I'm So Glad It's Over
John works on Saturdays, and we usually treat it like another school day, but this past Saturday, we threw schoolbooks out the window and made a grand escape. First, we went to a book sale, only to discover in front of the locked doors that I should have checked the library's opening time. I took pictures of the girls sitting on the steps while I talked on the phone to Becky about my stupidity.
The funny thing about this next picture is that they were tearing around the pole like banshees when I hissed, "Hey! I want to take your picture!" They immediately stopped and looked down at me with plastic grins. It was a blue moon shining me full in the face.
Then we went to the mall for Farm Days. Pens of livestock in Center Court! Free samples! Music! Games! I took no snapshots of furry animals, but I do have a picture of the bathroom, which is almost as nice. I took the following picture as a companion piece to this one. It's an identical view, only my belly has grown a head and striped legs. Creepy!
We never go to the mall- never- which makes the FOUR HOURS we spent there pretty darn impressive. (Proof-- Susannah doesn't remember seeing mannequins before. When we entered the Macy's entrance, she started screeching, "She has no head, Mama! She has NO HEAD!" The headless mannequins, especially, were endlessly amusing.)
Millie's part of a reading program and has "earned" all sorts of amazing prizes for doing what has become as natural to her as breathing (i.e. reading from morning 'til night). One of her most recent rewards was a $10.00 gift card to the mall, so we searched high and low for the perfect way to spend that massive amount of money. The first things she bought were a giant bag of cheese doodles and a bag of gummy fish. We crunched away, wiping electric orange on our shirts, skirts, tights, our mouths smeared with tangerine powder that could never, ever come from real cheese. We sat, thankful for Mildred's largesse, when along strolled the Man Himself, Senator L., the wizard hiding behind the reading program. In a serendipitous moment, he sat on the opposite side of the bench, back to back with us as we ate tax money. Before I could shake his hand with my orange-stained fingers, he walked away. Next time, Senator.
For dessert, the girls ordered free ice cream cones at Friendly's. Thanks for the certificates, Grandma O.! A day only becomes better when it's topped off with two scoops of cold cream.
As we walked through the mall on our way out, we stopped and listened to this a capella group. They were fantastic singers and great entertainers, but Millie said to me several times, "They're all right. I do like them, but I certainly don't enjoy them as much as I'd enjoy a horse show."
Sorry, guys. Maybe next time you should spring for the horse costumes.
7 comments :
I LOVE how the girls dress...the striped leggins, skirts, boots- PONY TAILS! so much fun is to be had...
Hey. I want to be a NYS resident!! Do they really give out gift certificates for reading these days?
The pics of the girls are classic. I love the way you dress them. Soooo cute!
I think Millie is very articulate, as in, using words older kids do (like "certainly" and "enjoy"), and her sentences, in a way, sound "grown-up".
I'm sometimes surprised by the words and phrases Deirdre uses, as well. She talks in a different style, though. Deirdre talks like her head is so full of all she has to say, and it keeps coming out in pieces, with slight pauses as she keeps reading the "script" inside her head, and figures out how to say it--and it's usually pretty lengthy, because Deirdre's pretty articulate, as well.
Millie always seems to say things with a certain "poise" for lack of a better word, and in an exact sort of way, as if she knows the right words to use and they come out naturally and easily.
1) Striped tights are cute...but three pairs of striped tights in a row are just--oh my.
2)I wish I lived in NY and could get free stuff for reading. That'd be pretty cool. But-glad for you!
3)That icecream cone picture is TOO cute!
4)Enviousness is something I struggle with when I see your girls' LONG locks. For myself AND my girls! (Notice the plural? I love that it is plural!)
I won't argue with anyone who thinks these girls are cute. (Kudos to you, Mary, for giving us those tights. The world loves them.)
Sandy,
And how! Only a few counties are included in the program, but so far Millie's received gift certificates to Barnes & Noble, Friendly's, tickets to local baseball games, admittance to mini golf... It's nuts, and it probably won't be around next year because of fiscal woes. Millie and children like her are reading the state into financial ruin.
Cadie,
I love how Deirdre talks, as well. She's very articulate, and she sparkles all over with excitement as she speaks. I've often felt that those pauses are just her suppressing some of her enthusiasm so that she can continue!
I think part of being the oldest daughter naturally develops Millie's "poise," as you call it. Sometimes, though, it's a bit much! And the books she reads definitely influence her speech patterns. A few days ago, I heard her telling Annie not to bother her while she read a Bobbsey Twins book. She said, "Annie, you really shouldn't be blahblahblahblah, and, FURTHERMORE, I wish you'd blahblahblahblah."
I don't think I've ever used the word "furthermore" aloud in my life. Maybe I should start reading the Bobbsey Twins...
Rebecca,
I wish you did, too! You could at least join the Pizza Hut Book-It program, though, if you haven't already. She'll get a free personal pan pizza or a free lunch buffet each month when she reaches her reading goal. (The best part is that YOU set the reading goal!)
And maybe Adele will sprout hair like Rapunzel. Long hair is such a pain to brush snarls from, though. Maybe you should reconsider.
I LOVE the pic cream picture! I am supposed to be getting dressed for work and here I am mesmerized buy all the blogs I somehow missed! my fav blog thing has obviously not been working! Oh dear!
I am now content, So many wonderful things!
but also late for work.
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