Monday, May 19, 2008

WHAT a weekend!!



I am sitting in my quiet house...no kids...no men...no friends...no NOISE. Ahhhhhhhhhh. I love my kids, my men, my friends, and the noise, but...ahhhhhhhhh. It has been a hectic weekend!!

Jesse finally got home Friday, it was so good to see him. He was bone tired but seems to have enjoyed the trip. He may be a big kid now, but he still gives me hugs and kisses, and tells me he loves me often. (We are a huggy bunch here) He says he didnt miss me, though. LOL

I spent Friday afternoon shopping for prizes our business donated to the annual Spring Fair at the kids school. We ended up buying the cutest little Spiderman bike with a matching costume, a wheelbarrow to put 12 yards of crusher dust into, and also bought Jesse a new bike, he hasnt had one in years. The lady who was coordinating donations happened to call, which was GOOD...cause I dont own a truck lol. She met me at wallyworld and picked up the stuff, even brought Jesse's bike home for me. I went to the school to help with what I could while waiting for his bus to get back, so I got a preview of the awesome raffle prizes. wow.

Friday night we all hung out at the ballfield, Ciarra had a game. I enjoy gabbing with friends and just watching the games. Ciarra got a GOOD hit! She made it to first, but the team got 3 outs before she could advcance. She sure loves baseball.



Saturday morning up early to get ready for the Spring fair. Wendy and Hunter (4) and Andrea and Aislynn (3 months) joined us. It was a blast. Lots of kids games and rides, good food, good friends, and the raffle. We sat with a guy named Bubba, he runs the Special Olympics for our school. Our table ended up winning about 15 prizes between us!!



Bubba won a $600 dollar watch, some nice earrings, 3 apple trees, a bike for his grandaughter, and 2-3 other prizes. Jesse won a new bike...the spiderman bike!!...for Hunter. And he also won a spongebob swimming kit with goggles, fins, etc for Ciarra. I won a pizza gift certificate, a gc for flowers at our local greenhouse, a beautiful outdoor statue of a little girl. Wendy won a Cars DVD player and something else (?) Andrea won a movie and electronics basket. Ciarra won a huge cheetah girls giftpack with a lamp and a radio and other stuff, plus a thing of candles and cups and photo frames.




She won something else too, oh and a 25 dollar GC from the fire dept raffle to boot. (She gave that to Jesse for the spongebob thing lol) Of course, Hunter was CRAZY about the bike. It was a lot of fun.





A friend came up after and said her son told her "Ciarra is SO lucky" and the mom said "Yeah, you should maybe go rub her head for luck"...said she looked over and Ciarra's friend rubbed her head..and the next thing you know, the friend won a prize, too! Too funny. We had a little friend of Jesse's come over after the fair, he ended up staying till Sunday night.

That afternoon, Ciarra and I got ready and went to a Selah concert! I had fallen in love with their music while following Audrey Caroline's story on Bring the Rain. I have felt my own faith growing through her words. I was VERY lucky to get tickets. So away we went. It was held in a big church in Bangor. Ciarr and I got GREAT seats. We were 2 rows back, center stage. She really has a relationship with God, almost as though she went to church every week, which we dont do at all. I really slack at the going to church thing, and it is my biggest guilt as a mom. Throughout the concert, she was standing with her arms up, conducting, really feeling the music. It is interesting to be Ciarra's mom and also be a people watcher. This child gets more attention than you can imagine. For one, shes really cute, dontyathink? ;) But no, it is something different, people respond to her, their kindest smiles and their most heartwarming kindnesses come out with her. She draws people in, and especially in a church, especially at a concert, where people know God, she seemed to have a ready-made fanbase. She doesnt even know it, though. But *I* see it. The wide open smiles that I only get when she is with me, the knowing nods, acceptance, sharing the joy of loving a kid who is truly so OPEN and sweet. (Well, MOSTLY sweet..she did call Wendy a "pain in the ass" during the concert, at Intermission...in a CHURCH...oops..no more Jeff Dunham DVDs to watch for her.)

