some of the kids or she's a foster parent. But seriously, I couldn't even count all the kids because they kept moving around so much. It was seven or eight though.

One of my proud moments today was at City Park in Appleton. I was pushing Brooke and she looked at Shell Dinter and said, "Shell". She normally doesn't point out peoples names. None of the kids do. Well, they will for mama and daddy and Jacob and Cosmo. That makes her family. Another cute thing is that Brooke and John have been calling Matthew, "Math". And now Jacob calls Brooke, "Brookster".

Very Interesting.