1. At the reunion, they had someone taking pictures of the individual families (for a fee) for those who wished to do so. $5 for the “sitting” included one 4×6, plus you could buy others for $2. I wanted the pics, but what I really wanted were the digital files so I could crop/color correct/etc the pictures myself. (They were being printed with no touching up at all.) I figured they’d charge $10 or so for the “rights.” (After all, they’d lose out on reprint fees from me.) The guy said just e-mail them to me, no $ at all. That was a nice surprise!
2. We played bingo after lunch at the reunion. Everyone brings a couple of white elephant gifts to use as prizes. Mostly it’s little knick-knacks, the kind of stuff I’m trying to get OUT of my house, so though I played bingo I wasn’t terribly interested in a prize. Then I noticed that someone had brought a half-dozen paintings. One was of a young girl – 10 or so – sitting in front of the window. Reading. And she had blond hair. (I.e. what Little Sister could look like when she’s 10.) Well, there’s a reason I’m called BookMama. I had to have that painting – and I got it! I was thrilled! (And thanks to the nieces who were looking at everyone else’s bingo cards in addition their own – I’m sorry I thought you were being nosy – if you hadn’t been looking at my card, you wouldn’t have said “Aunt BookMama! Aunt BookMama, you got bingo!” and I probably wouldn’t have noticed.) Can’t wait to get picture framed and hung in LS’s room.
3. LS went to bed better tonight. Hopefully we’ll all get a good night’s sleep tonight. I haven’t heard her coughing – so hopefully no middle-of-the-night breathing treatment for her (mild) asthma. Especially since she pretty much howled through the entire treatment last night.
4. Swimming! We didn’t get to stay in the hotel with the pool (all booked up) but I threw our suits just in case. Mother-in-law read that in yesterday’s blog entry and got the idea to have us all go to a little lake with a swimming beach after the reunion. It was a nice little spot (except for the nibbling fish!) and the kids had a blast. What a nice surprise! Good idea, MIL! (And welcome to my blog! I knew you knew about it, but I never realized you were reading. I’m glad you are.)
5. Big Brother was totally “on” today. He was well-behaved (once we left the hotel – lack of sleep made for a crabby morning for all), charmed the heck out of his aunts and his grandma, and was cute as a button. LS was cute but a little less well-behaved – mostly because she was tired and didn’t really get a nap. Cute as heck, though. I love it when my kids are on like this, and it makes me really proud to see other people honestly enjoying them.
Book Mama 