An exhausted Dana brought the kids home after an extensive shopping trip. She was glad that she took the van as Stef's car could not have contained all of the packages. Dana and the kids carried what they could up to the apartment and then Dana sent Stef and the kids back for another load as Lena was making dinner.
Now it seemed like the entire living room was full of shopping bags and boxes. Lena and Stef eyed the packages and then looked at each other. "Wow, Mama, when you said you were taking the kids shopping, I had no idea it was going to look like this…"
"Well, there is a little more coming, most of Jude's things had to be ordered. They will be here in a few days. Don't give me that look, Lena Elizabeth! You all are moving into a new house and there are things you are going to need. The kids and I had a wonderful time looking!"
"I am sure you did. Dinner is ready, let's eat and then we want to see all of your lovely purchases." Brandon and Callie went to wash their hands and everyone sat down at the table. "Stef said you were going to get the kids clothes for the wedding. Did you have good luck?"
"Yes! Again, Jude's tux had to be ordered. The bridal shop didn't have a stock of infant tuxes. We did get Brandon's and Callie's clothes, though. I can't believe you want the kids wearing solid white… I went ahead and got Brandon and accessories in black as well, just in case you change your mind… Of course, I will have their clothes dry cleaned after they wear them on Friday…"
"Of course, that would only make sense." Stef said sarcastically and got a small kick under the table from Lena. Stef only grinned in response.
A few minutes later Brandon and Callie were both looking rather anxious. Callie started to get out of her chair. Stef caught her and stuck her back on her chair. "I want to go play with my new toys now, Mommy." Callie said seriously.
"It seems like to me that when we are having dinner together as a family we have a few rules. One of which is that you ask before you leave the table. Right now, if you were to ask, do you think we would say yes or no, Bug?"
Callie looked at her nearly full plate and then back to Stef. "I think you would say yes, because I want to go play with my new toys now."
Lena and Stef shared a smile. "Your new toys can wait, Baby." Lena answered gently. "Right now is when we are eating. You must eat all of your broccoli and at least half of your chicken before you may leave the table."
Brandon heard Lena and started attacking his broccoli. Callie, though, decided to see if she could get a better deal. "Do I have choices, Mama?"
"You always have choices, Callie. You may either eat like I have asked you to, or you may sit at the table for the rest of the evening."
Callie looked annoyed and stopped eating. Broccoli was one of Callie's favorite foods, she just didn't like to be forced to do anything. The adults went on with their conversation until Brandon looked up from his plate. "Mama, I ate all my broccoli and half of my chicken, may I go play with my new toys?" He asked very politely.
"Are you full, B? You may go if you are finished." Lena told him.
"Yes, Mama." Brandon hopped down and hurried to the bag containing his new Legos. Callie looked on with irritation.
"You know Callie, you would be able to get down and play if you ate your food." Stef said looking over at Callie again.
Callie gave Stef a mean look which Stef returned causing Callie to lose her resolve and giggle a little. She casually picked up her fork and stabbed a piece of broccoli. After carefully examining it, she put it in her mouth. The next bite was a little faster and then a little faster still. Soon she was done. "Mommy, may I be done now, too? I want to play with my new toys like Brandon."
Stef smiled at her little girl. "You did a fantastic job eating, Baby! You may go play."
Callie hopped down happily and went to join Brandon with the Legos. "You know that telling kids they have to finish their food can lead to unhealthy feelings and some experts are saying it can lead to obesity…"
"I have heard that study, Mama and I didn't make them eat everything on the plate. I don't want my kids to be hungry later and pester me for a snack. I would rather have them eat vegetables right now than try to get cookies later."
The adults finished their meals a few minutes later. They left the dishes in the sink for now so they could see what all Dana purchased for the kids. First, she got out all of the clothing. Brandon had a new white tux complete with shoes and Callie had a fluffy white dress with shoes and a purse.
"Mama, Callie's dress says that it cost over two hundred dollars. That is more than we were planning to spend on our clothes together. You shouldn't have spent so much!" Lena exclaimed looking at the tag.
"I can fix that… I will take you two shopping one day this week and we can get something perfect for both of you, also. You are only going to get married once, dear." Dana again looked at Stef uncomfortably. "I mean…."
"It is okay, Dana, we are only going to get married once, because this is our forever. My past is over, but Lena and the kids are my present and future. So, you are right."
"Stef and I would like to pick out our own clothes for the wedding. We want to be surprised the day of the ceremony…"
"That's fine, I will take you shopping tomorrow after we get our nails done and take Stef shopping during the day sometime." Stef and Lena's uncertain looks didn't go unnoticed. "You can choose on your own, just consider it an early wedding present and say yes."
