I woke up Friday morning and was getting ready for work, so excited it was the weekend. Then I get this text:
I knew I couldn't go Friday night, as I had promised Kylee and Jill I would help Jill make a t-shirt for her NJHS presidential campaign, like I did for Kylee's campaign in the 5th grade. But I was seriously considering going Saturday morning. Kylee had dance rehearsal, but not a performance, and Blaine had a game, but he does every Saturday. I was thinking maybe, just maybe, I'd go to Ruidoso and just lay, just be. I wasn't real sure yet.
After work, I picked up the kids, Jill included from Dad Dad and Mom Mom's, and we headed to Hobby Lobby to get supplies for the campaign. Joey picked Blaine up while we were there to go to the batting cages.
The girls and I had a plan for the t-shirt and campaign 'pass-outs', had the material, and were headed home to make it all happen. As I was turning right at one of those little yield places at a stop light, I was sitting a dead stop waiting on traffic, and I was hit. Again. Granted, I didn't spin around or face the wrong way or anything, but I had been hit. Again. I was so upset.
I think for a minute, I just sat there, stunned. In hindsight, the girls were very calm as well. They were just calmly asking for napkins because Jill had spilled her coke. As I was sitting there, I just kept looking in my rearview mirror at the guy that hit me. As I think back to it all, it seems a little like it was in slow motion. Then I realized I was totally blocking anybody else from turning right at that light, so I pulled up some to get out of the way of traffic. Big mistake. I pulled up and got out of the car. As I did, I turned around just in time to see this...this...this MAN! in the white Ford Expedition that hit me jump the median between the yield sign and the light, go the wrong way on the street, head back the other way, swerve into the right lane of traffic, and haul butt. I was SCREAMING at the girls to get his license plate, but the way he was driving and the speed with which it all happened, we only got the first letter...C. Texas plates.
I called Joey, told him I had been hit again, where I was and to hurry up. I was freaking out! Then I called 911. As I did, another call with two VERY nice girls pulled up in front of me. The passenger got out and told me she had seen the whole thing and just wanted to be able to give the cops her name and number. She said she got a description of the vehicle, but on the first two letters of the license plate. CV. She was so sweet! The cops said I could go on home, since the guy ran and I had the witness's name and number, and they would send a unit to the house.
When Joey got there, I just lost it. I'm not sure if it was because it was so soon after my last accident, or because the girls were with me, or because the MAN! ran...I don't know. I drove to the house, Joey behind me, crying the whole way. I bet I cried for an hour. And then after that every time I thought about it, I cried again. And I kept seeing that MAN's face! The cop came, we gave him all the information we had, and, of course, he said without a license plate number, there's really nothing they could do. Of course.
Kylee asked me if I was still going to Ruidoso. Umm...I'm ESPECIALLY going now. I cried on and off through the rest of the evening. So weird. I really just could not shake it. I got up Saturday morning, still feeling so shaky and unsettled, packed my stuff, and was Ruidoso bound.
My favorite part of heading to Ruidoso is when you come up on this hill. I know this isn't the first time I've take or posted this same picture, just in different seasons. Every time I round that corner and see that, I feel peace settling in. And it worked this time, too.
I met Dawn in town for a little shopping and some lunch, and then we headed back out to the house.
I could have sat on this porch for a week and never got tired of it. Give me this porch, a good book, and some good tea...heaven. It was just what I needed. I took no other pictures, you know ones of like Daddy and Dawn or me with them. As much as I love to have the pictures, it was kind of nice, too, not to have to worry about capturing the memories. Sometimes I'm so caught up in making sure I capture them that I don't relax. Well, I was very relaxed..and slept so good.
The kids had a pretty good time without me, too. Blaine won his baseball game. He even hit left-handed three times, just to try it out. Kylee, of course, spent the night with Dad Dad and Mom Mom, no surprise there. Sunday they took her and her friend Abby to a play at the UTEP dinner theater. Blaine went and played softball with his Daddy. I mean, actually played. He called me and told me all about playing right fields with the 40 year olds, how he kept one of the men at first base, and how he even hit and made it to base. After he was finished telling me about it, he said, "Okay, Mom. I'm sorry, but that's all I have to say. I don't have anything else. Love you. Bye."
And that was our weekend. I'm sorry, but that's I have to say. I don't have anything else.
I saw this t-shirt this week, and have decided, especially after this weekend, I need it.
Saturday morning, we were up and at 'em. She had to be at the band hall at 8:00 for an extra band practice. It was supposed to last until 9:30, but she had to be at a dance performance at Earth Day at El Paso Environmental Services at 10:00, so I picked her up at 9:00 to come home and get ready. After throwing on costumes and make-up, we headed out. The boys 'had' to go to the batting cages, so they missed it. She performed five songs, but here are the dances you haven't seen before.
