Author: helvrum@hotmail.com

My Aunt Sue had tickets to Jimmy Carter’s book signing and invited Maggie and I to go along with the rest of the gang. We said yes and had a hilarious time doing what our family does best: making memories doing random things together. Without getting stuck writing out too much of the commentary, I’m going to bullet some favorite moments from the evening.

• The Secret Service has their work cut out for them….by the time we made it back to President Carter/Jimmy/Jimmy Carter /Mr. Carter it felt like I’d been at the airport and was ready to fly to Tahiti.
• We spent probably less than a minute with Mr. Carter.
• He spoke to Maggie.
• Mr. Carter was in the middle of signing our books and glanced at Maggie. He did a double take at her, probably because she was the youngest person he’d seen in quite a while, and said “Hi, Pretty Girl.” to her. Sue chimed in and said that she was a redhead. He looked at Mags again and said, “I like redheads.”
• He didn’t talk to anybody else.
• So, by age 5 Maggie got to meet a president and even have him talk to her. Whoeeeee.
• My dad recently got cataract surgery and no longer has to wear glasses. He’s never been to a discount sunglass, whirly stand because all his sunglasses have had to be prescription.  That changed tonight and he was a BIG spender and bought two a pairs within his price range (under $4 each).
• He’s hopeful that my mom won’t ‘make him’ take them off inside……
• So, he wore them inside while we waited
• And a looming police officer decided to ‘watch over’ our table for a bit, Forrest and I noticed.
• We all got books signed by President Carter, my grandpa almost forgot to get his back he was so excited to see Mr. Carter
• Afterwards, we took turns squeezing into the photo booth to document the experience, since NO cameras were allowed near Mr. Carter.
• My dad tried to wear his 3 pairs of sunglasses into the photo booth, but pretty much didn’t make it into any images….if you look closely you can see him.
• I love my family.

A few weeks ago we counted all the money in Maggie’s piggy bank and she pulled a couple dollars out to go ‘treasure hunting’ at the Goodwill. After lots of looking and searching for the right thing, she finally decided to buy some ribbon. A huge roll of red ribbon that now has dwindled to a much smaller version of its former self. The red ribbon, which she probably got for about a dollar, has really bought us countless hours of entertainment. I’ve found it cut into scraps, glued to various things, and they’ve played many games tugging each other around with it.

I honestly love the red ribbon and think that it was a brilliant purchase by Maggie, a great way to spend her hard-earned money.  Last week we went to a nearby field/park to play and the girls brought along a chunk of the red ribbon. Once again, it provided some entertainment. Good to know that the kids know what types of things are worth spending money on….or what can be used in a variety of ways. I promised myself I’d be quite and let her choose whatever she wanted…..three cheers for a creative kid!!

I wrote a blog post over at the Love, Laughter, and Literacy blog about Idea Books and what that looks like in our home.