Many may recognize that post title to a very familiar children's book, which pretty much sums up our day yesterday. Two little things might have changed the course of my day slightly... my purse and extra blankets. Intrigued? Read on...
Usually Shawn takes Isabelle to school, however, this week and possibly for the next several weeks, he will be filling in as a supervisor and going to work earlier, which will not allow him to take her to school. Other circumstances dictated that I would need to bring both boys with me as well. I must admit, I was a very prepared Mama. A toy bag was packed, a small cooler with plenty of extra milk, juice, and snacks for the boys was ready. They were diapered, dressed, and ready to go in time to take sissy to school. But two little boys simply cannot be entertained inside of a car while it sits, waiting to pick up sister from school. So, my plan was to take them to McDonald's for pancakes and let them play in the playland for a few hours while we waited. (sidenote: Izi is in school for 3 hours. It takes nearly an hour to drive down there. As a conserver of gas, there was no way we were driving all the way home to turn around and drive back down)
I was feeling pretty good. We got off on time and everyone was quite content. We were far enough down the road that Isabelle would have been late had we turned around to go back when I realized I had forgotten my purse at home. Alright, no driver's license... I'll just drive extra careful, watch my speed. No cash... I'll head down to our bank real quick and pull some out and just go to a different Mickey D's. Unfortunately, my perfect Plan A turned into a very acceptable Plan B, which went horribly arry upon turning down the road to Isabelle's school. All of a sudden, my content children were not so content. It started when Benjamin lost his morning milk all over his blanket and pjs. Alexandar did not appreciate the sight, sound, or smell, and decided to toss his milk all over his blanket and pjs. Fortunately, Isabelle held it together, although she was not thrilled to have to walk past them to get out of the car. I went in the school and wet down some paper towels. The very nice secretary recognized me and brought out some trash bags. I cleaned them the best I could, stripped them down, had the windows cracked and the heat up as I tried to figure out a Plan C. You haven't forgotten that I left my purse at home, right? Because I certainly had not.
I no longer could drive down to the bank because I needed to go inside to get cash (only diapered boys now) as my debit card is missing. I can't take them to get a new outfit = naked boys. They threw up, probably don't want to eat. However, on this last point, I was very wrong. They started chowing down on the raisins and granola bars as soon as we started moving. My best bet was to drive over to Shawn's work, see if he could help me out in some capacity. Oh, did I mention that I don't yet have a cell phone? Yeah, crappy day not to have one.
Since Shawn had meetings and inspections to do and couldn't leave the office, he gave me his debit card, I got what I needed and took the boys home. My wonderful parents left their moving for a few hours (they just bought a new house and are trying to get things situated) and went down to pick up Isabelle while I took the boys home, got them a bath and settled. The only upside to the day? I had time to put the ham in the oven, get sweet potatoes and green bean casserole ready.... make a salad and cut up some fruit before I had to head to work for the afternoon. What a wonderful dinner to come home to!!!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Newsboys!
I remember singing "I'm Not Ashamed" in front of girls camp when I was a teen counselor back on Chicago Central District. Much to our parents' dismay, my brother and I enjoyed all of the loud bass and drums and cranked it up as loud as we could. My, how times do change when you get "old" and are the parent!
While I have been to a couple of Newsboys concerts in the past, I was quite excited to be able to attend one this past Friday. I heard about their tour, Bring One Win One, about a month or so ago on the radio. The fact that this was a FREE concert ($10 suggested donation per person) had me very excited and right away, I knew I wanted to take Isabelle. Well, on Thursday, my mom and I decided to take the afternoon off (after taking the morning off to go to the salon) and took Isabelle shopping. Family Life Radio happened to be on site in Lansing at the Christian book store and we stopped in to register to win a four pack of front row tickets and backstage passes to meet the band. Well, Isabelle spun the prize wheel for me and I scored a beautiful aqua FLR hoodie. I however, did not win the tickets. But, I was let in on a little secret... the next morning, they would be in Saginaw from 6-10AM and if you brought some canned goods, you could secure 2 floor seats. They had been announcing on the radio that once the tickets ran out, you would be out of luck as they were first come, first served basis. They would try to keep track and announce when all tickets were gone so you weren't standing there or driving in and then find out the tickets were gone. I know how many disappointments Isabelle faces that are beyond our control and she was sooo excited to go that I decided I would get up early and drive over to get the tickets.
Unbelievably, I was like a kid at Christmas and barely slept past 3:30 AM, finally got up around 5:40 and was out the door by 6:20AM. From here, Saginaw is an hour drive. I did manage to get 2 floor seats so I knew Isabelle and I would be guaranteed seats. Daddy would have LOVED to come with us, but with as late as he is from work, he couldn't make it, so it became a special mommy/daughter time. I didn't know they were giving away another 4 pack of front row seats and backstage passes, and went ahead and registered again. I have never won anything on the radio, drawings, or anything else and did not expect this to be any different. Things went downhill from here.