Kylee's Cumbia
Pretty good for a white girl, huh?
Kick
She's not even in this class, but she was waiting for her class to begin, so she was watching. They asked her to join. She learned this dance the night before the performance.
Between the heat and getting up early (which is NOT her thing), she was exhausted! Since the boys 'had' to go to the batting cages, I didn't make her go to the game.
And what a game it was! Elijahcaught pop up ground ball to the face and had an immediate black eye. He sat out for a bit to recover, and then decided he wanted right back in. As soon as he got back in, he hit the ball, ran to first, and the first baseman tripped him. He feel right on the side of his face he had just hurt. Bless his heart. He rallied again, though, and got back in the game.
Since I had my camera in the car, I got some shots of my boy, too. And a video, too.
Later that night, the boys went to the USC fight, and Kylee wanted to go to Wal-Mart for some new make-up. Sunday morning, she was to be a Cohen Stadium for her first SOLO competition. It was going to be all day in the sun, so for the first time, I wanted her to wear foundation with some SPF for sunscreen. She wanted some clear mascara to tame her eyebrows. LOL Of course, when we got home, she had to apply full make-up to check it out. I'm convinced the girl already does her make-up better than her mother. She's a natural. I guess it comes with being a natural dancer. I'm pretty sure you have to be a diva for that, which explains the make-up diva.
Then she and I went to bed early since she had to be up at 5:45. Again, being up early is not my girl's (or her mothers) thing, and this was the second time in one weekend. No sleeping in for her us at all this weekend.
We were up this morning "even earlier than for school!" As we are driving to the stadium, I looked over, and Kylee was watching herself in mirror. She said, "Mom, my make up looks GOOD!"
When we walked into Cohen Stadium and I saw that stage out there in the middle of the big 'ol field, I was intimidated. I couldn't imagine what she was feeling, since she had been telling me all weekend that she was nervous. But I didn't say anything to her because I didn't want to make it worse. Because, you know, I have a habit of making things worse. I was so happy she didn't even flench.
The girls went to their sky box, no parents allowed, to get settled in and ready. I took a seat, with my umbrella, in the hot, hot scorching sun. The boys showed up, and luckily, she took the stage. Before she started, I told Joey I might cry. You see, not only was this her first solo competition, she choregraphed and costumed her own dance. And she rocked it. See for yourself.
I was so proud. I did not cry, but probably only because, as you'll see in the video, I got run over by a lady carrying a stroller up the stadium stairs. I was HOT!! I mean, really? MY kid is the ONLY kid on the stage, meaning I'm the ONLY person videoing in the whole stadium, and she runs over ME?! UGH! I digress.
There ended up not being enough soloists, only 12, to break them up into the junior and senior divisions, so they just combined them. That meant she was competing against girls all the way to the age of 18. One of the 18 year olds did two solos, and took first AND second with them. They only placed the top three. Kylee did not place. It was an amazing experience, though, and she was not upset. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will get to see the judge's comment pages, as we have been told they will be mailed to the studio. Miss Eva, the dance instructor, text me later today and told me that she had five parents and three coaches tell her how amazing Kylee did and how great her technique was. My chest has been puffed out this afternoon. I'm so proud to call this beauty my own and am so very proud of her.
When we left, she kept saying, "I'm going home to SLEEP!" But as we drove, I looked over to see this.
I guess even when you are going home to crash, you gotta keep that make up looking GOOD! I guess that's what divas do...or maybe that's what girls who are headed for Juilliard do. I got an email the other day that was titled, I Was Born For This. When I opened it, this is what I found. There may come a time, way too soon, Kylee, that you are headed to Juilliard, and not only will I not have a life...I won't have an money either. But you, my diva, are worth it!
I just wanted to give a little update on our Blaine's Lucky bird. He's doing great, and his feathers are slowly, but surely growing back. He's Blaine's BFF, and Blaine is his. He's even found somebody else to play with.
...so freaking bad. My kids sing this song all the time! Last week, I think they felt like they achieved it. They both had birthday money burning holes in their pockets.
I gotta give Baby Brother props. He saved his money from Pops and Dawn from last year's birthday because he just didn't know what he wanted. This year, he had it all figured out. He wanted an iPad...so freaking bad. I told him I was not buying at 8-year old an iPad, so he decided he would just do it himself. He took last year's birthday money and this year's birthday money from them, added it to the other money he got from his friends, and decided he wanted an iPad. So we took him to the Apple Store to get it.
