debbie sue was here this weekend for what i think was technically laura's bachelorette party. if you're ok with calling "window shopping down fifth avenue and then going to see a play" a bachelorette party. we had a good time, so it counts.

we saw "the pirate queen" on saturday night; it's a musical about grace o'malley. it wasn't great, but it was at least enjoyable. and the irish dancing was amazing! i've never seen riverdance, but if it's anything like that then i'm in!

today i had two craft sessions at the library: one in the early afternoon for preschoolers and one in the early evening for older kids. i'm consistently amazed by the imagination of these children. i just gave the preschoolers paper plates and tissue paper and i had mermaids dressed in polka dots and lion masks complete with manes. i gave the older kids felt and popsicle sticks and i had one-eyed aliens with various apendages, a heart with arms and a hat and a tri-colored flower. and the original crafts were tissue paper wreaths and popsicle stick puppers. amazing.

tomorrow we are playing a blink tournament. i have yet to play any of the kids (although they are probably the only people left who will play with me!), but i'm getting pretty good at the stopwatch timing them! our current record is 43 seconds. (and if you don't know what blink is, you should come visit us and i'll show you. or mike will show you. if you're not the begging-for-mercy-while-playing-cards type).

and that's it for now. midwest and beyond: stay classy. :-)