The boys are gone. For the next 7 days, the Speer household is devoid of any hint of testosterone. No stinky boys making dirty laundry. No sweaty, muddy shoes lining the stairway or littering the living room. No need to tolerate endless discussions of Poke’mon strategy, Bionicle creations, or Star Wars: The Clone Wars developments. No need to negotiate time between endless reruns of Poke’mon: Black and White or Ben 10: Alien Force or Johnny Test in the mornings.
Nope, this week belongs to the girls. This week will be filled with estrogen-laden fun and, by default, lots of chocolate, ice cream, or cookie dough. Maybe even all three.
We started out our week of “Thinking Pink” with an exhausting schedule: after delivering the boys to their designated meeting spot, we hurried over to the McKinney Farmer’s Market to meet some friends and enjoy some farm-fresh goodness. We shopped in the little Dixie store, tasted homemade toffee and cinnamon breads, smelled real lavender and basil plants, watched an older gentleman carve a cowboy out of wood while an older woman spun handmade wool thread on a real spinning wheel, gathered a small bouquet of zinnias for free – a gift from a friendly young man, all because we asked about “purselane” – and bought some fresh peaches and plums “just because”. Then it was on to Starbuck’s for a brief visit with them (and because no girlie week is complete without a mini-birthday-cake flavored donut and chocolate milk snack, don’t you think?) before heading off to an important date at the Allen Public Library.
A date…with a DOG. We’ve done this before, two summers ago: the library opens its doors to Heart of Texas Therapy dogs to come in with their owners and be read to. The kids loved it, and Crisana could hardly wait to go back. We enjoyed doing a little scavenger hunt around the children’s area before it was our turn to go in. Crisana learned the names of all the dogs, and chose the one she wanted: Tina.
I’m certain Jay Leno would have a field day on this one, but to an 8-year-old girl, Tina was irresistible. Pink blanket, pink visor, and a cute little flip-flop dress. All that was missing were 4 tiny little pink sandals on her feet. Crisana marched right up to tiny little Tina and picked out her book…Dogerella.
Being quite the reader she is, she managed to complete the entire book in our allotted 8 minutes. Tina was impressed. She gave Crisana a “high five” for her good work.
And then she even came over for a visit, up close and personal. Crisana was thrilled!
We said our good-byes to tiny little Tina and headed home for lunch, stopping on the way for a little retail therapy. Okay, so really we made some returns of unneeded camping gear, but when you’re on a nothing budget, simply entering a store and conducting a transaction should count for something.
After lunch and a brief time at home, we headed back up to the library for “Crafternoon.” I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I came prepared to work, read, or even run errands depending on the situation. Turns out, it was a family affair. Tables were set up all around the children’s program room with a different activity on each: making a sun hat, creating a card, making a collage, decorating finger puppets, making a picture. Though obviously one of the oldest children there, Crisana didn’t mind a bit, and thoroughly enjoyed moving from activity to activity for the next 90 minutes. She cut, colored, glued, painted, traced, and designed to her hearts’ content.
When her creativity was finally exhausted, we left the library and headed out for some grocery shopping. On the way, I remembered we had planned a girl’s movie night. So off to the video store we went (after stopping for ice cream, of course). Unfortunately, they didn’t have the movie we were looking for, but we managed to find a Barbie movie and an animal movie that fit the bill nicely.
We arrived home with movies and groceries in hand and proceeded to cook a delicious dinner of quiche, muffins, and fruit salad: girl food at its finest! After relaxing hot baths, we donned our pajamas and enjoyed an evening at the movies with Barbie, filled with fairies, rainbows, and lots and lots of glitter. We fell into bed afterwards, our estrogen tanks full, our minds exploding with happy pink thoughts.
Yes, “Think Pink” week is off to a tremendous start!