Some of you know that Jonathan was to sing with the Singing Friends at Teen Triumphant in Beech Grove, on December 31st! It was my holiday to work night shift but I finally found someone to work for me so I could go to this service! (I had to agree to work day shift on New Year's Day!)
We left the house before 11am on New Year's Eve as we had several stops to make! (I had to work every other day the entire Christmas break so I hadn't had time to do much since Christmas! Jonathan was thrilled that I decided that this was the day to catch up on my shopping!!!)
We arrived at the church a little after 4pm and I was hoping to see some of my "girl" friends there! Much to my dismay, no wives were there at that time and I began my long evening of chasing my kids! Jonathan had to practice singing and playing the bass so he was NO help! The service was not to start until 8pm so I just let the kids "run" in the sanctuary!!! I was way stressed out, long before 8pm, and if we had driven two vehicles, I would've celebrated the New Year at home!
Luckily, my sister-in-law, LuRhe, came to my rescue right at service time and sat with me to help with the kids! Peyton started out being a total terror! He had only gotten a short nap and was not thrilled to be in church! It was extremely hot in the sanctuary and of course, I wore a new "boiled wool" jacket! (Big mistake!!!) I literally fought Peyton for most of the first half of the service. This included taking him out during the service, practically giving him every toy in my diaper bag, feeding him every snack I had, and drinking two sippies!!! I finally got him to sleep right before the sermon! (It was a short sermon by Travis Johnson!) During this time, Parker kept turning to me and asking, "Mom, is it almost over?" How many more songs do they have left?" Is this their last song?" Etc!!! I was about to scream!
They had an intermission at 10pm and were serving snacks in the gym across the parking lot! I was dying of thirst, hot and ready to move! I forgot to mention that Parker was asleep by this time as well! Jonathan and I decided to try to carry them to the gym and at least get a drink! Parker woke up grumpy and Peyton woke up SCREAMING! He screamed the entire time we were in the gym! I was ready to walk home by this time! I finally had taken all I could handle and told Jonathan I was going to the car and would see him next year!!! My diaper bag was in the church so I hauled Peyton across the parking lot, fighting 40 mile an hour winds, only to find that the car keys were NOT in the diaper bag! (They were in Jonathan's pocket!) I tried calling him but did he answer??? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! So, back across the parking lot I go, with a screaming child, mumbling to myself the entire time! :) I got the keys, went to the car, started it up and turned on a movie!!! Peyton quickly quieted down, and all was well! Parker too was totally over the night and did not want to go back inside with Jonathan! So, Jonathan threw Paige in her seat, told Parker to get in, and headed inside to sing some more! He forgot to even tell me to have a Happy New Year!!! So there I sat... for 1 1/2 hours, in the vehicle, wasting gas, killing Jonathan's milage and watching a dumb DVD as I rang in the New Year with my three children! Talk about making memories!
Jonathan did come flying out immediately after the service was over and we came right home! I got to bed about 1:20am and had to be up by 5:45am for work! Short night and so not worth it! (I didn't even hardlly get to talk to my friends, and only saw some from across the sanctuary!) I told Jonathan on the way home that night that next year "I get to pick out what we are doing for New Year's and I am pretty sure it won't involve a watch night service!!!"
And how was your New Year's????
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
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7 comments:
Bad me, but I don't care for watch night services either. I'm sorry your new year started out on a sour note :) But hopefully things will only get better! Have I mentioned that supposedly kids go through cycles of behavior - 6 months bad, 12 months good? So they don't necessarily start the terrible two's at two-sometimes at 18 months. It seemed pretty realistic with my kids. Another positive note, Dr. Dobson says they will go through their "terrible twos" at some point whether it's actually around age 2 and if not during the young years, very likely in their teen years. This soooo happened with my nephew. So, hopefully you are getting it over and done!! :) :) But truly, I think your kids were just tired of being cooped up...not necessarily being terrible. Hope that encourages you and that today is a better day.
Oh, and P.S. I was on Janiece's front porch video taping the kids yelling and making noise to greet the new year...it was freezing and blowing that 40 mph wind up there too!
Reminds me of why I rarely took my kids anywhere when they were smaller, especially if I had to corral them myself the whole time! I had 3 under the age of 3 for a little while and I had to choose my battles, you know?
We were in cousin Karen's living room watching the ball drop in Times Square, the kids yelling the countdown and then cheers after that. Luckily, we only had 7 miles to drive home in the nasty weather.
I had the best intentions of going to bed at 10:30, but Connor camped out on our floor and pestered us into the new year.
Oh my, you poor girl! It'll get better. :) My kids are 6 & 9 but I think even they would have been antsy had we been shopping all day & then in church all night! I (personally) don't dig watchnight services either.....! :) Why do we feel like we're bad for saying that? LOL
We were home alone this year. The kids were excited to stay up til midnight. Leighton entertained them while I dozed on the couch til time to watch the ball drop. ;) I need my sleep in order to start the new year out right, I guess. LOL
I'm totally with you on this! Watch night services are not for kids! I almost came out to the car with you! I know one of mine is older and easier to handle so you probably don't want to listen to me complain, but I was sooo ready to get home! If I ever get around to posting, I have a good picture of you in your SUV! :) Wish we could have visited more, but it was still good to see you.
(Sorry I made a mistake in the last post so I deleted it! )
What a New Year's to remember! And I suppose Jonathan went back in and smiled to "beat the band" while singing all along wishing he were somewhere else too. You should have called me for I was home alone and bored-but I did not miss watch night service. Who started that routine anyway? I would have gladly come and left my car for J to drive home!
Jody...don't you dare post that picture of me!! I knew as soon as you took it where I would see that picture again! Sorry we couldn't visit more! We have to make a point to meet sometime soon! (Maybe without my kids! :)
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