We've been in our new house for four days now. I absolutely love this house. I am literally living the dream that I have imagined for as long as I can remember. All I can think about is how lucky I am. Never in a million years would I have thought that I would end up here. With a life like this. I never thought that I was going to get out of the foster system. Because I broke the rules that one night at a Martina McBride concert, I got two loving parents. I live in this amazing house, I get to do all of these amazing things and travel the world. How did I get to be so lucky?
It is a little after 10:00 at night. I just finished getting ready for bed. I turned off the lights except the lamp on my nightstand. I climbed in and covered myself up and laid down. About five minutes later my mom walked in and sat on the side of my bed. I gave her a small smile and she kissed my forehead.
"How are you adjusting to the new house?" she asked quietly.
"I love it here" I said with an even bigger smile.
"I'm glad" she said with a smile.
"You know, the two of us haven't had a girl's day in a while with all the house stuff and your trip with grandma and grandpa. So I made us appointments to get mani pedis and get our hair done tomorrow since you have been bugging me about you getting highlights." She said and I giggled. "Then after that we could do some shopping. How does that sound?" she asked. I smiled big and nodded.
"Alright, now get some sleep" she said and kissed my forehead. She stood up and turned off my lamp.
"I love you" She added.
"I love you too" I said and nuzzled into my bed a little more. A few minutes later I drifted off to sleep.
I woke up the next morning to Elijah tapping my arm. I laid there and kept my eyes shut to see if he would go away. It is probably ridiculously early. The tapping went on for like two more minutes so I opened my eyes because clearly he isn't going away.
"What do you need E?" I asked in a groggy voice.
"You said we would build Lego towers today" he said excitedly. I rolled over and looked at the time on my IPod dock. 6:12 a.m. I rolled back over to face Elijah.
"Elijah, it is 6:12 in the morning. It is way too early to build Lego towers. We can build them later. Go back to bed" I said and buried my face in my pillow.
"I'm not tired Emma" he whined.
"Go bother Mom and Dad" I said into my pillow.
"They're sleeping" he said and crawled up on my bed.
"If you're going to be in here then you have to lay down" I said.
"Ok" he said and made himself comfortable. I rolled over on my back and Elijah snuggled into me. As much as he is driving me crazy right now, I love him to pieces. I wrapped my arm around him and we drifted back to sleep.
About an hour and a half later, I heard my bedroom door open slightly. I'm assuming that it's either my mom or dad, probably looking for Elijah since he isn't in his room.
"Jimi, come here" I heard my mom whisper.
"Look at them" she whispered again.
"I wonder what time he woke her up?" Dad asked mom.
"Probably 6:00" Mom said with a giggle.
I shifted a little and looked over at them.
"Morning sweetie" mom said sweetly.
"Morning" I whispered with a yawn.
"We didn't mean to wake you" Dad said.
"It's fine, Elijah had me up at 6:12" I said with a giggle. Then Elijah started to stir.
"Is it time to play Legos yet?" Elijah asked in a groggy voice.
"Yes, we can play Legos now" I said and laughed.
"You two can play Legos after you eat breakfast" Mom said.
"Ok" Elijah said and climbed out of my bed. Then I followed and we all went downstairs to the kitchen.
"How do pancakes sound?" Mom asked.
"Can we have chocolate chip pancakes?" I asked sweetly with a smile.
"Sure" she said and started mixing up the batter.
After breakfast, Elijah and I went into the playroom and started building with Legos. We played in there for about an hour before Mom came in and had us get dressed. I went upstairs, showered and got dressed for the day. Mom was in the bathroom by Elijah's room giving him a bath. I went downstairs by Dad. I figured he would be watching TV or something, but he wasn't. Then I checked the next place where I would usually find him, in the basement studio. I walked down the stairs and he was playing his guitar on the couch. I always like to listen to him play, especially when he and Mom sing together. I walked over to him and sat down.
"Hey princess" he said.
"Whatcha doing?" I asked.
"Working on a song. Do you wanna help?" he asked.
"I don't really know anything about writing a song" I said.
"I'll teach you. Go grab your guitar" he said. I stood up and grabbed my guitar off the stand and sat back down next to him. He showed me the chords he was playing around with and we played them a few times. Soon we were playing around with a melody. Then he started singing the lyrics that he had down. After we played through what he already had, we worked on the lyrics a little more.
