Thursday, November 16, 2006

What a wonderful weekend!

Well, if you've been checking in to see when I would post, your wait is over. If you read my blog last week then you know that my best friend, Geekwif, my good friend, Snow's Mom and my daughter's best friend, Snow White, were planning to arrive on Friday for a reunion weekend.

I wish I could express how wonderful this last weekend was... I could easily write thirty paragraphs and bore you to tears and still not convey how great it was to have the three of them here. My faithful readers will remember that we moved to Champaign from Minnesota three months ago now and Sweet Girl (SG) is thriving in all things, except missing her grandma, her godmother (Geekwif, you know) and her best friend. It turns out the feeling was mutual. Snow White (SW - I call her that because of her beautiful porcelain skin, glossy brown hair and doe eyes) was struggling mightily with missing her Sweet Girl (who, in this particular company, becomes Cinderella due to her flaxen hair and deep blue eyes). Snow's Mom, being a wise woman, decided the best course of action was to come for a visit and bring along Geekwif. Give that woman a medal! We decided not to tell either 6 year-old SG or 4 year-old SW about the weekend. We are smart women who knew that we would not be able to live with our children's excitement levels if we did, so neither of them really knew what was happening until they met at the front door. Amazing that Geekwif and Snow's Mom managed to keep her in the dark for the 10 hour drive!

So, day by day:


Friday:
Do you have any idea how hard it was to contain my own excitement and not spill the secret to my daughter?!?! Auugh! Add to it that Friday was a no-school day and you get the idea... Long day of anticipation. When they got here, I had SG answer the door. I think she was in shock! I expected jumping and screaming. Instead, she grabbed SW's hand and took her on a tour of our house, starting with her room! After that, we all went to Za's, an amazing semi-fast food Italian restaurant here in town. I think they were converted at first bite. I know by the end of the visit they were trying to figure out how to get one of them in Minneapolis. Well, fresh garlic, Italian sausage, white wine sauce, grated parm... All for a great price. What's not to love?





Saturday:
When we planned the trip, I had the great idea to get the girls Disney princess costumes, which I picked up at Wal-smart. Sweet Girl as Cinderella and Snow White as, well, Snow White, of course! We took the girls to Sears (there is only one in this town and it has the best decent-priced portrait studio around) for a photo shoot. The girls loved every minute of it. We did a set in street clothes and then pulled out the costumes. Ah, our little princesses! What fun.

After the photo shoot and the agony of choosing what we needed without buying every. single. pose. they. shot, we took the girls to lunch and then to the carousel for a ride and the wishing well to toss a few coins.



Later, Champs and I brought home LaBamba - the best Mexican food in Illinois. We got the girls to bed and then sat back with some wine for a serious time of girl talk. Yeah, I needed it. Geekwif got a kick out of how quickly my white reisling wine hit me. What can I say? Since I had the gastric bypass and my gall bladder out, I am the Ultimate Lightweight!

Sunday: Champs and I took the ladies to our new church. They enjoyed themselves and gave our new spiritual home two thumbs up, which was a real booster for us. A highlight of our church time was when we picked up the girls from kid's church. While the children's pastor was reading the closing bible verse, SG suddenly cried out and jumped up. She had finally got her loose front tooth out - by pulling it out herself! She was smiling from ear to ear while bleeding down her chin. I think it freaked out Pastor Amy a bit!

After church, we had to go back to Za's for lunch. As I said earlier, Geekwif and Snow's Mom loved Za's! When we got home, we compelled the girls - and the grown up girls, to take a nap. After our much needed rest, Geekwif and I snuck out to go shopping at our local nursery/craft/home decor center while Snow's Mom was still sleeping. I can't begin to say how nice it was to be out practicing the rights of commerce with my best shopping buddy! It wasn't about buying, it was about looking at everything together and just.... being. We loved it. We loved it so much that we went back to pick up SW's Mom and go to Joanne's for, yes, more rights of commerce.



When we got home, we were just in time to start dinner while the girls played. Champs planned to grill a garlic-stuffed pork loin. I am here to tell you that my husband is an artist when it comes to the grill! That man is amazing! Add to that some lightly sauteed broccoli and smashed potatoes and you have a feast! The ladies loved it and Champs continued to secure his title as Grill Master.

Finally, we just sat around talking and drinking a bit more wine. We had to turn in pretty early since the gals got back on the road at 4:30 Monday morning. I hated for the weekend to end, but having them here refreshed me in a way that I can't explain. Perhaps it was having them here and getting a "stamp of approval" on our home, our city and our church. Maybe it was just getting a few hugs and maybe it was just the ability to be with my friends and not have to speak - just be. In any case, I needed the weekend more than I realized and it was wonderful.

And before I wrap this up, I have to give a TON of kudos to my wonderful hubby. The estrogen to testosterone level was 5 to 1 for about 72 hours. Most husbands would have escaped and left us to fend for ourselves. My hubby was the epitome of helpful; playing with the girls to let us have some lady time, cooking for us, listening in when it was time and giving us space when we needed it - as well as essentially giving up his weekend time with Sweet Girl and me. He is wonderful and I just wanted to recognize it publicly! Oh, and also a shout out to The Geek and Snow's Dad, who were both willing to give up their girls for the weekend. Thanks, Guys!

Here are Snow's Mom, me and Geekwif, enjoying ourselves on our last night of girl time:


Now I'm just counting the moments until this summer when we turn around go visit them!


Here's some comments from this post:
Geekwif said...
Very nice. Very nice indeed. I could not have summarized it better myself.
I was going to do my Thursday 13 on this subject, but I don't know if I'll get one up today. After a wonderful weekend of relaxation at Chez Blonde, the rat race has taken off in full force again.

Suzy said...
I am so excited for you that your bestest friend got to come visit! How fun and blessed is that? I'm so thankful my best friend lives only minutes from me. =)
Oh forgot to tell you....what a sweet picture!!

Carmi said...
What a heartwarming entry. It brought to mind what we went through when we moved away from our hometown of Montreal. Our son was two, and we knew no one here. My wife cried for months, and the loneliness was crippling.
Eventually, we found our footing in our adopted home. But it took visits like the one you describe here to convince us that we still had a network of support - it was just a little more stretched than usual.
Popped by from Michele. Good to e-see you again!