Fun Friday

When I was teaching, if the students were well-behaved, they were treated to "Fun Friday".  Usually, they could earn extra playground minutes, but occasionally they would rack up some extra library time as a class.  I would threaten remind them all week that they needed to behave if they wanted to participate in Fun Friday, and most of the time, they would straighten up and get focused. 

Whitney and I had our own version of Fun Friday yesterday.  She got to go to the library, something my 2nd graders craved! Got to run around and squeal and act silly with one of her besties, just like my 2nd graders would run wild on the playground, letting all their pent-up energy explode in giggles and cackles.  And I got to spend quality time with another teacher while we watched our kids play and mingle amongst the books, just like I used to do with my fellow teachers who believed in Fun Fridays spent on extra library time or extra playground minutes. 

As a side note: Eric jokes that I need to have nicknames for all the 'Mandy' in my life.  I have "Belgium Mandy" who is the other half of "Kat-Man-dooo", and who lives in Belgium (thus, she is Belgium Mandy), and who I have never actually been in the same room with but who still manages to be one of the very best friends I could dream of.   Then I have "Cousin Mandi", who is Eric's cousin, and not just family, but a close girlfriend who I adore and trust and laugh with til my belly hurts (but who had a baby last week, so I havent seen her as much as I'd like). And I have "High School Mandy," who gets her nickname because she went to high school with Eric, and we were sticking with easy nicknames.

High School Mandy noticed on FB that Eric had a daughter about the same age as her daughter, Avery.  Last year, High School Mandy asked Eric if we were putting Whitney in swim lessons last summer, and seeing her question on his FB page, I responded to her. We talked about a few other things, including the My Gym classes Whitney was enrolled in, and I was SUPER excited when Mandy moved closer to us, and THRILLED when she and Avery enrolled in the My Gym classes with us! 

Our friendship has steadily grown and I seriously love this girl. She loves bows, monogrammed clothes, books, fun things to do with our girls, her husband, and our "spirited" little girls :) How could I NOT adore her!?  We often share a brain and our texts make me laugh out loud. Forget the fact that we "just" met a few months ago...she's a lifer and a bestie already. :) Im telling you, God knows what He is doing when He places people in our lives.  I think Mandy and I need each other to keep each other sane and make each other laugh and remind each other to enjoy every second. Oh, and dont get me started on how CUTE our girls are. ACCKK. To. Die. For. Cute.

Avery is about 2 months younger than Whitney and every bit as spunky and funny. Just like their Mommies, the friendship is growing between these two adorable toddlers, and it is SOO fun to watch before our eyes.

Yesterday, Mandy and I tried taking these two darlings to storytime for the first time. Yeah for Fun Friday!  I didnt plan it this way, but its probably best that we chose a storytime in another town. Where neither of us live.  Where no one could recognize us.  Where we nevr have to return to. Its just safer when we know we wont run into someone we know as our children squealed and squawked and belly laughed and climbed and crawled and ran and hid and darted every chance they got.  Nevermind our reminders to "shhhh" and "quiet, honey!" And forget that Whitney is generally a well-behaved child who listens to me most of the time and wouldnt ever really consider running away from me at full speed in Walmart. Nope. This was new territory. This was no Walmart. It was almost as if they thought that the quiet library was their stage, and everyone was there to see their performance. 

I was proud to say that I wasnt the only Mommy who brought her camera to storytime, however I must have had a setting wrong since these pics didnt come out as clear as I wanted. They are still cute, but I bet the Mommy with the big, fat, fancy camera didnt have to worry about blurry pictures.  Afterall, her kid just sat there like a lump rock angel. Our kids? RUNNNING.  Blurry hot messes. HYSTERICAL, laugh-out-loud- and- remind-OURSELVES-to-be-quiet kinda hysterical. 

These were all taken after the less-than-exciting storytime was over and outta the way.
   BELLY laughs.  At what?? Each other!! They just looked at each other, squealed, and started laughing hysterically. Mandy and I werent sure what to think! I mean, these two have had playdates at our house and at the beach.  They see each other at the gym on a weekly basis.  So whyyyy was yesterday so hilarious!?

Exhibit A: runnnnnning around the children's area.

Exhibit B: Hide and Seek (more laughing)

Exhibit C: Avery decided to crawl on the floor, and Whitney thought this was quite simply the FUNNIEST thing she has EVER seen in her LIFE.

So, naturally, she had to join in the hilarious fun....

the belly laughs were leading to hiccups at this point.

up-roarious laughter

We thought they might get serious with some books.

WRONG.

Exhibit D: more hide and seek...books? what books?

And, folks this will be in the photo montage they play behind me as I accept my "Mother of the Year" award:

Exhibit E: crawling ON the book shelves. THROUGH the book shelves. Super.

Even Avery knew this wasnt a great idea.

They wiped us all out, but I am proud to say we were not kicked out or asked to leave (that day). But really, its only a matter of time. Between the laughter and the lack of focus, plus the fact that one of these two darlings knocked over the easel the librarian was using for her not-very-exciting rendition of "Goodnight Moon" re-enacted with felt characters, (ahem, Avery), Im fairly certain we will be trying a different library for storytime next week :)

Eric and I were thrilled when Mandy texted to accept our invite for burgers and beers at our house last night! And did you notice the ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE candy corn outfit on Avery? Yeah....welll.....Mandy MADE it. And not only did she make one for Avery, but she made a matching ensemble for Whitney! I couldnt love it more :) HOW CUTE IS THIS!????

And the idea was to snap a few pics of the girls in their outfits together.  Well....these pics surely show them TOGETHER, but it was near impossible to get both faces in the same shot.  I am not giving up though....

We all noted that it was becoming more and more difficult to tell them apart from behind now that Avery has grown several inches in the last 10 days. (Literally, ten days ago, Avery was shorter than Whitney.  Now? She's taller.)

So as we look forward to many more fun, silly times spent with amazing friends, we are realizing how truly grateful we are for the people God puts in our lives. We have so much to be thankful for (so dont even get me started on the Thanksgiving outfits Mandy has up her sleeve....oooooh, the CUTENESS!!?!!)