We had been down in the basement for a few hours. It was about lunchtime and Mom came down the stairs a little.
"Em, I'm going to make Elijah some chicken nuggets for lunch. Would you like me to make you some too or do you want something else?" She asked.
"Chicken nuggets please" I said with a smile.
"Babe, would you like some too?" she asked Dad.
"Yes please" Dad said with a smirk and I laughed.
"Alright, lunch will be done in about twenty minutes" she said with a giggle and walked back upstairs. We continued writing the song and we finished it just before lunch was done. It feels pretty good to write a song. I've always loved singing, but I didn't think writing a song would be this fun. I can see why my mom and dad like to do it so much.
Once we were done with our song, we set our guitars down.
"I have a question for you" Dad said.
"Shoot" I said.
"How do you feel about babysitting Elijah tonight?" he asked.
"I don't mind. Why?" I asked.
"I want to surprise your Mom with a date night" He said.
"What are you going to do?" I asked intrigued.
"I was planning on taking her out to a casual dinner then to the Christmas light show in the park and then a movie. Nothing to extravagant, but we haven't had a date night in a while" he said.
"She will love that" I said with a smile.
"Is there anything you need me to do?" I asked.
"All I need you to do is text me when you guys are on your way home from your girls day so I can be ready" he said.
"You got it" I said. Someday I hope to find a love like my parents have.
We put our guitars away and went upstairs since lunch will be ready any minute. We walked up the stairs and into the kitchen. I sat at the counter next to Elijah and Dad helped Mom put the plates together. He put a handful of potato chips and some ketchup on the plates. Then Mom pulled out the chicken nuggets and put some on each of the plates. Then she put the plates in front of Elijah and I.
"Thanks Mama" I said with a smile.
"Thank you!" Elijah said excitedly.
"You're welcome guys" she said with a smile. Then her and Dad sat down and ate with us.
After lunch, Mom got Elijah ready for his nap.
"Can we play Mom the song?" I asked Dad.
"Sure" he said with a smile. About ten minutes later Mom came back down from putting Elijah down.
"Mama, Daddy and I want to show you something" I said excitedly.
"Ok, show me" she said. Dad and I walked towards the basement and Mom followed. Mom and I sat on the couch and Dad grabbed our guitars. He handed me mine and then he said in the chair next to the couch. I looked over at Dad and he nodded. Then we started playing. Dad sang the first verse and I joined in at the chorus. I sang the second verse and when the chorus came around Dad joined back in and then we sang the rest of the song together.
"That was amazing guys" Mom said with a big smile.
"Is that what you two have been working on all morning?" She asked.
"Yep. I learned how to write a song" I said excitedly.
"And it was a really good song too" she said and hugged me.
"Our appointments for our hair and nails are in a half an hour. Are you ready to go?" she asked.
"Yep" I said and stood up.
"Have fun guys" Dad said as Mom and I walked up the stairs.
"We will" I said excitedly. Once we got to the top of the stairs. We walked over to the door to the garage and put our shoes and jackets on then we headed out the door.
About twenty minutes later, we arrived at the salon and mom checked us in. Mom and I both were getting a trim and highlights, so they did our hair first. Then we got our nails done. While we're here, I want to bring up the idea of entering a talent show. I haven't done one since I was eleven and it went really well. Gracie has been bugging me about entering this talent show in March that she has entered in. I've always loved singing, but I didn't think it was anything I wanted to pursue until today while I was writing and singing with my Dad. I have sang with my parents thousands of times, but there was something about writing a song that I just fell in love with.
"Mama, can I talk to you about something?" I asked quietly while we were getting our pedicures done.
"Sweetie, you can talk to me about anything, you know that" she said and reached for my hand. I paused for a second and she raised her eyebrows.
"So, Gracie is in this talent show at the end of March and she has been bugging me to enter for a while. So I was wondering if I could" I said.
"I didn't think you were that interested in singing" she said.
"I wasn't really until today when Daddy and I wrote that song this morning. I realized that I do really like to sing" I said quietly with a smile.
"You're a good singer too" she said and squeezed my hand. When is the deadline for entering?" she asked.
"Next Friday" I said.
