"Code yellow, code yellow" . . . that is what I heard on my walkie while working at Target the other night. I vaguely remember something about code reds, yellows, and greens from orientation, but I've never actually heard any of them over the walkie before so I completely forgot (or maybe didn't pay close enough attention during orientation) what they meant. As I tried to remember the meaning, it became very obvious to me when the person speaking into the walkie followed the "code yellow" with, "he is wearing a green shirt and black pants, has dark hair and his name is Merrick" - oh crap, code yellow is a missing kid alert! Instantly I stopped what I was doing and began looking around the store in any place a little boy might decide to hide out in. It was actually quite amazing how quickly all the Target employees went into action. Everyone stopped what they were doing and searched the store high and low. All entrances to the building were locked, and no one was allowed in or out. There were red shirts in just about every aisle, and about 3 minutes after the initial alert was announced, the little boy was found hiding out in the woman's sleepwear section by one of my fellow employees - who says working at Target isn't stressful! During the 3 minutes or so (which felt more like 10) it took to find this little boy, I started to get very worried. What if that little boy was Ryan and I was the mom frantically looking for him - not a fun thought. Anyway, in the end, it all worked out great, the boy was found and reunited with his mom; who was both happy, and mad that her little guy wandered off in the first place, and we all went back to our normal routines. To my surprise, on my very next shift which was two days later, I heard the "code yellow" alert again (come on people, you've got to start watching your kids when you are out and about). I had a hunch this one was coming because as I was working in the accessory area I noticed a little boy running around while he mom was searching the racks. Every once in a while, she would yell for him and he would pop out from wherever he was hiding and go running to her - not my kind of parenting style, but whatever. Anyway, about 5 minutes after finishing up in that area, the "code yellow" alert is sent over the walkie with an exact description of the little boy I had just seen running around (whose mother had better things to do than watch him obviously) so I headed back towards the accessories area again and began looking around - not there. After that, I headed to the next section, the women's sleepwear (what is it with little boys and this section), and found him laying underneath a rack. When I tried to talk to him, he got up and ran away (maybe his mom told him not to talk to strangers at least). Luckily, he is little and I'm big, so it wasn't too hard to keep up with him. As he was running, his mom happened to be heading our way so he ended up running right into her arms - another happy ending. So, what is the moral of this story - WATCH YOUR KIDS!
Onto other Target news . . . big Pat Williams was in the house this past Friday. Seems he and his lady friend needed to stock up on some goods before he headed to Arizona for the big football game on Sunday. I was surprised that he didn't look as huge in person as I thought he would have. Most people in the store didn't agree with me on this one, but most people probably didn't have a huge brother growing up, and most people probably didn't hang around 300 pounds plus guys in college. So maybe Pat is a little bigger than them, but, still not the giant I thought he would be.
Enough the with the Target news for now.
Other big news, Lauren is cutting two molars. The first eight teeth she cut were a piece of cake - not much crying, in fact, we hardly even knew what was going on until the teeth were actually through. This is not the case with the big teeth. The babe is crabby, crabby and wants her mom all the time. I can't say I don't love all the attention, but I could certainly do without all the crying and tantrums that go along with it. They feel like they are almost through so hopefully this will all end very soon.
Gotta go put the boy to bed now. Time to turn off the computer and say goodnight.
And yes, the kids are wearing the same shrits they had on at the Quast Family Christmas - I paid for them, and they are going to wear them as much as possible before the holidays are over! The highlight of the day for Ryan was a snowmobile ride with Mike (Auntie's boyfriend) around the lake. Before the ride, Ryan didn't even know what a snowmobile was, after it, he wanted one - pretty sure that's not going to happen, but lucky for us, we know when Mike lives. Here are some pictures of the boys getting ready for thier big ride.
Christmas 2008 is officially over. I'm kind of bummed as it was really fun to watch Ryan this year as he finally started to figure out what Christmas was all about. He was so excited about everything; Santa, reindeers, snowmen, etc. - it was like being a little kid again myself. It's over for this year, but it can only get better in the years to come as Ryan starts to share his Christmas wisdom with Lauren - I can only imagine the stories he will tell. I hope everyone had as much fun this Christmas as we did - Merry Christmas!!
After the presents, we realized we were starting to get hungry. So, like any good mother, I went to the kitchen and whipped up a fantastic Christmas Eve meal - not so much! It was almost 7pm so we opted for the easy route - pizza! After a few calls to some local pizza places, we found one that was still open and put in our order. So Christmas Eve wasn't the picture perfect day I dreamed it would be, but it was still memorable and is just the beginning of the many family traditions we hope to have together, although we may leave the pizza thing out in years to come. By the way, Lauren slept through all of it and didn't wake up until the following morning around 8am - obviously the girl needed some serious rest. She work up feeling better, but still not in great shape. Let's hope this (sick children) is another thing that DOES NOT become a tradition during the Christmas season.
Here are a couple other pictures from the day/night.
After our big day on Saturday, we woke up Sunday, went to church, and got ready for another family Christmas. This time we got together with Connie's (Trav's mom) side of the family. To sum it up, lots of people, lots of food, lots of presents - sound familiar? Christmas round #1 is done, onto round #2 and #3.
And here he is not singing "Jingle Bells" - not sure what he was doing, it looks like maybe he had something in his eye, but I'm pretty sure he didn't - just dinking around I guess.
Lauren wanted nothing to do with the hat - naughty