Lena knew that agreeing would be the only way this would ever stop. If they could keep Dana at bay having her pay for their clothing would be a major help to the wedding budget. "Okay, Mama. We are doing the picking though. Whatever we choose, right?"
Dana smiled at her daughter. "Brandon and Callie are playing with their new Legos. I just picked up a few other little toys for them. I also got the kids a wagon, one of the kind with two seats and room for snacks or a picnic. When you move to your new house, it will be helpful when you go on walks or other places. It is a must have for people with three little ones. Then, Jude also needed some wheels, so he now owns a stroller. I looked for the one that would work with his car seat.
"All three of your kids are getting new rooms at your new house and they all needed some new furniture. Just as soon as you have keys to your new house, you need to contact Pottery Barn Kids. They will be delivering and setting up beds, dressers, and mattresses for each of the kids. Jude's new crib is one that can convert into a toddler bed, so it will grow with him."
"Mama, seriously, the kids have furniture. You bought Callie's set just a couple of years ago, remember? We moved it here and it is still good. We also own Brandon's bed, he doesn't have his own dresser, but we were going to find a used one for him…"
"Nonsense, Baby! Both boys needed furniture and Callie found some that she liked also. It is a housewarming gift… The kids also picked out bedding. I did steer them away from cartoon characters, Brandon picked out a blue based quilt with some plaid and cars on it. Callie picked out a purple based quilt with butterflies. They will both have decorative pillows with their names. I bought one set of sheets with each, but I figured you already had some of those. The kids agreed that Jude needed an alphabet theme for his bedding.
"Oh, and I bought some other clothes for all of the kids. I took inventory of the pitiful amount of clothing you have for your baby. He is really almost out of newborn clothing and you didn't own anything in a zero to three month size. So, I just got him a few new outfits. Then I found one in Brandon's size that matched… And a coordinating one for Callie. Then we came home."
"I understand why you were tired…. How in the world did you hit that many stores in just a couple of hours with two small children?" Stef asked again eyeing the piles of stuff.
"They are great shoppers and their attention spans are short, so we moved fast."
XXXX
Lena explained to the kids that she would not be stopping in their classroom during the day on the way to school. Both looked a little concerned, but understood. Since she had not promised to come, they did not spend the day looking for her. Lena picked them up at the end of the day and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw both Brandon and Callie earned happy faces.
Stef was more than happy to send Dana with Lena and Callie to get their nails done. During the day she insisted on reorganizing nearly everything in the house which drove Stef crazy. Lena insisted that all food served to the kids must be healthy, but cooking wasn't really Stef's forte. She volunteered to make dinner tonight, and now was a little at a loss. After searching through the newly organized kitchen she found everything necessary to make spaghetti. Brandon helped by setting the table. By the time the others got home, the food was ready and on the table.
"Wow! Callie, your fingernails are beautiful! Very sparkly!" Stef said looking at the little girl's nails.
"Thank you, Mommy! I also had them do my toe nails and Grams even let me get a facial!"
Stef was a little amazed that this was the same kid who was terrified of her grandmother just two days ago. She was also remembering that Lena said that Dana and Callie's relationship was sort of sickening. Stef was sort of feeling it.
The family sat down to eat. Callie took a big bite and chewed thoughtfully. "This doesn't taste like Mama's spaghetti."
"But it still tastes good, right, Bug?" Stef asked before she took a bite.
"Not really." Callie answered shoving her plate back.
Brandon took a bite and spit it back out on his plate. "This is yucky, Mommy."
Stef looked kind of embarrassed and dipped a finger into the sauce. It really wasn't very good. "This probably isn't going to work out… I normally use a jar of sauce, but we didn't have one. I remembered seeing you make sauce that tasted good. So, I tried to make it, but I guess it didn't really work…"
"The Chinese place down the street delivers. How about I call them while we clean this stuff up?" Lena suggested. The kids started yelling out various dishes they wanted and Stef retreated to her bedroom feeling humiliated for serving terrible food to her future mother-in-law as well as her family.
Lena sensed her discomfort and went to find her after calling in the order. Leaving the clean up to her mother and kids. "It was an honest mistake, Babe." Lena said and she wrapped her arms around Stef. "You tried to make something with unfamiliar ingredients. It happens to everyone sometimes."
"Yes, but not always in front of someone who you desperately want to impress. Lena, you said yourself that your mother is very critical of everything you do. Now, your fiancé served her inedible food." Stef put her hands over her face. "This is a low moment."
"It wasn't inedible, it just didn't taste great." Lena said lightening the mood. "I will show you how to make sauce next time. I am sure you used all the right things, just not in the right quantities… It doesn't matter, though. I don't love you for your cooking anyway." Lena gently moved Stef's hands to kiss her. "We all love Chinese food and so all is forgiven.