Shawn called me around 9AM to say that Isabelle was sick and I needed to drive down to pick her up so he could continue on to work. Her school is nearly an hour south of where we live, so I left immediately. I was thinking that I had gotten up so early and gone through all that trouble, only to have a sick little girl that couldn't go to the concert. Even though I was thinking at that point that we wouldn't be able to make it, I kept the radio on and had all of my family listening just in case I did win. They would be announcing the winner by 10 AM. At 9:53, I had picked up Isabelle and we were listening as they drew............... MELISSA GRAHAM, from St. Louis! I glanced back at Isabelle and screamed, "THAT'S US!!! WE WON!!!!!" Isabelle was excited and I nearly drove off the road!! I just couldn't stop thinking all day that I had actually won something and was going to be sitting right up front!
My parents ended up coming with Isabelle and I and we all took our ear plugs (shhh, don't tell the Newsboys) and Isabelle absolutely loved it. I bought her a shirt to have signed by the Newsboys since we would get to meet them afterwards (did you know they now charge $25 for those things??) It was such an amazing concert and this group is really doing so much to make a positive difference in our world. If you are interested in supporting their cause Global Tribe, or want to read that Michael Tait will now be the lead singer, please visit the Newsboys site.
I know Isabelle will remember this concert for many years to come and I am so very glad that I sacrificed a little sleep and my ear drums to make it happen for her. After all, what are parents for?
While I have been to a couple of Newsboys concerts in the past, I was quite excited to be able to attend one this past Friday. I heard about their tour, Bring One Win One, about a month or so ago on the radio. The fact that this was a FREE concert ($10 suggested donation per person) had me very excited and right away, I knew I wanted to take Isabelle. Well, on Thursday, my mom and I decided to take the afternoon off (after taking the morning off to go to the salon) and took Isabelle shopping. Family Life Radio happened to be on site in Lansing at the Christian book store and we stopped in to register to win a four pack of front row tickets and backstage passes to meet the band. Well, Isabelle spun the prize wheel for me and I scored a beautiful aqua FLR hoodie. I however, did not win the tickets. But, I was let in on a little secret... the next morning, they would be in Saginaw from 6-10AM and if you brought some canned goods, you could secure 2 floor seats. They had been announcing on the radio that once the tickets ran out, you would be out of luck as they were first come, first served basis. They would try to keep track and announce when all tickets were gone so you weren't standing there or driving in and then find out the tickets were gone. I know how many disappointments Isabelle faces that are beyond our control and she was sooo excited to go that I decided I would get up early and drive over to get the tickets.
Unbelievably, I was like a kid at Christmas and barely slept past 3:30 AM, finally got up around 5:40 and was out the door by 6:20AM. From here, Saginaw is an hour drive. I did manage to get 2 floor seats so I knew Isabelle and I would be guaranteed seats. Daddy would have LOVED to come with us, but with as late as he is from work, he couldn't make it, so it became a special mommy/daughter time. I didn't know they were giving away another 4 pack of front row seats and backstage passes, and went ahead and registered again. I have never won anything on the radio, drawings, or anything else and did not expect this to be any different. Things went downhill from here.
Shawn called me around 9AM to say that Isabelle was sick and I needed to drive down to pick her up so he could continue on to work. Her school is nearly an hour south of where we live, so I left immediately. I was thinking that I had gotten up so early and gone through all that trouble, only to have a sick little girl that couldn't go to the concert. Even though I was thinking at that point that we wouldn't be able to make it, I kept the radio on and had all of my family listening just in case I did win. They would be announcing the winner by 10 AM. At 9:53, I had picked up Isabelle and we were listening as they drew............... MELISSA GRAHAM, from St. Louis! I glanced back at Isabelle and screamed, "THAT'S US!!! WE WON!!!!!" Isabelle was excited and I nearly drove off the road!! I just couldn't stop thinking all day that I had actually won something and was going to be sitting right up front!
My parents ended up coming with Isabelle and I and we all took our ear plugs (shhh, don't tell the Newsboys) and Isabelle absolutely loved it. I bought her a shirt to have signed by the Newsboys since we would get to meet them afterwards (did you know they now charge $25 for those things??) It was such an amazing concert and this group is really doing so much to make a positive difference in our world. If you are interested in supporting their cause Global Tribe, or want to read that Michael Tait will now be the lead singer, please visit the Newsboys site.
I know Isabelle will remember this concert for many years to come and I am so very glad that I sacrificed a little sleep and my ear drums to make it happen for her. After all, what are parents for?
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