A Year Without Pop

So, I totally made it the whole year without pop! And when the time came to drink pop again, I didn't really feel like it.  I've had pop a few times since the beginning of the new year, but I want to drink other things instead.  I still want a Coke or a Faygo Rock n Rye every now and then, but that's it.  Now, what else can I give up...

Cheers!

The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight

Last year, I had the Halloween I have been dreaming about for years.  And it wasn't because I was taking my two year old out for trick-or-treating.  It was because our new neighborhood is amazing.

Have you ever seen Hocus Pocus?  Or Ernest Scared Stupid?  Or pretty much any kiddie Halloween movie or TV show?  All those neighborhoods are amazing.  Tons of kids in the streets running around in their costumes getting candy.  All the houses decorated.  Parents dressed up and heading to parties.  Everyone having a good time.  Everyone enjoying the festivities.  I've always wanted to live in a place where everyone, or almost everyone, is excited about the same thing.  A place where you can drop your kids off and you know nothing will happen to them.  Well, last night, after crossing the street to the connecting neighborhood, Gunnar and I walked into just that.

There were so many people.  Houses had lines of kids waiting for their piece of candy.  Kids were running around having fun.  You could hear screaming from the houses that went all out (I'm talking people dressed up and hanging out in their front yards) and see all the lights flashing.  I've never seen anything like it.  I wondered if our neighborhood was going to get as much foot traffic, we weren't as decorated as this block and our houses were spaced farther apart.  But they were crossing the street in small groups heading our way.  I asked if Kevin would stay behind and hand out our candy.  He did, and Gunnar and I went to do a round of trick-or-treating.

When we got back to the house, all the lights were on and there was a line heading to our door.  It's a testament to the kids' desire to get free candy, all of them were climbing the large hill to our front door.  Next year, I plan to pull out all the stops for decorating.  I want our side of the street to be just as popular as the other side. 

Cheers!

Gunnar trick-or-treats in style

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the Haus of Kendi!

Cutest little scarecrow ever!

Father's Day 2016

I think Kevin had a good Father's Day.  It was kinda hot so we tried to do fun things outside. I got him a hammock so he had to set that up immediately and we went for ice cream at the The Parlour.  They are known for giant sized servings of everything.  It was a fun day.

At The Parlour, Little Man got his very own sundae!

I think Kevin likes his present...

Father's Day pic.  This is the new spot.  (Until I plant some flowering tress by the house :)

Mother's Day 2016

Despite Schueler's restaurant trying to ruin my day, I had a great Mother's Day weekend with my boys.  Kevin took Gunnar out and gave me some time to unpack and organize, which I really wanted to do.  My gift from Kevin was new gardening supplies.  We have a pretty decent size piece of property that we own now so I want to make it shine.  I've planted a lot so far and am really proud of it.

I've also been waiting for the day of school project gifts and that day arrived on the Friday.  Waiting for me on the kitchen counter when I got home were three gifts from Gunnar!  A marigold planted in a Styrofoam cup he decorated with stickers, a picture frame with a poem and a picture from school, and a "mom's first aid" kit in a Chinese food container.  

My heart totally exploded.

Cheers!

Mother's Day pic 2016

"Art project!"

April RAoK

Still not doing so well with the RAoK.  I just freeze when I want to do something.  Am I going to offend someone?  Interfere with some plan they have?  I don't know.  Being kind shouldn't be this hard...

1.  Gave my Aldi cart to another customer.  Didn't take the quarter back.

2.  Tried to be nicer driving.  Let people get in front of me at driveways. 

3.  Leaving tips for good customer service...even when they really didn't do anything.  (carry out)

Cheers

March RAoK

For March, I had a really big random act of kindness and some small ones.  The really big one was I paid for a WWII veteran's prescriptions when I was at CVS.  I was disappointed that his daughter was not going to pay for them.  So I did.  No veteran should have to cover medicine, ever, in my opinion.

The second was small.  I picked up a guys coat that fell off his chair at a restaurant.  He was at the bar and completely oblivious to it laying on the floor.  I've also been trying to be nicer while driving.  You know, letting people in front of me at driveways or changing lanes.  

Baby steps.

Cheers.

Happy Easter!

We had some drama getting up to Easter, but I'm so happy its here!  Gunnar had an Easter egg hunt at school and then we tried to see the Easter Bunny.  That didn't go too well so we didn't get a pic.

On Saturday morning, we went to participate in the Jackson College Easter egg hunt.  It wasn't really a "hunt", more of a "pick-up".  The kids and parents in Gunnar's age group did really well.  Most of the parents we just following their kids around and holding baskets for them.  Gunnar really liked picking the eggs up, opening them, and dropping them to the ground.  He was putting eggs in other people's baskets and tried to take some one's (he didn't have a baskets, just a paper bag they gave us). We had fun and it was free.  We then tried to see the Easter Bunny again.  This time went much better.  I think Gunnar was having so much fun running around outside and the mall that he forgot to be scared by the giant bunny.

On Easter Sunday, we had brunch with my mom where Gunnar had another Easter egg hunt.  But, unfortunately, he was too late to get the goodies in the eggs.  They went to a very resourceful squirrel.  He did get a bunch of chocolate cake so I think it worked itself out.

Happy Easter!!

The Kendi Haus

Easter egg hunt at school

   

Here's a video of Gunnar's first big Easter egg hunt.  It was so fun with all the kids and parents.

New Easter tradition?

New toy from the Easter Bunny!

Easter Sunday egg hunt at Busia's

He loves cake!

2016 New Year's Resolutions

Every year I make the same New Year's resolutions.  You know, lose weight, be nicer, save money. The same ones everyone makes.  This year, I made the same ones, but I added some very specific, attainable goals too.  The first?  Give up pop for a year.  So far, I've actually stuck to this one.  It's been hard.  I really like pop.  But, how cool would it be to say I gave it up for a year?!

The second:  do two random acts of kindness a month.  This one is turning out to be harder than I thought.  I kind of cheated for January.  I didn't expect to be so shy and timid when I see an opportunity to do something nice.  It frustrates me that I, and society, can't really speak out or act without fear of offending some one or getting physically hurt.  I don't want to be this way and I want to be the change in the world.  It's going to be a long year...

Cheers!

Here are my January RAoK;

1:  bought GS cookies for soldiers (you can do this right on the order form)

2:  grabbed this on my way out of Kroger.  Hey, start small end big.

And my February RAoC:

I offered multiple homeless people food.  They didn't take it (said they had enough food). This both hurt my feelings and bugged me.  But I'm still going to keep trying.