Rudy's dad passed away tonight at 8:40. Please keep your family in his prayers. We will miss him very much-


Rest Peacefully Lito.

I have a very sad story. Today over my lunch I went to Kohls to get some pants for V. I had some spare time so I went in the dressing room to try on some clothes. there was only one other stall full and it was the one next to mine. There were two little kids in their with their mom and the girl was probably 2 or younger and the boy was probably 4. They were singing nicely to each other and the little girl was squeeling and screeming from excitement of her brother. Apparently the mom thought they were being too loud and she started reprimanding them. She went from 1 to 100 in point two seconds. all of a sudden I heard the loudest bangs on the wall and the little girl started screaming the most horrendous scream I have ever heard. The boy started screaming too and kept saying "stop hurting my sister!" "Stop doing that to my sister. " Then you'd hear another bang and he'd start screaming....then the baby again, then the bigger kid and the mom was SCREAMING at these kids while beating the snot out of them. I thought I was going to throw up. It was so loud, you could tell she was picking up the girl, beating on her and THROWING her back in the cart because the cart would slam up against the wall. I stood there, bawling and praying for those sweet babies and I wanted nothing more than to bust down that wall and sweep up those precious kids. I wanted so badly to call the cops right there and have them listen, It took everything I had in me not to bust down that door and beat the daylights out of that woman. (I wont even call her a mom because she was far from a mom.) I tell you, I was sick in a way I have never been sick before. I through on my clothes and left to get security. There, outside the dressing room, stood many many women just listening, not getting security, not assisting, just watching this go down. I was outraged. I could not decide what was the smartest thing to do but I wanted to help those kids. I told security who went in there. I have no idea what they did or what happened after that but I have thought about that all day. What was it that snapped in that women to cause her to beat her children. How bad does it get at home? Are they okay? Will she someday beat them to death? Did the security call the police? Was she allowed to cool off and go home as if nothing happened? I have thought of nothing else but how badly I wish I would have been the strength and words those children didnt have. I should have reached under that door and offered a hand for them to come out to, I should have yelled over there for her to get her hands off of those precious babies. I wanted to go off. I wanted to tell her to beat on me instead of those babies. She has forever changed who they are as people, she has forever changed me as a mother and a citizen. I will never forget that scream full of fear.

Pray for those babies. Pray for all the babies being abused, without a voice, without a way out. Pray for those kiddos who have no where safe.

Great weekend.

Stuffin Elmer

Rudy's niece Kaysha came into town to stay with us for a few nights. Vaughn and her got some good bonding time in.

She wasnt too sure about the straw/hay/whatever its called.

Cheering on the hawks in her cheer uniform.

From sports to glam.

Dad and Elmer- They are pretty tight.

For as long as I can remember we have been stuffing Elmer in the fall to sit on the porch and watch the house. We love Elmer- Vaughn on the other had has had nightmares about him since this night. " I dont yike papa's friend Emmer"

What decorates our fridge. My little picaso!


This weekend was just what I needed. While I got NOTHING done that I had planned, it was fun to relax, hang out with Kaysha and on Saturday we had "Gourmet night" at my parents and made awesome food. It was a great night, beautiful weather, and Elmer making all in one night.

The week has started again and as hard as it was for met o get up this morning, it was GREAT to wake up to rain and cold weather. It sure started my week off right.
We start Biggest Loser IMT tomorrow at work, we're having weekly meetings and weigh ins. Wish me luck, we all are putting in 10 dollars and the winner wins the pot of money! That would be nice!

Have a nice FALL week everyone.

abstract rules fail

I have been thinking alot lately of all the virtues and "rules of life" that we all hear and know and idealy would be great but how abstract they are and how much they fail us, or we fail them because trully what do they mean. I think back on my life and realize that many of them I ignored becuase they were not realistic, I had no true idea of what they meant and they seemed poetic and ideal vs realistic. I dont want Vaughnie to ever feel like I give her unattainable rules or standards so I have been thinking about the things I knew but didnt understand and how to better explain them to her without the cliche when she gets older.

Example: We are always told growing up in church to "GUARD YOUR HEART." Really? What? I now, just recently, have truly grasped the meaning of that. But growing up, even until probably this year, I thought it was such a cliche stupid thing to say. Really, guard your heart? I thought it meant you shouldn't get close to anyone except your future spouse, guard it from getting hurt, the only way to do this is to avoid meaningful relationships with people, I couldn't hire a soldier to man the entrance to my emotions and I couldn't build a high gate around my heart so I just through out that life lesson. I can honestly say that I just didn't get it. No explaination was ever given about it.. All I remember EVER being told was "guard your heart." And it went in one ear and out the other. I now get it and wish it had not gone out the other ear....

I feel like that has been the case with alot of lessons I am just now learning. I had heard them before but they were never explained, never spoken in laymen terms, never broken down with examples....just said and moved on and you were expected to believe them and know what they meant. Well I didnt.

Its kind of like telling a teenager "dont use credit cards." Really? Why not. Unless you sit with a bill and break down what you pay now vs what you will pay with plastic, the monthly payments, the commitment that it takes to pay off a credit card and explain the anxiety having debt can cause, its not real- you dont know what it means other than someone thinks its a wise choice not to use them. In my opinion thats not enough. No, people dont learn from others mistakes all the time, but it has to be a rule that makes sense, that has substance.

