You should be ashamed...

Tonight as my children slumber peacefully in their beds, I watch the news. This is something rare for me - I prefer not to fill my head with the negativity so often broadcast these days. However tonight I am filled with a curiosity that leaves me feeling sick to my stomach.

We as the human species have come so far from the hunter-gatherer days in our early history. We are smart, logical, technologically advanced - but tonight I wonder what the mother's of these violent protestors are thinking.

Are your mothers and fathers proud of your looting, destruction and blatant disregard for life and property? Do they cheer you on as they watch you crawl through a broken door in the liquor store - with your pockets and arms full of stolen goods? Is your father congratulating himself on raising a son or daughter who drenches a police car in lighter fluid and subsequently igniting it into a blaze? Would your grandmother or great grandmother be proud of the way you threw glass bottles at police officers or fired your gun into a crowd?

Perhaps you are a parent yourself...

Would you change your actions if you knew your young son or daughter was watching you on live television? In this day and age your actions will live on for eternity thanks to the internet. Perhaps one day this will be part of a history class and they may see their mother or father's face on a video shown for historical purposes.

Would you be proud of that?

What purpose does the violence serve? In this country it seems we still have problems - not of color - but of entitlement. Inequalities exist everywhere - and I ask you - violent protestor - how is your violence going to improve these things? How will breaking windows, taking property that is not yours, and disrupting life - how will those things bring change?

This is humanity at its worst...

A life was lost - but how many more lives have been lost because of the protesting? How many more people will have to die tonight, tomorrow or the next day?

One of the reasons I don't watch the news is because I don't want to have to explain beheadings, looting, murders, drug abuse - to my kids as they stop and stare at the screen. They need to know that the world is good - at least mostly.

If this is ever going to end - people have to set aside the color excuses. They need to treat each other as people and not as colors. Stop using color as an excuse and start looking at your individual actions. I wasn't there when the young man was killed - and neither were most of the individuals protesting and rioting. However, I have to trust the judicial system because that is what they are there for. It's sad for the family who is grieving - I accept this.

What I don't accept, however, is the reaction. Be the change you want to see in the world. Surely these people don't want to return to a world where martial law is supreme - as it is not ideal for any one on either side.

So I go back to my original question for the violent protestors - Didn't your parents teach you better? Or did you set their houses on fire when you didn't like the way they answered your questions when you were a child? It's time to end the temper tantrums and move forward. Use that energy to do something good - stop wasting time and resources.

I think I will go back to turning off the news as a rule....

Hinze Family Christmas Card 2010

Joy Sky Story Christmas 5x7 folded card

Shop Shutterfly.com for elegant Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0CYtWrZw5aMXIA

Loose Teeth

I must admit that I was very skeptical when maddie came to me this morning and told me she was getting a new tooth and that her tooth hurt.

"It's loose," she complained.

I examined it and sure enough - it's wiggling - a lot. 

Just out of curiosity I checked the one next to it and it's loose as well. 

She's still 4- won't be 5 until the end of February. 

For a moment I was gripped with dread - was there something wrong that was causing her teeth to become loose at such an early age? I kept thinking about my best friend's boy Todd who lost his teeth towards the end of kindergarten and here my daughter is still in preschool and close to losing one!

I checked all the teeth on opposite sides of her loose ones and they are firmly anchored in her mouth - for now. 

I'd have to pull out her baby book to see when she got her first tooth, but i think it may have been in her 4th or 5th month, maybe 6 months at the latest. I guess they say that the earlier you get them the earlier you lose them...

Selfishly I'm not ready for this - at all. This means she's growing up and it's just one more piece of her young childhood that is falling away - literally.

The bright side - of course - is that it looks like Santa and the Tooth Fairy are going to have to carpool to our house this year. My bet is that the first tooth will come out around then!

Thanksgiving - a day in pictures

We had a fabulous feast this year - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato souffle, gravy, rainbow jell-o mold, green bean casserole, homemade wheat rolls, pumpkin pie, apple pie, pilgrim pies (pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting in between), grape salad.

We had 14 people for dinner and it was great - the kids played, the adults cooked and chatted. It was one of the most relaxing and laid back Thanksgivings ever. There were no restrictions, no expectations and no other places to rush off to this year. My sister didn't have to go to work after the meal - or before it - and everyone was so sleepy after eating that all 4 beds in the house were occupied by tryptophan afflicted individuals.

I love that everyone is so comfortable with each other - that it doesn't matter whose bed you end up sleeping in - there are no worries there!

My grandma joined us for dinner - my mom went and signed her out of the place she lives in Crestview so she could spend some time with the family. She was in good spirits - exclaiming "I know you!" when she saw me walk out on the porch. Her words are still so jumbled - an ongoing symptom of the dementia and Alzheimer's that is robbing her of her lucidity and coherence.

She said "grace" this year. She volunteered and as we all stood in a circle, holding hands - she blessed all who came - and then added a few more stories into the prayer. My mom jumped in and said an exuberant "AMEN" right after she started talking about some man and a bowl... It makes me sad because somewhere buried deep beneath the scales of her disease is an old Southern Baptist preacher's wife - who once gave beautiful and sometimes long-winded prayers.

After everyone except me and the kids and my mom had napped - we packed up - just the four of us - and headed home to drop off the necessary containers of leftovers (I'm enjoying a plate as I type!). I must say that there wasn't much turkey leftover and I'm going to buy one tomorrow so we can have some more and I can make turkey soup and freeze some of it for later meals.

Wyatt fell asleep in the truck - so we decided we'd drive around and ended up at the Destin Commons - the kids played, we walked around and eventually ended up at Books a Million - where the kids played with the train table - I scoped out their offerings in the Pregnancy, Childbirth and Breastfeeding section (not bad for once) and Maddie collected every pony, unicorn and puppy stuffed animal she could hold in her arms.

It was all in all - a most wonderful day - free from unnecessary stresses (and I can't believe we made it through a holiday without some kind of blowup as there were so many of us cooking in the kitchen at the same time!).

I am thankful that it is over - because the Christmas season now starts officially for us - but sad at the same time because it's just another reminder that time passes by too quickly and there is another year gone with many accomplishments and as many failures.

Here are some pictures to go with my stories :)

Family Picture:



Mike picking at the turkey prior to dinner and my dad playing around with him

Get out of the turkey!


Maddie, Wyatt and Lona resting on the deck after the meal



Naptime


Natalie was in there somewhere

Mike changed beds!

Jerry in the guest room


Self portraits



Mom and her mom (grandma grace)



The kids playing Scrabble


Look how smart Wyatt is - he spelled his name!


Maddie spelled hers too!


Silly Pictures





Three Generations of girls



Mom and Jerry (he's 16 now!) Can you believe how tall he is?




Me and my "baby" brother - he's almost 14 years younger!


Dancing to the Wiggles with Mimi





The three of us were all holding hands walking up to the Commons - it was cute!


Fun at the Playground



Starbucks





Playing on the boats at Bass Pro Shops






Books A Million





On the way back to the truck









All in all it was a pretty fun day - and now that I've accomplished my goal of getting all these pictures up - I'm going to do some online Christmas looking. Mike just told me tonight that one of the families he works for - who has always treated us like their own kids and treat Maddie and Wyatt like their grandkids - because they don't have any yet - asked me to email them with present ideas for maddie and wyatt so they can have a present for them under their tree. We'll probably go see them on Christmas Day again - something I'm looking forward to!

And after that I might work on my website a little bit more - I haven't announced it yet - because I want to finish it all before I put up the address!