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That 70s party

By Tara Zandra | July 19, 2009

We had another American Girl Club meeting yesterday. This time the character was Julie from 1974- that would be the year I was born. Nothing like your birth year being represented in a historical doll line to boost the self esteem! I was really flummoxed as to what crafts and activities to do but I figured it out and it all came together nicely.

In the last book of the series, the main character’s friend is deaf so that naturally led to learning greetings in sign-language. Chris took ASL in high school and though he doesn’t use it at all, he remembers a decent amount. I had him teach me “Hi, my name is” and “Nice to meet you” and then taught the girls and paired them off so they could work with each other. We also worked on the fingerspelling of their names though most most the girls knew at least some of their name so it was easy.

Our first craft was beading a handle of a denim purse. In the book, the main character’s mother owns a shop that sells a lot of recycled goods such as purses made out of old jeans. I went to Goodwill and bought one pair of jeans and cut the legs into 3 pieces and then quickly sewed them into purses. We used jute for the handles and I gave the girls wooden beads to create the finished handle.

Next they made a foot-shaped rug for their dolls (the main character mentioned more than once that she had one in her bedroom) but that activity took a bit longer than I anticipated. Therefore, we were scrambling at the end to complete our Chinese Dragon in a timely manner; one of the books focuses on Chinese New Year since the best friend is Chinese-American. That one was really cute and I got pictures of the girls with their dragons.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I need to change the decor in the girls’ room. Apparently it looks way too close to an actual garden because there was another freaking lizard in there yesterday! And was Chris home? Of course not! It went much better this time. First of all, it was only about an inch and a half long. Second of all, we’ve been seeing him very near the front porch for 2 days so I almost expected to find him in the house. I’m just not sure why they always go to the girls’ room as it’s nowhere near the front door. Lastly, the little guy was actually in Daisy’s fairy house and kind of made it easy for me to get him. I trapped him under a shoebox lid and once again weighted it down with a book. I skipped taping it to the floor this time since it was on a hard surface. As soon as Chris got home he took the fairy house outside and released our little friend into a planter with firm instructions to stay outside.

To end last night, it was date time! We were dressed, we were ready, our baby-sitter (aka, my BIL) was in traffic. We had a specific show to get to but there was no way were going to make it, unfortunately. We figured as long as we were ready to go and a baby-sitter was on the way, we might as well go out and get some alone time together. We headed to Chili’s first because they have a bar area. You know us, getting our drink on! No really, we wanted a bar area so we could watch the Dodger game :) No alcohol for us and we had eaten dinner already so we went with a couple appetizers because we hadn’t had a large dinner, at least. Next we went to see “The Proposal.” We chose it because our theatre wasn’t showing 500 Days and there was nothing else we wanted to see. I didn’t have high expectations but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it and laughed so much! It was a great, fun movie and I am so glad we saw it. I’ve never seen Ryan Reynolds in anything because all I can think of is “Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place,” but it turns out, he’s a great leading man for this type of movie. Sandra Bullock, of course, is a sweetheart and we both love her so no worries there. Anyway, it wasn’t cheesy (at least not overly so) and Betty White was a hilarious added touch.

So the day was full and ended on a really high note. It’s so great to be able to get out with just Chris. Daisy was less than thrilled because we’d be gone at bedtime, but I told her that sometimes it’s important for me to not be Mommy but to be Wife as well. Best thing I can do for those kids is show them what a good, strong marriage looks likes :)

Topics: Life |

One Response to “That 70s party”

  1. Vanessa Says:
    July 19th, 2009 at 7:14 pm

    Sounds like a fun meeting — wish we could have made it!

    The great thing is in another 3 years or so, you won’t have to get a sitter anymore because Tabitha will be old enough to be in charge for the evening. I actually started babysitting when I was 11, although I can’t even imagine leaving Gillian at home by herself in another 6 months, much less to watch someone else’s kids. :)

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