A Girls' Day

Today has been such a fun day!

After a delicious breakfast of Dave's awesome scrambled eggs and coffee, I leisurely got the girls dressed while Dave cleaned. (Who got the better deal there???)

The plan was for Amanda and I to have a special "Girls' Day" together, while Daddy and Eva went Christmas shopping. It was quite a treat!

After a few hours at the mall, I managed to finish all of my Christmas shopping. (Woo-hoo!) I asked Amanda where she would like to have lunch, and she chose Papagino's.

Although we only ate fast food pizza and pink lemonade, Amanda behaved as if we were at a "fancy" restaurant.

It was very apparent that spending this one-on-one time together was pretty special to her. The entire meal was peppered with comments like,"I love spending Special Time with you, Mama" and "I really love you, Mama."

And I have to agree with her, it was pretty special. I was able to relax and enjoy her company, and it felt great. Throughout the meal, I found myself listening to her chatter and gazing at her, completely in awe of the little person she is becoming.

After lunch came the highlight of our day: a Brass Quintet concert. On the way into the library, Amanda told me how excited she was to be wearing her "fancy Christmas dress", which has been hanging in the closet, teasing her for months now. Finally she had an opportunity to wear it.

The concert was fantastic! After a few well-known Christmas carols, the leader of the quintet introduced each of the musicians, who all happened to be music teachers in our area. There was also a brief explanation about each of the instruments: trombone, french horn, tuba, and two trumpets. I was glad they included this, for Amanda's sake. She listened intently.

After about 30 minutes of music, the leader of the quintet tried to coax some of the children up to the front to sing "Jingle Bells." Only one pre-teen boy volunteered to go. I asked Amanda if she would like to go up, remembering her desire to perform a few weeks ago.

Sure enough, Amanda bravely walked up to the microphone... and like magic, about five other kids followed her. I guess they figured if a three year old could do it, so could they.

Needless to say, it was another proud moment for Mama.

Preparing to sing

But I was even more proud once the music started and she actually sang! I half wondered if she would suddenly become shy, and run back to her seat. At the chorus (the only part Amanda knows), the leader held the microphone in front of her, and I think that's what did it. She thought she was a star.

I was lucky enough to have remembered my camera this time, and captured a little of it on video. (Unfortunately I found out that using the zoom feature on my camera increases/decreases the tempo of the music, so that was an annoying discovery!)

Here she is, singing "Jingle Bells."



I'm so glad to have a companion for concerts now! She genuinely appears to enjoy it, so I'll take advantage of it while it lasts.

In any case, we made a happy memory today. In a few years, I hope to do the same with Eva.