Dinner with the Missionaries

Tonight I signed up to feed the sister missionaries. We had told them about our favorite local Mexican food place, Martinez, and they said they liked Mexican food so we told them we'd take them. When they got here it was just me at home with 3 crazy kids. Nathan was meeting us at the restaurant because he was getting home late from work. Chandler was in one of his super hyper moods. It was quite the task getting everyone into the car. I had to put the 3rd row up so Chan and Kenny could sit back there to make room for Sister Avila and Sister Holmes. Then I had to wipe down the seats with Clorox wipes because Kennedy had spilled Sprite in her seat the other day and Chandler's was filled with crumbs. And that's what the seats looked like UNDER their booster seats! Gross!

So we make it to the restaurant and the kids get out of the car. We walk up to Martinez and Chandler and Kennedy spot Nathan through the window. They start freaking out screaming at the top of their lungs like they haven't seen the man in a month! Then they go into the restaurant and Chandler literally runs up to the hostess stand and grabs it, then falls to the floor and the stand which was on wheels FOR REAL goes rolling across the floor. The hostess is just standing there with this blank but unamused look on her face. Nice. I take Chandler's arm and lead him to the table. We sit down and everyone is starting at us obviously. I mean the kids were acting like they'd just been let out of a cage or something! All while this was happening I was thinking that something was strange but couldn't put my finger on it. Finally Sister Avila notes that there is no music playing. It was crazy. You don't know how much the music makes a difference in a store or restaurant until there isn't any. My kids were loud enough though for everyone to hear, not that listening to them was enjoyable! Before we ordered Nathan got a phone call so he went outside to take it. After he left, Chandler was flailing his arms around and knocked over Nathan's water. Ice and water went everywhere. We were all laughing; I was laughing to keep from going insane! When the waiter came back, Sister Avila asked him what happened to the music except, she spoke to him like he was a hard of hearing elderly person: loudly and slowly. The poor man just looked at her and said, "Mmm, just a minute." When he left Sister Avila shrugged and said, "Hmm, maybe he doesn't speak English." A while after that Chandler yells out as our waiter was walking away from our table to please bring him some ranch. At least he said please. EVERYONE was staring at us.

The rest of the evening was okay, but they forgot to bring out Sister Holmes' meal. I guess he thought that Sister Avila and Holmes would share or something, since they ordered the same thing. It was all right though, they brought out her dinner in no time. After we had eaten, I suggested Nathan leave and take Chandler home to get ready for bed. He did thank goodness. He took Kennedy too. But it wasn't helpful because when he got to the house he found that Chandler had locked the top lock which is a keyless deadbolt so they had to wait for us to come home to unlock it.

When we got home it was after 8 but I had promised Chandler we would make these cookies shaped like pumpkins for FHE. I went ahead and prepared a lesson real quick and then made the cookies. I was glad that we did this even though the night had been chaotic. It was a good ending to a very crazy night!