I have always taken my girls to the schoolastic book fair. We have never missed it. It's against the law around our house.... We love reading books!
Well, it was cloudy and drizzly this morning. Already a stay in bed day. Then, of course, mother nature adds a 25 degree drop in the temperature over night.
We should have stayed in the house today, but oh no... Not us brave women of the world. We were going out darn it! I'm above average intelligence most of the time. Not today. Let me explain how today has been so you will understand why I should have kept the kids home and told the husband to walk to work. It wouldn't have killed him...
6:00 a.m. My alarm goes off. I'm up with a quickness and walk right to the girls' room. I flip on the light and yell, GOOD MORNING, RISE AND SHINE! Then I toddle off to brush my teeth and hair. After I shuffle to the back of the house and grab a pair of shorts and a t-shirt I stop by their room to tell the ladybugs its COLD outside and they will need to wear pants.
This is one heck of a morning. They were arguing or debating very loudly about what color should be worn with what. Mommy doesn't care... If it's clean and fits, with no holes, then throw it on! Let's get out of here, please.
Hah! I must have been a real turkey to my mom as a kid because, holy moly! These two give me a run for my money. Now it's mom you have to braid my hair while her sister taps her foot wanting a pony tail.
Looking at her, you would think she had been waiting for hours. In truth, it had only been a couple minutes. Thank the stars above! We managed to get through pulling all our hair up.
Now they have realized it's Friday. The last day of the book fair. Well... Here we go. Have you ever been on a carousel? You feel like it won't ever end? That's exactly how I have felt all week because of this book fair... Mom, don't forget you have to come today! Yes, I promise.
Bingo! They had me the instant that word slipped past my lips. They knew it too. I watched the smiles creep up their small faces. Kinda like the Grinch's, when he was thinking of stealing Christmas from the who's down in Whoville.
Needless to say, after those few, very scary seconds... We had many more moments of go find your stuff so we can leave and maybe, we'll actually get there on time today.
7:50 a.m. Goodbyes and kisses... Yet, one more guarantee that I would indeed be coming to the book fair. Pulling away from the school I took deep breaths... Now, it's time for my day to start.
2:00 p.m. Early release Fridays... Yeah! I walk up to the school, money in my pocket. From that point, it all goes south. Lighting fast. The girls come out and tell me to hurry and come in so we can all go to the book fair. Off we go!
We were stopped by some lady in the library, merely to be told that the darn thing closed today. At noon... My only thought was, Are you kidding me, really! I guess she had seen the look on my face because she apologized to me quickly. I just turned back to my girls not at all in the mood.
This is where I feel like poo... For not coming earlier that day or any day before. I don't know, something... I could just kick my own butt. I never want to be the cause of their unhappiness, no matter how small.
Now these two are standing here crying because they wouldn't let them pick a few books out. I had to think fast or I could have been stuck there for a while listening to them blubber.
I bent down and told them we would go straight over to the bookstore to see what we could find. Bingo! Mom is their hero once again. I love those silly smiles they give me when I solve some small problem that seems massive to them.3:30 p.m. Bookstore, Wow!!! We could live in that store. My littlest one, if I don't watch her like a hawk she will sit and read books front to back. Like she does at the library. My oldest wants to read the back of each book before she picks one out. They are so different... As I stand there watching my girls, I'm so proud of who they are and the kind of women I see them growing into.
It took some time, but they finally made up their little minds. I know how hard it is with this many books to choose from. Not paying any attention to the time we checked out and left the store. Ended up bumping into some old friends from school as we left so, of course, we had to stop and talk for a few minutes.
Kids always make friends with everyone so fast. As adults, we just don't care. Who knows what happens to us, but nobody wants to say hello anymore. Smiling and saying goodbye, I tell the girls to look both ways as we head back to the jeep.
Once we reach the jeep I look at my phone to check the time. Holy moly it's 5:25 p.m! Just then my baby tells me, this was way better than the book fair. I was so glad she was happy and at that instant I didn't care what time it was or how long it took to get there. If it were only these little moments in her childhood that she remembers when she's grown, I will be tickled.
To me, these are the moments that build my girls and fill their memory banks. I hope someday they will tell one of their own children about how we took trips to the bookstore.
Times when we missed the book fair.
Tonight, we decided on going to our favorite restaurant here in town. I just wanted to write this in hopes you all take a second to appreciate your kids or parents, for that matter. Family is special and very, very important.
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