After Midnight

C and L are now in the king-sized bed, propped up on pillows and paging through the Teen magazines I gave them tonight. I was going to save them till after breakfast in the morning, but I thought they could relax in bed with the magazines while I relaxed.

It has been a night, and to say this was successful would be an understatement. The girls were thrilled to have the fancy clothes and shoes for dressing-up. They chose their outfits with care, each of them not wanting to take something that the other "really truly-for-sure wanted." I think they were both surprised that I set up the dining room table (candles, good china & silverware, pretty napkins and placecards) --- "Just for us?" was what I kept hearing as they looked at the table.

They both loved the little beaded purses filled with all the coins, and their eyes lit up when they saw the table I set up in the living room with all the goodies that they could "buy" with the money in their purses. Once again, they chose their items very carefully, neither one of them wanting to take something off the table if the other "really truly-for-sure wanted" it. Most of the items were in pairs of two, so there was one for each girl, but there was just one of some of the other things. For those items, the girls left them till last, then negotiated with one another to see who would "buy" it.

The last item on the table was a small teddy-bear dressed in the red/white/blue of the American flag. There was just the one, and I could see that they both "really truly" wanted it. I quickly went into my bedroom to get another small bear that I had bought while shopping with my sister years ago... this little bear was dressed in a leopard hat and a coat. I put that bear on the table and told the girls that the "price" of it was the same as the red/white/blue bear-- 25 cents. So now they had two bears to chose from, and their only problem was who got which bear. Both girls liked both bears, but C said her first choice was still the original red/white/blue bear because she felt sorry for it because it had been the last thing left on the "sale table."

The final result with the bears was that C bought the little patriotic bear, and L bought the leopard-dressed bear, which she thought was more stylish anyway. C said she was happy with the red/white/blue bear because she likes to "find homes for sad things." I swear.... this is just one of the reasons that I love that child so.

It's been a long day, and a busy night. We all had fun, and I'm glad I thought to take pictures. I will use up the rest of the film tomorrow and get the roll into the store tomorrow for developing. Tomorrow....... another day with the two 14-yr-old party-girls.