XXXX
Friday, Lena made plans to have lunch with Brandon and Callie. From this point on, she would just take one at a time, but for the first week this seemed nice. The kids chattered happily about different classroom events. Overall, it appeared that their first week had been a success.
After school, Dana picked up the kids and helped them get dressed. Callie took her hair brush, headband, and her bag of hair things to Stef to do her hair. "Mommy, Grams is helping B get dressed. Would you do my hair for me?"
"Sure, Bug." Stef had gotten fairly good at doing Callie's naturally curly hair. She quickly brushed it out a little and put it in a bun using a band and a few bobby pins. Stef turned her around, kissed her nose, and added the headband. "You look very pretty!"
"Thank you, Mommy. I think you are pretty, too." Callie gave Stef a little kiss on her nose.
Dana came out of the kids' room with Brandon looking a little less happy in his new clothing. "You look very handsome, Son."
Brandon gave Stef a little smile and walked over to her. She used the brush to tame his hair down just a little before kissing his cheek. Dana went to get herself dressed while Stef took pictures of the two kids. Lena came home just in time to see them off.
Dana loaded the kids into the car to go to the restaurant. "The place we are eating is very fancy. You two will probably be the only children there. I want to see you two act like a little prince and princess. Use your nice table manners that your mommies would be proud of. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Grams." Both kids answered quietly.
Dana gave the keys to the valet and took the children to the reservation desk. They were immediately shown to a table. The kids sat down at the table with menus. This restaurant did not have children's menus nor any pictures in the adult menus. Brandon and Callie couldn't actually read.
"Do you two know what you are going to want?" Dana asked not really knowing they were at a total loss.
"Yes." Brandon said nudging Callie who also nodded.
"What are you going to order?"
Brandon randomly pointed to something on his menu. "I want this."
"Really, Brandon? Have you ever tried octopus before?"
"No… I thought it was something else." Brandon said clearly disgusted. Callie now didn't even want to give it a try.
Dana looked over at the two kids who were not looking at their menus and realized that they probably would be unable to order. "How about if you two share a steak? You may also choose two side dishes to share. They have baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, french fries, green beans, corn on the cob, salad, and seasonal vegetables."
"French fries!" Both kids said. Callie added, "Mama would like us to also have green beans."
"Great choice. Your mama said that you may choice water, milk, or juice to drink, but I do not see milk or juice on the menu. We can ask the waiter about it. If not, do you both like Sprite?"
Again both kids approved. Callie had never had Sprite, but had wanted to try it since the first time it was brought up.
The waiter came and Dana placed the orders. She requested the kids' food to be put on two plates, but had not considered that the four year olds also could not cut up their steak by themselves either. So, she spent several minutes cutting up both plates of food before eating. Then she had to stop the waiter to ask for ketchup. Dana realized why she only had one child and why the mothers wished her good luck on her way out the door.
Once all of those issues were worked out, the kids did surprisingly well with their food. They did not finish it, which was expected. The environment of the restaurant kept the behavior of both kids in check. Callie had no reason to push her grandmother who really always conformed to what Callie wanted. Dana promised the kids ice cream after the symphony, so they were not too upset by not getting dessert.
Dana drove the kids to the auditorium where the symphony would be taking place and then took them both by the hand to walk in. "I don't think either of you have ever been to this type of concert before. We are going to get to see and hear people up on stage playing instruments. They are going to play music just like your mama likes to play for you at your apartment."
"Classical music!" Brandon asked with big eyes as he loved to music Lena played.
"Absolutely. This is more special than some concerts as it is both instruments with strings and horns like the trumpet. It looks like there will also be a piano. Now, at the Symphony, you two sit on either side of me. You must sit quietly so that you can listen. Your mama loves going to concerts like this just like she loves to play this kind of music for you guys at home."
She did have the foresight to take them both to the restroom before going to sit down so that wouldn't be an immediate issue. The kids were quite restless before the concert started. Dana was beginning to regret her choice until the tuning started. Callie and Brandon both perked up as soon as they heard the sound.
"What song is this?" Brandon whispered loudly.
"This isn't a song, it is just the way they get all the instruments ready to play." Dana answered quietly.
"I think I like it. That isn't on Mama's cd, but it should be."
"Maybe it is on one we can get here. Remember, though, we have to sit quietly when the music starts so that everyone can enjoy the concert."
The conductor got onto his platform and raised his arms to begin the first song. From the first note, Brandon was hooked. Dana glanced over at Brandon and saw him slightly moving to the music. His eyes were wide open staring straight at the pianist. When the first song was over Brandon looked at his grandmother. "That was the most beautiful thing I ever heard, Grams!"