Of Dates and Rules

Erin's school held a Fall Festival last Friday evening. They had snacks and drinks, little games for the kids to play, a photo spot and some entertainment from the Principal (who I swear is like 10 years old....and Daddy in another body.)

Erin was really excited to go so we all went. While walking in we ran into a friend from preschool. Erin went to school with the older daughter and Jeffrey goes now with their younger daughter. They spent much of the evening playing together. Especially Jeffrey and his little friend. They ran around and goofed off. Played ring-around-the-rosie. Her dad mentioned that little did Jeffrey realize but Chloe certainly said that she and Jeffrey were on a date. Hey 3 1/2 why not start off young. I'm just glad they're good friends.

Erin did see a friend from her class. She and Jeff played a bowling game, and a pin-the-tail game. Then Erin decided she wanted to wait in line for the "beauty salon". They had a mom doing face painting, then paint their nails, putting on little tattoos and "gem" stickers. Even Jeff decided it would be fun to get his cheek painted - he picked a turtle.

One of the highlights of the night was the Principal's juggling act. He told a story that involved juggling all different types of objects (balls, clubs, sticks....) He made it interactive for the kids too. They really thought it was super funny. Then they had a big hula hoop contest. Everyone got awards just for playing.

They broke down into age groups. Preschoolers, kindergartners etc.... Jeffrey was off playing something else and missed his group. He showed up as Erin was getting her turn. I figured that he could just join her group - since enough people claim they look like twins anyway. Jeff wandered in, got a hoop and started playing. Erin...my little rule-follower immediately took offense. She walked up to the woman handing out the hoops and said quite loudly...HEY HE'S NOT IN KINDERGARTEN. HE'S IN PRESCHOOL. HE MISSED HIS TURN. HE CAN'T GO NOW. Then she went and took the hoop away from him. The teacher had no real choice but to tell him he missed his turn and couldn't play. Poor kiddo. He was crushed.

After that it was clearly time to call it a night. We said goodbye to friends and headed on home. It was a lot of fun to watch the kids really interact with other friends their own ages in an unstructured environment and just have fun.