Monday, September 22, 2008
Being Neighborly
We have had a great time with the neighbor kids across the street the past 4 months and we haven't gone out of our way to introduce ourselves to our other neighbors. mainly because we never see them. We have never seen our next door neighbors until yesterday when the kids knocked on the door to ask the gentleman if they could get their ball that went over their shrubs. Well the neighbor kids were over this afternoon and another friend so there were 8 kids playing in our side yard (our only yard which is right next to the neighbors). Matt and the kids knocked on the door to see about getting another ball and the neighbor lady we've never met, layed into Matt about how noisy were are and how concerned she is about our discipline methods...mainly "the mothers" HELLO..That's ME! The other day we had the neighbor kids over for a movie and walked across the street to talk to Joy about the kids heading home and I could hear our TV almost perfectly from her yard. I had the thought of "wow, you can hear everything from our house with the windows open" Oops, I figured that one out too late! Apparently our retired neighbors have not enjoyed their joyful, noisy, (with a sometimes angry mother). family of 6 next door while they are trying to enjoy their Hawaiian paradise I have to tell you that I think we are a great family, we have lots of fun and have lots of love, of course there are times I've lost my patience but that is definitely not the majority of the time! We are not use to living with our windows open and having neighbors 15 feet away and really we are probably pretty loud...that's what you get with 4 kids all close in age trying to be heard! I was able to laugh about it and now I need to introduce myself sometime and apologize for the noise. So the lesson to the story is to "be neighborly" we should have gone over and introduced ourselves when we first moved. The other lesson is we should have realized that when our windows are open it's as if we're right outside their window. Our only yard is at the side of the house right next to their house. There is a huge shrub blocking the view of the house but I guess it isn't a noise blocking hedge. I hope she has enjoyed all of the songs we sing and games that we play too. I plan on using " my quiet" voice more often, it will be good for me.
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5 comments:
Ha ha ha ha ha! I am so glad that we are not the only loud family in the world. I had a similar experience when I went outside to take out the trash and could hear our very loud tv and children as though I were inside. Ah well. I wonder what all the ward members around us think as Curt is in the Bishopric. At least your ticked off neighbor isn't sitting in the next pew on Sunday. :)
If it makes you feel any better, I was reminded to use my quiet voice the other day too. I had just yelled at Elise about something and 40 seconds later our doorbell rang. It was the neighbor girl from down the street with her mom (1st counselor in the Primary presidency) and dad (1st counselor in the bishopric) bringing me treats to say thanks for being her activity days leader. Nate assures me that they didn't hear me yelling, but I'm not so sure. The rule is . . . don't yell at your kids (especially if you have sworn off the air conditioner for the rest of the year and have every window in your house open.) :)
oh, what a story!! Sometimes I wonder if my neighbors are going to come yell at us when the kids are junping on the trampoline and shreiking. our neighbor girl 3 houses down, said, "we could hear Shad last night."
I never hear any other kids though...hmmm
I've tried to take on the philosophy of treat and do everything as if Christ is with you...this has helped me with the yelling part. I definitely have my days. All the other loud stuff is in fun and they are only kids. Quiet time is a good thing to learn...but we gotta let our kids get that energy out somehow...and that means 'go outside and play'. Good luck with the introductions...you'll have to let us know how it goes for you.
I'm excited for Matt and the new job. Sometimes the Lords tests us a little to make sure we understand his great work for us. Did you renew your contract where you are living? or whatever it was you were worried about?
Wow! Let me just say that your neighbor would have called the cops on our family by now!!! Just kidding...but really, all moms know how it is sometimes...hopefully your neighbor will appreciate the cute songs and activities you guys do to! (I would think it would make thier live more interesting!)
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