"I'll have to talk to Dad before we make any final decisions." She said and I nodded. Then we finished up our pedicures and moved onto our manicures. Once they were dry, we headed to the mall. With it being so close to Christmas, the mall was pretty busy, but that doesn't stop us. We shopped for a few hours and then we headed home with several bags in hand. I texted Dad and told him that we were on our way home.
When we arrived home, Dad was leaning against his truck with a bouquet of flowers.
"What is your Daddy doing?" she asked and I smirked.
"Do you know what he's up to?" she asked me with her eyebrows raised.
"Maybe" I said with the same smirk.
We climbed out and Mom walked over to Dad.
"For you, my love" he said and handed her the bouquet and kissed her.
"They're beautiful. Thank you" she said.
"Em, can you take these inside and put them in a vase" She asked.
"Sure" I said and she handed me the flowers. Then I grabbed our shopping bags and walked inside. I saw Dad help Mom in the truck and then he drove away. I set everything down and went to find Elijah.
"Hey E! It's just you and me tonight!" I called out. Then he came running out of his play room.
"What should we have for dinner?" I asked.
"Pizza rolls!" he said excitedly.
"Do we even have Pizza Rolls?" I asked him.
"Yeah, me and Daddy got them when we went to get Mama's flowers" he said.
"Alright, Pizza Rolls it is then. Would you like to help me make them?" I asked.
"Yes, yes, yes!" he said and ran into the kitchen. I grabbed a cookie sheet out of the drawer. I opened the box and Elijah dumped them on the tray. We straightened them up so they weren't on top of each other. Once the oven was preheated, I put them in and set a timer. While we waited for them to be done we finished building our giant Lego tower in the play room. I have to say that this is the tallest Lego tower we have ever built. We heard the timer go off and I had Elijah go wash his hands while I pulled the Pizza Rolls out of the oven. Once he was done he ran back into the kitchen and climbed up on a stool at the counter. I served us our pizza rolls and joined Elijah at the counter. We ate our dinner then cleaned up. Well I did most of the cleaning, Elijah had Pandora playing on my phone and was dancing around the kitchen, but that is to be expected with a three year old. It was pretty entertaining I have to say.
"Do you want to have a movie night?" I asked him once I finished cleaning up the kitchen.
"YES! Can we have popcorn too?" he asked excitedly.
"We can't have movie night without popcorn" I said and Elijah got really excited. I dug out the air popper and Elijah grabbed the seeds from the pantry since they were on a shelf he could reach. He brought them over to me.
"Here ya go Emma" he said and set them on the counter.
"Thanks bud" I said and smiled at him. I poured the seeds in the popcorn maker and put a bowl under it and turned it on. Elijah wanted to see so I picked him up and set him on my hip. We watched the popcorn pop. Once it was done, I set him down and melted some butter and poured it on top. Then we sprinkled some seasoning on top. The popcorn was all ready and we walked over to the living room. Elijah picked out 'Cars." I put the movie in and we sat on the couch. I covered us in a blanket and we watched the movie.
The movie finished up around 8:15, which is passed Elijah's bedtime, but I figured he would have fallen asleep before the movie was over, but he didn't.
"Alright Elijah, it's time to get ready for bed, it's passed your bedtime" I said. I took the blanket off of us and set it on the couch. I took the popcorn bowl to the kitchen. Elijah waited for me at the bottom of the stairs. We walked up together. I picked out his pajamas and grabbed a pullup for him. Even though he's potty trained, mom has him wear them to bed just in case. I helped him get dressed then we went to the bathroom. I put a small dab of his Spiderman toothpaste on his toothbrush and he brushed his teeth. Once he was ready for bed, we walked back to his room. I read him a story then he crawled in bed.
"Can I sleep in your bed with you until Mama and Daddy come home?" he asked before he got situated.
"Umm.. I wasn't going to go to bed right away, bud. You can sleep in your own bed" I said softly.
"Please Emma?" He begged with his puppy dog eyes.
"Ok, fine" I gave in. We walked back to my room. He climbed in my bed and I grabbed a pair of pajamas and went into my bathroom, changed and got ready for bed. When I was done I threw my clothes in the hamper and turned all the lights off except the lamp on my nightstand. I crawled in bed next to Elijah and covered us up. He cuddled up to me and drifted off to sleep. Not too much later my eyes fell heavy and closed.