I am not saying i didnt understand my parents rules, most of them i clearly understood- I am just saying that there are somethings now in life that I wish had been clearer then. Hindsight right? I didnt ever realize that I didnt get it. I didnt get that my thinking was completely off and that this rule (along wiht others) were not just antient sayings, but they needed evaluation.

Anyone else feel like this?

Glorious Victory

What a win HAWKS!!! Our house was beaming...though interest was not as high during the second half because it was so clear that we had not only stomped them but taken our shoe and ground them deep into their own soil. Must have been ruff to be a cyclone today. hahahahahah.

We went shopping today and stopped into build a bear...mainly just to see if she would be interested in going there at this age or not....I was thinking of having some friends of hers go there for her birthday- that is out of the picture now because she would. not. let. go of this puppy they had there....so, I called rudy and he said just to get it for her. i really wanted him to be there becuase i think its special but she had done so great with me trying on clothes etc that I decided she needed a reward anyways. she is LOVING that silly dog. Though, she did cry and cry and cry while stuffing it becuase she thought she was "hurting puppy." I can imagine from a childs mind that it looks very painful to be stuffed. sweet girl.

I am so anxious to get going on my holiday shopping but know that I will be wanting to do it from now until Christmas and I am scared if I start now I will wish I had waited and gotten somehting else later or else that I will just continue to shop from now until Christmas....neither of those are ideal. I am getting some good ideas for Vaughn and filled up the amazon.com cart with gifts for her but havent let myself order them. I prefer to go to the store and shop, i like to see the things, play with them, read the backs of them and carry them around in case i change my mind while doing other shopping. Online, its so final...click continue and your done....and returns are so much harder. I picked up a book the other day for a birthday present....and she found it and has been asking about it since. (Its a mickey mouse seek and find book and she is currently obsessed with mickey mouse clubhouse). It might be hard to hide gifts....maybe ill have to keep stuff at my parents house until the holidays. I am so excited for her this year because i think she will "get it" a little more.

I am also SUPER excited for the color drive. I cannot stinking wait. September seems like its already been a long month and I think that is because I am such a planner...and september is an empty month for me. october thru December is packed with plans....


i am still trying to find a birthday idea for vaughn's party. I have ideas- but with house looking and not knowing where we will be or if we will be moving that weekend, i dont know the date to plan the party or where to plan it. hope we get something figured out soon!

Have a fun weekend. hopefully we are out of the 80's this coming week and back down to the high 60s. Perfect.

Birthdays, Baseball and Bonfires.

What a fun long weekend we have had! Plans were to head to the Quad Cities and visit Rudy's family and see his aunts who were flying in to stay with his dad for a month. However, after some turn of events, Rudy decided it was better for us to stay here and he would go up Saturday night and stay for abit and come home. It was going to be quite Chaotic and full of mahem and he was afraid that I would get overstimulated (I'm worse than a child in that aspect and my mood quiickly turns sour) and that Vaughn wouldnt have space to play and be on her schedule. It ended up being for the best becuase we were able to use some baseball tickets I had lying around that my work had given me at the beginning of summer and Friday night was the perfect night for baseball. A long time ago I committed a major sort of lie and signed Rudy and I up for Red Robin Birthday Burgers every. single. month. They go to our junk mail so typically we miss them but I cought mine this month and printed it out. Basically the night was free. We enjoyed red robin for dinner(which i think gave me slight food poisoning) and then went to the game and let me tell you- the weather and atmosphere was just what the doc ordered. We had a blast and the fire works were stinking awesome. the best ive seen I think. It was so much fun. We made it to four games in all this summer as a family and rudy made it to many more with his work and baseball team. Now its time for Football mindset.

Speaking of football....GO HAWKS! The game on Saturday was too close for comfort but made for an exciting game, a great start to the saturday and full blown excitement in the kinney family for some good ole Hawkeye football season!!! This coming weekend will be football all around in our household. IA/IA state game saturday and the Bears kickoff game on Sunday. I wont tell Rudy, but I am prettty excited for both games!

Sunday night we were invited to my parents for a bonfire. We had so much fun. My mom made a cute picnic and we had some good ole fashion bonfire food (beans, hotdogs, chips, roasted mallows) and papa and gma had the golf cart out for rides. While the kiddos came close to roasting themselves many times in the fire, we got through the night in one piece (and non-roasted kiddos). They are so funny togheter- gabi rolled down the hill and within seconds, vaughn and andre were following....i love that they had no care of grass stains, bugs, or rolling into the fire) We had some good conversations and did a (pathetic) round of story telling. Andre enchanted us with "sky...star....sky...star" for the latter part of the evening and Gabi was excited to tell about preschool. I just love when we are all able to get together and relax. I wish I would have set up my tent and we could have camped out under the "star.....sky....star....sky".

And that brings us to today. No big plans other than a walk and some painting time with Vaughn. Laundry and picking up. Rudy will be home this afternoon and Vaughn has been asking about him all morning. I hope everyone is having an awesome long weekend. The best part is...this means only a 4 day work week! YIPPEE!!!

I have another great blog for you all to read. Again, this is from a tip off my cousin Meghan in Louisiana. This one is a very interesting view on football dollars and God dollars. Super interesting article. This is not a blog I read daily or weekly but occasionally jump to it and this was a great post! http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com/2009/08/cost.html.