Thursday, May 5, 2011

"Lunch With Friends, Dinner With Better Friends." (Day Two)

So, halfway through week one brings us a few interesting playmates.







Lunch With Ugly Friends

Since I have been so glad to finally feel a little bit better, I decided that I would do a little more work in the basement - slowly but surely moving Stella out of her nursery and into her "big girl room." This has gone remarkably well. And yesterday's additions ranged from easy (moving a few more of her toys into her new room) to hard (does anyone have ANY idea how hard it is to hang those dang wall letters to spell your kids name out on the wall? I am way too OCD for tasks such as this.)


So while I was busy moving some furniture around (small, lightweight furniture. don't panic, mom...) Stella was busy making lunch in her kitchen. I would call to her occasionally, and she would keep me updated. I should tell you first of all that Stella's favorite thing to cook (or eat for that matter) is meatloaf. Whenever she cooks - whether she is stirring water, baking in the oven, icing cookies - she will always tell you she is making meatloaf. So when she called to me to tell me she was making meatloaf, I thought nothing of it. At first.



"Mommy, I make a meatloaf for my 'fighter'." I heard her say. Fighter? Maybe she had picked up some action figure toy and sat it in her high chair, you never know with her.




"Oh! Meatloaf for your fighter! That's great, honey!"



"No, mommy, no. My 'fighter'." She was insistant. She hates it when I get words wrong. So I rounded the corner towards her kitchen to investigate. And I stopped about three feet short of her when I saw this:























Spider. Not fighter, spider. And in case you can't tell...that black circle to the right is her frying pan full of meatloaf. No wonder the spiders like it so much here. They get meatloaf.


I have spent a lot of time and energy getting over my fear of spiders for Stella's sake. I try to ignore the heebie jeebies and show Stella spider webs and tell her how pretty they are. But I think at this point I have gone too far. Now she wants to have them over for dinner. So we had the talk about how spiders can bite, and how we have to leave them alone....even if they are very hungry. Today? Today I call Terminix.


So after our meatloaf lunch with friends, Stella took a great nap. This was not hard to convince her to do because she knew after her nap we were going to a party. And not just any party. A party with Carly and Avett.


Mother and Child Banquet





Carly Shank is one of my best friends, and she could ask me to come sing at a block party and I would do it. But yesterday she asked me to sing with her at the Mother And Child Banquet at the Riverton Methodist Church. Stella and I went, along with Nana and Aunt Maria, and met up with "Carly and the Armintrouts" for a really great evening. First there was an insane potluck buffet full of some great food (I may be biased since food is finally looking good to me again so EVERYTHING looks good.) Stella and Avett had a cozy date at the head of the table in matching high chairs and it was nice to just sit and enjoy everyone's company.









After dinner we headed up to the sanctuary for a wonderful service, and Carly and I (along with Nadine) sang a few songs. I promised myself I would keep it together (easier said than done lately) but it was a near-fail. I teared up as Carly sang "All My Tomorrows" to Avett, and barely kept it together as Nadine sang "In My Daughter's Eyes" while Stella cuddled into me to listen. I somehow pulled it together enough to make it through "The Human Heart" as I sang...but when Carly and I finished the program with "For Good" it was all we could do to keep it together.



So we didn't.


At the very last words of the very last chorus, Carly and I lost it and just decided to hug instead. It sounded a little something like "Because I knew you, I have been changed....(sniffle, snort)...for...(more sniffling, choking up, outright crying)...good." But I will no doubt remember it forever. The power of music is always so evident, as is the power of friendship. And the reminder that my friends give me every moment of everyday to be a good mom.


Even when it means having lunch buffets with eight-legged houseguests.



We capped the day off with an exciting Target run with Nana and Mia, which was highlighted by Stella running through the lingerie department screaming "these are for your booooobieees!!" at the top of her lungs.



Spiders. Avett. Boobies. It was a good day.

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