Humming Bird Madness

 My Grandpa is a bird watcher.  I have never really had the desire to watch birds, but my mom has this insane obsession with feeding the humming birds in the summertime.  It was just a little hobby at first, with 1 feeder...but it has exploded into 4 feeders now that she re-fills about 3 times a day.  I don't even want to guess how much money she has to spend on sugar to fill it up!

There are about 10-15 humming birds around her back windows at any given time during a summer day.
 I love their tiny little feet!

Crazy birds!  They are soooo hard to photograph, they move so fast.  Just look at the little suckers, they have drained this feeder in about 3 hours!

The time I got so worked up I yelled back.

I don't get angry very easily.  (Frustration with my kids doesn't count.)  I am talking about getting into drama with friends.  And especially with complete strangers.  I am the person that gets ticked, but keeps it ALL in.  Most of the time I am terrible with words and an awesome comeback pops into my head about 3 weeks later, and by then the problem is blown over or I just don't care enough to pursue it. 

I was at the mall a couple weeks ago with a friend, and we were in Dillards.  (The was a really good sale going on and we couldn't resist!)  As you know, I have kids.  So does my friend.  And combined we had 2 babies in strollers, a 2, 3, 4, and 7 year old. 

Last time I checked, it was legal to take them to the mall. (You might have to be insanely crazy as a parent to do it, but legal!)

Apparently, some people didn't get the memo. 

My friend was trying on a pair of jeans in the Juniors department, while I had kid duty.  I asked the sales lady to open the room next to Jess, so they could play in it. (I figured it would keep them from running crazy in the store. I even told them it was "The Bat Cave".)  The babies were sitting content in the strollers and the 4 toddlers were all in the same dressing room playing happily.

Then the door opens 2 doors down from where they were...

A woman's head pops out and starts to stare me down.  I am very non-confrontational, and couldn't imagine she was really staring at me.  I was pretty sure I did my eye shadow the same color today...and I combed my hair...

After about 2 minutes of this ridiculous evil eye, she closed the door and I pushed it out of my mind.

Then the lady pops back out of the dressing room and tells me that 'my toddler' was poking her head under her room and she didn't appreciate it.  I felt really bad and apologized.

1 minute later...kids are back to playing in the empty dressing room.  The lady opens the door and resumes the position of glaring at me.  After about 2 minutes I couldn't take it anymore and decided to stare back.

I guess looking her in the eye was a bad decision.

It TOTALLY set her off.  She tells me "This ISN"T a daycare".

I did a double take...I am thinking 'whhhuut?'

She tells me again, a little louder, "This ISN"T a daycare".

I reply: "Okay."

She tells me again, even louder, "This ISN"T a daycare!!"

Now I am ticked.  I don't have a hearing problem.

I say, "Yes, I know.  These are my children, I don't send them to daycare."

She says "Well, you need to leave."

Excuse me? Really?

She proceeds to tell me how I am ruining her shopping experience because the kids are giggling and just too loud.

Last time I checked we were in the Flagstaff Mall.  In Dillards.  Not Saks Fifth Avenue in NYC.  Or even the Women's department.  We were in the Freaking JUNIORS!

I am done with this lady.  What a crab.

I lost all intentions of ignoring her and told her off.  I don't remember all the gory details, but I pretty much told her she had no right to ask me to leave, we were paying customers too, and if she had a problem with my kids then SHE was the one who needed to find herself another dressing room.

I almost felt bad about it.  Almost.   

Sisters

Getting together doesn't happen often.  Haley is in Oklahoma, Cori is down in the Valley, and I am all the way in BFE!
I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family.  Haley took off work for the week to meet me in Arizona and Cori managed to escape her job to come up for a couple days.  We have been to a number of parks, hung out around the house, made an unthinkable amount of trips to the Mall, and just spent some quality time together.  Here are some of my favorite pictures of the week with them.