We expected them to be $499, and he had $550ish. When we got there, they had gone down to $399, but we made him spend the $99 on a two-year warranty that replaces the iPad, no questions asked, for any damange. I mean, really, y'all. He's 8. We're not horrible parents making him spend his hard earned saved money for nothing.
He asked the store clerk if she could just let him hold his money for a minute before he paid for it because he had never had that much money in his hands before. Then he handed it over. She helped him set it up, and we now have one more happy Apple user.
I'm pretty sure he's gotten his money's worth from the thing in the week he's had it. He's on it pretty nonstop, unless, of course, he's playing baseball. And he thinks it's pretty funny he got his sister Netflix for her birthday, and he's using it...a lot. He also thinks it's funny to Facetime his sister's friends. She's taking it all pretty well.
Now he's broke, or so he says. He spent some days at the farm with his Daddy during spring break, on the payroll, so he won't be so broke. He pulled weeds and helped the guys with "important" stuff and earned 20 bucks. So at least he has some money to his name, other than the $8 he has left in his piggy bank.
Kylee loves that he's broke. She spent all her money last year on a DSxl or xlDs, whatever it is. She got money from her friends, Pops and Dawn, and Dad Dad and Mom Mom. (Dad Dad and Mom Mom gave Blaine the hockey equipment he had been begging for.) She's so excited to be the one with money now and not Blaine. But there is one thing she's been wanting...so freaking bad. A mini-fridge in her room.
It caused a bit of controversy. I didn't care, really, but I told her the first time I found ants in her room because she had left something from that fridge out, I was throwing the fridge out her second-story bedroom window. Her daddy, on the other hand, was totally opposed to it. "She's a teenager, Stephanie. What is she going to have in there? What is she going to hide in there? She's a teenager, Stephanie!" Ummm...okay. I'm not really sure what happened between the two of them, but they talked, and next thing I knew she had talked him into it. Maybe she told him, like she told me, that we weren't really thinking, that this was an investment and would actually help us because we wouldn't have to buy her one for college, that it was actually very smart and helpful of her. She also informed me that even POPS thought it was a good idea. Yeah, you know, because Pops totally would have gone for it at his house. NOT.
Anyway, next thing I knew, we were on our way to WalMart to get her her mini fridge, that she had so carefully researched on the internet to find the perfect, cheap one so that she would now be the one with leftover money and not her brother. It was all very teenager-esque. Including the pictures I took of her with said fridge.
Easter Sunday, we headed to church with Grandmommy (there are no pictures of Grandmommy because she went to class to take care of her babies before we were dressed, and there are no pictures of Joey and I...well, I'm not sure why. But Blaine told me my Easter dress looked like a high school pink lady and was awful, so I'm taking that dress back. I didn't even take the tags off of it after that.), said goodbye to Grandmommy, and headed home.
On our way home, we stopped to visit with Pops and Dawn. They had gone to Ruidoso for the weekend, and we were so excited to see them. The visit was way too short, but so much better than nothing!! We hope they come and visit soon!!
Our Easter was full of family, just as it should be.
Saturday Grandmommy spent the day, maybe her favorite of the year, hanging with all her peeps. I even got her a shirt to commemorate it.
Our sign makers, aka, Kylee and Kellie, made a sign-in sheet, and once everybody arrived and signed in, we proceeded to follow the invitation's promises.
There was so much food! Uncle Robert smoked a turkey, some ribs, AND a brisket, along with his homemade bbq sauce. So, so yummy! Then we moved on to the egg hunt. Blaine, Jordan, and Christian decided this year they were too big for hunting eggs, so they helped the bigger boys hide them. The master (Robert) also taught them the trick to hiding the golden egg. I'm not sure if it's a secret or not, so my lips are sealed. And then Grandmommy lead out the pack (flock? herd?)of hunters, and they were off! Yup, Kylee and Kellie, both older than Blaine, Jordan and Christian, joined the hunt. They knew there were IOUs in them, and they were all about it. At one point, I even said to Kylee, "Hey, you missed one right here!" She said, "I don't want the REAL eggs, Mom!" Then she headed straight inside to Grandmommy to cash in those IOUs! The next invitation promise is fun. That was included in all the other promises, but also fun came in visiting, playing, holding babies, and confetti eggs And the last promise on the invitation, but the one most prominent at Grandmommy's Easter was family, Grandmommy's peeps. After all was said and done, I think the list read we fed and hunted and loved on just over 50 people. We were tired, but there's always a little more game playing left with Grandmommy's peeps. So until next year...