We ended up leaving the auditorium a few minutes before it ended for a potty break, so we were in just the right place to get to the front of the line for autographs. Well, let me rephrase that. We WERE at the front of the line, obviously waiting there, but sitting on a bench and NOT right at the table. A lady with 2 kids walked up, and proclaimed "I told you so, we would be first." and jumped right in...and I let her, cause whatever. She seemed like one of THOSE kinda people, just not friendly, not NICE. And she proceeded to prove me right, for one of the only times in my life with Ciarra someone said or did something unkind to her. Her son seemed to be about Ciarra's age, and Ciarra was sitting on the bench, I was back in line..2nd..lol. The kid said something about "Why isnt that little girl in line, Mom?" and the sister said "Shes reading a book." and the mom said...ready for this?.."THOSE KIDS cant really read, she is just pretending to read." Said ALLLL kinds of sticky sweet, of course, as though if she said it nicely enough, I would not mind her pointing out that my kid..couldnt read. Luckily for me, Ciarra heard it too. Yep, thats what I said...LUCKY for me. Lucky for the lady, too, because instead of me pounding the hell out of her..in church...CIARRA set her straight. She started to read OUT LOUD, plainly and clearly...perfectly. The boy must have said something else, because the mom turned him around away from us and ignored us from then on, pointedly.



Ok, here's the not-so-Christian part. (well, besides me wanting to punch her) When the folks from Selah came over to the table, they spotted Ciarra immediately. During the concert, she had been holding her photograph of them, the one you get autographed? And she looked at it, then held it up JUST as Todd stood in front of her on the stage, and said to him "HEY, THATS YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he stopped, leaned down, smiled at her, and said "It sure is, honey, do you want to turn around and hold it up so everyone can see?" and she did. During the concert, this sweet man with an INCREDIBLE voice stopped long enough to include a star struck little girl in his show. I could literally hear the smiles, people going "omg my gosh shes SO precious" etc (little did they know "Wendy is a pain in the ass" had JUST come out of her mouth seconds before, lol.) So, there we were after the concert, at the table, and these 2 kids are handing the people their pictures, and Ciarra is getting all of their attention. I KNOW it burned the moms butt, especially when 2 church ladies went by and said loud enough for all of us to hear "THAT little girl has the spirit in her, did you see her dancing and laughing?" So, to Miss Perfect and her 2 just-like-her-in-the-future-doubters...nanee nanee booboo. First isnt always best. ;)




Anyway, we got the autographs, a quick picture, and I got to tell Todd that Angie's story had touched me so much, and that they would be ok, and that we were all praying for them. He seemed very moved by that. But mostly, he seemed quite smitten with my daughter. He has 3 little girls at home, I imagine he must miss them like crazy on tour. We also got to meet Amy, who told the story of being overweight..she said FAT...onstage...and how she didnt think she deserved love. OH how I can relate to her, and I told her so. I thanked her for being so open and told her I thought she was BEAUTIFUL..and she is. And BOY can that woman belt it out!! So, we hit McDonalds on the way home, and got Ciarra tucked in and settled the boys. I LOVED this concert, but now I had to switch gears...Sat night in a beautiful church with Christians and prayers...Selah. SUNDAY night would bring Rodney Carrington and his offbeat humor, bad language, and hysterical humor. We had a double date planned with friends.
Rodney was SO funny, and yes, raunchy. But he has a voice that is just stunningly good. He could easily be "just a singer" but he chooses to be a singing comedian. He had the entire crowd on their feet, and we laughed ourselves silly. Jim and I, Rob and Wendy. It was an AWESOME weekend. Now I gotta go to school, real life intrudes, and I have a meeting about a kid..who shall remain nameless...who is VERY close to Ciarra...but is bullying her regularly. I got a note home Friday detailing some of it, and have actually had phone calls from a few kids parents to tell me their kids were concerned. It is going to be a very painful thing, Im afraid, to go through. Ciarra LOVES this kid, but I simply wont have someone being physical with her, or calling her a DUMMY and STUPID..which is happening very often. Not just casual, but "you are dumb and stupid and cant talk right." From someone she adores. It will be handled today, and I hope and pray my daughter doesnt get hurt emotionally by me having to be the mommy. It isnt ALL fun and games.

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